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diff --git a/old/61082-0.txt b/old/61082-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cb431b8..0000000 --- a/old/61082-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6800 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Neddie and Beckie Stubtail (Two Nice Bears), by -Howard R. Garis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Neddie and Beckie Stubtail (Two Nice Bears) - Bedtime Stories - -Author: Howard R. Garis - -Illustrator: Louis Wisa - -Release Date: January 2, 2020 [EBook #61082] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, David Edwards, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - _BEDTIME STORIES_ - - - - - NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL - (TWO NICE BEARS) - - - BY - HOWARD R. GARIS - - AUTHOR OF “SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL,” “JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL,” - “CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK,” “THE SMITH BOYS,” “THE ISLAND BOYS,” ETC. - - - Illustrated by LOUIS WISA - - - A. L. BURT COMPANY - PUBLISHERS · · NEW YORK - - - - - PUBLISHER’S NOTE - - - These stories appeared originally in the Evening News, of Newark, N. - J., and are reproduced in book form by the kind permission of the - publishers of that paper, to whom the author extends his thanks. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - - STORY PAGE - I. NEDDIE AND BECKIE IN TROUBLE 9 - - II. BECKIE AND THE BUNS 17 - - III. NEDDIE AND THE BEES’ NEST 25 - - IV. BECKIE AND THE GRAPES 33 - - V. NEDDIE AND THE TRAINED BEAR 41 - - VI. THE STUBTAILS RUN AWAY 49 - - VII. NEDDIE AND BECKIE CLIMB A POLE 57 - - VIII. NEDDIE DOES A TRICK 65 - - IX. THE STUBTAILS’ THANKSGIVING 73 - - X. NEDDIE AND THE ELEPHANT 81 - - XI. BECKIE AND THE MONKEY 89 - - XII. NEDDIE AND BECKIE GO HOME 97 - - XIII. NEDDIE AND FUZZY WUZZYTAIL 104 - - XIV. BECKIE MAKES A DOLL’S DRESS 111 - - XV. NEDDIE’S JOKE ON UNCLE WIGWAG 119 - - XVI. MR. WHITEWASH AND THE STOVEPIPE 127 - - XVII. PAPA STUBTAIL IN A TRAP 135 - - XVIII. MAMMA STUBTAIL’S HONEY CAKES 143 - - XIX. NEDDIE AND THE KINDLING WOOD 151 - - XX. BECKIE’S COUGH MEDICINE 159 - - XXI. NEDDIE AND THE TOOTING HORN 167 - - XXII. BECKIE AND THE ORGAN MAN 175 - - XXIII. NEDDIE PLAYS THE PIANO 183 - - XXIV. NEDDIE AND BECKIE AT A PARTY 191 - - XXV. NEDDIE IN A SNOWBANK 199 - - XXVI. HELPING UNCLE WIGWAG 207 - - XXVII. BECKIE AND HER WAX DOLL 215 - - XXVIII. NEDDIE AND THE LEMON PIE 223 - - XXIX. BECKIE AND THE COLD BIRDIE 231 - - XXX. NEDDIE HELPS SANTA CLAUS 239 - - XXXI. NEDDIE AND BECKIE IN THE CHIMNEY 246 - - - - - Neddie and Beckie Stubtail - - - - - STORY I - NEDDIE AND BECKIE IN TROUBLE - - -So many different kinds of stories as I have told you! My goodness me, -sakes alive, and some molasses popcorn! I should think you would get -tired of them. - -But I hope you do not, and, as everyone likes something new once in a -while, I thought I would make up some new stories for you. I have been -telling you about rabbits and squirrels and ducks and chickens. How -would you like to hear now about some little bear children? Not bad, -savage bears, you know, but nice, kind, gentle, tame ones who always -minded the papa and mamma bears, went to bed when they were told, and -all that. - -Of course, I could tell you some stories about bad, growly and scratchy -bears if I wanted to, but I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you. - -Now, then, for some bear stories. - -Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived in a house, -called a cave, in the side of a hill, a family of bears. Their -cave-house was not far from where Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the puppy -dogs, had their kennel, and the bear cave was only a short distance away -from where Joie and Tommie and Kittie Kat lived. - -There were seven bears in the family, five grown-up ones and two -children. There was a chap named Neddie, who was as nice a boy bear as -you would want to meet. And there was a little girl bear named Beckie, -and she was as cute as a soap bubble, if not cuter. - -Then there were the papa and mamma bears. And their last name was -Stubtail, for bears, you know, have only a little, short stubby -tail—hardly a tail at all, to tell the truth. But still it is more of a -tail than Buddy and Brighteyes, the guinea pig children, have. - -Also living with this same Stubtail family of bears was an old gentleman -bear named Uncle Wigwag, and the reason he was called that was because -he was always playing tricks, or telling jokes, and when he laughed, -after he had fooled anybody, he would wig and wag his head from side to -side. - -Also there was Aunt Piffy, who was so fat that she used to puff and pant -as she came upstairs, and lastly there was a real old bear gentleman -named Mr. Whitewash. He was called that because he was all white—he was -a polar bear from the North Pole, and he always wanted to sit on a cake -of ice. - -So these bears lived together in the cave in the side of the hill, and -they did many things, about which I shall have the pleasure of telling -you. Neddie and Beckie did the most things to tell about, but, of -course, sometimes the other bear folks did things also. - -One day when Neddie and Beckie had come home from their school, Mrs. -Stubtail, the bear lady, said to her children: - -“Neddie—Beckie, I wish you would walk a little way through the woods, -and meet your papa when he comes home from his work in the bed factory.” -You see Mr. Stubtail worked at making mattresses for beds. With his long -sharp claws he would make the inside of the mattresses all fluffy and -soft so, no matter how wide awake you were, you always fell asleep when -you stretched out on one of the beds the bear gentleman made. - -“Why do you want us to meet papa?” asked Neddie. - -“I want you to tell him to stop at the store on his way home and bring -some honey,” said Mrs. Stubtail. “We are going to have hot cornmeal -biscuits and honey for supper.” - -“Oh, joy!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws together. Then she waltzed -around on her hind paws and she and Neddie hurried off down the road to -meet their papa. - -As they were going along they heard a voice calling to them: - -“Oh, ho! Children, wait a minute! Here comes your Uncle Wiggily with -some ice cream cones for you!” - -“Oh, let’s wait for our uncle, the rabbit gentleman,” said Neddie. - -So he and Beckie waited, and they heard a rustling in the bushes and -their mouths were just getting ready for the ice cream cones when out -popped Uncle Wigwag, the joking old bear. - -“Ha! Ha!” he cried, laughing and wigging and wagging his head. “That’s -the time I fooled you!” - -Neddie and Beckie were so disappointed that they did not know what to -say. Uncle Wigwag was laughing at his joke, but when he saw how badly -the bear children felt he said: - -“Never mind. I’ll give you each a penny and you can buy yourself some -ice cream cones.” - -So he did, and then Beckie and Neddie were happy, and they went on to -meet their papa, while Uncle Wigwag looked around for some one else on -whom he could play a joke. - -“We ought to meet papa soon now,” said Neddie, as he looked under an old -stump to see if he could find any crabapples growing there. - -“A little farther on and we’ll see him,” spoke Beckie. - -They went on a little more, and all of a sudden Neddie saw a large -hollow log lying on the ground. It was just like a stovepipe, only -bigger and it had a hole all the way through it. - -“Ha! I’m going to crawl through that hollow log!” cried Neddie. - -“Better not,” warned Beckie. “Maybe something in it might catch you.” - -“Pooh! I’m not afraid!” cried Neddie. “Anyhow, I can look all the way -through. There’s not a thing in it.” - -So he started to crawl through the hollow log, but my goodness me, sakes -alive and some onion pancakes! Neddie had not gone very far before he -found the hole in the log getting smaller. - -“I don’t believe I’ll be able to crawl through to the other end,” -thought the little boy bear. Then he tried to back out, but he could -not—he was stuck fast inside the hollow log. - -“Oh, help! Help!” cried Neddie, wiggling and trying to get out. But he -was tightly held. He could hardly move. - -“What’s the matter?” asked Beckie from where she stood outside the -hollow log. - -“I’m stuck! I can’t get out!” cried Neddie, and his voice sounded as if -it were down cellar. - -“Wait! I’ll get a long stick and poke you out, just like you poke out a -bean that gets stuck in your putty-blower,” said Beckie. So she got a -long stick, and poked it in through the hollow log. All at once the -stick came up against something soft. - -“What’s that?” asked Beckie, surprised like. - -“Stop! Ouch! It’s me!” yelled Neddie. “Stop it! You’re tickling my -back.” - -“But I want to get you out,” said Beckie, poking in the stick again. - -“You can’t do it that way,” said her brother. “I guess you’ll have to -crawl in after me and pull me out.” - -“All right,” said Beckie kindly, “I will.” So she climbed through the -log from the same end where her brother had gone in. “I’m coming,” -called Beckie. Then she grunted, all of a sudden. - -“What’s the matter?” asked Neddie, anxious-like. - -“I’m stuck, too,” answered Beckie. “Either I am too fat, or this log is -too small. I can’t move either way, and I can’t help you.” - -“Oh, dear!” cried Neddie. So there the two little bear children were in -trouble inside the hollow log. They wiggled and squirmed and did -everything they could think of to get out, but it was of no use. They -were stuck fast. - -I don’t know how long they might have had to stay, nor what might have -happened to them, had not their papa come along just then from the bed -factory. The bear gentleman heard cries coming from the hollow log, and, -listening a moment, he knew they were made by his children, Beckie and -Neddie. - -“Ah ha!” cried Mr. Stubtail. “They are in the hollow log! I’ll soon get -them out.” - -Then, with his strong claws, Mr. Stubtail made a big hole in the side of -the log, taking care not to scratch Beckie or Neddie. Soon the hole was -large enough for the two bear children to come out about the middle of -the side of the log. And, oh! how glad they were. - -“I’ll never go in a hollow log again!” cried Beckie. - -“Nor I,” added Neddie. Then they told their papa about their mamma -wanting honey, and he took them by the paws and led them to the store -where honey was sold and bought some. Next they all went home to supper, -and Uncle Wigwag said it was a good joke on Beckie and Neddie to get -stuck in the hollow log. Perhaps it was, but the bear children did not -think so. But they liked the honey, anyhow. - -So in the next story, if the jumping-jack doesn’t fall off his stick -down into the cake dish, and get all covered with frosting so he looks -like a candy doll, I’ll tell you about Beckie and the buns. - - - - - STORY II - BECKIE AND THE BUNS - - -The next day, after Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little bear -children, had been caught in the hollow log, and their papa had to claw -them out, they didn’t go to school. It was not because they were not -well enough, for, after all, being stuck inside a hollow log doesn’t -hurt a bear child very much. You see they have a lot of soft, fluffy fur -on them. - -No, that wasn’t the reason Beckie and Neddie didn’t go to school. And it -wasn’t because it was Saturday, either. No, it was because there was no -school on account of the teacher bear having a toothache. And when a -bear has the toothache he really can’t do anything. He has to go to the -dentist right away. - -It was so with the teacher bear. - -On the outside of the school house door the bear teacher hung a white -piece of birch bark, on which was printed: - - NO SCHOOL TO-DAY. - I’VE GOT THE TOOTHACHE. - -“Oh, goodie!” cried Neddie when he read it, and he felt so happy that he -tried to wag his little short tail, only he couldn’t. - -“Why, Neddie, I’m s’prised at you!” exclaimed Tommie Kat, who, with his -brother and sister, Joie and Kittie, had also come to school. - -“Oh, I’m not glad ’cause teacher’s got the toothache,” said Neddie -Stubtail quickly, “it’s just because there’s no school.” - -“Oh, then so’m I glad,” said