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With some account of their ways, innocent, crafty, angelic, impish,witching and impulsive; also a partial record of their actions duringten days of their existence
The first cause, so far as it can be determined, of the existence ofthis book may be found in the following letter, written by my onlymarried sister, and received by me, Harry Burton, salesman of whitegoods, bachelor, aged twenty-eight, and received just as I was tryingto decide where I should Spend a fortnight's vacation:—
"HILLCREST, June 15, 1875.
"DEAR HARRY:—Remembering that you are always complaining that younever have a chance to read, and knowing that you won't get it thissummer, if you spend your vacation among people of your own set, Iwrite to ask you to come up here. I admit that I am not whollydisinterested in inviting you. The truth is, Tom and I are invited tospend a fortnight with my old schoolmate, Alice Wayne, who, you know,is the dearest girl in the world, though you DIDN'T obey me and marryher before Frank Wayne appeared. Well, we're dying to go, for Alice andFrank live in splendid style; but as they haven't included our childrenin their invitation, and have no children of their own, we must leaveBudge and Toddie at home. I've no doubt they'll be perfectly safe, formy girl is a jewel, and devoted to the children, but I would feel agreat deal easier if there was a man in the house. Besides, there's thesilver, and burglars are less likely to break into a house wherethere's a savage-looking man. (Never mind about thanking me for thecompliment.) If YOU'LL only come up, my mind will be completely atrest. The children won't give you the slightest trouble; they're thebest children in the world—everybody says so.
"Tom has plenty of cigars, I know, for the money I should have had fora new suit went to pay his cigar-man. He has some new claret, too, thatHE goes into ecstasies over, though I can't tell it from the vilestblack ink, except by the color. Our horses are in splendid condition,and so is the garden—you see I don't forget your old passion forflowers. And, last and best, there never were so many handsome girls atHillcrest as there are among the summer boarders already here; thegirls you already are acquainted with here will see that you meet allthe newer acquisitions.
"Reply by telegraph right away.
"Of course you'll say 'Yes.'
"In great haste, your loving
"SISTER HELEN.
P. S. You shall have our own chamber; it catches every breeze, andcommands the finest views. The children's room communicates with it;so, if anything SHOULD happen to the darlings at night, you'd be sureto hear them."
"Just the thing!" I ejaculated. Five minutes later I had telegraphedHelen my acceptance of her invitation, and had mentally selected booksenough to busy me during a dozen vacations. Without sharing Helen'sbelief that her boys were the best ones in the world, I knew them wellenough to feel assured that they would not give me any annoyance. Therewere two of them, since Baby Ph