he visitors, or even their
father, until the latter spoke to them. Mr. and Mrs. Bunker were quite
sure by the actions of Phillis and Alice and Frane, Junior, that they
were not granted the freedom of speech and action that their little ones
enjoyed. Mother Bunker pitied those children from the start!

[Illustration: THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS WERE AMAZED AT THE NUMBER OF
COLORED CHILDREN.
_Six Little Bunkers at Mammy Junes._ _Page_ 115]

But what amazed the six little Bunkers more than anything else was the
number of colored children hanging about the veranda to see the
newcomers. Rose confided to Russ that she thought there must be a
colored school near by and all the children were out for recess.

And there were so many house-servants that smiling black and brown faces
appeared everywhere.

"I guess," said Rose to her mother, "that there must be an awful lot of
work to do in this big house. It's lots bigger than Aunt Jo's or Grandma
Bell's. It's like a castle, and all these servants are like retainers. I
read about retainers in a story. Only these retainers aren't dressed in
uniforms."

CHAPTER XII

MAMMY JUNE

From the very beginning, although they said nothing about it even to
each other, the six little Bunkers found the three little Armatages
"funny." "Funny" is a word that may mean much or little, and often the
very opposite of humorous. In this case the visitors from the North did
not understand Phillis and Alice and Frane, Junior. They were not like
any boys and girls whom the Bunkers had ever known before.

Phillis was twelve--quite a "grown up young lady" she seemed to consider
herself. Yet she broke out now and then in wild, tomboyish activities,
racing with Russ and Frane, Junior, climbing fences and trees, and
riding horses bareback in the home lot. It seemed as though Phil, as
they called her, "held in" just as long as she could, trying to put on
the airs of grown-ups, and then just had to break out.

"If you tell mother I did this I'll wish a ha'nt after you!" she would
say to her brother, who was the age of Vi and Laddie, and her sister
Alice, who was two years younger than herself, but no bigger than Rose.
Alice had a very low, sweet, contralto voice, like Mrs. Armatage, and a
very demure manner. Rose became friendly with Alice almost at once.

And the way they treated the colored children of their own age and older
was just as strange as anything else about the three Armatages. Th