In April the melting snow and ice showed that spring was on the way. How dirty and muddy it was everywhere! Instead of skis, the children had to wade to school in well greased boots.

New kinds of festivities took the place of the old. At Easter time eggs were painted and the family feasted on memma, a dish of boiled sweetened malt, eaten with cream and sugar.

On the first of May big swings were erected in the grove near the church and there the people gathered from a considerable distance, the children to swing and frolic, and their elders to listen to the singing of runes, some so ancient that the meaning was no longer plain, or to speeches welcoming the return of spring.

"Let's play! Let's play!" the children shouted as if they hadn't also played in the winter. Play they did. Sometimes it was "Last Pair Out." In this the boys and girls formed pairs and stood behind each other. At a signal the last couples separated, each going on different sides of the line and trying to unite in front before being caught by the one who was "It." They danced "To-day is the First of May" in a double circle, and the "Ring Dance" to which they sang:

There was one little girl who was quite a leader in the games. Perhaps the reason was the enthusiastic way in which she played. She seemed to have two favorites: "Hide and Seek," in which the children counted out to see who was to be "It," and "Wolf." Both boys and girls played the latter as they did most of the other games. Juhani was the first to be the "Wolf," to the apparent joy of the leader, who took particular delight in teasing and escaping from him until he just ran her down and caught her.

Maja did not play this. She had found some children younger than herself whom she joined in making miniature farms out of stones and sand. The first building which she erected was not the dwelling-house but the Sauna or bath-house. Then followed the other farm buildings, and last the cattle had stones carefully selected for them.

The spring, ushered in with such hearty welcome, went with a surprising swiftness, and summer arrived with intense blue skies and floods of sunshine and flowers. This was the time of the white nights,—a happy holiday time,—when the sun shines for more than eighteen hours at a time and for the remainder of the twenty-four leaves generously its reflection behind.

During this springtime weather Maja saw that there were fresh wild flowers—pansies, lilies of the valley, lilacs, or wild roses—daily in the living-room. She loved the spring particularly for these. "How I love the flowers!" she would exclaim enthusiastically to Juhani whenever she found a new one.

Juhani would smile slowly, look thoughtfully into the distance, and after a pause return: "I like the spring for many things, but best I think for the change in the forest." Maja knew that he meant the new bits of sunshine everywhere and the new growth of needles that glistened so green against the background of the dark pines, and all the new bird calls to be heard there.

In June the schools closed, and for a while nothing was talked of but the preparations for the great midsummer festival to be held on June twenty-fourth, John the Baptist Day.

There seemed no end of things to be done to show gladness. Maja wove garlands of flowers, while Juhani and his friends cut down great branches of birch trees in the forest, with which to decorate the houses. Lilja and her girl friends were also busy. They went to the fields and wound colored yarn around the rye stalks, arranging them to indicate joy and sorrow, love and hate. Before the grain was harvested these marked stalks would be found and the year's fortune foretold according to which was highest.

Big bonfires, called kokko, were lit on all the highest points, and also on rafts on the lake in honor of the Sun. These were kept burning for twenty-four hours, for it is considered unlucky for them to go out sooner. Around these the people gathered to dance, many of them coming from a distance in farm carts trimmed with birch and filled with hay. There was a feast, too, of warm soup, cold salmon, and fancy cakes. The swings must not be forgotten. Several of them had been erected and not merely for the children. On some, young men and women swung together, while they sang the beautiful melancholy songs about this beautiful fleeting time.

During this season tourists invaded the country districts, some on their way to Aavasaksa Hill where the sun can then be seen at midnight, shedding gray, faintly luminous rays. Among those who came were many Russians of the wealthy and middle classes.

It was not all play. There was much, very much hard work in which the children all had their set tasks. Juhani had to drive the cattle through the woodlands, assist Lilja with the milking, and help make hay. Maja had to gather berries, of which there was a great abundance. It is true there were compensations for all these tasks. If children had to gather berries, they could also eat big bowls of them with thick cream added, at every meal. Some of the berries Maja gathered she sold to passengers on the lake steamers. When she intended doing so, she made birch baskets for them by stripping off a foot square of bark and bending it into the shape of a box without a lid, then sewing the sides with twigs.

She had also to gather sacks full of luikku, a soft white cotton flower with an odd perfume, to be used for stuffing the family pillows.

Although it was vacation there was one school task that all the children had to do or cared to do. It was gathering, pressing, and mounting as many as possible of the numerous wild flowers everywhere found in the woods and fields. The best presented at the beginning of the school term were always put on exhibition.

The only disagreeable part of the warm weather was the annoyance from mosquitoes. This made it necessary to light smoldering fires for the protection of the cattle who seemed to appreciate the fires, for without being driven they would cluster around them. Twigs of juniper were burned in the house for the same purpose. It was not always easy to get juniper, for it grows only in clay soil and Maja and her friends sometimes had a long tramp after it.

Once, remembering the story of the Lapp children, Juhani smeared tar all over his face and hands and then teased Maja by threatening to put some on her too.

After July, the long magic days grew shorter, and when the days and nights were again almost equal, the children found themselves planning what they would do when school reopened.

---

By Caroline E. Jacobs.

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Edyth Ellerbeck Read.

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards.

By Caroline E. Jacobs and Lela Horn Richards.

