"I'm just going to begin now," said Polly faintly. Then, nerving
herself to the task, she read aloud,--
"The children went chestnutting once,
Out in the woods to stay all day,
There's Maude and Sue and James and Kate,
All there, for there's no school to-day."
Polly stopped to catch breath.
"Where'd you get your names?" inquired Molly critically.
Polly looked up with a startled air.
"Why, out of my head, of course."
"Oh, did you?" Molly's tone was not reassuring. "Go on," she
added.
"Maybe you'll like the next verse better," faltered Polly.
"The good, kind mothers pack the lunch
Of bread and butter, meat and cake,
So off they start at ten o'clock,
For it is hot when it is late."
This time, Polly found her friend looking at her, with a scornful
curl to her lips.
"I thought you said it was a poem," she said, with cutting
emphasis; "but it sounds just exactly like a bill of fare."
This was too much for Polly. Her temper flashed up like a fire
among dead twigs.
"Molly Hapgood, you're as mean as mean can be, to make fun of me!
I've a good mind never to speak to you again as long as I live."
As usual, the more Polly became excited, the more Molly grew cool
and collected.
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