The First Surprise

"Now tell us grandfather," cried =Henry. "We ran all the way home from school."
"Tell us," shouted =Benny, throwing himself down on the grass beside the dog!
"School is out for the whole summer, and =Watch wants to know."
"=Violet and I want to know, too," said =Jessie.
Mr =Alden was sitting in the garden reading. He looked at his four
grandchildren in surprise.
"Let me see, was this the day I said I'd tell you," he asked them?
"He's joking, =Benny," said =Jessie.
"Joking," cried Mr =Alden? "I mean everything I say!"
But he was joking, just the same, and enjoying himself, too.
In the spring, he had promised his grandchildren a surprise for summer,
and now he had been waiting more than an hour for the children to come home.



Housekeeping

"Thank you for coming, Doctor," said Captain =Daniel, as they walked toward
the fisherman's hut. "You will see that it's all right."
Soon they came to the hut. A young man sat in the door, fixing a lobster pot.
"Hello," he said, looking up.
"Hello," replied Dr =Moore. "I'm a doctor, and I thought I would come to see
you. Mr =Alden is leaving his four grandchildren on the island with Captain
=Daniel."
The young man smiled. "Yes, I know," he said. "I'm glad you came."
"He's a very handy man, =Joe is," put in Captain =Daniel. "He's a big help to me."
"I'd like to tell you about myself," said the young man. "Please sit down a minute."


The Garden

=Jessie was not the first one to wake up the next day.
At six o'clock, =Henry went very quietly to her "room"
and opened the swinging door to let =Watch out. The dog
came very quietly and followed =Henry as he walked out
of the barn to the spring. =Henry stood still and looked
around. He was right. It was just as he thought last night.
There was a garden, with rows and rows of vegetables in it.
"I wonder if this garden belongs to Captain =Daniel," thought =Henry.
Then he heard a little noise, and turned around.
A young man was coming toward him. His head was down as he
walked. Henry looked at him carefully.
Henry thought the man looked very sad, but he forgot that when
the stranger looked up and smiled.


Clamming

The children walked through the beach grass and sat on the sand.
"=Jessie, look at that," cried =Benny, pointing!
As he spoke, a stream of water shot out of the sand.
But =Henry did not stop to say how pretty it was.
"Clams," he shouted! He jumped up and took a stick from the beach.
The rest of the children and the dog ran to watch =Henry as he
began to dig. Sure enough, he took a real clam from the wet hole.
"Oh, I wish I had a shovel," cried =Henry! "There are lots of
clams here. See that hole, and that!"
"Let's run up and get two big spoons and the dishpan," cried =Jessie.
They raced for the tools, leaving =Benny and =Violet with the stick.
When they came running back, they found that =Benny had dug out another clam.


Summer Plan

"We must go exploring the island," said =Henry, the morning after the clam digging.
"It may rain any day and the days are just flying by."
"We can go in the morning," said =Jessie, coming to the doorway of the barn.
"The clams will not take very long to cook, and that's all we are going to have
for dinner except, of course, bread, butter and milk. If we get back by
eleven o'clock, we shall have plenty of time."
"It's settled, then," said =Henry. "Let's take the big kettle. We might find
something we want to bring home. Now, where is =Benny?"



The Museum

=Joe and the children sat around the table to look at the books. =Henry took off the
paper and found twelve interesting looking books.
"The Butterfly Book," said =Jessie.
"The Shell Book," said =Violet.
"The Flower Book," said =Henry. "Oh, these three books must belong to a set.
Just look at the beautiful pictures."
The handy man seemed to be just as interested as the children.
He soon found a picture of the purple flower on the table. It was the
Beach Pea. Then =Joe showed the children the names of the shells they had
found. He saw that =Henry was staring at him. "How did you learn all this,"
asked Henry?


Exploring

The next morning the rain had stopped, and it was a beautiful day.
First, the four children went swimming. Then, after breakfast they started
out with the big kettle to explore again.
"Let's go down to the very end of the island today," said =Henry.
"I'll make a picture of the island as we go along," said =Violet, taking
the blue book.
They walked along slowly until they could see the very end of the island.
"Look, oh, look," cried =Jessie! "What a big pile of shells!"
"It's taller than =Benny," cried =Henry, as he and the others ran to the
shell pile.


Indian Point

After a long sleep, the children were as good as new.
"I feel just like starting out again," said =Jessie.
"So do I," agreed =Henry. "I wonder why =Joe was so excited over
the shell pile. Let's ask him."
"Why did you say you must see that pile of shells," began =Henry
when they had found =Joe at the hut?
"Because I'm interested in things like that," answered =Joe.
"A shell pile means that Indians must have been on this island."
"Come right along, =Joe," said =Benny. "I'll show it to you."
He took hold of =Joe's hand and tried to pull him up. The
children laughed as =Joe got on his feet. In a little while
the explorers arrived at the shell pile.


