Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-30
AN EASTER SURPRISE PARTY.
BY A. d. BAUKHAGE.

1t was q lovely DAY. Inc trees ldu Aoi
gotten to wave their bare arms. and the
wind felt almost soft on MarJorie's
cheek as she ran up and down the gravel
walk in the garden. The grass was be-
ginning to show green where Thomas
had raked the dead leaves away.
Along the border of the walk next to
the fence little purple and yellow heads
were peeping through. When Marjorie
spied the crocuses she dropped the ham
die of her doll buggy so suddenly that
Viola May fell violently forward and
lay with her nose across the dashboard,
too cross to get up.
"Oh, you dear little crocuses, you have
come up for Easter and Easter is next
Sunday" but suddenly frown wrin-
killed. her forehead and the dimples van
ished-"and oh, L can't go to grandma's
because Edith has the measles. Easter
will not be nice at all here in this old
yard. AT grandma's 1 can run miles and
miles and find eggs under almost every
bush. l wish Edith had stayed at home
to have her measles.
Then she spoke again to the crocuses
Il don't care If you don't come up, and
I'm going to pile ground on you so you
can't see" And the naughty little girl
got down on her knees In the damp
gravel walk and was sprinkling fine
black earth over each pretty head when
low sound on the other side of the
renee made her look up.
The tall fence was made of boards
standing close together. But near where
Marjorie sat, and quite low down, there
happened to be three knotholes, and at
each knothole was a round blue eye.
Marjorie was in such an lll-natured
mood she jumped up quickly, kicked
hard on the fence and shouted: 60
away, you bad children, you shan't look
bling on the other side of the fence. and
when Marjorie put her eye to the knot
hole she saw the queerest sight-a boy
and girl not quite SO large as she, and
bare feet they were dragging along the
rough ground. The boy wore a long blue
coat with brass buttons on it, just like the
little men boys in the Greenaway book
coat but no dress. Her fat arms and neck
We're bare. All the children had fair hair
and the little girls was braided into two
tight pigtails which stuck out straight be-
look back. and all tumbled into the back
door of the shabby cottage.
Then there was nothing else to see
through the knothole but heaps Of ashes
and rubbish, SO Marjorie picked UP Viola
May and trundled her up and down the
walk. For some reason she did not enjoy
herself; perhaps because the sun stayed
behind a cloud; perhaps she had begun to
feel ashamed of her unkindness
After supper, sitting in her papa's lap
before the CRATE fire, she told him all
about it.
Papa was silent for awhile, then he
said: 1.-The people who live In that house
in the alley came only last week across
the ocean. The father works in the fac
tory here and has very little time to put
the yard in order. Perhaps In their old
and flowers. The ashes and dirt you saw
must make them very homesick. I am
sorry you were not willing to have the
little children even look at our pretty
yard"
Marjorie was sorry too, and an ache
came in her throat when she remembered
how the babys toes had dragged in the
ashes.
What can I do to make 1t forget to be
afraid of me?" Papa promised to think
about 1t. Then they talked Of Easter,
and Marjorie was sorry again in remem-
crocuses about Edith. The next evening
when she sat in her papa's lap they made
this plan together:
Saturday night before Easter Thomas
was to loosen board in the fence Early
in the morning Marjorie and her father
went into the garden and with dried grass
and leaves made three nests under the
trees? There they put bright colored eggs
and little brown papier mache rabbits filled
with candles. Mamma came carrying pot
of purple and pink and white hyacinths all
wrapped in crinkly green paper. She
squeezed through the hole in the fence and
door of the cottage. Marjorie. with her
eye at the knothole, saw a sad faced wom-
an open the door; she saw her start back in
surprise and then reach out to take the
flowers and bury her face in the blossoms.
By this time the children were crowding
around her and 1t wasn't long before man.
ma started back, leading the boy and girl
with her. The smiling mother, when she
had set the pot carefully down, picked up
the baby and followed The children were
made to understand that they were to hunt
for something, but their surprise and de-
light when they came upon the rabbits
nests were too much to describe.
At last when the happy children ran to
show their treasures to their father Mar
jorie went into the house to breakfast, and
though the pretty things she found beside
her plate pleased her very much, it was
the memory Of the jolly babies in the al
ley who were no longer afraid of her that
made this Easter the happiest one she had
ever known.