Miss Polly Wiggles

"Miss Polly Wiggles" by Edna Clark Davis is a children’s novel written in the early 20th century. It follows lively Elizabeth “Polly Wiggles” Eaton during a spring at her grandparents’ country home, The Lilacs, alongside her sisters Jeannette and Evelyn (“Cubby”), close friends, and a teasing troop of cousins. The tone is warm and humorous, mixing picnics, games, school fêtes, and family kindness with the occasional scrape and small peril that tests pluck and good sense. The opening of the story settles the Eatons at The Lilacs, introduces the “Three Bears” sisters and their friends Alice and Marion, and sets a playful rhythm with Aunt Elsie’s surprise dolls’ bathing-picnic: celluloid doll races in the brook, homemade bark canoes, prizes, and a family luncheon that even celebrates the cat Boots’ “birthday.” More games follow—turtle races, tiny tents and hammocks for dolls, and a rollicking limerick session on the porch that good‑naturedly teases the children and cousins Billy and Dick. Tension briefly spikes when Cubby wanders off with a red parasol and unwittingly taunts a bull, only to be rescued by a passerby, Robert Burnett, to the family’s deep relief. Later, at tea with Miss Helen Cole, the girls help plan a school May‑Day frolic and make sample May‑baskets. As they head home, scarlet‑fever quarantines force them to avoid the shorter road; a sudden, violent storm overtakes them in the woods, drenching and frightening them amid crashing thunder and blinding lightning, while Miss Helen and the returning family assume they reached home safely—leaving the opening section on a sharp, suspenseful note.

Miss Polly Wiggles, by Edna Clark Davis. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #78874.