Kittie Kat, purring softly. - -So all the animal children went home on account of the school being -closed, and when Mrs. Stubtail saw Beckie and Neddie coming up to the -cave-house, she exclaimed: - -“Why, what does this mean?” The little bears told their mamma, and Aunt -Piffy, who had just come up from down cellar, said: - -“Well, if there is no (puff) school, I can (puff) hear your (puff) -lessons!” You see she puffed because she was all out of breath. - -“Oh, no, thank you,” said Neddie quickly, “we’ll have to-day’s lessons -to-morrow, so we don’t have to study any now.” - -Then he went out to have some fun: and one of the things he did was to -watch his uncle Wigwag and Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, -building a new room onto the cave-house. It was a room made from a big -hollow log—not the same one that Neddie and Beckie had been caught in, -however, but another one. Mrs. Stubtail wanted her cave-house made -larger so Uncle Wigwag suggested adding on a hollow log for a -sitting-room. - -So that’s what he and Mr. Whitewash were doing, and Neddie helped them -by getting in their way every now and then, so they wouldn’t work too -fast and get all tired out. Finally Uncle Wigwag said: - -“Neddie, I wish you’d go to the store and get me some red paint to color -this log green.” And, never thinking it was a joke, off Neddie ran. - -Pretty soon after that his mamma wanted him to go to the store to get -her a yeast cake, so she could make bread. But, as Neddie was not in -sight, Beckie went. - -On her way home with the yeast cake in her paws Beckie had to go past a -house where some other bears lived. Now these bears were not nice and -good. In fact they were bad, and because they were bad, and because the -Stubtail family was a family of good bears the bad bears did not like -them. - -Why, would you believe it? Often those bad bears would take rabbit and -squirrel and guinea pig children off to their dens and keep them there -for ever and ever so long, just to be mean, you know. But none of the -Stubtails, or Mr. Whitewash, or Uncle Wigwag, or Aunt Piffy would do -anything like that. Maybe Uncle Wigwag would play a joke, or do -something funny, but nothing that was real mean. - -And once Mr. Whitewash met a little boy kitten in the woods—Joie Kat I -think it was. And Joie was wiggling and squirming and twisting this way -and that. - -“What’s the matter, Joie?” asked Mr. Whitewash. “Have you the measles?” - -“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Joie, “my back itches me terribly, and I can’t -reach the place to scratch it. Oh, dear!” - -Now, there’s nothing worse than to have an itchy place in your back and -not be able to scratch it. Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, knew that, so -with his claws he gently scratched Joie’s back for him and tickled the -little kitten boy very much. - -But if Joie had met one of the bad bears, why, my goodness me, and some -peanut butter on your cracker! The bad bear would, just as soon as not, -have taken Joie off to his den and made him pull chestnuts out of the -fire for the other bears to eat. That’s what it is to be a bad bear! - -And that was the cave-house in the woods which Beckie had to go past on -her way home from the store with the yeast cake. But she was not afraid, -even of the bad bears. - -However, one of the bad bears, looking out of a window in his -cave-house, saw her coming and he said to his brothers: - -“Ha! There’s that goody-goody little Stubtail girl! I’m going to get her -in here and pull her hair!” - -“How are you going to do it?” asked another bear. - -“I’ll show you!” spoke the first one. - -So he went to the cupboard and got a lot of sweet buns. Bears, you know, -love buns almost more than anything else. If ever you see some tame -bears in a cage or in a park give them a few buns, and see how they -enjoy them. That is, if the keeper lets you, not otherwise. - -So this bad bear, who wanted to pull Beckie’s hair, just because she was -good, threw a bun out of his window. It fell close to the little bear -girl, who looked at it in surprise. - -“Ha!” she exclaimed, “that is strange! I wonder if it is raining buns -from the sky?” She looked up, but she could see none falling from the -clouds, and because the bad bear who had thrown the bun was hiding -behind the window curtains Beckie could not see him, either. - -“Well, I’ll eat it,” the little animal said, and she did, for it was a -good bun, even if a bad bear did throw it. - -“Ha!” said one of the bad bears to his brother, “I don’t see how you’re -going to get her in here to pull her hair just by tossing buns at her.” - -“You just watch,” said the first bad bear. - -Then he threw another bun, when Beckie wasn’t looking, and this one he -did not toss quite so far. It fell nearer to the cave-house of the bad -bears. - -“Oh joy!” cried Beckie, seeing the second bun, “someone is very good to -me to-day!” - -Ah! If she had only known. - -“See!” exclaimed one bad bear to the other, “that’s how I’m going to get -Beckie in here! Every bun she picks up will bring her closer and closer -to us, and soon I can jump out and grab her!” - -Oh, wasn’t he the bad old bear! - -Well, Beckie ate the second bun, and then came a third one, sailing -through the air. - -“Why, it surely is raining buns!” cried Beckie in delight. “I mustn’t -eat them all. I’ll save some to take home to Neddie.” - -So she began to put the buns in her pocket, and she never noticed that -each one she picked up brought her nearer and nearer and nearer to the -cave of the bad bears. - -The last bun was almost on their doorstep, and, just as Beckie reached -over for it, the bad bear jumped out and grabbed her. - -“Oh dear!” cried poor Beckie Stubtail. - -But the bad bears did not get a chance to take her into their house. -Just as they were going to do it along came Mr. Whitewash, the kind -polar bear. He was looking for Neddie to tell him Uncle Wigwag was only -joking about the red paint to make a log green. And then Mr. Whitewash -saw the bad bear grab Beckie who had picked up the buns. - -And what do you think Mr. Whitewash did? - -Why, the big, brave white polar bear went right up to the bad black bear -and he cuffed him on the ears with his broad paws, and pushed him back -inside his own house, and then he tickled that furry creature in the -ribs until the bad bear had to laugh whether he wanted to or not, and -then Mr. Whitewash just grabbed Beckie up under his paw and hurried away -home with her. And, oh, how angry the bad bears were, because they could -pull no one’s hair. - -“Beckie, you must be very careful about going near that bear house -again,” said her mamma when she heard the story. - -“I will, but, anyhow, I got the buns,” said Beckie, as she gave Neddie -some. - -So that’s all now, if you please, but the next story will be about -Neddie and the bees’ nest—that is, if the nutmeg grater doesn’t scratch -the piano and make it cry when the rubber doll tries to play a song on -it. - - - - - STORY III - NEDDIE AND THE BEES’ NEST - - -One day, when Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little boy and girl bears, -started for school, Uncle Wigwag, the funny old bear gentleman who, with -Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, was building a sitting-room on to the -cave-house out of a hollow tree log, said: - -“Neddie, when you come back from your lessons this afternoon I shall -have something for you to do.” - -“All right,” answered Neddie politely, as he stood up on his hind legs -and reached for a bunch of grapes growing on a vine in the woods. “All -right, Uncle Wigwag. Do you want me to go after some blue paint to color -a board pink?” and Neddie laughed. - -Uncle Wigwag laughed too, for you see he was always playing jokes on -Neddie and Beckie, and he remembered when he had once sent the little -bear boy for the wrong kind of paint. - -“No,” answered the old gentleman bear, “nothing like that, Neddie; I -just want to take you for a walk in the woods, and have you go see Uncle -Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, with me. Uncle Wiggily is going -to sell his automobile and buy a new car, so maybe he’ll give us his old -one.” - -“Oh, joy! I hope he does!” cried Neddie. - -“So do I!” exclaimed Beckie. - -Then she and her brother went to school and learned their lessons, such -as how to make beds in hollow stumps, and how to scratch their letters -on the white bark of a birch tree and how to keep out of dangerous -traps, and all things like that. - -And all the while Neddie was wondering whether or not Uncle Wiggily -would give them his old automobile. - -“If he does,” thought the little bear boy, “we can have lots of fun. It -will be better than sliding down hill or eating ice cream cones.” - -Well, after a while, school was out, and the blackboards could take a -rest and the pieces of chalk could lie down on the back of the erasers -and go to sleep. Out trooped the animal children. - -“Come on, Neddie!” cried Joie Kat, the kitten boy. “Let’s have a game of -tag!” - -“Or run a race!” added Tommie Kat. - -“No, I’ve got to go home,” said Neddie. “My uncle is going to take me -with him.” - -So he did not stop to play, but hurried on. Beckie, however, played with -Kittie Kat and with Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl, and Alice and -Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck girls. - -“Well, here I am, Uncle Wigwag!” at last called Neddie, as he ran up to -the old bear gentleman. “Come on!” - -“Just a minute, Neddie. Sit down on this board while I saw it in two, -will you? I want it for the front steps,” said Uncle Wigwag. - -So Neddie, thinking nothing wrong, sat down on the board, which was -placed between two stumps, resting on them. And no sooner had Neddie -seated himself, than “Crack!” went the board, breaking right in the -middle, and down Neddie went. But he wasn’t hurt, for Uncle Wigwag, when -he played this trick, had placed a pile of soft leaves for Neddie to -fall on. They were just like a cushion. - -“Excuse my joke!” laughed Uncle Wigwag. You see he had nearly sawed the -board in two before Neddie arrived, and when the little bear boy sat on -it the pieces were just held together by a few shreds of wood. Of -course, they easily broke with Neddie’s weight. - -“Oh, that’s all right! I don’t mind!” laughed Neddie, brushing the dried -leaves off his fur. “You must have your joke, I suppose, Uncle Wigwag.” - -“Indeed I must,” answered the old gentleman bear. “But here is a penny -for you to buy a lollypop, because you took my trick so good-naturedly.” - -Then Uncle Wigwag, shaking his head, set off through the woods with -Neddie to the house of Uncle Wiggily, the rabbit gentleman, to ask for -the old auto. - -“Hum! Let me see!