Part 15 (1/2)
”She can live in New Hamps.h.i.+re on that account,” said Uncle Joe.
”That isn't fair,” said Peggy. ”I ought to be able to live in New Hamps.h.i.+re.”
”You can if you like--or in New York, or New Jersey, or New Mexico.”
Peggy was dazzled by these opportunities for travel.
”It isn't a bit fair,” said Christopher. ”Poor Diana oughtn't to have to live in Delaware when Peggy and Alice have such a lot of States to choose from.”
”It doesn't seem quite fair,” Uncle Joe admitted. ”I'll have to let Diana live in a State beginning with a C if she prefers.”
”And I am C. C., so I don't have much choice,” said Christopher.
”When I get my map of Delaware painted and fixed and I've lived there awhile, I'll come and live in Colorado with you, Christopher.”
”I'm going to begin with Pennsylvania,” said Peggy. ”I'm going to play the game in the right way. But where can Uncle Joe live? In Jersey with the New left off?”
”As I'm uncle to half the children I know, I feel justified in taking up my residence in the State of Utah,” he said.
”Mother,” Diana called out, as Mrs. Carter pa.s.sed the door, ”do come in; you can live in any of eight States, beginning with an M--Maine, Ma.s.sachusetts--”
”My mother can, too,” Peggy interrupted. ”Her name is Mary. What is your mother's name?”
”Her name is Mary, too.”
The two little girls wondered at the coincidence.
”Tom can only live in Tennessee or Texas,” said Diana.
”I'm going to live in Texas,” said Tom. ”Uncle Joe has been there. He said he saw a prairie fire once and it looked like the waves of the sea. And at the ranch where he was, the turkeys roosted in trees and the moon looked as big as a cart wheel.”
The children were soon busy tracing their States and cutting them out.
Alice found New Hamps.h.i.+re so hard to do that she was sorry she had not chosen Alabama, but she would not let anybody know this on any account.
She painted New Hamps.h.i.+re a delicate shade of pink. Peggy painted Pennsylvania a blue that shaded in with her blue frock. Diana painted Delaware green, and Tom chose crimson for Texas, the color of the college he hoped to go to some day.
”I was going to paint Colorado crimson,” said Christopher.
”You can't,” said Tom. ”I have chosen crimson.”
”Can't I paint Colorado crimson, Uncle Joe?”
”If you like. I think I'll paint Utah orange, so as to have as much variety as possible on the map.”
”That is a good idea,” said Christopher; ”I'll paint Colorado yellow.”
Alice and Peggy were so interested in the game that they played it every morning when they first waked up, and they got so they could say the forty-eight States while they were putting on their shoes and stockings.
It amused them to see which States their different friends could live in.
They felt there were very few children and still fewer grown people who ought to be told the game. It was like a secret society. Some people were so scornful they would think it silly, and they did not care enough about most people to let them into the secret. Mrs. Owen thought it a good game, but she was too busy to play it. Age did not seem to make any difference. Old Michael, for instance, took to it very kindly.