sound of shouting and laughing,
and into the car came rushing a number of children. With them were two
ladies who seemed to be in charge. There were boys and girls--about
twenty all together--and most of them made rushes for the best seats,
while some hurried down to the tank to get drinks of ice-water.

"I had that cup first!" cried one.

"You did not! I had it myself," said another.

"That's my seat by the window!" shouted a third.

"It is not! I had it first, you can see where I left my hat! Oh, my
hat's gone!" a boy exclaimed.

"I threw it on the floor, I wanted to sit here myself," said a big girl
with red curls.

"Children! Children! You must be quiet!" called one of the ladies.

The train started again, all the other passengers watching the queer
children who were making such a confusion.

"Oh, see the cow!" cried a tall boy. "It's the last cow you'll see for a
year, fellows, so take a good look at her," he added as the train passed
along a field.

"No more good times for a long while," sighed a boy who had a seat near
Freddie and Flossie. "I wish I could live in the country always."

Flossie and Freddie looked at him. His clothes were patched here and
there, but they were clean. And his face and hands were clean, which
could not be said of all the other children, though some of them showed
that they had tried to make themselves neat.

"The country is the best place," he said, and he looked at the two
smaller Bobbsey twins as though he would like to speak to them. "I'm
going to be a farmer when I grow up," he went on, after a pause.

"He--he's a nice boy," whispered Flossie to her brother. "I'm going to
speak to him. We can talk about the country."

"Wait a minute," advised Freddie. "Maybe mother wouldn't want us to talk
to strangers."

Flossie looked back to where her father and mother were sitting. Mrs.
Bobbsey was speaking to one of the ladies who had come in the car with
the noisy children.

"Are you taking part of an orphan asylum on an outing?" Flossie heard
her mother ask.

"No. These are some 'fresh air' children. They have been out in the
country for two weeks, and now we are taking them home. Poor things! I
wish we could have kept them longer out in the green fields and woods,
but there are others waiting for their chance to go.

"You see," she went on, and Flossie and Freddie listened carefully,
"some kind people give us money so that the poor children of the city
may have a littl