A New Violin

After supper, a few days later, the children sat resting in the
doorway of the barn.
"Listen," said =Violet suddenly!
Since =Violet never said anything suddenly, everyone looked at her
in surprise and listened. Then they heard the sound of a violin.
"Who can that be," asked =Violet?
"Let's find out," said =Henry.
=Watch ran right to Captain =Daniel's hut and the four children
followed. There sat =Joe in the doorway, playing a real violin.
He did not stop when he saw the children. They stared at him and
watched his fingers fly as he played a very fast piece. When =Joe
finished, =Benny said, "I didn't know you had a violin."


Grandfather's Visit

"We must be ready at ten o'clock," said =Jessie the next morning.
"Grandfather told Captain =Daniel to meet him with the boat at
ten o'clock and he is always on time."
"We must certainly show him the museum," said =Henry. "I know he will
be interested in the Indian things, but I'm not so sure about the
birds and flowers."
"I think he will like our museum," said =Violet. "It has his name on 
the door." She looked up and read the sign again, "The =JamesHAlden museum."
"Everything is ready," said =Jessie. She took one last look. "Let's go
down on the dock to wait for him."


Apple Pie

The next morning was very cold.
=Benny did not want to get up at all.
"No," he said, "it is so cold that I'm not going to get out of bed."
=Henry looked at the ocean. "I have an idea," he said.
"It's too cold outside today. Let's all stay inside and paint our birds."
"Fine," agreed =Jessie! "I'll light the stove and we'll shut the barn
door. It will soon be warm."
In spite of what he had said earlier about staying in bed, =Benny opened
the swinging door of his room, and came out wearing his red sweater.
He was carrying a little toy boat which was in the package his
grandfather had given him.



The Picnic

The children were waiting upon the dock when =Joe came back. But it was
too late then to find Mr =Browning.
=Jessie began, "You know, =Joe, Grandfather said we should never build
a fire outdoors unless someone older helped us. Now we have such a good
place for a picnic, we thought we'd invite our school friends over
for a picnic on the beach. They have never seen the island."
"I'll be glad to help you build a fire, if that's what you want," said =Joe.
"Oh, thanks, =Joe," said =Jessie.
The four children invited their friends over Captain =Daniel's
telephone. All of them said that they would come. =Henry's friend was a
tall boy named =MorrisWilder, and =Jessie's friend was =Morris' sister,
=Marjorie. =Violet invited her friend, =BarbaraBlack.
=Benny surprised them by saying that he wanted to invite =MikeWood, a
little boy who was always in trouble.



=Joe Again

"I wish =Mike would come over every day," said =Benny one morning.
"Well, I don't," said the others all at once!
=Henry looked up. "I think we can get along without any company at all."
"You don't call =Joe company, do you," asked =Violet?
"Oh, no," said =Henry. "He's just one of the family.
Why? Did you want to invite him to eat with us?"
"No," said =Violet slowly. "But today he said I would be ready to play
to you after my lesson."
"Have him stay to supper," said =Jessie. She looked at =Henry.
"=Benny, come here," said =Henry. "Did you know that today is your birthday?"
"No," said =Benny, walking over to his brother.



Everybody's Birthday

"Somebody had better call Grandfather right away," said =Henry.
"Let me," said =Benny. "It's my birthday."
Later, when =Benny came back from Captain =Daniel's hut, he said,
"Grandfather is coming today, and he's bringing Dr =Moore and his mother."
"That's great," said =Henry. "We'll have a big party."
Then =Benny said to =Joe, "Are you going to tell Grandfather that
he's your grandfather, too?"
"He isn't my grandfather, =Benny. He's my uncle."
"All right, are you going to tell him that he's your uncle," asked =Benny?
"He will know me as soon as he sees me," replied =Joe.


Good-by Summer

It was late summer and the children were sitting with =Joe on the beach.
"We have to go home tonight," said =Jessie sadly.
"Grandfather says he wants to take us on a trip before school begins," said =Henry.
"I don't mind going home," said =Violet. "I miss Grandfather, and he must
have been lonesome, even if he didn't say so."
"I hope we can come again next summer," said =Henry. "We have had such a good time."
"I'm glad we can sit down and talk quietly," said =Joe, "because I want to tell you
something. I hope you won't feel too bad about it."