The Boxcar Children Chapter 8 Summary

A Swimming Pool at Last

  • The kids sleep till 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, and after breakfast, they start to work on the swimming pool. It's going to be a group effort.
  • They assess the brook and decide they need to build a dam. Jessie washes socks.
  • Building a dam is hard work, but the Boxcar Children are basically perfect, so they don't mind.
  • After the children lay some logs on top of a stack of stones, they realize they need to build a tall wall with more logs. Good thing they like hard work so much.
  • Finally, the dam is finished, and the pool fills with water. You know what that means: It's swimming time.
  • The boys get the first swim while the girls cook dinner. Shmoop thinks the boys got the better end of that deal.
  • Jessie and Violet heat up the leftover stew. Then, Jessie rings the dinner bell. Guess what she made it from? More garbage from the dump.
  • The children eat stew, wash dishes, and then set off on a walk. Watch begins to bark. Uh-oh, do you think it's the intruder?
  • No, it's a runaway hen.
  • Benny finds a nest with some eggs, and as luck would have it, Jessie knows how to cook eggs. That's dinner sorted.
  • Jessie cooks the eggs and they're delish. She thanks Benny for finding them.