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, when Uncle Wigwag had asked -him. “My old auto, eh? Well, I will think about it. Sit down, Mr. -Wigwag, and I’ll consider it.” - -“And may I go off and buy a lollypop?” asked Neddie, hoping that, by the -time he came back, Uncle Wiggily would have given Uncle Wigwag the old -auto. - -“Yes, toddle off!” exclaimed Uncle Wigwag, so Neddie toddled off. - -On and on he went through the woods, and pretty soon he came to a tree -on the side of which he saw something sticky. A number of flies were -buzzing around it, and at first Neddie thought it was flypaper. But when -he went closer he smelled something sweet, and putting the tip of his -paw on it, and then putting his paw to his mouth, Neddie found the -sticky stuff on the tree was honey; just as you wet the tip of your -finger when you want to see whether there is sugar or salt in the pepper -dish. - -“Ah, ha! Honey!” cried Neddie. “I just love honey! It is better than -lollypops!” - -He put his red tongue on the sticky stuff, and licked off all he could -reach. Then he stretched up with his paws and got more. Finally he could -reach up no farther. - -But he looked up, and he saw a big black lump high in the tree, and -Neddie said to himself: - -“That must be where the most honey is. I’ll climb up and get some, and -take some home to mamma and Beckie.” - -Now, Neddie could climb a tree very well. All bears can, even little -baby ones, for they have sharp claws for that very thing. So Neddie got -ready to climb, and before doing so he sang this little song: - - “Honey, honey in a tree, - Some for you and some for me. - Oh! how I do love sweet honey, - I can get this without money!” - -Then Neddie began to climb. Higher and higher he went in the tree, and -as he went up he could smell the sweet honey more and more, and his -mouth fairly watered for it. - -Neddie did not stop to think that the honey was not his. All he thought -of was how good it would taste, and how much he wanted it. Nor did he -stop to ask himself what that funny buzzing sound was, that seemed to -come from inside the tree. - -“Oh, you honey!” gaily cried Neddie, as he climbed higher. - -Finally he got to the big black lump, and, surely enough, it was a pile -of honeycomb, the little holes being all filled with the sweet, sticky -stuff. - -“Oh, this beats lollypops!” cried Neddie. “It is better even than -automobiles.” - -Neddie reached his paw into the middle of the black mass and scooped out -a lot of honey. He put it in his mouth and began to chew on it. It was -so good that he just had to shut his eyes. - -“Oh, yum! yum!” cried Neddie. - -Now, if he had had his eyes open Neddie might have seen a lot of bees -flying out of the hollow honey tree. But he did not look. He was -thinking too much of the sweet stuff. Out buzzed the bees, and they were -very angry that some one had come to take their sweet stuff. And, small -as they were, the bees were not afraid of Neddie, who was quite a large -bear boy. - -“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” went the bees. “Get away from our honey!” Then they -flew at Neddie, and with their sharp stings they stung him on the end of -his soft and tender nose, and on the bottom parts of his paws, where -they had no fur, and on his ears; and some of the bees even snuggled -down in his fur and stung him through that. - -“Oh, wow!” cried Neddie, as he felt the needle-like stings. Then he -opened his eyes quickly enough. - -“Get away from our honey!” buzzed the bees, and Neddie was glad to slide -down that tree more quickly than he had climbed up it. Oh! how his nose -smarted, and his paws! He seemed on fire all over. He licked the honey -off his paws, but it did not taste good any more. - -“Oh, wow! Double wow!” howled poor Neddie, and then he started to run -home as fast as he could. And on the way he met Uncle Wigwag, who soon -knew what the matter was. - -“Some cool, wet mud on your nose will stop the pain,” said the bear -gentleman, and he took Neddie to a brook and made him a nice -mud-plaster. Then Neddie felt better, but he said he would never go near -a bees’ honey nest again. - -“And did Uncle Wiggily give you the auto?” asked Neddie of Uncle Wigwag -on their way home. - -“He is still thinking about it,” said Uncle Wigwag. “Oh, but your nose -is all swelled up like a football, Neddie.” And so it was. But in a few -days it was all better. - -And in the story after this, if the horse radish doesn’t run away with -the spoon-holder and scare the knives and forks off the sideboard, I’ll -tell you about Beckie and the grapes. - - - - - STORY IV - BECKIE AND THE GRAPES - - -The nose of Neddie Stubtail, the little bear boy, was so badly swelled -from the bee stings, after he took some of their honey, that he could -not go to school next day, nor for some days after that. I told you in -the story before this how Neddie got stung. - -So Neddie’s mamma let him stay home from school, but even at that he -could not have much fun, for he could not go out and play, and what is -the good of staying home from school if you have to remain in the house -all the while? - -There were two reasons for Neddie’s staying in the cave-house, on the -side of the green hill, and not going out. One reason was that most of -the day all his boy animal friends were at their lessons in school. - -The other reason was that when Neddie did go out with them, they all -looked at his stung and swollen nose in such a funny way that it made -him feel queer. He did not like it. - -Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, would ask: - -“What is the matter, Neddie? Did you bite yourself, or fall downstairs?” - -And Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, would say: - -“Why, Neddie, did your Uncle Wigwag play a trick on you?” - -Then Joie or Tommie Kat would want to know: - -“Neddie, did you fall out of bed in your sleep, and bump your nose?” - -“Neither one! Now you stop!” Neddie would exclaim, and then he’d go in -the house. Oh, he was sorry in more ways than one that he had ever -meddled with the bees’ nest, even if he did get some honey out of it. - -But one afternoon, when Neddie had come in the house because the other -animal boys plagued him so, Mrs. Stubtail, the bear mamma, whispered to -Beckie, who was Neddie’s sister: - -“Beckie, you know Neddie feels pretty badly, don’t you?” - -“Yes, mamma, I do. His nose must pain him very much.” - -“Indeed it does. Now I’d like to give him a little treat. Suppose you go -to the store and get him some ice cream. That will cool off his nose and -he will feel better.” - -“Of course I’ll go, mamma!” exclaimed Beckie. So she put on her little -red cloak and bonnet and off through the woods she went to where Jack -Frost kept an ice cream store. - -Beckie got a nice big box of ice cream for her brother, and on her way -back through the woods the little bear girl saw some lovely bunches of -wild grapes hanging on a vine. They were almost the last of the season -and soon the grapes would be all gone, for the animals of the woods, and -the birds of the air, would eat them. - -“I’m going to pick some nice bunches, and take them home to Neddie,” -thought Beckie kindly. “Maybe he’ll like them with his ice cream.” - -So Beckie set down the box of frozen sweet stuff, and began pulling off -some bunches of wild grapes with her long claws, which were to her just -what your fingers are to you. - -Well, in a little while, not so very long, Beckie heard some one coming -up behind her, sort of slow and careful like, and she quickly turned -around. For she knew there were bad animals in the wood, who would be -glad to carry her off to their dens. Beckie was a very sweet, fat little -bear. - -But all Beckie saw, when she turned around was Mr. Fuzzytail, the fox -gentleman. - -“Ah, Ha!” exclaimed Mr. Fuzzytail. “Good afternoon, Beckie! I hope I see -you well. Gathering grapes, I observe!” - -“Yes,” answered Beckie, wondering why Mr. Fuzzytail was so polite to -her. Usually he hardly spoke, always going past as if he were in a great -hurry. And when she saw Mr. Fuzzytail smiling in such a sly way, Beckie -knew the fox gentleman had some reason for his politeness. - -“Beautiful day; isn’t it?” went on Mr. Fuzzytail, pretending to look at -his paws, to see if there were any stickers on them. - -“Yes,” said Beckie. “Would you like some grapes?” - -Beckie thought she would be just as polite as that fox was, and maybe -she could find out what he was after. - -“For he is after something,” decided the little bear girl, “and it isn’t -grapes, either.” - -“Grapes? Why, yes, if you will be so kind and condescending as to stoop -so low without bending, I would be thankful for a small bunch,” spoke -Mr. Fuzzytail, very, very politely indeed. - -“Oh, he’s surely up to some trick,” thought Beckie. “I must find out -what it is. He’s as bad at tricks as our Uncle Wigwag.” - -Beckie was not afraid of the fox. She was larger and stronger than he -was, even if she was only a small bear girl. Of course, Kittie Kat, or -Lulu or Alice Wibblewobble, the duck girls, would have feared Mr. -Fuzzytail, but Beckie did not. - -So she picked a nice bunch of grapes for him, and while he was slowly -eating them, picking off the bad ones, Beckie looked all about. But she -could see no danger. And, all the while, Mr. Fuzzytail kept talking to -Beckie. He asked her all sorts of questions—how she was getting on at -school, how her brother’s stung nose was, what her papa worked at, and -whether Aunt Piffy’s epizootic was any better. Oh, that fox was a sly -fellow! - -And now I’ll tell you why he was so polite, and why he stayed there -talking to Beckie, and why he ate his grapes so slowly. - -Do you remember the bad bears who lived in the woods? Yes. Well, do you -remember how once they tried to get Beckie into their caves, by tossing -buns to her, so they could pull her hair? - -Oh, you do. Very good! Well, these same bears, or rather, one of them, -was after Beckie again. He was the largest and the worst of the bad -bears, too. - -He had seen Beckie start off to the store, and he made up his mind he’d -get her. Only he knew that if he followed along she might hear him -tramping over the sticks, for he was a very heavy bear. And he knew that -if he started to run after Beckie he could not catch her, for she was -light on her paws and swift to run. - -So the bad bear planned a trick. He met Mr. Fuzzytail, the fox, and said -to him: - -“Now you creep along after Beckie. She won’t be afraid of you, and if -you can keep her there by the grape vine for a while, by talking to her, -it will give me a chance to sneak up behind the bushes and grab her -before she knows what is happening. Will you do it?” - -“I will,” said Mr. Fuzzytail, for he was afraid of the big bad bear. So -that’s how it was the fox kept on talking to Beckie as she picked the -grapes. He wanted to keep her attention so she would not notice the bear -sneaking up on her. - -Finally Beckie said: - -“Well, I must be going now. Good-by, Mr. Fuzzytail.” - -“Oh, good-by,” said the sly fox, and out of the corner of his eye he saw -the bad bear behind the grape vine. The bear had sneaked up without -Beckie hearing him, because she was so busy in being polite to the fox. -“Good-by, Beckie,” went on Mr. Fuzzytail. And then to himself he said: -“I guess you won’t go very far.” - -Well, Beckie leaned over to pick up the box of ice cream that she had -bought for Neddie and just then, with a loud roar, out from behind the -grape vine sprang the bad bear: - -“Ha! This is the time I have you!” he cried to Beckie. - -Beckie jumped so that the box of ice cream slipped out of her paw and -fell to the ground. The paper box hit a sharp stone, burst open and out -ran the ice cream all over, for it had melted when Beckie stopped to -pick the grapes. - -“Wow!” cried the bad bear, as he made a jump for Beckie. - -But he never reached her. Beckie leaped back just in time, and the bear -came down with his paws in the puddle of the slippery ice cream. - -“Bang!” he went. His feet slid out from under him, just as if he were -coasting down hill backward, and he got so tangled up with himself that -by the time he was untangled Beckie had run away and gotten safely home. -Oh, how she ran! No bad bear could catch her. - -The bad creature who had gone to all this trouble to catch Beckie got up -out of the ice cream. He was a funny looking sight, all splattered up -and plastered with dried leaves. - -“This was all your fault!” he cried to the fox. “Be off before I bite -you!” And the sly fox was glad enough to go. - -So that’s how Beckie got away from the bear by means of the slippery ice -cream. She told her mamma what had happened, and Mrs. Stubtail sent -Uncle Wigwag to the store for more ice cream for Neddie. So the little -bear, who was stung by the bees, had some, after all, and everybody was -happy except the bad bear. - -And in the following story, if the chocolate drop doesn’t fall out of -the window and get all squashed flat on the postman’s umbrella, I’ll -tell you about Neddie and the trained bear. - - - - - STORY V - NEDDIE AND THE TRAINED BEAR - - -“Come on out and have some fun!” called Tommie Kat, the little kitten -boy, to Neddie Stubtail, the little bear chap, one afternoon when all -the animal children had come home from school. “Come on out, Neddie!” - -Neddie had just entered the cave-house, where he lived with his mamma -and papa and the rest of the bear folk. Neddie tossed his books into one -corner, his hat into another and then he called out: - -“Oh, I’m hungry, I want something to eat!” - -“Never mind about eating,” said Tommie Kat, “come on have some fun.” - -“No, I must eat!” cried Neddie, and he rushed out toward the kitchen. - -Well, as it happened, just then Aunt Piffy, the fat lady bear