Mother. Be sure, my child, that you always do just as you are told.

Joan. Very well, mother.

So-so. Or, at any rate, do what will do just as well.

Joan. You darling! What a dear, kind housedog you are!

Mother. I am going out for two hours. You are too young to protect yourself and the house, and So-so is not very strong. When I go, shut the door and bolt the big wooden bar, and be sure that you do not open it for any reason whatever till I return. If strangers come, So-so may bark; then they will go away. With this summer's savings I have bought a quilted petticoat for you and a cloak for myself, and if I get the work I am going after to-day, I shall buy enough wool to knit warm stockings for us both. So be patient till I return, and then we will have the plum cake that is in the cupboard for tea. Joan. Thank you, mother.

Mother. Good-by, my child.

just as I have told you.

Joan.

Very well, mother.

Be sure and do

[Mother goes out, and Joan bolts the door.

Joan. I wish mother had taken us with her and had locked the house and put the key in her big pocket, as she has done before.

So-so. Yes, it would have done just as well.

Joan. There are sixty seconds in every single minute, So-so.

So-so. So I have heard.

Joan. And sixty whole minutes in every hour, So-so.

So-so. You don't say so! (Snuffing under the house door.) The air smells fresh.

Joan. It's a beautiful day, I know.

I wish mother had allowed us to sit on the doorstep. We

could have taken care of the house

So-so. Just as well.

Joan (looking out the window).

It's not exactly

what mother told us to do, but I do believe So-so. It would do just as well.

[Joan unbolts the door and sits on the doorstep.]

Joan. It does just as well, and better; for if any one comes, we can see him coming see him coming up the field path.

So-so. Just so.

Joan. Oh! there's a bird, a big bird. Dear

So-so, can you see him? I can't, because of the sun. What a queer noise he crake! Oh, I can see him now!

makes! Crake! He is not flying; he is running, and he has gone into the corn. I do wish I were in the corn. I would catch him, and put him in a cage.

So-so. I'll catch him.

Joan. No, no! You are not to go. You must stay and take care of the house, and bark if any one

comes.

So-so. You could scream, and that would do just as well.

Joan. No, it wouldn't.

So-so. Yes, it would.

[While they are disputing, an old woman comes to the door.]

Old Woman. Good evening, my little dear, are you all at home this fine evening?

Joan. Only three of us: I, and my doll, and So-so. Mother has gone to the town on business, and we are taking care of the house, but So-so wants to go after the bird we saw run into the corn. Old Woman. Was it a pretty bird, my little dear?

Joan. It was a very curious one, and I should like to go after it myself, but we can't leave the house.

Old Woman. Dear, dear! Is there no neigh

bor who would sit on the doorstep for you and keep the house till you just slip down to the field after the curious bird?

Joan. I'm afraid not. Old Martha, our neighbor, is now bedridden. Of course, if she had been able to mind the house instead of us, it would have

done just as well.

Old Woman.

I have some distance to go this evening, but I do not object to a few minutes' rest; and sooner than that you should lose the bird, I will sit on the doorstep to oblige you, while you run down to the cornfield.

Joan. But can you bark if any one comes? For if can't, So-so must stay with you. you

Old Woman. I can call you and the dog if I see any one coming, and that will do just as well. Joan. So it will.

[Joan and So-so run off to the cornfield and stay a considerable time.]

Joan (coming up the path to the house). Why, So-so! The old woman has gone! But I dare say mother has come home. I hope she won't think we ought to have stayed in the house.

So-so. It was taken care of, and that must do just as well.

Joan (entering the house). But, So-so, mother isn't here! And look! Oh, dear! Oh, dear! what will mother say? That horrid old woman has taken my