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Page 21
"And a very good best it will be you'll see," said Katy, consolingly.
"Does Dr. Hope tell you anything about the place?" she added, turning over
the letter which her father had handed her.
"Oh, he says the scenery is fine, and the mean rain-fall is this, and the
mean precipitation that, and that boarding-places can be had. That is
pretty much all. So far as climate goes, it is the right place, but I
presume the accommodations are poor enough. The children must go prepared
to rough it. The town was only settled ten or eleven years ago; there
hasn't been time to make things comfortable," remarked Dr. Carr, with a
truly Eastern ignorance of the rapid way in which things march in the far
West.
Clover's feelings when the decision was announced to her it would be hard
to explain in full. She was both confused and exhilarated by the sudden
weight of responsibility laid upon her. To leave everybody and everything
she had always been used to, and go away to such a distance alone with
Phil, made her gasp with a sense of dismay, while at the same time the
idea that for the first time in her life she was trusted with something
really important, roused her energies, and made her feel braced and
valiant, like a soldier to whom some difficult enterprise is intrusted on
the day of battle.
Many consultations followed as to what the travellers should carry with
them, by what route they would best go, and how prepare for the journey. A
great deal of contradictory advice was offered, as is usually the case
when people are starting on a voyage or a long railway ride. One friend
wrote to recommend that they should provide themselves with a week's
provisions in advance, and enclosed a list of crackers, jam, potted meats,
tea, fruit, and hardware, which would have made a heavy load for a donkey
or mule to carry. How were poor Clover and Phil to transport such a weight
of things? Another advised against umbrellas and water-proof cloaks,--what
was the use of such things where it never rained?--while a second letter,
received the same day, assured them that thunder and hail storms were
things for which travellers in Colorado must live in a state of continual
preparation. "Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" In the end Clover
concluded that it was best to follow the leadings of commonsense and
rational precaution, do about a quarter of what people advised, and leave
the rest undone; and she found that this worked very well.
As they knew so little of the resources of St. Helen's, and there was such
a strong impression prevailing in the family as to its being a rough sort
of newly-settled place, Clover and Katy judged it wise to pack a large
box of stores to go out by freight: oatmeal and arrowroot and beef-extract
and Albert biscuits,--things which Philly ought to have, and which in a
wild region might be hard to come by. Debby filled all the corners with
home-made dainties of various sorts; and Clover, besides a spirit-lamp and
a tea-pot, put into her trunks various small decorations,--Japanese fans
and pictures, photographs, a vase or two, books and a sofa-pillow,--things
which took little room, and which she thought would make their quarters
look more comfortable in case they were very bare and unfurnished. People
felt sorry for the probable hardships the brother and sister were to
undergo; and they had as many little gifts and notes of sympathy and
counsel as Katy herself when she was starting for Europe.
But I am anticipating. Before the trunks were packed, Dr. Carr's anxieties
about his "Babes in the Wood" were greatly allayed by a visit from Mrs.
Hall. She came to tell him that she had heard of a possible "matron" for
Clover.
"I am not acquainted with the lady myself," she said; "but my cousin, who
writes about her, knows her quite well, and says she is a highly
respectable person, and belongs to nice people. Her sister, or some one,
married a Phillips of Boston, and I've always heard that that family was
one of the best there. She's had some malarial trouble, and is at the West
now on account of it, staying with a friend in Omaha; but she wants to
spend the summer at St. Helen's. And as I know you have worried a good
deal over having Clover and Phil go off by themselves, I thought it might
be a comfort to you to hear of this Mrs. Watson."
"You are very good. If she proves to be the right sort of person, it
_will_ be an immense comfort. Do you know when she wants to start?"
"About the end of May,--just the right time, you see. She could join
Clover and Philip as they go through, which will work nicely for them
all."
"So it will. Well, this is quite a relief. Please write to your cousin,
Mrs. Hall, and make the arrangement. I don't want Mrs. Watson to be
burdened with any real care of the children, of course; but if she can
arrange to go along with them, and give Clover a word of advice now and
then, should she need it, I shall be easier in my mind about them."
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