who lived -with Mrs. Stubtail, being her sister, in fact; Aunt Piffy, as it -happened, just then, was coming in from the kitchen with a large plate -of doughnuts she had just baked. - -And, of course, Neddie, being in such a hurry, ran right into Aunt -Piffy, doughnuts, plate and all, and then—— - -Oh dear! Such a time as there was! - -Aunt Piffy suddenly sat down, and it is a mercy she didn’t sit on -Neddie, for if she had there would have been quite a sad happening, as -Aunt Piffy was very large and stout. And the plate fell from her paws, -and broke into twelve pieces, or maybe thirteen, for all I know, and the -doughnuts rolled all over the floor, one even bumping down the cellar -stairs. - -“Oh, dear! What happened?” gasped Aunt Piffy, and she could hardly -breathe, she was so excited. - -“I—I guess I happened,” said Neddie, looking all around at the scattered -doughnuts. “But I—I didn’t mean to,” he added. “I’ll help pick up the -cakes.” - -“First, if you please, help me up,” said Aunt Piffy, puffing and blowing -to get her breath. - -“I’ll help you!” exclaimed Tommie Kat, for he had heard, from out on the -porch of Neddie’s cave-house, the noise of the fall and had come in see -what had caused it. - -So Tommie and Neddie helped Aunt Piffy get up on her hind paws, and then -Neddie began gathering up the spilled cakes. - -“May I help at that, too?” asked Tommie, and Aunt Piffy answered: - -“I should be glad to have you. And you may have a doughnut, Tommie.” - -“How about me?” asked Neddie, thinking perhaps he did not deserve one -for having been in such a hurry as to make his Aunt Piffy tumble down. - -“Oh, well; yes, I guess you may have one also,” said the bear lady. By -this time she had her breath again and soon Neddie and Tommie had picked -up the doughnuts. They each kept one and ate them as they went out to -play. - -But they had not been out long before Mrs. Stubtail called to her little -bear boy: - -“Neddie, come right in here and pick up your things! You have scattered -your books all over, and your school cap is on the floor.” - -“Oh, ma, I don’t want to!” exclaimed Neddie; but his mamma made him, -because it is not good for boys to be careless and scatter things all -over the room. - -Then Neddie could play, and he and Tommie had lots of fun. They frisked -about in the woods, for it was cold and jumping about made them warm. -Then Tommie said: - -“Oh, let’s go over and see Uncle Wiggily, the rabbit gentleman.” - -“All right, we will,” spoke Neddie. “And I’ll ask him if he has yet made -up his mind about giving his old automobile to Uncle Wigwag.” - -So the kitten boy and the little bear chap went over to the hollow stump -where the old gentleman rabbit lived, but he was not at home, having -gone for a ride with Grandfather Goosey Gander, the duck gentleman. - -“Well, let’s take a walk in the woods and see if an adventure will -happen to us,” suggested Tommie. - -“All right,” agreed Neddie, and off they went. They had not gone far -before they met Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy, flying through the -air, and Dickie said: - -“Oh, Tommie Kat, your mamma is looking all over for you. She wants you -to go to the store.” - -“Then I’d better go home,” said Tommie, and off he ran with his tail up -in the air like a fishing pole. That left Neddie all alone, for Dickie -Chip Chip could not stay to play with him. - -“Never mind,” thought Neddie, “I’ll look for an adventure by myself.” - -He went on and on, and pretty soon he came to a big hole in the ground. -He was looking down in it, thinking perhaps some new bear might live -there, when, all of a sudden, up from the hole was poked a long nose, -and then Neddie saw a big mouth, filled with shining white teeth, and a -voice cried: - -“Ah, ha! Now I have you!” And the first thing Neddie knew the -skillery-scalery alligator, with the humps on his tail, had grabbed him -by the back of his neck. - -“Oh, let me go! Let me go!” cried Neddie. - -“No, I’ll not!” said the alligator, speaking in a thick voice, like cold -potatoes, for you see he had hold of Neddie by his teeth, and he could -not talk very well, that alligator couldn’t. - -Neddie wiggled this way and that and tried to get loose. It did not hurt -him very much, for there was thick fur on the back of his neck, and the -alligator’s teeth did not go through. It was just like when the mamma -cat carries her little kittens, you know, in her mouth by the backs of -their necks. Only you must not carry the kittens that way unless papa or -mamma shows you how, for you might choke them. And I know you wouldn’t -do that for the world. - -Anyhow, there the alligator had hold of Neddie by the loose skin at the -back of the little boy bear’s neck, and the skillery-scalery creature -was trying to drag Neddie down into the hole in the ground. - -“Let me go! Let me go!” begged Neddie. - -“Nope! Nope!” said the ’gator, pulling harder than ever. - -Neddie braced with his claws in the dirt, but, in spite of this, he was -being dragged along, for the alligator was bigger and stronger than the -bear boy. - -Neddie was almost down in the hole and he was wishing he had not gone -off alone to look for an adventure, when right behind him, he heard a -large bear growling. At first he hoped it was his papa or Uncle Wigwag, -the joking bear, or even Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, who -had come to save him. But when he looked he saw it was a strange -man-bear. - -However, that strange man-bear was very kind to Neddie. Rushing up to -the alligator, the big bear just tickled him on his thick and scaly hide -with his sharp claws, and that ’gator was so tickled, and he had to -laugh so hard, that he let Neddie go. - -“Quick now!” cried the big bear, “jump out of the way, little bear boy!” - -And you may be sure Neddie got out of the hole and the skillery-scalery -alligator, still laughing at being tickled, went and hid in the woods -and did not come out for a day and a half. - -Then Neddie looked at the bear gentleman who had saved him. This bear -was very nice and kind-looking, only he had an iron ring in his nose, -and fastened to the ring was a long chain. - -“What is that for?” asked Neddie, after he had gotten over being -frightened. - -“That is so I will not get lost,” said the other. “You see I am a tame -bear, and do tricks, and my master has this ring in my nose, and leads -me around by it so I will not go away. And he feeds me buns and popcorn. -Oh, it’s nice to be a trained bear!” - -“A trained bear, eh?” said Neddie. “Are you like a train of cars that I -got for Christmas?” - -“No, I am trained to do tricks,” said the tame bear. “See, I will show -you,” and he stood on his head and turned a somersault, and then waltzed -around in a circle. “Would you not like to learn to do those things?” he -asked Neddie. - -“Maybe,” said the little bear boy, who was not quite sure. - -“Then come with me,” invited the tame bear. - -But just then there was a rustling in the bushes and out came a real man -with a long pole and a brass horn. And he took hold of the tame bear’s -nose chain and looked at Neddie, the man did. And as Neddie had been -taught to be always afraid of men, the bear boy ran home through the -woods as fast as he could, and told all that had happened to him. - -“It was a narrow escape for you,” said his papa. Then supper was ready -and Neddie and Beckie, his sister, ate as much as was good for them, and -not a bit more, I do assure you. - -And in the next story, if the raisins in the rice pudding don’t all hop -out and leave it as full of holes as a Swiss cheese sandwich, I’ll tell -you about the little Stubtails running away. - - - - - STORY VI - THE STUBTAILS RUN AWAY - - -“What are you thinking of, Neddie?” asked Beckie Stubtail, the little -bear girl, one Saturday morning when there was no school and when she -and her brother were out in front of the cave-house brushing up the -dried leaves to make a bonfire. - -“Oh, I’m not thinking of much,” said Neddie, with a look through the -woods to see if he could see his Uncle Wigwag trying to play any tricks -on him. - -“Oh, but you must be thinking of something,” insisted Beckie. “For I -have had to speak to you twice before you answered, and when mamma asked -if you didn’t want to scrape out the frosting dish when she was making a -cake, you said: ‘I would if I didn’t have to have a ring in my nose.’ -What in the world did you mean, Neddie?” - -“Hush!” exclaimed the little bear boy, looking all around. “Not so loud. -Some one may hear you!” - -“Well, what if they do?” asked Beckie in surprise. “I only said what you -said about having a ring in your nose——” - -“Hush, that’s it!” exclaimed Neddie. “You know——” - -“I know you said the tame trained bear had one,” went on Beckie, “but -what has that got to do with you!” - -“Hush!” exclaimed Neddie, coming nearer and taking hold of Beckie’s paw, -“that’s it, Beckie. How would you like to become a trained bear and do -tricks, Beckie?” - -“Like it? Why, I wouldn’t like it at all!” exclaimed the little bear -girl. “I think it would be perfectly horrid to have a ring in your -nose.” - -“Well, maybe we wouldn’t have to,” went on her brother. “That’s what -I’ve been thinking of.” - -“Why, Neddie Stubtail!” exclaimed Beckie. “I’m going straight and tell -mamma! The very idonical idea!” - -“No, don’t do that!” cried Neddie, grabbing his sister by the paw before -she could run into the cave-house. “Wait and I’ll tell you about it.” - -“Oh, I know,” spoke Beckie, and tears came into her eyes. “You’re -thinking of running away and becoming a trained bear! Oh, don’t do it!” - -“Why not?” asked Neddie. “I think it would be fun. You know the day the -skillery-scalery alligator had me by the neck, the good tame bear came -along and tickled the ’gator so that he had to let me go.” - -“Yes,” said Beckie. “I remember that, but I don’t see why——” - -“Listen!” went on Neddie, just as the nice telephone girl says it, -“listen and I’ll tell you all about it.” - -So Beckie listened as hard as she could. - -“The trained tame bear said he could do lots of tricks,” went on Neddie, -“and he did some for me. And he also said the man gave him buns and -popcorn and lots of good things to eat.” - -“Oh, but papa has always taught us to be afraid of real men,” said -Beckie. - -“Yes, maybe real men, with guns and dogs. But this man only had a stick, -like mamma’s clothes pole, and a brass trumpet. And as I ran away -through the woods I could hear him blowing a lovely tune on it. I’m sure -he was a good man.” - -“Well, maybe,” admitted Beckie. “But are you going to run away and -become a tame trained bear?” - -“I’m thinking of it,” answered Neddie. “And maybe you would like to -come, too. Just imagine—sweet buns every day—and popcorn balls, no -lessons—and doing tricks, and having that man play on the brass horn for -you——” - -Now it wasn’t right of Neddie to do this, and try to make Beckie come -away with him. It was bad enough for the little boy bear to think of -going off by himself. But when he wanted his sister to come, too—well, -it wasn’t right; that’s all. Neddie was older than Beckie and he should -have known better. But that’s the way it is sometimes, even with boys in -real life. Of course I don’t mean any of you, but there are some other -children I could name if I wanted to. But I’m not going to. - -Well, anyhow, Neddie talked of how nice it would be for him and Beckie -to run away, and become trained bears, and do tricks, and have good -things to eat and finally Beckie said: - -“Well, I’ll run away for a little while with you.” - -“Yes, we’ll just try it. If we don’t like it we can run back again,” -spoke Neddie. - -“Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the puppy dog boys, once ran away,” said -Beckie, “and they were glad enough to run home again.” - -“I know, but this is different,” said Neddie; “they went to join a -circus. We’ll just go with a kind man. There will be all the difference -in the world.” - -“All right, we’ll try it,” said Beckie, and she sighed a little at the -idea of leaving her mamma and papa and Uncle Wigwag, and Aunt Piffy and -Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, and her nice cave-house, and -all that. - -“Could I take any of my dolls with me?” asked Beckie, after a bit. - -“Well, maybe