r her head she went out to find her
daughter.

Mary reached the meadow just as Dot screamed.

For a moment she stood still and looked around. The meadow was empty.
Then she knew that little Dot was in the field with Big Ben.

Swift as the wind Mary ran on, closing the umbrella as she went.

Under the fence she crept and ran toward Dot.

Poor little Dot was running and stumbling and crying. Big Ben was
bounding nearer and nearer.

"Don't be afraid," Mary called, as she came up to the little girl.

Then Mary did a strange thing. She opened the red umbrella and whirled
it around and around. Then she threw it toward Big Ben as far as it
would go. It went rolling over the grass, with Big Ben bounding wildly
after it.

The red umbrella made him so angry that he forgot all about the little
girls.

[Illustration: BIG BEN BOUNDED AFTER THE UMBRELLA]

Mary and Dot crept under the fence to safety.

"O Mother," sobbed Mary, when the children reached home and told the
story, "O Mother, your lovely red umbrella is all ruined!"

"But my little girl is safe," said Mrs. White, "and she has saved the
life of her little friend." Mrs. White put her arm around Mary and held
her tightly, and drew little Dot to her, too, just as Dot's own mother
would have done.

I wish you could hear all the things Betty, Peggy, and little Dot did on
the farm. It would take a great, big book to hold the story; and this
is a little book for little folks.

At last the summer vacation was over. The three little girls and the two
mothers had to leave their friends on the farm and go back to the city.

The little girls said good-bye to every living thing on the place--to
the little pet rooster, to Red Chief, to the Speckle family, and to Mrs.
Black Hen and her children who were now almost grown and had whole suits
of clothes on. They said good-bye to Brown Betty and her children. They
went to the pasture and said good-bye to Bonny-Belle, Bess, and
Buttercup, and to frisky little Don. They even stood at the fence and
waved good-bye to bad Big Ben.

Then the two mothers and the three little girls said good-bye to Mrs.
White and Billy and Molly and last of all to dear little Mary, who
promised to come and visit them at Christmas time.

"Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye!" they called as Mr. White tucked them
into the automobile and drove away. "We've had a happy, happy summer!"

When they reached the city, little Dot's father was at the station to