 CHAPTER XII THE LAST SATURDAY Every Sunday morning Mr. Merrill gave Lucy half a dollar for the next week of the vacation school, and every Sunday morning Uncle Dan dropped another down Dora's back. She did not like to feel it going down, but since it pleased Uncle Dan to do it, Dora felt obliged not to wiggle more than she could help. But she always shook it out as soon as possible. One day when they reached the Lincoln School, the children found the other girls and the teachers feeling quite disturbed. Some rough big boys had come into the playground and thrown over the tables and the benches and broken the supports to the little slide the little children liked. That day everybody had to sit on the grass, either to sew or to make baskets. Miss Chandler said she would have the seats and tables mended, but it was hard to find anyone to do it. All the carpenters were very busy. That night Dora told Uncle Dan what had happened. At the time he did not say anything, but Dora was not a bit surprised when Uncle Dan came next morning to the vacation school. I heard you wanted a little help, he said to Miss Chandler. My boss has let me off for an hour or so to see what I can do for you. Miss Chandler was delighted to have him help, and Dora felt extremely proud of Uncle Dan. He did not speak either to her or to Lucy, but went to work repairing the damage the big boys had done. He set up the tables and nailed the benches together, and then he looked at the supports for the slide. It would not do to patch them up because if they should break while the little ones were playing somebody might be hurt. Uncle Dan put in two new posts for the side. I am very grateful to you for coming, said Miss Chandler. I tried everywhere to find somebody to mend the things, but every man I asked said he could not do anything until next week. It means a great deal to the children to have it done so soon. Now just send your bill to the Improvement Society, and I will see that it is paid. There won't be any bill, said Uncle Dan. My two little nieces are here and you do enough for them, so I guess it won't hurt me to drive a few nails for you. Miss Chandler looked quite surprised. Thank you very much, she said, and then she held out her hand. Uncle Dan took it solemnly and lifted his cap as he went away, but as he passed Dora he winked at her. It had been part of the fun that they should pretend not to know each other, but most of the girls knew Uncle Dan and quite envied Lucy and Dora because he had come to make things right at the playground. By this time the cross-stitch spread was finished and it was really beautiful. All the teachers said so. Dora had sewed two of its long seams and done them very nicely indeed. Now she was making a dress for her doll. Lucy's Indian robe was completed, even to the fringe, and she was practicing for the Indian dance her group was to give. Never were six weeks so short before. The girls could hardly believe it when they realized that the vacation school was almost over. All their work was to be on exhibition, and then would follow the dances and play by the older girls. All the fathers and mothers were invited, and Miss Chandler sent a special invitation to Uncle Dan because he had mended the broken tables. But Uncle Dan and Father Merrill did not have time to go to the entertainment. Only Mrs. Merrill. Lucy wore her Indian dress because she was to take part in that dance, and she put on her coral beads. They seemed quite suited to the occasion. Dora wore a white dress and white stockings and black slippers. She also wore a blue sash and arcturus. All the girls in the Swedish dance were to be dressed in white and when they reached the school they would be given pretty colored headdresses. Quite a crowd had gathered that last Saturday afternoon. The baskets and the two bed covers in the doll's dresses and baby clothes were spread on the tables for the visitors to look at and admire. Each girl wanted her mother to see what she had made. Some of the children had done modeling in clay, and were feeling very proud of their work. Mary Barrows had made a flat sort of picture of her little sister, and it was so like a baby that Miss Chandler showed it to all the ladies and gentlemen who had come to the exhibition to see what the children could accomplish in the vacation school. Mrs. Merrill looked carefully at the spreads. Dora pointed out the squares she had cross-stitched or outlined, and the long seams she had sewed, and also the clothes Lucy had made for her doll. Mrs. Merrill felt glad she had taught the children to sew. She liked the tiny duct Dora had made from clay. They looked as though at any moment they might quack themselves away. When all the mothers had looked at the sewing and the baskets and clay figures, they sat down on settees to watch the entertainment. First came Lucy's Indian dance with all the girls dressed in their fringed robes and decorated with strings of beads. No one but Lucy wore a coral string, and Dora thought it looked very pretty. After the Indian dance, the older girls gave their play. They had practiced it inside the schoolhouse, and none of the children had yet seen it, so everybody was interested to sit on the grass and watch. It was an outdoor play, and told how a little girl named Hope wandered off and met a bluebird, who was just going to wait at the flowers and plants in the spring. Hope went with him and saw him call the different growing things. First, the useful plants like wheat and corn and sugar and potatoes, and then the different flowers, the violet and forget-me-not and daisy and apple blossom. Each was represented by a little girl who came and talked with Hope into the bluebird, and ended by reciting a poem. The bluebird was very funny in some of his remarks, advising the apple blossoms not to rent any nests to the English sparrows, because they were so dirty and quarrelsome, and thinking he might take one himself since the rent had not gone up