THE GRAND-GIRLS 311 
and I also wish that the $1200 were twice as 
much as it is.” . 
Time was running so smoothly with us that 
we “knocked on wood” each morning for fear 
our luck would break. 
The-cottage which had once served as a tem- 
porary granary, and which had been moved to 
the building line two years before, was now 
turned into an overflow house against the time 
when Jack should come home for the winter vaca- 
tion. Polly had decided to have “ just as many 
as we can hold, and some more,” and as the 
heaviest duties fell upon her, the rest of us could 
hardly find fault. The partitions were torn out 
of the cottage, and it was opened up into one room, 
except for the kitchen, which was turned into a 
bath-room. Six single iron beds were put up, 
and the place was made comfortable by an old- 
fashioned, air-tight, sheet-iron stove with a great 
hole in the top through which big chunks and 
knots of wood were fed. This stove would keep 
fire all night, and, while not up to latter-day 
demands, it was quite satisfactory to the warm- 
blooded boys who used it. The expense of over- 
hauling the cottage was $214. Tom, Kate, and 
the grand-girls were to be with us, of course, and 
so were the Kyrles, Sir Tom, Jessie Gordon, Flor- 
ence, Madeline, and Alice Chase. Jack was to 
bring Jarvis and two other men besides Frank 
and Phil of last year’s party. 
The six boys were bestowed in the cottage, 
