d woman's anxiety should be relieved, and the two oldest of the Bunker
children were determined that they would relieve it regarding her son,
"Sneezer," if that were possible.

So Russ found some cardboard boxes that had held certain of their
Christmas presents, and he tore these apart and they wrote carefully a
message to the old woman's absent son on both faces of these cards. At
least, Russ wrote them, for by now he had learned at school to write a
very good hand. Rose was not so sure--especially about her "q's" and
capital "S's." Anybody who could read handwriting at all, however,
could have read those signs that Russ Bunker wrote.

"It doesn't seem like Christmas time at all," Rose said, as the two ran
down the lane right after breakfast toward the branch and the burned
cabin. "See the leaves and grass! And there's a flower!"

It was only a weed, but it was a pretty one and Rose gathered it--of
course for Mother Bunker. When they came in sight of Mammy June's cabin
it was a sad looking place indeed. The little Bunkers had had several
nice visits to the old woman's cabin, and they were really very sorry
that it had burned down.

The disaster was complete. The log walls were tumbled in heaps and were
all charred. The interior of the hut was little but ashes.

"Oh!" cried Rose. "If that Sneezer Meiggs did come home and see all
this, he might go away again, just as his mother says. It would be too
dreadful, Russ. I am so glad you invented this idea of putting up signs
for him."

In fact, Russ was quite proud of his original thought himself. He was
naturally of an inventive turn of mind and this was not the first novel
thought he had expressed. He and Rose stuck up the cards on poles that
they found near by, and they had so many of them that they quite
surrounded the ashes of the old hut.

"He can't help seeing them if he comes here," said Rose, as they
departed from the spot. "But do you s'pose he'll ever want to come back
to the place where everybody called him 'Sneezer'?"

"He ought to want to come back to see Mammy June," declared Russ warmly.
"I think she is just fine."

"So do I," admitted Rose reflectively. "But I wouldn't want to be called
by such a name as Sneezer."

It was when they got back to the big house and around to its front that
the two oldest little Bunkers became aware that something was happening
down by the road. They saw Vi hopping up and down in a funny fashion,
and she was screaming.