Produced by John HammTHE GOLDEN ROADBy L M Montgomery     Life was a roselipped comrade      With purple flowers dripping from her fingers                                        The Author               TO               THE MEMORY OF               Aunt Mary Lawson               WHO TOLD ME MANY OF THE TALES               REPEATED BY THE               STORY GIRLFOREWORDOnce upon a time we all walked on the golden road It was a fairhighway through the Land of Lost Delight shadow and sunshine wereblessedly mingled and every turn and dip revealed a fresh charm and anew loveliness to eager hearts and unspoiled eyesOn that road we heard the song of morning stars we drank in fragrancesaerial and sweet as a May mist we were rich in gossamer fancies andiris hopes our hearts sought and found the boon of dreams the yearswaited beyond and they were very fair life was a roselipped comradewith purple flowers dripping from her fingersWe may long have left the golden road behind but its memories are thedearest of our eternal possessions and those who cherish them as suchmay haply find a pleasure in the pages of this book whose people arepilgrims on the golden road of youthTHE GOLDEN ROADCHAPTER I A NEW DEPARTUREIve thought of something amusing for the winter I said as wedrew into a halfcircle around the glorious woodfire in Uncle AlecskitchenIt had been a day of wild November wind closing down into a wet eerietwilight Outside the wind was shrilling at the windows and around theeaves and the rain was playing on the roof The old willow at the gatewas writhing in the storm and the orchard was a place of weird musicborn of all the tears and fears that haunt the halls of night Butlittle we cared for the gloom and the loneliness of the outside worldwe kept them at bay with the light of the fire and the laughter of ouryoung lipsWe had been having a splendid game of BlindMans Buff That is ithad been splendid at first but later the fun went out of it because wefound that Peter was of malice prepense allowing himself to becaught too easily in order that he might have the pleasure of catchingFelicitywhich he never failed to do no matter how tightly his eyeswere bound What remarkable goose said that love is blind Love can seethrough five folds of closelywoven muffler with easeIm getting tired said Cecily whose breath was coming rather quicklyand whose pale cheeks had bloomed into scarlet Lets sit down and getthe Story Girl to tell us a storyBut as we dropped into our places the Story Girl shot a significantglance at me which intimated that this was the psychological moment forintroducing the scheme she and I had been secretly developing for somedays It was really the Story Girls idea and none of mine But she hadinsisted that I should make the suggestion as coming wholly from myselfIf you dont Felicity wont agree to it You know yourself Bev howcontrary shes been lately over anything I mention And if she goesagainst it Peter will toothe ninnyand it wouldnt be any fun if wewerent all in itWhat is it asked Felicity drawing her chair slightly away fromPetersIt is this Let us get up a newspaper of our ownwrite it allourselves and have all we do in it Dont you think we can get a lot offun out of itEveryone looked rather blank and amazed except the Story Girl She knewwhat she had to do and she did itWhat a silly idea she exclaimed with a contemptuous toss of her longbrown curls Just as if WE could get up a newspaperFelicity fired up exactly as we had hopedI think its a splendid idea she said enthusiastically Id like toknow why we couldnt get up as good a newspaper as they have in townUncle Roger says the Daily Enterprise has gone to the dogsall the newsit prints is that some old woman has put a shawl on her head and goneacross the road to have tea with another old woman I guess we could dobetter than that You neednt think Sara Stanley that nobody but youcan do anythingI think it would be great fun said Peter decidedly My Aunt Janehelped edit a paper when she was at Queens Academy and she said it wasvery amusing and helped her a great dealThe Story Girl could hide her delight only by dropping her eyes andfrowningBev wants to be editor she said and I dont see how he can with noexperience Anyhow it would be a lot of troubleSome people are so afraid of a little bother retorted FelicityI think it would be nice said Cecily timidly and none of us haveany experience of being editors any more than Bev so that wouldntmatterWill it be printed asked DanOh no I said We cant have it printed Well just have to write itoutwe can buy foolscap from the teacherI dont think it will be much of a newspaper if it isnt printed saidDan scornfullyIt doesnt matter very much what YOU think said FelicityThank you retorted DanOf course said the Story Girl hastily not wishing to have Dan turnedagainst our project if all the rest of you want it Ill go in for ittoo I daresay it would be real good fun now that I