one,” said Neddie, “though I never heard of anybody that -ran away taking a doll. But maybe one won’t do any harm.” - -“Then I’m going to take Maryann Puddingstick Clothespin, my very nicest -doll,” said Beckie. - -“All right,” agreed her brother. “Now we must get ready. And, mind you, -it’s a secret. No one must know anything about it.” - -“Can’t I tell—tell mamma?” asked Beckie, tears coming in her eyes. - -“No, not even mamma.” - -“Then I’m not going!” - -“Oh, that’s just like you girls!” cried Neddie. “We fellows get -everything going nicely and you won’t play fair. You can leave a note -for mamma, after we’re gone, telling that you’ve run away, if you like.” - -“Then I’ll do it,” said Beckie. - -“And you must pack up what clothes you’ll need,” went on Neddie. “Put -’em in a paper bag, and I’ll do the same. Then when it gets dark we’ll -go out and run away to find the man with the brass horn.” - -“And when will we get some sweet buns and popcorn?” asked Beckie, -anxious-like. - -“Oh, as soon as we find him,” said Neddie. “Now I’m going to get ready. -Mind! Not a word to anybody.” - -So the two bear children prepared to run away. Of course I’m not saying -they did right—I guess you wouldn’t say so yourself, but I have to tell -this story exactly as it happened, or it wouldn’t be fair. Of course I -might make a mistake, but I’ll do as nearly right as I know how. - -Neddie and Beckie packed up a few of their clothes in paper bags they -found in the kitchen. Beckie also took some things for her doll, Maryann -Puddingstick Clothespin. The doll herself the little bear girl wrapped -in an old salt bag that had been washed clean. - -“I wonder what those two children are up to anyhow?” asked Aunt Piffy, -the fat bear lady as she helped Mrs. Stubtail do the washing. - -“Oh, maybe they’re planning some trick to play on Uncle Wigwag, to pay -him back for all the joking he has done,” said Mrs. Stubtail. “I guess -they’re all right.” - -But if she had only known what Neddie and Beckie were going to do. Oh -dear! Isn’t it too bad mothers don’t always know? They could save so -much trouble! - -But there! I must tell about the story. - -Beckie and Neddie had their supper, and they had hidden their bags of -things out under the front porch. They were not very hungry. They were -too excited; and then, too, they were thinking of what the bear man -might give them. Perhaps they were also a little sad about leaving their -nice home. But Neddie had made up his mind to run away. - -Finally the bear children went off to bed. But they did not sleep, and -when the house was all dark and still they quietly got up and went out -the back door. Silently they went to where they had left their bundles -and got them. - -“Come on!” whispered Neddie. “At last we’re running away!” - -“And—and—maybe we’ll be glad to—run back again!” whispered Beckie, and -her voice choked. - -“Oh, don’t be a cry-baby!” said Neddie. “Come on!” - -“Oh, but it’s dark!” objected Beckie. - -“The moon will soon be up,” said her brother. - -On and on through the woods they went, and soon the moon did come up. -Then it was lighter. On and on went the two bear children; when, all of -a sudden, they heard a noise in the bushes. - -“What’s that?” asked Beckie, sliding close up to her brother. - -“I—I don’t know,” he whispered. And just then, through the woods, they -heard a sound like this: - -“Ta-ra! Ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta! Toot! Toot!” - -“Come on!” cried Neddie, joyfully. “There is the trained bear man. Now -we are all right,” and holding tightly to Beckie’s paw he raced on -through the woods toward the bugle sound. - -And what happened next, and what Neddie and Beckie did when they found -the trained bear and his master, I’ll tell you on the next page, when -the story will be about Neddie and Beckie up a pole—that is I will if -the letter-carrier doesn’t put a clothespin on our little doggie’s tail -and mail him away off where he can’t go to the moving picture show in -our cellar. - - - - - STORY VII - NEDDIE AND BECKIE CLIMB A POLE - - -When Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the two little bear children, had run -away from home, as I told you in the story before this one, and had come -to the woods where they heard the horn blowing, they did not know just -what to do. - -“That,” said Beckie, as she held her doll, Mary Ann Puddingstick -Clothespin, tightly in her arms, “that surely must be the kind man who -has the trained bear with the ring in his nose. Now we are safe and we -will get many good things to eat, Neddie.” - -“We had better take a peep before we run out from behind this bush,” -said Neddie, slow and careful like. “Perhaps it is some other man with a -horn, trying to fool us.” - -You know the bear children had met in the woods, one day, a nice, kind -trained bear, and with him was a man called the Professor, who led the -bear around by a rope, fast to a ring in the bear’s nose. And the -trained bear did tricks, such as turning somersaults and standing on his -head, while the man collected, in his hat, pennies that people tossed to -him. - -The trained bear invited Neddie to travel around with him, promising -that he would have popcorn and other good things to eat, but at first -Neddie was afraid of the man with the brass horn. - -So he ran home; but the more Neddie thought of it the more he wanted to -run away and become a traveling trained bear. So he got his sister -Beckie to go with him, and away they ran in the evening, leaving their -home and their papa and mamma; and Aunt Piffy, the fat bear lady, and -Uncle Wigwag, and Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, and all their friends. -Then they came to the woods and heard the brass trumpet blowing, as I -have told you. - -“Can you see anything?” asked Beckie, as she looked over her brother’s -head, while he was peering through the holes in a bramble bush. - -“Not yet,” answered Neddie. Just then there came another blast on the -brass trumpet, and Neddie cried: - -“Oh, yes! There he is!” And then Beckie saw the tame bear with the ring -in his nose, instead of in an ear where some ladies wear theirs, and -with the tame bear was the man with the long pole. - -“Now, George,” the man was saying, “I guess we’ll go to sleep, and in -the morning we’ll do some more tricks and get more pennies. Whoop-la! -There’s your supper, George!” - -“I guess it’s time for us to run out now,” said Neddie to his sister, -when he heard the word supper. - -“Yes,” said Beckie, “I guess it is.” You see it was really after supper -time, and Beckie and Neddie had eaten theirs before they ran away from -home. But running away makes you hungry, whether you’ve had supper or -not, I suppose. - -Out ran the two bear children, and Beckie especially was very glad they -had found the tame bear, for it was getting real late, and, though the -moon was shining brightly, still she wanted company. - -“Hello, what’s this!” cried the man with the pole, as he saw Neddie and -Beckie running toward him. “More bears! Are they going to bite me?” - -“Oh, no!” quickly answered the trained bear, “I know who they are. One -of them is a friend of mine whom I met in the woods the other day. I -invited him to come with me, and I see he has brought his sister. -Perhaps you would like to train them to do tricks.” - -“Ha! I think I would,” said the man. “They might do tricks very nicely -with you. I’ll have a regular bear family,” and he pulled some pieces of -dried bread out of a bag on his arm, and, taking some himself, he gave -the rest to the trained bear. - -“If you please,” said Neddie, making a polite bow, so low that his -little tail almost pointed to the sky. “If you please, did we hear you -mention supper?” - -“You did,” answered the man. “It is supper time for me and George—rather -late, it is true, but still supper time. My bear’s name is George,” he -added. “Eat your supper, George.” - -“I am eating it,” said the trained bear, speaking in his own language, -which the man understood, and spoke also. Not many men can speak bear -language, but this one could because his head was all bare. He was a -bald-headed man, and they can mostly always speak a bear language. - -“But what about something to eat for us?” asked Beckie. - -“Yes,” added Neddie, “we’re hungry, and you know, George,” he said, -speaking to the trained bear, “you said something about popcorn and cake -and lollypops—” - -“I know I did,” answered the trained bear, sort of confused like and -puzzled, as he ate his dried bread. “But I didn’t mean I had popcorn -every day.” - -“I should say not!” exclaimed the man, whose name was Professor. “The -idea! I’d soon be in the poorhouse if I gave George popcorn every day. -That’s only for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or the like. But you are -welcome to some dried bread.” - -Then he gave Neddie and Beckie some bread from the bag, and the two bear -children had to take it. They did not like it very much, but it was the -best they could get, and they were hungry. - -“Running away isn’t as nice as staying home,” whispered Beckie to her -brother, after she had put her doll to sleep under some dried leaves. - -“Oh, well, it will be nice to-morrow,” spoke Neddie. “And, anyhow, it -will be Thanksgiving in a couple of days, and then we’ll have plenty of -good things to eat.” - -“I wonder where we will sleep?” went on Beckie. “I don’t see any nice -cave-house, such as we have at home.” - -“I should say not!” cried Neddie. “You don’t live in a house after -you’ve run away. The idea! We’ll live out of doors, and we won’t have to -wash our faces and paws when we don’t want to.” - -“I never mind doing that, anyhow,” said Beckie, who was a very clean -little bear. - -Well, Neddie and Beckie finished their dried bread, and they wished they -had some buns, or maybe even some ice cream, for all I know, and then -the man said: - -“Well, it is not so very late, and there is a nice moon, so I think I -will see if you little new bears can do any tricks. Come now, climb that -pole!” and he pointed to a telegraph pole growing in the woods. - -“Oh, we can’t climb that,” said Neddie, quickly. - -“Why not?” asked the man with the bald head. “You must climb it if you -are to be trick-trained bears.” - -“Why, the pole is too smooth and slippery,” said Beckie. “It has no -branches sticking out to take hold of, as a tree has.” - -“Pooh! That’s nothing. George can climb the pole,” said his master. -“Show ’em how, George.” - -“All right, Professor,” said George, free and easy like, and up the pole -he went, like a jumping-jack on a string. - -Then Neddie tried it, but he slipped back, and so did Beckie. They had -not yet learned how to stick their claws in the smooth telegraph pole, -and hold on. - -“I’m afraid you’ll never be trick bears,” said the Professor. “I must -teach you to climb a pole. We’ll try it again to-morrow.” - -But Neddie and Beckie did not wait until next day. All of a sudden, out -from under a bush, came the biggest skillery-scalery alligator the bear -children had ever seen. Right for Beckie and Neddie the ’gator came, and -Neddie cried: - -“Come on, Beckie! Up the pole we go and then he can’t get us!” - -“Let me go first! Let me go first!” cried Beckie, and Neddie did, most -politely. And, before they knew it, those two bear children had climbed -the smooth telegraph pole they never thought they could scale, and the -’gator could not get them. - -What do you think of that? - -Then George and the Professor drove the bad alligator away, not being -the least bit afraid of him or his tail either, for that matter, and the -man called: - -“You may come down now, Beckie and Neddie. At last you have learned to -climb a pole, though it did take the alligator to make you. You will -never forget it. Come down, and go to sleep, and in the morning we will -travel on.” - -So Beckie and Neddie came down the pole, and curled up in the soft warm -leaves to sleep, glad enough that they had on thick fur coats, for the -weather was very cold. And soon they were safe in by-low land. - -And now, if the church steeple doesn’t reach up and tickle the clouds so -that they giggle and let a lot of rain fall on my umbrella, I’ll tell -you next about Neddie doing a trick. - - - - - STORY VIII - NEDDIE DOES A TRICK - - -Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little children bears, did not sleep -very well the first night they ran away from home to become trained -animals. There were several reasons for this. - -In the first place they had to sleep out of doors, and not in their own -nice cave-house. And then, too, their papa and mamma were not with them. - -“It—it’s lonesome,” whispered Beckie, waking up in the dark and putting -out her paw to touch her brother. “Oh, Neddie, I wish I’d stayed home!” - -“Hush! Go to sleep!” advised Neddie, kindly. “You’ll wake up George, the -trained bear, and the Professor man if you talk.” - -“Are they asleep?” whispered Beckie, feeling down in the leaves to see -if her doll, Mary Ann Puddingstick Clothespin, was all right. - -“Sure they’re asleep,” answered Neddie. “Hear ’em snore?” - -And, truly enough, you could hear that bear George snore as real as -anything, honestly you could. What? You didn’t know bears snored? Well, -did you ever sleep near one? I guess not! So, you see, you can’t tell. -But I can. - -“And it will soon be morning,” went on Neddie, “and then, maybe, we’ll -travel on and on, and not have any lessons to do, and we may get buns -and popcorn.” - -“Yes, the trained bear did mention about buns,” said Beckie, and then, -thinking of sweet buns and crackers she did manage to go to sleep. - -But, oh! she did miss her mamma, and Aunt Piffy, the old bear lady, who -was so fat. And more than once Neddie wished he might wake up and see -Uncle Wigwag, even if the old bear gentleman did play a trick on him. -And as for Mr. Whitewash, the Polar bear, Neddie would have given a -whole penny to see him again for even a second. - -Still, he had run away of his own free will, Neddie had, and he must -make the best of it. - -“Besides, I like it!” he said to himself. “I’m going to learn to be a -trained bear, and, when Beckie and I get a lot of money we’ll go back -home and make mamma and papa rich.” - -Neddie thought it would be very easy to do this. In fact, he was a very -kind little bear and had not meant to do wrong when he asked Beckie to -run away with him. - -But now let us see what happened. - -Morning came at last. The sun rose from behind the hills, where it had -slept all night, and made a bright light through the trees, from which -all the leaves now had fallen. - -“Well, children, did you sleep well?” asked George, the trained bear, as -he wet his big paws in a spring of water and washed his face. - -“Pretty well, thank you,” answered Neddie, politely. - -“Do you think we will get some buns and popcorn to-day, George?” asked -Beckie, anxiously. - -“We might,” said the trained bear. “I’m sorry I made you think we -trained bears had that sort of food every day. But if we don’t get it -to-day I’m sure we will on Thursday, which will be Thanksgiving. And, -anyhow, to-day we’ll travel on, and you’ll see me do my tricks, and -you’ll hear the Professor blow his bugle and sing, and you’ll see the -people standing around to look at me and wonder. And, who knows? perhaps -you may do some tricks yourselves.” - -“We can climb a telegraph pole, anyhow,” said Beckie, a bit proudly. -“Even if it did take an alligator to scare us into doing it.” - -“Well, we’ll have breakfast and travel on,” said the Professor, after a -bit. Then he reached in the bag again and pulled out some more dried -bread. - -“Only that!” whispered Neddie, and he thought of what a nice meal the -folks at home were having—huckleberry pancakes, maybe, with maple sugar -on, and hot buns and milk sweetened with honey. - -“Oh, dear!” sighed Beckie, but she was a brave little bear girl and made -up her mind not to find fault, especially after having run away when she -didn’t really have to. So Beckie washed the face of her rubber doll, -Mary Ann Puddingstick Clothespin, and made believe give her some -breakfast. - -Then Beckie and Neddie ate their dried bread, and so did George, the -trained bear, and the Professor ate some too. Then the Professor played -a lively tune on his bugle: - -“Ta-ra! Ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta! Ta! Ta!” he blew. - -It was quite nice and jolly and made all the bears feel better. - -“Here we go!” cried the Professor. “Forward—march! Here we go!” - -He tossed the long pole to George, who shouldered it just like a gun, -and marched on with his head high in the air, while Beckie and Neddie -laughed at him, he was so funny. - -“Oh, I guess we’ll like this after all,” said Neddie. - -“Maybe,” spoke Beckie, as she hugged her rubber doll. - -But every one was very sad back in the cave-house where the Stubtail -children lived. As soon as morning had come Aunt Piffy, going in to call -Neddie and Beckie, saw that they were not in their beds. - -“They’re gone!” cried the nice, fat old lady bear. - -“They’re up to some trick,” said Uncle Wigwag, who, always playing -tricks himself, thought that other bears would do the same thing. - -“We must find them,” said Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear. - -But although they looked all over they could not find Neddie and Beckie, -of course, for the children were with the Professor and the trained -bear, far, far away. You knew that, didn’t you? - -Oh! how badly papa and mamma Stubtail felt, and they called a nice dog -policeman to help find Neddie and Beckie. But I’ll tell you about that -part later. This story is about Neddie’s trick. - -After breakfast, as I said, the Professor, George, the trained bear, and -Neddie and Beckie went on and on through the woods. - -“Soon we will come to a village,” said the Professor. “There George will -do some of his tricks, and you little bears can climb a telegraph pole, -or maybe the church steeple. Then the people will laugh and clap their -hands and give us things to eat.” - -“Buns and popcorn balls?” asked Beckie, anxiously. - -“Yes, I think so,” said the Professor. - -Soon they did come to a village, and the Professor blew some sweet notes -on his bugle. At once a lot of children came running out to watch the -bears, and when they saw Neddie and Beckie the children said: - -“Oh, aren’t they cute!” - -One little girl even touched Beckie’s fur, and Beckie liked to feel the -tiny hand. Beckie and Neddie were getting so they were not afraid of -real folks. Then George, the trained bear, did some of his tricks, -turning somersaults, playing soldier and the like. - -“Now you little bears will do a trick,” said the Professor. “Come, -Neddie, climb a pole!” And he blew on the bugle. - -Neddie looked for a pole to climb, but just then he saw a fat woman, -almost as fat as Aunt Piffy, coming down the street. The fat woman had a -basket of eggs on her arm, and the eggs were very heavy. - -“Oh, I must help her!” said Neddie, politely, for his mamma had always -taught him to be polite to ladies, whether they were fat or not. - -So Neddie waltzed over to take the basket of eggs so that he might help -the woman. She saw the bear coming and, not knowing Neddie was kind and -tame and trained, she screamed and ran. Neddie ran after her, and just -as he put his paw on the handle of the basket of eggs he slipped on a -banana peeling, and so did the fat lady. Down they both went, ker-thump, -and the basket of eggs fell also—and—— - -Well, you can imagine what happened! Neddie and the fat woman were just -covered with the whites and yellows of eggs—all stuck up like—and -everybody laughed like anything. Really they could not help it. - -“Oh, what a fine trick!” cried the boys and girls, clapping their hands. - -“Yes, but it is too expensive a trick to do every day,” said the -Professor. “I shall have to pay for those eggs, I guess.” And the fat -woman made him pay almost a dollar, and nobody gave Neddie or Beckie any -buns, or popcorn balls, either. - -“Well, we’ll travel on,” said the Professor. “We may get some ice cream -in the next place.” So on they went after Neddie had washed off the -sticky eggs from his fur in a brook of water. - -And next, if the rubber plant doesn’t stretch itself out and take all -the lumps of sugar from the salt cellar, I’ll tell you about the -Stubtails’ Thanksgiving. - -[Illustration] - - - - - STORY IX - THE STUBTAILS’ THANKSGIVING - - -“Mamma! Mamma!” called little Beckie Stubtail, the bear girl, as she -awoke in the morning. “Oh, mamma, is breakfast ready?” - -“Hush!” exclaimed Neddie, the little boy bear, as he reached over with -his paw and patted his sister Beckie. “Mamma isn’t here, Beckie.” - -“Oh, that’s so; she isn’t,” and Beckie sat up in her bed of leaves under -a tree out in the open air. Neddie was sleeping next to her, and on the -other side was George, the tame trained bear, and Professor, the man who -made George do tricks, and who blew tunes on a brass horn. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Beckie. “I thought, for a minute, just for a minute, -Neddie, you know, that we were back home again with mamma, and papa and -Aunt Piffy and Uncle Wigwag and Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, and all -our friends. But we’re not; are we?” - -“No,” answered Neddie, stretching out in the dried leaves, so that they -rustled like corn husks. “We’re not home, Beckie. We ran away, you know, -to become trained bears, and earn money the way Jackie and Peetie Bow -Wow, the puppy dog boys, did when they joined the circus.” - -“Only they didn’t,” said Beckie, looking to see if her rubber doll, -Maryann Puddingstick Clothespin, was still asleep. - -“They didn’t what?” asked Neddie. - -“They didn’t earn any money. And maybe we won’t.” - -“Oh, yes, we will,” said Neddie. “You see we know how to do the trick of -climbing the telegraph pole, and I can take a basket of eggs, and fall -down, and break almost every one.” - -“Yes,” laughed Beckie, “but that’s a trick the Professor doesn’t want -you to do. Eggs cost too much!” and she laughed again, as she thought of -the fat lady whose basket of eggs Neddie had tried to carry, when he -slipped on a banana skin and went down ker-thump! as I told you in -another story. - -“Well, anyhow, we’ll learn some real tricks, and soon we’ll get money,” -spoke Neddie. He and his sister, you know, had run away from their house -in the nice cave to join George, the tame bear, with a ring in his nose, -and the Professor who made George do tricks. - -“I wonder what we’ll have for breakfast to-day?” asked Beckie, as she -saw George, the big bear, stretching himself. - -“I hope it’s something good,” spoke Neddie, as he saw the Professor -getting up. “I’m tired of dried bread; and that’s all we’ve had so far.” - -“Yes; we haven’t had any of the nice buns and the popcorn balls that -George told us about that day he met us in the woods,” went on Beckie. - -“Come to breakfast, Beckie and Neddie,” called the Professor, for he -could speak and understand bear language. And he took some dried bread -out of his bag. - -“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Beckie. - -“Dear, oh!” cried Neddie. - -“Never mind,” said the Professor, “to-morrow will be Thanksgiving and -I’m sure something will happen between now and then so that we shall all -have a fine dinner. We will start off soon, and see if we can find our -fortunes as Uncle Wiggily, the rabbit gentleman, did his. Come on!” - -So the little bear children, and George, the trained bear, and the -Professor ate their breakfast of dried bread, and drank some water from -a spring. And then they traveled on again. - -Sometimes they would come to a little village, or town, and there the -Professor would blow his brass horn. All the boys and girls, and some of -the older people, would gather about in a circle. Then George, the big -bear, would do his tricks, marching like a soldier, turning somersaults, -waltzing, climbing a tree or making believe wrestle with the Professor. - -“And the little bears can do tricks, too,” said the Professor to the -people. “Come, Beckie—Neddie, climb a pole for the audience!” - -Then the little Stubtail bears would stick their claws into a smooth -telegraph pole, and up they would go to the very tip-top. - -Then you should have heard the children laugh and shout, and clap their -hands. The big people would put pennies in the hat of the Professor, and -some of the children would run in their houses and get slices of bread, -or maybe an apple or something else