me to Waloo Mother Johnson had not been called grandma
and she had missed the grandchildren she had left behind more than she
realized. Mary Rose had called most of the older women in Mifflin
grandma--Grandma Robinson and Grandma Smith. It was a friendly little
custom that was in vogue there and so she had unhesitatingly called old
Mrs. Johnson grandma. Mrs. Johnson was so surprised that she had
nothing to say when Mary Rose pulled her to a bench and pointed a
trembling finger at a little brownish-grayish animal which stood up in
the grass and looked at them with bright eyes.

"Do you see what that is?" Mary Rose's voice shook. "It's a squirrel!
A really truly squirrel in this big city! Here, squirrelly,
squirrelly," she snapped her fingers. "I wish I had something to feed
you!" despairingly as the squirrel ran away.

[Illustration: "'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big
city!'"]

Grandma Johnson had her purse in the bag she carried and she opened it
and took out five cents. "Here," she said crossly, "go and get
something to feed him with if that's what you're crying for."

Mary Rose straightened herself and threw her arms around Grandma
Johnson's knees. "Why--why!" she gasped, "I do think you are a regular
fairy godmother!"

Grandma Johnson had been called several names since she had been in the
Washington. Once she had heard Hilda in the kitchen speak of her as
"the old hen" and had almost had apoplexy. And Larry Donovan had
muttered that she was "an old crank" which was what one might expect of
a mannerless janitor but no one had ever called her a fairy godmother.
It sounded rather pleasant. She actually smiled as Mary Rose ran over
to the popcorn wagon on the corner and came back with a bag of peanuts.

"What wouldn't I give if Tom had a girl like that!" she sighed. "But
then he'd have to move. Children aren't allowed in the Washington."

Mary Rose insisted on an exact division of the nuts. "You want to feed
them just as much as I do." She hadn't a doubt of that. "So you must
have half. When the squirrel sees how many we have perhaps he'll bring
his brothers and sisters and have a squirrel party," she giggled.

Indeed, it did seem as if the squirrel had sent out invitations when he
saw the heap of nuts that Mary Rose and Grandma Johnson had beside them
for, one after another, other squirrels came until half a dozen
clustered around them. They were very tame. One even climb