CHAPTER XIV.
A FUNNY FAMILY Patty was right when she called the Barlows a funny family, for their spirits were irrepressible, and each day, from morning till night was filled with jokes and absurdities accompanied or followed by gales of laughter.
But they were heedless, forgetful people, and the whole household showed an utter lack of systematic management.
Nothing was ever to be found in its place; meals were served at any hour when old Hopalong got them ready.

Sometimes the market orders were neglected and there was almost nothing to eat, and then again there was such an overstock that much had to be wasted.

The children were allowed to do exactly as they chose, and were never reproved; but if their own mischief led them into misfortune, or their pranks turned out disastrously, they were expected to stand the consequences bravely, and look for little or no sympathy from their elders.
Patty had not been at the Hurly-Burly many days before she discovered that its proportion of order and regularity was entirely too small.

To be sure, in the Fleming family it had been too large; but she thought there must be a happy medium, a state of things whereby one could expect the ordinary events of daily life to come in due course, without, however, living as if by clockwork.

You see Patty was becoming a very wise little girl, for she was profiting by her varied experiences, and trying to learn the best way to take care of her father's house and make it a real home for him.
Sometimes she felt this responsibility very greatly, and longed for some motherly, housewifely friend to talk with about it.
But Aunt Grace, though loving and affectionate, was no help in such matters.
"Nonsense, child," she would say, "don't worry about your housekeeping; why, the house will keep itself, if you let it alone.