good to eat to give to the bears. -For George, the big fellow, as well as Beckie and Neddie were kind, -gentle and tame bears, you know. They would hurt no one. - -But when it came night they had gotten nothing like a Thanksgiving -dinner, nor did they have any invitation to eat one with friends, -either. - -“I—I wish we were home,” said Beckie, and some tears came into her eyes. -The tears didn’t quite fall out, but almost. - -“Well, wait until to-morrow,” suggested Neddie. “Something may happen -then, and it isn’t Thanksgiving until to-morrow, you know.” - -Well, the next day came. It was Thanksgiving, and still there was no -sign of a fine, big dinner for the bears or the Professor. They had -slept that night in the woods, the Professor cuddling up close to big -George to keep warm in the bear’s thick fur. And though they had some -cookies and cakes and apples to eat, it was far from being what Beckie -or Neddie would have had, had they not run away from their cave-house. - -“We’ll travel on,” said the Professor, “and see what happens.” - -Well, they had not gone very far, before all of a sudden they saw a man -running through the woods. And right after him came a big lion, roaring -as loudly as he could roar. And the lion was switching his tail from -side to side, and every now and then, reaching out his claws to grab the -man. - -“Oh, save me! Save me!” cried the man. - -“Bur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!” roared the lion. - -“Oh, can’t you help the poor man?” asked Beckie, of George, the big -bear. - -“I’ll try,” said George. Then he ran after the lion, and with the long -pole which the Professor let George carry as a soldier-gun, George -tripped up the roaring lion beast. Just then the Professor blew a loud -blast on his brass horn, and Beckie and Neddie threw a lot of oak tree -acorns at the lion. All this frightened the lion very much, especially -when he felt the acorns hitting him. He thought they were bullets, and -he thought the noise of the brass horn meant that a lot of soldiers were -coming after him. - -So away ran the lion through the woods, and the man was safe. Oh, how -thankful he was! - -“You saved my life,” he said to the Professor, and to Neddie and Beckie -and George. “What can I do for you? where are you going?” - -“We are looking for a Thanksgiving dinner,” said the Professor, “but we -have not found it yet.” - -“Ha! Say no more!” cried the man, quickly. “Come with me! I will give -you the best Thanksgiving dinner you ever ate!” - -“Who are you?” asked Beckie. - -“I am a circus man,” answered the one the lion had chased. “But we do -not give shows in winter. I have all my animals in a big barn, not far -away. This morning that lion would not bring in a pail of milk when I -asked him to, and to punish him I said he could have no dinner. So he -chased me, and I don’t know what he would have done had he caught me. -But you saved me, the lion has run away, and I suppose a policeman -monkey will catch him. But you—come to my animal barn and you may have -the dinner I was going to give the lion, as well as all you can eat -besides. Come on!” - -“Oh, at last we are to have a Thanksgiving dinner!” cried Neddie. “Oh, -joy!” And Beckie clapped her paws. - -Then the Professor and Beckie and Neddie and George, the big bear, -followed the circus man. He led them to a big barn in the woods. And, -oh! all the animals that were there—elephants and tigers and good lions, -and zebras and more bears and lots of monkeys, and giraffes with necks -so long that they could pick an orange off a church steeple, and cunning -little ponies, and a hippopotamus with a mouth like a red flannel -bag—and hundreds of others. - -“Welcome to our Thanksgiving dinner!” all the animals cried to Beckie -and Neddie when they saw the Stubtail children. “Eat all you want!” - -And such a dinner as it was! From cranberry sauce to popcorn balls and -honey cakes and blueberry pie and chestnuts and cider—and, oh, dear! I -mustn’t write any more about it or I’ll get the indigspepsia. Anyhow it -was a grand dinner, and in the middle of it who should come back but the -bad lion who had chased the circus man. - -“I’m—I’m sorry I was bad,” roared the lion. “May I have a piece of pie?” -Then the circus man forgave him, and the lion had a good dinner. And -Beckie and Neddie stayed in the circus barn all night, feeling quite -happy. - -And I hope you have a good dinner on Thanksgiving—each and every one of -you. But don’t eat too much. Then on the page after this, if the fishman -doesn’t blow his horn in the phonograph and scare the player-piano, I’ll -tell you about Neddie and the elephant. - - - - - STORY X - NEDDIE AND THE ELEPHANT - - -It was the day after Thanksgiving. Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the two -little bear children, awoke in the barn where the circus man kept all -his animals during winter, when he was not giving a show in the big -tent. Neddie and Beckie felt very nice and comfortable, for they had had -a good holiday dinner when they had almost given up expecting one; they -had a nice warm place to sleep, and they were happier than at any time -since they had run away from home to join George, the big trained bear, -and the Professor, his master, who led George around by a chain fast to -a ring in his nose. - -“Are you there, Neddie?” called Beckie from her bed in the nice clean -sawdust. She was hugging her doll Mary Ann Puddingstick Clothespin. - -“Of course I’m here,” answered Neddie, blinking both his eyes, and -wiggling his little short tail. “Aren’t you glad you ran away now with -me, sister, so you can become a trained bear?” - -“Yes—I guess so,” answered Beckie. “Still, I’d like to see my mamma, and -nice fat Aunt Piffy, just once.” - -“Oh, we’ll go back home pretty soon,” said Neddie. “When we have earned -some money. Then papa and mamma will forgive us for running away.” - -“I hope so,” went on Beckie. “And I hope that Uncle Wigwag won’t play -any jokes on us.” - -“Oh, he’s sure to do that, but we mustn’t mind,” said Neddie, as he -hopped up and shook the sawdust out of his ears. - -George, the tame bear who did tricks, was already up, and he was -waltzing around to where a lot of monkey ladies were getting breakfast -for the circus animals. Then the Professor, who led George around by the -nose when the bear did tricks, stretched out and yawned and said to the -circus man: - -“It was very kind of you to let us stay here all night.” - -“Pray do not mention it,” said the circus man politely. “I hope you -rested well.” - -“Yes, but I did not get to sleep very early,” said the bear Professor. -“I think perhaps I ate too much mince pie, with strawberry ice cream on -it.” - -“And I didn’t sleep very good, either,” went on Beckie. “But it was -because the elephant snored so that I was afraid he would shake the roof -down on our heads.” - -“Oh, you mustn’t mind that,” said the circus man with a laugh. “Nosey, -that’s the elephant’s name, you see, really never does any harm. He’s as -gentle as a kitten and as playful as a frog.” - -“Well, I wouldn’t like him to jump on me,” said Neddie with a laugh. -“He’s a good bit larger than Bully, the frog, who lives near the beaver -pond back home.” - -Then breakfast was ready, and the monkey ladies waited on the tables at -which the circus animals sat down. And, in order that they would not -step on their own tails, the monkey ladies tied them around their necks -in a double bow. This made them look nice, and also kept them from -catching cold in their ears. - -Neddie and Beckie Stubtail had a good breakfast and they were thinking -of staying with the circus man, instead of going off looking for -adventures with George, the Professor, when the circus man called: - -“All ready now! First class in somersaults!” - -“Why, he sounds just like our school teacher!” exclaimed Neddie. “I -didn’t think we’d have school when we left our home.” - -“This isn’t regular school,” explained the circus man, “but my animals -have to study their lessons, just the same. How do you think an elephant -could waltz and play a hand organ, to say nothing of standing on a tub -and wagging his tail, if he did not have lessons and practise them? Of -course we have to have a sort of school.” - -“And I think I’ll send Neddie and Beckie to it,” said the Professor. -“They could learn tricks then much better than I could teach them, and -George and I would have more time to collect pennies and buns and -popcorn balls.” - -“Would you like to go to school to me, and learn tricks?” asked the -circus man of the bear children, and they said they would. - -“Very well, then,” said the circus man. “As soon as I have taught my new -elephant how to stand on his head I’ll begin, and give you a lesson.” - -Then the new elephant, who, as yet, knew hardly any tricks, had to get -out in the middle of the sawdust ring and learn to stand on his head. It -was not easy, either. One of the older elephants had to show the new -elephant a number of times before he could do it even a little bit. But -finally he could, and the circus man said: - -“Now stay standing on your head for ten minutes, Frisko. It will be good -practice for you. Don’t get down! Stay right as you are. Now then, -second class in fast running!” and the circus man took a lot of ponies -over to one side of the barn to have them practice for the races. - -And all the while, Frisko, the new elephant, had to stand on his head. -The Professor took George, the bear, off to one side of the circus barn -to teach his pet a new trick, and as Beckie had to wash and dress her -rubber doll, Neddie was left with nothing to do. So he walked over and -watched the new elephant learning the trick of standing on his head. - -“Do you like it?” asked Neddie, the bear boy, of the elephant. - -“Oh, yes, I don’t mind,” said the big creature. “Oh, dear!” he suddenly -cried. “Oh, me! Oh, my!” and a big tear, about as large as a cup of -water, came in each of the elephant’s eyes. - -“Why, what is the matter?” asked Neddie kindly. - -“Oh, my back itches me something terrible!” said Frisko, the elephant, -“and I daren’t get down from standing on my head to scratch it. Oh, -dear!” - -Now, if there is one thing worse than another it is to have an itchy -place where you can’t scratch it. Neddie knew this as well as anybody. -It’s as bad as wanting to sneeze when some one scares you out of it, and -really that’s the very worst thing that can happen. - -“Oh, my!” went on the elephant, and he wiggled about, and tried to -scratch the itchy place on his back, but he couldn’t, and he didn’t dare -get down from standing on his head, for fear the circus man would be -angry at him, and oh! such a lot of trouble as he had. - -But Neddie thought of a plan. - -“How would you like to have me scratch your back for you Frisko?” asked -the little bear boy. “I won’t dig my claws in very deep. Shall I scratch -you?” - -“If you only would,” sighed the elephant. So Neddie gently scratched the -big creature who was standing on his head. “Ah, that is lovely. I feel -so much better now,” said the elephant. “I can stand this way as long as -I have to.” - -But he did not have to stand on his head much longer, for the circus man -came over pretty soon and said to Frisko: - -“That will do. You recited your lesson very nicely. Now you may go to -the kitchen and get a lump of sugar.” - -And the elephant did—a large lump, for he had a large mouth, you know. - -“Now, Neddie Stubtail, I think I’ll see what sort of lesson tricks I’ll -give you to study,” went on the circus man. “First, let me see you climb -up this pole.” - -There was a big round pole, like a telegraph one, sticking up in the -middle of the circus barn floor. - -“Oh, I can’t do that!” said Neddie. But then he remembered how he and -Beckie had once gone up the telegraph pole the time the skillery-scalery -alligator was after them. Up and up went Neddie, sticking his claws into -the soft wood. Beckie, watching her brother, felt very proud of him, and -so did George, the tame trained bear. - -Neddie was almost at the top, when, all of a sudden, the pole began to -tip over and over and over. - -“Oh, it’s falling!” cried Beckie. “Neddie, look out! You’ll be hurt!” - -No one knew what to do. There was great excitement. The lions roared and -the tigers