since the previous spring, when it was to eat all the kinkarworms and let the bees alone. The potato was comical too, because she was so discouraged with the way inexperienced people planted her too deep, and with all the bugs that sat on her leaves and tasted them. The audience liked the play. It was funny and bright, and yet there were things that made you stop and think, as when the forget-me-not said she was going to cover all the battlefields of Europe with a pretty blue carpet, so that men would remember not to start another war. Next came Dora's dance, and she left her mother and Lucy and ran to the place Ms. Chandler wanted the girls. The dance was very pretty and Dora and Amy Conner danced alone before the others. Dora was pleased that she could do this, for she thought her mother would like to see her. Mrs. Merrill did like to watch her, and she also thought that Dora did it better than any of the other girls, better even than Amy. Dancing seemed to come very easily to Dora. Some of the other people thought so too, and when the girls had drilled and marched and the entertainment was over, they told Mrs. Merrill how well Dora had done. Mrs. Merrill liked them to say so, but she thought it of more importance that Dora could sew nicely. The Village Improvement Society had a surprise for everybody who had come to the last Saturday. Ice cream cones appeared for the visitors as well as for the children. This made a nice ending for the vacation school. After the cones were eaten the people began to go home, but Dora begged her mother to wait a moment. She was extremely anxious to show Arcturus to Ms. Chandler. This was the first time Arcturus had come to the vacation school, and he came only because Dora wore her best white dress and was in one of the dances. Mrs. Merrill said she could not wait because she must go home to get supper, but that she would walk slowly. Mrs. Soames was going her way. Dora might show the bear to Ms. Chandler, and she and Lucy could overtake them. Dora had to wait several minutes for Ms. Chandler, who was talking to some visitors, but finally her chance came. While Dora said Ms. Chandler, turning to her at last, it is good-bye, isn't it? But I hope to come to Westmore again next summer, and dear me, Dora, you'll be nine years old then, and I can't have you in my group. Perhaps you could take the second group next summer, Dora suggested. Perhaps I could, laughed Ms. Chandler. We've had such a good time together, haven't we? Ms. Chandler put an arm about Dora, and then she saw Arcturus. What a darling silver bear, she said. Did somebody bring him to you from Switzerland? She turned Arcturus over and saw his pretty green eyes. Dora was looking down at the bear. I wanted you to see him, she said. Mother let me wear him only once in a while, because he must never be lost. Ms. Perkins says all the silver bears she saw in Switzerland had red eyes. She never saw one before with green eyes. Ms. Chandler did not say anything at all. She looked at Arcturus, and she looked at Dora, and then she looked at Lucy, who had run up to say good-bye, and to tell Dora it was time to go home. End of Chapter 12, Recording by Campbell Shelp Chapter 13 of the Silver Bear. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, Recording by Campbell Shelp. The Silver Bear by Edna Adelaide Brown. Chapter 13, Dora's Name Who gave you the little bear, Dora? Ms. Chandler asked after quite a long time. I don't know, said Dora. I had it when I came to father and mother. It was on a ring with five other little things. Ms. Chandler looked very much puzzled. I don't understand, she said. Haven't you always lived with father and mother? She came to us in a big red automobile, explained Lucy. Uncle Dan and I pretended it was a chariot of fire, but she is just the same as ours now. Ms. Chandler asked the children to wait for her. She talked with Laura Carroll for a few minutes. Then she came back to Lucy and Dora. Dora, teary, she said. What were the other little things on your ring? A fish, said Dora. Ms. Perkins said it was a salmon and came from Norway, an English soldier, a pink coral heart from Naples, a Dutch sabote, and an Italian vampino from Florence. Ms. Chandler put an arm about Dora and looked at her very hard. Then she kissed Dora much to her surprise and patted Lucy's curls. Tell your mother I am coming to see her by and by, she said. Lucy gave Mrs. Merrill the message. This evening? asked Mrs. Merrill quite sharply, but Lucy did not know. John, I want you to be here, said Mrs. Merrill. I'll be here, said her husband, but Molly, I don't see any cause for you to be disturbed. A man wouldn't, said Mrs. Merrill. When Ms. Chandler came, for she did come that very evening just as the shadows were growing long, Mr. Thorn was with her. The children were surprised to see him, but evidently their mother was not. After they had greeted the visitors, she told the children to go down to the fruit store and buy some lemons. You need not hurry back, she said. Lucy and Dora did not hurry. They were not often permitted to go down after supper to where the stores were, and it was exciting to be a part of the Saturday crowd. Almost three quarters of an hour passed before they came back. Mr. Thorn and Ms. Chandler were still sitting in the yard with their parents, and Ms. Chandler and their mother looked as though they had been crying. But both Mr. and Mrs. Merrill looked very happy. Come here, Dora, said Mr. Thorn. Would you like to hear a story? Dora liked nothing better. She settled herself at once on the rector's knee. Lucy sat on the grass at his feet. Once upon a time began Mr. Thorn. There was a little girl who lived with her father and mother in the far west in Colorado. Her father was an engineer who knew about mines, and he was busy helping a mining company get silver out of the rocks. The camp where they lived was very small, and the water they had to drink was not good. By and by most of the people