much as they do
about the woods and all."

"Yes, it's partly the boys," said Bell; "but it is much more Papa. You
see, from the time we could walk, he has always taken us out into the
woods and fields, and made us use our eyes and ears, and talked to us
about things. We should not know anything, if it were not for Papa."

"He does seem to know almost everything!" said Margaret. "I never saw
any one like him."

"There _isn't_ any one like him," said Gertrude, decidedly. "What have
you got there, Margaret?"

Margaret had drawn a letter from her pocket, and was looking it over.

"An argument on my side," she said, smiling. "May I read it aloud?"

"Do! do!" cried all the girls.

Margaret smoothed out the crumpled pages affectionately. "He carried it
in his pocket two days before he remembered to post it!" she said. "I
judge from the date, and the appearance of the envelope. There was candy
in his pocket, and"--she sniffed at the letter--"yes! tar, without
doubt. Now listen!

"'DEAR COUSIN MARGARET:--We miss you awfully,
and Uncle John says it is no kind of a house
without you, and it isn't. We went a walk
yesterday, Susan D. and me and the dogs,
because you know it was Sunday; Uncle John was
coming too, but he had roomatizm and coud not.
Well Cousin Margaret, we walked over the big
hill and just then the dogs began howling and
yelling in the most awful manner, and running
round and round like they were crazy; and we
ran to see what was up, and we found out, I
tell you! It was white hornets, about ten
thousand of them, and the dogs had rolled in a
nest of them, and they were stinging their
noses, and they flew at us with perfeck fewry,
I mean the hornets did. I hollered and ran, but
Susan D. said wait she knew what to do, so she
said "Come on," and we ran down to the brook
and she took mud and put it on my stings before
she touched her own, and it took a good deal of
the pane out though not all. And then she put
it on the dogs' noses, and they understood like
persons, and poked them into the mud themselves
and soon forgot their pane. But I thought I
would tell you this Cousin Margaret, because
Susan D. did really behave like a perfeck
brick, and you always said girls were as brave
as boys