Busy days came with early summer, and there was work for everyone, even the three sisters. Father was plowing in front of the house, forming a big garden that sloped away down to the incoming trail. Raspberry bushes edged the barbed-wire fence on one side and across the foot of the garden by the trail. On the other side at the top of the garden, Father had plum trees, apple trees and bee hives. Right in the very middle of the garden, he had left an oak tree that was too beautiful to cut down.
At the top of the garden was a big, strong and wide garden gate that reached from the fence to the side of the porch. How the girls loved to swing on that garden gate!
“Anybody want a ride on Queenie or Jenny?” Father asked, as he stopped plowing at the end of a row to mop his face with a big, red bandanna handkerchief.
“All right, all right!” he smiled at their eager shouts, “but you’ll have to pay for your rides! See all the stones the plow is turning up? They need to be picked out and piled over there by the oak tree. Still want your rides?”
Of course they did, and Peggy Jean was first since she was the youngest. Father swung her up onto Queenie’s back and showed her where to hold onto the harness. Oh! how high from the ground it seemed, and her little legs seemed to stick straight out on Queenie’s broad back.
At first it was scary, and she clung tightly to the harness, almost wishing she had not coaxed to be first! But the smooth swinging motion calmed her fears, and her turn was over all too soon.
Picking up stones, the girls soon learned, was hard work, but the freshly turned earth felt soft and cool to their bare feet, and the earth smelled so good. Mother came out to help for a while too and brought a pail into which she put a few handfuls of dirt.
“Now girls,” she explained, “this is for angleworms! Whenever you see nice big ones, drop them into this pail. Uncle Bob will appreciate them for fishing bait.”
By lunchtime the plowing was finished. The morning had flown by, and quite a pile of stones surrounded the oak tree in the center of the garden. After lunch even Father and Uncle Bob helped with picking stones, and Father explained that there was still a lot of work to be done before the seeds could be planted. There would be disking and raking and making of rows. All summer, more rocks and stones could be picked out. Also, weeds would flourish and need to be pulled.
How glad they were when Father told them they had done a good job. “Run along and play a while. Look in the shed by the back door. There’s a surprise there for each one of you!”
Suddenly they forgot about being tired. They raced to the shed. There they found three barrel hoops and three sticks with a little crosspiece nailed at one end.
“What do we do with them?” Helen and Peggy were puzzled.
“Watch me!” Naomi called, as she already had started down the slope toward the trail, rolling the hoop before her and guiding it with the special stick Father had made.
Soon three little sisters were rolling hoops around the house and barn, and up and down the trail. Father and Uncle Bob smiled at their happy shouts.
“Maybe I could make a swing for them tonight. There’s plenty of rope hanging in the barn,” Uncle Bob said, thinking out loud. “That strong branch over there looks like it’s asking for a swing for three little girls!”
“I’m afraid our ladder is too short to reach that branch ... ”
“Don’t need any ladder!” Uncle Bob grinned at Father. “I haven’t seen a tree yet that I can’t climb if I take a mind to. But don’t tell the girls. This’ll be my surprise for them tomorrow!”
The next day, the new swing was greeted with more shouts of joy, and it was hard to take time from swinging and rolling their hoops to return again to work hard at picking stones. But Mother was anxious to get her garden planted while the weather was so good.
At last they were planting the garden and the girls helped Mother with that also. The men were working hard at finishing Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob’s house.
Then one day Mother had a good plan. “Let’s take a lunch over for Father and Uncle Bob, and the rest of us will row down to Indian Point for a picnic. You’ve been such good workers and helpers - I think we all need a change and a happy time.”
Naomi ran over to the new house with the lunch for the men while Helen and Peggy carried the iron frying pan and the bread and butter sandwiches to the boat. “We’ll fish on the way down to Indian Point and have fish sandwiches,” Mother said. Fish were plentiful, for the lake was large and few people lived in the big woods around it.
Indian Point was a favorite spot. It had lots of rocks and big logs to climb around on. It also had a nice sandy beach if they wanted to swim. It was always fun to explore around the Indian grave back in the woods a little way. A long, low house covered the spot where the Indian was buried. The Indian’s canoe was inside this house along with a few of his belongings. Outside it was painted a dark red, and at one end was a small opening where tobacco and bits of Indians’ favorite foods were put for his spirit to enjoy!
“Do you suppose he ever heard about the Lord Jesus dying for his sins?” the girls wondered.
“He may have. We just don’t know,” Mother said.
On the way, Mother rowed the boat and Naomi fished with a trolling line and a red-and-white lure. Helen shared the seat with her, and Peggy was in the tiny seat in the prow of the boat.
Halfway to Indian point, clouds covered the sun, and soon big drops of rain began to spatter around them.
“Oh no!” Helen cried with disappointment. “Look! It’s going to rain and we haven’t caught a single fish!”
As the boat touched the shore, Peggy Jean hopped out into the water. She was barefoot, and she knew that her job was to pull the boat up onto the sand. Looking back at the others, she noticed that Naomi was still slowly winding her trolling line in. Peggy wondered why she had not taken it in sooner, for there were weeds near the shore and fishing was not good there.
Suddenly she thought, “God could still put a fish on Naomi’s line! Of course there are only pickerel in as close to shore as this - but God can do anything! I’ll ask Him to put a big walleyed pike on her hook -a big one so that there will be enough for all of us!”
Right then Peggy Jean closed her eyes and asked the Lord to do just that! When she opened her eyes she heard Naomi saying, “Guess I’ve got weeds on my hook, it feels sort of heavy. I should have wound my line in sooner.”
Peggy Jean was so excited she could hardly breathe! She and God had a secret that none of the others knew. Those were not weeds on Naomi’s line — it was a big walleyed pike that God had put there — they would soon see!
The drops of rain were falling faster now, so Naomi hurried with the last of her line. “My, but it does feel ... ” she said as she drew in the last of her line and a beautiful, big walleyed pike flopped into the boat at her feet.
What happy laughter and joy there was then! With shining eyes, Peggy Jean helped the others pull the boat clear up out of the water and onto the sand. Then they tipped it over onto its side and propped the two ends on big rocks so that they could build a fire and sit under its shelter from the rain.
Mother soon had the fish cleaned and sputtering in the frying pan. How good it smelled! What fun it was to all sit close together, snugly sheltered from the rain pelting down on the boat overhead.
The fish was done. As they bowed their heads to give thanks, Peggy Jean whispered her special thank-you to the Lord for answering her prayer so wonderfully.