in the camp were sick and many of them died. Among them the little girl's father and mother. There were no other women in the camp, and most of the men were sick. One day when things were at their worst, a man with a big automobile came through the camp because he had lost his way and blundered thereby mistake. The little girl's father had left a note, asking that she be taken to his old aunt who lived in Massachusetts, so the miners begged the man in the automobile, whose name was Brent, to take the child with him. Mr. Brent said he would take her to the nearest city and send somebody east with her. What was her name? asked Lucy. Mr. Thorn hesitated a second. Then he looked straight at Dora. Her name was Theodora Jodwin. He said, Dora looked surprised. Somehow the name seemed one she had heard before. When Mr. Brent reached the nearest town, the rector went on, he sent a doctor and nurses to help the sick people in the camp, but he finally decided that he would take the little girl all the way east with him in the big car. He found a kind woman who very much wanted to visit her sister, living near Boston. She said she would take care of Theodora on the journey. Mr. Jodwin's aunt lived in a town not far from here, but Mr. Brent did not write her that he was bringing Theodora. Perhaps he thought somebody else had done so. Perhaps he did not know just when he could get there, for of course he was a long time on the way. On the very last day of the journey he left the kind woman at her sister's house and started for Brookton alone with Theodora. It was only a short distance he had to go, but while he was driving he felt so ill that he stopped at a druggist's at Mr. Giddings' store across on the corner. There was something the matter with his heart and he did not get well. He never had a chance to tell the people who tried to help him about Theodora. Who do you think she is, Lucy? Our Dora? asked Lucy. Her eyes were big with surprise. You're Dora now, said Mr. Thorn, but she is really Theodora Jodwin. Dora slid off Mr. Thorn's knee. She went straight to Mrs. Merrill and put her arms around her neck. I am Dora Merrill, she said, and then she laid her head down on mother's shoulder. So you are, said Mr. Thorn, so you shall stay, but there is more to the story. Lucy looked at Dora, who turned one ear so she could hear. She was not going to look at Mr. Thorn again. Mr. Jodwin's aunt in Brookton did not know Theodora was coming, and for a long time she did not know what happened to her nephew and niece, and then nobody could tell what had become of Theodora. But the aunt was a very old lady, so it did not worry her as much as it might have done had she been younger and realized fully what a sad thing it would be if Theodora did not find people to love her. By and by the old aunt died, too. Theodora's mother had a dear friend. They grew up together and loved each other very much. This friend lived in Europe for a number of years and she once sent to little Theodora a ring with six tiny charms. Dora lifted her hand. Arcturus, she asked, and the Bambino and the others? Just those, said Mr. Thorn, and so when Miss Chandler found a little girl who looked so much like Gertrude Jodwin and who wore a silver bear with green eyes, like one which Miss Chandler had made purposely because all the other bears were red-eyed, and when this same little girl had the other charms Miss Chandler selected because she thought any little girl would like them, why, you see, it grew very easy to find out what had become of Theodora Jodwin. Mr. Thorn, said Lucy, Dora doesn't have to go away from us, does she? No, indeed, said Mr. Thorn. There is nobody for her to go to. Neither her father nor her mother had any other relatives. The old auntie left a little money for Theodora if she could ever be found. Not very much money, but enough to give Theodora music lessons now if she likes, and mother thinks best, and perhaps to send her to normal school or even to college when she is old enough to go. I am glad, said Lucy, so glad that the chariot of fire didn't stop in some other town on its way to Brookston. So am I, said Theodora, giving mother a great hug. She hugged father, too. Then, because Miss Chandler looked as though she would like to be hugged also, Dora did it. Thank you for Erectorus and the other charms, she said. Miss Chandler kissed her. You must call me Aunt Margaret, she said. Lucy shall too, and we will write to each other. I was very fond of your mother, little Dora, and if you did not have a home where people loved you, I should be glad to take you myself. Mother says you may visit me sometimes. There is something I want to ask you, said Dora. Do you know when my really truly birthday is? Lucy's is in May, but I was too little to remember when mine was, so mother said we would call us the 17th of September, the day when I came here to live. I'll tell you a secret, said Miss Chandler. Your birthday is just the same as mine, and both of them are on September 15th. Mother guessed very nearly right, Dora. When Mrs. Merrill came to take Lucy and Dora into bed that night, she gave Dora an especially loving kiss. Mother, said Dora, the six little charms are really mine now, aren't they? Yes, said Mrs. Merrill. Then may I give Lucy the pink heart? You may lend it to her, said Mrs. Merrill. There is one thing more, Dora went on. For every day I should like to stay Dora, but do you think on Sundays and times when I wear Erectoris I might be called Theodora? It is such an important sounding name. I think you might, said Mrs. Merrill. And now you may write it to Theodora, Jodwin Merrill. You see, we adopted you and gave you our name. Mr. Thorne says that Theodora means the gift of God. Father and I feel that you really are one to us. Perhaps the chariot of fire truly came from heaven, said Dora. Perhaps it did, said Mrs. Merrill. End of Chapter 13, Recording by Campbell Shelp. End of The Silver Bear by Edna Adelaide Brown.