A Talk At Home
ON SUNDAY morning Mr. and Mrs. Arable
and F em were sitting at breakfast in the
kitchen. Avery had finished and was up-
stairs looking for his slingshot.
"Did you know that Uncle Homer's goslings had
hatched?" asked Fern.
"How many?" asked Mr. Arable.
"Seven," replied Fern. "There were eight eggs but
one egg didn't hatch and the goose told Templeton she
didn't want it any more, so he took it away."
"The goose did what?" asked Mrs. Arable, gazing at
her daughter with a queer, worried look.
"Told Templeton she didn't want the egg any more,"
repeated Fern.
"Who is Templeton?" asked Mrs. Arable.
"He's the rat," replied Fern. "None of us like him
much."
"Who's 'us'?" asked Mr. Arable.
"Oh, everybody in the barn cellar. Wilbur and the
sheep and the lambs and the goose and the gander and
the goslings and Charlotte and me. "
"Charlotte? " said Mrs. Arable. "Who's Charlotte?"
"She's Wilbur's best friend. She's terribly clever."
"What does she look like?" asked Mrs. Arable.
"Weil-l," said Fern, thoughtfully, "she has eight legs.
All spiders do, I guess."
"Charlotte is a spider?" asked Fern's mother.
Fern nodded. "A big grey one. She has a web across
the top of Wilbur's doorway. She catches flies and
sucks their blood. Wilbur adores her."
"Does he really?" said Mrs. Arable, rather vaguely.
She was staring at Fern with a worried expression on
her face.
"Oh, yes, Wilbur adores Charlotte," said Fern. "Do
you know what Charlotte said when the goslings
hatched?"
"I haven't the faintest idea," said Mr. Arable. "Tell
us."
"Well, when the first gosling stuck its little head out
from under the goose, I was sitting on my stool in the
corner and Charlotte was on her web. She made a
speech. She said: 'I am sure that every one of us here
in the barn cellar will be gratified to learn that after
four weeks of unremitting effort and patience on the
part of the goose, she now has something to show for it.' Don't you think that was a pleasant thing for her to
say?"
"Yes, I do," said Mrs. Arable. "And now, Fern, it's
time to get ready for Sunday School. And tell Avery
to get ready. And this afternoon you can tell me more
about what goes on in Uncle Homer's barn. Aren't you
spending quite a lot of time there? You go there almost
every afternoon, don't you?"
"I like it there," replied Fern. She wiped her mouth
and ran upstairs. After she had left the room, Mrs.
Arable spoke in a low voice to her husband.
"I worry about Fern," she said. "Did you hear the
way she rambled on about the animals, pretending that
they talked?"
Mr. Arable chuckled. "Maybe they do talk," he said.
"I've sometimes wondered. At any rate, don't worry
about Fern-she's just got a lively imagination. Kids
think they hear all sorts of things."
"Just the same, I do worry about her," replied Mrs.
Arable. "I think I shall ask Dr. Doriap about her the
next time I see him. He loves Fern almost as much as
we do, and I want him to know how queerly she is act-
ing about that pig and everything. I don't think it's nor-
mal. You know perfectly well animals don't talk."
Mr. Arable grinned. "Maybe our ears aren't as sharp
as Fern's," he said.