Free Anna on the Farm by Mary Downing Hahn, Diane de Groat Page A

picky as Mother, Anna thinks.
    By noon, Uncle George's vegetables and fruit are sold. The customers are gone. At last, it's time to go home. Anna is almost too tired to eat the sandwich Aunt Aggie packed for her.
    Before they leave the city, Uncle George drives the children past the Capitol and the Washington Monument. Neither Anna nor Theodore has ever been to Washington before. They have never seen such grand buildings. The white marble glows in the summer sunlight. Children run and play on the grass. Ladies and gentlemen stroll along wide paths. Pigeons strut at their feet, searching for crumbs.
    As Uncle George turns the horses toward home, Anna and Theodore sit on the back of the wagon. They watch the Capitol shrink to the size of the tiny model

    Aunt May keeps on her mantel as a souvenir of her one and only trip to Washington. Anna promises herself she'll come back when she's older and stroll on the shady walkways, taking in all the sights. Maybe she'll buy a souvenir and keep it on her mantel, just like Aunt May.
    During the long ride home, the sun beats down on the fields. Theodore takes off his shoes and dangles his bare feet off the back of the wagon. Anna's toes feel pinched and her feet are hot. Like Thoedore, she takes off her shoes and lets the summer breeze cool her feet. How will she bear to wear shoes every day when she goes home to the city?
    At last, Uncle George pulls the horses to a stop beside the house. Anna and Theodore jump down from the wagon. At the same moment, the kitchen door opens and out steps Father, shouting, "Surprise, Anna, surprise!"
    Anna squeals with delight and dashes across the yard. Her bare feet fly over the pebbles and stones. She runs up the steps, way ahead of Theodore, and flings her arms around Father.
    Behind Father, Mother cries, "Anna, what are you wearing? What have you done to your hair? Where are your shoes?"
    Anna steps back from Father and stares at Mother. "These are my farm clothes," she says. "Aunt Aggie gave them to me."
    "I sent you here in a pretty dress looking like a lady," Mothers says, her face red. "And now look at you! Anna, what am I to think?"
    Father starts to laugh. "We thought we were surprising Anna," he tells Mother, "but it seems she's surprised us."
    "Indeed she has." Mother does not laugh. "Come inside with me this moment, Anna Sherwood."
    As Anna follows Mother into the house, she hears Theodore say, "Is Anna getting a spanking?"
    "No," says Father, no doubt disappointing Theodore. "I imagine she's about to have a bath."
    "That's even worse than a spanking," Theodore says.
    "Agnes," Mother says, "I cannot believe you permitted Anna to wear overalls and go barefoot. Why, she's not even clean."
    Aunt Aggie shrugs. "Anna's in the country, not the city. Things are different here, Lizzie."
    "But look at her face." Mother snatches Theodores old hat off Annas head and points at her sunburned nose and her freckles. "In Baltimore, proper girls don't get sunburned. They don't have freckles. And only servants wear their hair in braids."
    While Mother and Aunt Aggie quarrel, Anna looks from one to the other. If Aunt May were here, Mother would have switched to German by now, but, like Father, Aunt Aggie doesn't speak any language except English. For once, Anna can understand every word Mother says.
    Taking a deep breath, Aunt Aggie says, "A bath and a hairbrush is all Anna needs."
    "The best soap in the world won't scrub off sunburn and freckles," says Mother.
    "They'll fade," says Aunt Aggie. "In no time, Anna will be her usual ladylike self."
    Behind Mother's back, Anna makes a face. She doesn't want to be her old ladylike self. She wants to spend the whole summer on the farm. Go barefoot every day. Wear raggedy overalls and braids and Theodore's old straw hat. Never wash her face or hands or take a bath.
    While Mother brushes Annas hair, Aunt Aggie heats water on the stove and fills a round tub in the kitchen for Annas bath. She puts a screen around it so