ing on the picturesque little river was one of the pleasures of
Friendship. Jack Parton and his brothers owned a boat, the _Mermaid_; and
Allan now provided himself with one, which he delighted Rosalind by naming
for her. After this the _Mermaid_ and the _Rosalind_ might frequently be
seen following the narrow stream in its winding course, making their way
among water lilies and yellow and purple spatter-dock, between banks
fringed with willows and wild oats and here and there a dump of cat-tails.
What pleasanter way than this of spending the early summer mornings? And
then to find some shady anchorage, where lunch could be eaten and the
hours fleeted away merrily until the cool of the afternoon.

With only three in each boat, it was light work for the oarsman; and as
rowing was something Maurice could do, and as the girls liked to take
their turn, it often happened that Mr. Whittredge had nothing to do but
enjoy himself.

Allan smiled sometimes to think how much pleasure he found in the society
of these young people. He usually carried a book or magazine, but as often
as not it was unopened.

"I suppose the real Arden Foresters did not read books," he remarked one
day as, after glancing through the pages of a late novel, he tossed it
disrespectfully into the empty lunch basket.

They had eaten their picnic dinner and were resting in easy attitudes on
the grass,--Miss Betty not being present to mention spines,--in sight of
their boats, swinging gently at anchor.

"Not any?" exclaimed Rosalind, to whom the idea of no books was a dreadful
one.

"But they were in a story and were having lots of fun," said Belle.

"And they found their books in brooks, didn't they?" added Maurice.

"When you are having fun, you don't read so much, that is true," Rosalind
said, burying her hands in the mass of clover blooms Katherine tossed into
her lap. "We'll make a long, long chain, Katherine, and let it trail
behind us as we go home."

"Give me your experience," said Allan, stretched at lazy length, with his
arms under his head. "Have you found that there is good in things
invariably?"

"I like Mr. Allan because he talks to us as if we were grown up," Belle
whispered to Rosalind.

"There is more than you would think, till you try." Maurice answered.

"I think so. Uncle Allan," said Rosalind. "I shouldn't have had this good
time and learned to know all of you, if father had not gone with Cousin
Louis. He said if I stayed in