By Lela Horn Richards.

By Lela Horn Richards.

By Lela Horn Richards.

"Blue Bonnet has the very finest kind of wholesome, honest, lively girlishness and cannot but make friends with every one who meets her through these books about her."—Chicago Inter-Ocean.

"Blue Bonnet and her companions are real girls, the kind that one would like to have in one's home."—New York Sun.

---

"It is an inspiring story of the unfolding of life for a young girl—a story in which there is plenty of action to hold interest and wealth of delicate sympathy and understanding that appeals to the hearts of young and old."—Pittsburgh Leader.

"One of the most noteworthy stories for girls issued this season. The life of Henrietta is made very real, and there is enough incident in the narrative to balance the delightful characterization."—Providence Journal.

---

The clash of broad-sword on buckler, the twanging of bow-strings and the cracking of spears splintered by whirling maces resound through this stirring tale of knightly daring-do.

"There have been many scores of books written about the Charles Stuarts of England, but never a merrier and more pathetic one than 'The Young Cavaliers.'"—Family Herald.

"The interesting situations are numerous, and the spirit of the hero is one of courage, devotion and resource."—Columbus Dispatch.

"It is told with spirit and action."—Buffalo Express.

"The story will please all those who read it, and will be of particular interest for the boys for whom it was intended. It is a tale of devotion to an ideal of service and as such will appeal to youth."—Portage Register-Democrat.

"There is a lofty ideal throughout, some court intrigue, a smattering of the decadence of the old church heads, and a readable story."—Middletown Press.

---

"The whole range of section railroading is covered in the story."—Chicago Post.

"A vivacious account of the varied and often hazardous nature of railroad life."—Congregationalist.

"It is a book that can be unreservedly commended to anyone who loves a good, wholesome, thrilling, informing yarn."—Passaic News.

"The story is intensely interesting."—Baltimore Sun.

---

By W. H. Davenport Adams.

By C. M. Yonge.

By R. M. Ballantyne.

By H. Turing Bruce.

"Tales which ring to the clanking of armour, tales of marches and counter-marches, tales of wars, but tales which bring peace; a peace and contentment in the knowledge that right, even in the darkest times, has survived and conquered."—Portland Evening Express.

---

"Full of adventure—initiations, joys, picnics, parties, tragedies, vacation and all. Just what girls like, books in which 'dreams come true,' entertaining 'gossipy' books overflowing with conversation."—Salt Lake City Deseret News.

"High ideals and a real spirit of fun underlie the stories. They will be a decided addition to the bookshelves of the young girl for whom a holiday gift is contemplated."—Los Angeles Saturday Night.

---

"A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of a dear little maid."—The Churchman.

"Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence cannot but be elevating."—New York Sun.

"The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many girls of wholesome tastes will enjoy."—Springfield Union.

"Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young woman, with plenty of pluck."—Boston Globe.

"The story is refreshing."—New York Sun.

---

"It is a book that cheers, that inspires to higher thinking; it knits hearts; it unfolds neighborhood plans in a way that makes one tingle to try carrying them out, and most of all it proves that in daily life, threads of wonderful issues are being woven in with what appears the most ordinary of material, but which in the end brings results stranger than the most thrilling fiction."—Belle Kellogg Towne in The Young People's Weekly, Chicago.

"It is a clean, wholesome, hearty story, well told and full of incident. It carries one through experiences that hearten and brighten the day."—Utica, N. Y., Observer.

"It is a bright, entertaining story, with happy girls, good times, natural development, and a gentle earnestness of general tone."—The Christian Register, Boston.

"The story is told in easy and entertaining style and is a most delightful narrative, especially for young people. It will also make the older readers feel younger, for while reading it they will surely live again in the days of their youth."—Troy Budget.

"The author has again produced a story that is replete with wholesome incidents and makes Peggy more lovable than ever as a companion and leader."—World of Books.

---

"More of such books should be written, books that acquaint young readers with historical personages in a pleasant, informal way."—New York Sun.

"Mr. Johnston has done faithful work in this volume, and his relation of battles, sieges and struggles of these famous Indians with the whites for the possession of America is a worthy addition to United States History."—New York Marine Journal.

"It is the kind of a book that will have a great fascination for boys and young men."—New London Day.

"The tales are more than merely interesting; they are entrancing, stirring the blood with thrilling force."—Pittsburgh Post.

"The accounts are not only authentic, but distinctly readable, making a book of wide appeal to all who love the history of actual adventure."—Cleveland Leader.

"The book is an epitome of some of the wildest and bravest adventures of which the world has known."—Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Who Led the United States and Her Allies to a Glorious Victory.

"The pages of this book have the charm of romance without its unreality. The book illuminates, with life-like portraits, the history of the World War."—Rochester Post Express.

"From Lindy to Bobby Jones, including Helen and Trudy, they are all here—and a right fine company they are. We are not acquainted with anyone who will not enjoy these fascinating stories of virile people."—Monthly Book Talk.

"These biographies drive home the truth that just as every soldier of Napoleon carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack, so every American youngster carries potential success under his hat."—New York World.

With a complete index.

"In connection with the life of John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, and other famous naval officers, he groups the events of the period in which the officer distinguished himself, and combines the whole into a colorful and stirring narrative."—Boston Herald.

---