The scorching heat of a midsummer day beat mercilessly upon the earth.

Travelers on the dusty roads, toilers in the fields, and others exposed

to the rays of the sun, thought yearningly of cooling winds and running

streams. They would have looked with envy upon the scene being enacted

in one of the small streams of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There a

little red-haired girl, barefooted, her short gingham skirt tucked up

unevenly here and there, was wading in the cool, shallow waters of a

creek that was tree-bordered and willow-arched. Her clear, rippling

laughter of sheer joy broke through the Sabbatical calm of that quiet

spot and echoed up and down the meadow as she splashed about in the

brook.

"Ach," she said aloud, "this here's the best fun! Abody wouldn't hardly

know it's so powerful hot out to-day. All these trees round the crick

makes it cool. I like wadin' and pickin' up the pebbles, some of 'em

washed round and smooth like little white soup beans--ach, I got to

watch me," she exclaimed, laughing, as she made a quick movement to

retain her equilibrium. "The big stones are slippery from bein' in the

water. Next I know I'll sit right down in the crick. Then wouldn't Phil

be ready to laugh at me! It wonders me now where he is. I wish he'd

come once and we'd have some fun."

As if in answer to her wish a boyish whistle rang out, followed by a

long-drawn "Oo-oh, Manda, where are you?"

"Here. Wadin' in the crick," she called. "Come on in."

She splashed gleefully about as her brother came into sight and walked

with mock dignity through the meadow to the stream. He held his red-

crowned head high and sang teasingly, "Manda, Manda, red-headed Manda;

tee-legged, toe-legged, bow-legged Manda!"

"Philip Reist," she shouted crossly, "I am not! My legs are

straighter'n yours! You dare, you just dare once, to come in the crick

and say that and see what you get!"

Although two years her junior he accepted the challenge and repeated

the doggerel as he planted his bare feet in the water. She splashed him

and he retaliated, but the boy, though smaller, was agile, and in an

unguarded moment he caught the girl by the wrists and pushed her so she

sat squarely in the shallow waters of the brook.

"Hey, smarty," he exulted impishly as he held her there, "you will get

fresh with me, you will, huh?"

"Phil, let me up, leave me go, I'm all wet."




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