THE ORCHARD PARTY 43 
saying earnestly, “I can do that first-rate. When dad 
fell out of the haymow and broke his leg, I used to tote 
him all round the farm, and never bumped him a bit, — 
only in ploughed land and off roads you’ve got to go jest 
so easy.” And to illustrate he raised the front wheels of 
the chair and bearing on the handles lowered them again 
as they left the garden path for the rough grass-grown 
track that led to the orchard. Goldilocks looked up and 
smiled at him, and then at Sarah and Miss Wilde, who 
walked one on each side, neither of the four dreaming 
at that moment how much happier their lives would be 
because they had met. 
“Why, the bars are gone and there is a brand new gate!” 
exclaimed Sarah Barnes, as they reached the opening in 
the stone fence that had been spanned by rough-hewn 
bars ever since she could remember. There, between 
strong cedar posts, hung a rustic gate, and above it was a 
double arch of the same material, into which the word 
BIRDLAND was interwoven in small sticks of the same 
wood. 
“That is a surprise that Jacob Hughes made for to-day, 
for this is my birthday party, you see, and some day mother 
is going to have a flagpole for Birdland with an eagle on 
top. Jacob is Ann’s brother,” she continued by way of 
explanation. ‘‘ He used to be a sailor once, but now he’s 
come to live with us always. He is a carpenter, too, and 
he can whittle almost anything with his knife, and he 
makes the most beautiful bird-houses. I should really 
like to live in one myself — that is, of course, if I were a 
bird !” 
“Tf you were a bird you’d be a bluebird, I guess,” said 
