Read "Rena's Experiment" by Mary Jane Holmes online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
A tall, angular woman, wearing a sun-bonnet and a big work apron which nearly covered her short dress, stood on the fence calling, "Charlotte Ann! Charlotte Ann! Charlotte Ann Parks! Where be you? Don't you know it's 'most noon, and the table not set? and Miss Bennett's very partic'lar about her digester; and there's a letter from the two summer boarders who are coming!"
The woman's voice, strong and clear, went echoing down a grassy lane which led to a small grove, or thicket, of pine-woods in which was a shallow well, now seldom used except during a summer drought, when the cattle, which fed in the pasture-land around the woods, were watered from it. The old bucket and curb had fallen apart, and pieces of them were lying on the ground; but around the well were large, flat stones, one of which projected beyond the others a foot or more, so that a person standing upon it could look directly down into the centre of the water below. And it was on this projection that Charlotte Ann Parks was standing when her mother's voice came warning her that it was nearly noon, that the table was not set, that Miss Bennett was particular about her "digester," and there was a letter from the summer boarders.