Dandelion Cottage, by Carroll Watson Rankin
Title: Dandelion Cottage Author: Carroll Watson Rankin Illustrator: Mary Stevens
Release Date: October 28, 2011 [EBook #37871] Language: English
*** DANDELION COTTAGE ***
Produced by Charlene Taylor, Betsie Bush, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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Dandelion Cottage
CARROLL WATSON RANKIN
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Illustrated by Mary Stevens
JOHN M. LONGYEAR RESEARCH LIBRARY Marquette, Michigan
1977
First published in 1904
The Marquette County Historical Society
213 North Front Street
Marquette, Michigan 49855
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FOURTH EDITION
First Printing, February 1977
Printed in the USA by The Book Concern, Inc. Hancock, Michigan
To
RHODA, FRANCES, AND ELEANOR
whose lively interest made the writing of this little book a joyful task.
THE PERSONS OF THE STORY Bettie Tucker
Jeanie Mapes Mabel Bennett Marjory Vale
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} The Dandelion Cottagers
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The Tucker Family: Mostly boys
The Mapes Family: Two parents, two boys Dr. and Mrs. Bennett: Merely Parents Aunty Jane: A Parental Substitute
Mrs. Crane: The Pleasantest Neighbor
Mr. Black: The Senior Warden
Mr. Downing: The Junior Warden
Miss Blossom: The Lodger
Mr. Blossom: The Organ Tuner Grandma Pike: Another Neighbor Mr. and Mrs. Milligan
Laura Milligan
The Milligan Boy and the Milligan Baby
The Milligan Dog
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} The Unpleasantest Neighbors
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Contents
1. Mr. Black's Terms 1
2. Paying the Rent 12
3. The Tenants Take Possession 21
4. Furnishing the Cottage 33
5. Poverty in the Cottage 43
6. A Lodger to the Rescue 51
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7. The Girls Disclose a Plan 64
8. An Unexpected Crop of Dandelions 74
9. Changes and Plans 83
10. The Milligans 97
11. An Embarrassing Visitor 111
12. A Lively Afternoon 126
13. The Junior Warden 142
14. An Unexpected Letter 150
15. An Obdurate Landlord 158
16. Mabel Plans a Surprise 170
17. Several Surprises Take Effect 176
18. A Hurried Retreat 184
19. The Response to Mabel's Telegram 192
20. The Odd Behavior of the Grown-ups 205
21. The Dinner 214 [1]
Dandelion Cottage
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CHAPTER 1
Mr. Black's Terms
The little square cottage was unoccupied. It had stood for many years on the parish property, having indeed been built long before the parish bought the land for church purposes. It was easy to see how Dandelion Cottage came by its name at first, for growing all about it were great, fluffy, golden dandelions; but afterwards there was another good reason why the[2] name was appropriate, as you will discover shortly.
The cottage stood almost directly behind the big stone church in Lakeville, a thriving Northern Michigan town, and did not show very plainly from the street because it was so small by contrast with everything else near it. This was fortunate, because, after the Tuckers had moved into the big new rectory, the smaller house looked decidedly forlorn and deserted.
"We'll leave it just where it stands," the church wardens had said, many years previously. "It's precisely the right size for Doctor and Mrs. Gunn, for they would rather have a small house than a large one. When they leave us and we are selecting another clergyman, we'll try to get one with a small family."
This plan worked beautifully for a number of years. It succeeded so well, in fact, that the vestry finally forgot to be cautious, and when at last it secured the services of Dr. Tucker, the church had grown so used to clergymen with small families that the vestrymen engaged the new minister without remembering to ask if his family would fit Dandelion Cottage.
But when Dr. Tucker and Mrs. Tucker and eight little Tuckers, some on foot and some in baby carriages, arrived, the vestrymen regretted this oversight. They could see at a glance that the tiny cottage could never hold them all.
"We'll just have to build a rectory on the other lot,"[3] said Mr. Black, the senior warden. "That's all there is about it. The cottage is all out of repair, anyway. It wasn't well built in the first place, and the last three clergymen have complained bitterly of the inconvenience of having to hold up umbrellas in the different rooms every time it rained. Their wives objected to the wall paper and to being obliged to keep the potatoes in the bedroom closet. It's really time we had a new rectory."
"It certainly is," returned the junior warden, "and we'll all have to take turns entertaining all the little Tuckers that there isn't room for in the cottage while the new house is getting built."
Seven of the eight little Tuckers were boys. If it hadn't been for Bettie they would all have been boys, but Bettie saved the day. She was a slender twelve-year-old little Bettie, with big brown eyes, a mop of short brown curls, and such odd clothes. Busy Mrs. Tucker was so in the habit of making boys' garments that she could not help giving a boyish cut even to Bettie's dresses. There were always sailor collars to the waists, and the skirts were invariably kilted. Besides this, the little girl wore boys' shoes.
"You see," explained Bettie, who was a cheerful little body, "Tommy has to take them next, and of course it wouldn't pay to buy
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shoes for just one girl."
The little Tuckers were not the only children in the[4] neighborhood. Bettie found a bosom friend in Dr. Bennett's Mabel, who lived next door to the rectory, another in Jeanie Mapes, who lived across the street, and still another in Marjory Vale, whose home was next door to Dandelion Cottage.
Jean, as her little friends best liked to call her, was a sweet-faced, gentle-voiced girl of fourteen. Mothers of other small girls were always glad to see their own more scatterbrained daughters tucked under Jean's loving wing, for thoroughly-nice Jean, without be-ing in the least priggish, was considered a safe and desirable companion. It doesn't always follow that children like the persons it is
considered best for them to like, but in Jean's case both parents and daughters agreed that Jean was not only safe but delightful--the charming daughter of a charming mother.
Marjory, a year younger and nearly a head shorter than Jean, often seemed older. Outwardly, she was a sedate small person, slight, blue-eyed, graceful, and very fair. Her manners at times were very pleasing, her self-possession almost remarkable; this was the result of careful training by a conscientious, but at that time