J U N IO R K IN G 'S BU S IN ES S search spring
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by Betty Bruechert
O n c e u p o n a t im e in a great gloomy house on the top of a wooded hill lived two unhappy chil dren — brown-eyed Robin and his younger sister Jenifer, who had red hair and freckles. Their father and mother were world-travelers, so the children lived alone with the servants the greater part of the year. Robin and Jenifer had few playmates for they did not attend the village school. Tutors came to their house to teach them their lessons. Sometimes the chauffeur, a dark, silent man, took the children for a drive in the big, black car. They looked out of the windows and saw other children playing. It looked so jolly and this made them sad. Their house was rich and com fortable; they had fine food and good care; but they never heard any laugh ter. One day, as they were peering out of the window, Robin exclaimed, “ I think it’s Spring!” “Yes,” said Robin, looking up at' the tall trees, “The leaves are very green and the sun is bright.” “ But no sun ever reaches this house,” continued Robin, glumly, “ Spring never comes here.” Jenifer turned to her brother: “Then why don’t we go to the Spring?” she asked. Robin’s eyes sparkled. “Why, sure, why not? We can just go out the back door and down the lane and into the highway . . . Do you think we could take some sandwiches?” Robin loved to eat. “ Of course, Cook is at the mar ket today. You get our coats, my scarf and your cap, while I fix the lunch.” Jenifer skipped down into the huge, spotless, but now deserted kitchen. She made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which were Robin’s favorite, added a few cookies and fruit
and put them all into a brown paper sack. Robin was waiting for her at the back door with their wraps. Not a soul saw them leave, not even the old gardener who was coaxing some plants to grow in the big garden. The children slipped along the back lane and soon were out in the highway which ran through the valley below the house. “Where’ll we find Spring?” Robin wanted to know. “ I want to smell Spring,” said Jeni fer. “And I want to feel Spring,” Robin declared. “ I want to see Spring,” Jenifer went on. Robin kept up with his sister. “ I want to taste Spring,” he said. “And I want to hear Spring,” Jeni fer added, with a giggle. “That’s all the five senses,” Robin said, “ There aren’t any more!” Jenifer laughed. “ That’s enough . . . Can’t you smell it already?” They were half-way down the broad highway and on the left was a cherry tree of the very early variety, in full bloom. The children stopped and stood breathing in the fragrance which is like nothing else in the whole world. “ I could just smell it forever,” sighed Jenifer, “ But I guess we have to go on and do some feeling and tast ing and seeing and hearing.” “Can’t you feel it?” asked Robin, throwing open his coat. “That breeze feels wonderful!” “Yes,” answered his sister, “ It feels like a soft pat on my cheek — the kind Mamma gives me when she is home.” But Robin did not want to talk about their parents. He was lonely for his father all the time.
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TH E KING'S BUSINESS
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