ALONG FOUR-FOOTED TRAILS 



missed her doll and sunbonnet. She looked 

 everywhere and at last she remembered she had 

 left them on the ground where they lay beside 

 her when she first noticed those dreadful grass- 

 hoppers. She went to look and found them. 

 The grasshoppers had eaten many fine holes in 

 the covering of the head of her rag-doll ; the 

 penciled eyes and mouth that her mother had 

 taken so much pains to mark and that Ella 

 loved so well were all eaten away. The pretty 

 pink dress her doll wore, made from pieces left 

 from her best Sunday gown and trimmed with 

 the first lace she had ever made, was covered 

 with holes eaten by the destructive grasshoppers 

 and faded to a dirty white by the heavy dew of 

 the night before and the hot sun of the morning. 

 Her sunbonnet also was ruined. Gathering up 

 the hem of her dress Ella tenderly placed her 

 ruined doll and bonnet in it and carried them 

 to her mother, who was her only confidant and 

 true companion. 



Ella's mother promised to make her a new 



doll and bonnet, so she ran out to listen to the 



meadow-lark singing his morning song and 



being answered by his mate. In the sweet song 



[256] 