snarled. Then Frisko, the elephant, who had practiced -standing on his head, and whose back Neddie had so kindly scratched, -came rushing up, swallowing the last of his lump of sugar, and this -elephant cried: - -“Make way for me. I am strong. I can hold up that pole until you make it -fast so it will not fall. I’ll save Neddie.” - -And the elephant did. In his strong trunk he held the pole up straight -until other elephants nailed it to make it firm and steady. Then Neddie -could come safely down. The elephant had saved him. So you see you -should always scratch an elephant’s back when you can. - -And now about the next story. Let me see. I think, in case the feathers -in the lady’s hat do not tickle the milk pitcher so that it falls off -the table and spills all the cream, I’ll tell you about Beckie and the -monkey. - - - - - STORY XI - BECKIE AND THE MONKEY - - -Many things happened to Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little bear boy -and girl, while they stayed with the circus man in the barn where they -had their Thanksgiving dinner. Oh many, many things happened, but I have -only room to tell you of a few of them. - -The two little bears cubs had been in the circus barn about a week, and -though they liked it very much, and, though George, the tame trained -bear, and his master, the Professor, and the other man, and the elephant -and the lions and tigers were all very kind to Neddie and Beckie, they -began to wish they were home. - -“I—I’m sort of sorry we ran away,” said Beckie one morning, as she put a -new dress on her rubber doll, Mary Ann Puddingstick Clothespin. It was -only her own pocket handkerchief that Beckie used for a doll’s dress, -but it did very well for all that. - -“I guess I’m a bit sorry, too,” said Neddie. “We have learned some -tricks, to be sure, and I can turn a somersault almost as good as George -can, but still it isn’t as much fun as I though it would be.” - -“I guess running away never is,” said Beckie. - -“But we have had some fun,” went on Neddie. - -“Do you mean the time you did the trick of climbing the pole here in the -barn, and it toppled over with you and the elephant had to hold it up?” -asked Beckie. “Was that fun?” - -“I was too scared to think it was funny, but it might have been jolly -for the others,” laughed Neddie. - -Then the two little bear children, who had run away from their home in -the cave-house on the side of the hill, walked around the circus barn. -They listened to the lions having their roaring lessons, in which the -seals, who juggled rubber balls on the ends of their noses, also joined. -Then Neddie and Beckie looked at the tall giraffes take a lesson in -picking oranges off the top rafters of the barn, and at the -hippopotamus, who had to have his sore throat looked at by Dr. Possum, -who always attended the sick circus animals. - -“My! You have a very sore throat,” said Dr. Possum to the hippopotamus -when he had looked at it. The hippo opened his mouth so wide that Dr. -Possum could get right inside, which he did, sitting on the hippo’s -tongue in order to see better. “Yes, a very sore throat,” went on Dr. -Possum. “You must gargle it.” - -So he gave the hippo some medicine, and the hippo gargled his throat and -really he made such a funny noise, like thunder, doing it that Beckie -and Neddie had to laugh. And that made the hippo sneeze so that he could -not gargle. - -“When are we going out traveling around again?” asked Neddie of the -Professor and George. “Are we always going to stay here with the circus -animals?” - -“No, indeed,” answered the Professor as he blew a nice tune on his brass -horn. “But it is getting too cold for traveling now, and sleeping out in -the woods. Besides, all the children are saving up their pennies for -Christmas, and they will not drop any in my cap when I go around after -George has done his tricks. - -“So I think we will stay with the kind circus man and his pets for some -time—at least until it gets warmer. Meanwhile, Neddie, I want to show -you a new trick that you can do with George. I’ll have you ride on his -shoulders, carrying a broom, and I think that will make the people -laugh, and when people laugh they give you more pennies than otherwise.” - -“Oh, goodie! I’m going to learn another trick!” cried Neddie in delight. -Then the Professor took the little bear boy off to one side of the barn, -near the place where the elephants slept in the hay, and, with the big, -kind, tame bear, George, they practiced the new trick, the Professor -blowing a tooting-toot-toot-tune on his brass horn every once in a -while. - -This left Beckie to play by herself, but she was not lonesome, for she -had her rubber doll to take care of, and she could watch the hippo -gargle his big red flannel throat, and she looked at the monkeys doing -tricks in their cages. - -Beckie was not very lonesome. But perhaps if she and Neddie could have -seen what was going on back in their cave-house by the hill, they would -have run to their papa and mamma as fast as their legs would take them, -for Mr. and Mrs. Stubtail were very lonesome for their children. So was -Aunt Piffy, the fat bear lady, and also Uncle Wigwag and Mr. Whitewash, -the polar bear. - -“If my children do not soon come home to me,” said Mrs. Stubtail, wiping -her eyes on her apron, “I don’t know what I shall do.” - -“I know,” said Mr. Whitewash, “Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit -gentleman, and I will start off and find them. If Uncle Wiggily could -find his fortune he can find lost children.” - -“That is a good idea,” said Papa Stubtail. “If Neddie and Beckie do not -soon come back I’ll get Uncle Wiggily after them.” - -And, all this while, mind you, Neddie and Beckie were in the circus -barn. - -Well, after Beckie had given her rubber doll a nice wash in the parrot’s -bathtub, the little bear girl heard some one crying. At first she -thought it might be some bad animal, pretending to be in trouble, so as -to catch something for his supper. Then Beckie remembered that she was -safe in the circus barn, where all the animals were her friends. - -So she looked around, and there she saw a great big grandfather monkey -crying, and holding his face in his paw. He was all hunched up and -stooped over as if he hadn’t a friend in the world, and he looked very -sorrowful. - -“Oh, what is the matter?” asked Beckie, kindly. - -“I have a terrible toothache,” said the monkey gentleman. - -“Oh, that’s too bad!” exclaimed Beckie. She knew what a toothache was, -once having had one herself. “Why don’t you do something for it?” she -asked. - -“I don’t know what to do,” said the grandfather monkey. “That is, unless -I have it pulled, and I don’t want to do that.” - -“I don’t blame you,” said Beckie, “still it might be better to have it -out.” - -“If they could just pull out the ache, and leave the tooth in, I would -not mind it so much,” went on the monkey. “But when they pull the tooth -just to get out the ache—that is too much! Oh, dear!” and he almost -stood up on the end of his tail, the pain was so bad. - -Beckie glanced about the circus barn. No one seemed to be looking after -the toothache monkey. All the other monkeys were practicing on their -hand organs, and all the other animals were reciting their different -lessons. Beckie and the old Grandfather monkey were all by themselves. - -“I know what I’ll do,” said the little bear girl. “I’ll just slip out -and go to Dr. Possum’s and get some toothache medicine for you. That may -stop your pain.” - -“Oh, will you?” cried the grandpa monkey. “That will be very kind of -you.” - -So Beckie left her rubber doll asleep, and slipped out of the circus -barn when no one was looking. She hurried to Dr. Possum’s office and got -some very strong medicine. Then, when she went back, she put some on -some cotton and then she put the cotton in the hole of the monkey’s -tooth, and soon it was all better. - -Then, as Beckie had nothing else to do, she thought she would go to -sleep with her doll, which she did, lying down in the soft, clean -sawdust. Beckie slept and slept, and so she did not see the bad old -skillery-scalery alligator slip in through the barn door which she had -left open when she came in with the toothache medicine. - -Nearer and nearer came the ’gator to Beckie. She did not see him, -neither did Neddie nor the circus man, nor the Professor nor George, the -big bear, or they might have driven him away. - -“Ah, ha! Now I’ll get her!” whispered the alligator to himself. “She is -asleep and can’t see me. I’ll just carry her off to my den, and then—Ah, -we shall see what will happen then!” - -But Beckie was not to be carried off by the ’gator. All of a sudden the -grandpa monkey, whose toothache was all better now, saw the -skillery-scalery creature. - -“Wake up, Beckie! Wake up!” cried the good monkey. “Get out of the way, -and I’ll attend to that alligator.” - -Beckie awakened, and rolled out of the way just in time, or the -alligator might have grabbed her. Then the monkey took four pawfuls of -sawdust and threw it in the eyes of the alligator and down his throat -and into his mouth and nose and ears, making the ’gator sneeze -forty-’leven times. And whenever a ’gator sneezes that way he can’t harm -anybody. - -That’s what happened to this skillery-scalery alligator, and away he -went, taking his humpy-bumpy tail with him. So Beckie was saved, which -shows that you should always stop a monkey’s toothache when you can. - -Then the bear children and the circus animals had their supper, and -there was pickled ice cream for those who wanted it. And, in the next -story, if the baby doesn’t sit down in the peach basket so tightly that -we have to take the poker to get her out, I’ll tell you about Neddie and -Beckie going back home. - - - - - STORY XII - NEDDIE AND BECKIE GO HOME - - -“Oh, Neddie!” exclaimed Beckie Stubtail, the little girl bear, as she -rolled over in the clean shavings on the floor of the barn where the -circus animals stayed during the cold winter months. - -“Oh, Neddie, I’ve just thought of the nicest game we can play! Oh, it’s -just too lovely for anything!” - -“Pooh! A girl’s game!” answered Neddie, the boy bear, as he looked under -a pile of sawdust to see if he could find popcorn ball, or maybe an ice -cream cone. Mind, I’m not saying for sure, but maybe. Anyhow, Neddie -found nothing good to eat, so it doesn’t make any difference. - -“I don’t want to play any girls’ games,” went on Neddie. - -I don’t call Neddie very polite, myself, but then you may think -differently. Beckie looked sort of disappointed, and her paws, in which -she was holding Mary Ann Puddingstick Clothespin, her rubber doll, -trembled a little, and Beckie thought sure she was going to have to use -her pocket “hankerwitch” (which is just the same of your handkerchief) -to wipe away her tears. - -For Beckie was lonesome, and she wanted her mamma, and the little girl -bear wished she hadn’t run away from home with her brother to go with -the Professor and George, the big, tame, trained bear with the ring in -his nose. Yes, indeed, Beckie was sorry she had run away. - -I guess Neddie was sorry, too, for, after pawing about a bit in the -sawdust, he looked at his sister, and when he saw her lips quivering, -and that she was trying to reach for her hankerwitch without him seeing -it—then Neddie did what he should have done at first, and said: - -“Oh, well, Beckie, maybe a girl’s game would be nice after all. We -aren’t doing much here. Tell me about it.” - -“I will,” said Beckie, and she brightened up and smiled as well as -little girl bears can smile, and she patted her little rubber doll, and -said: - -“Now, Neddie, just as soon as Mary Ann Puddingstick Clothespin is asleep -I’ll tell you about the trick I thought up all by myself.” - -So Neddie waited until the rubber doll should close her eyes, and go -fast, fast to sleep. It took some time. - -“Well, isn’t that doll asleep yet?” asked Neddie after a bit. He was -anxious to know what trick Beckie was going to tell about. - -“Hush! Yes, she’s asleep,” said the little bear girl. “Come on, we’ll go -over near where the elephants are eating their peanuts and I’ll tell you -all about it. Will you kindly watch over Mary Ann Puddingstick -Clothespin?” asked Beckie of the big hippopotamus. - -“I will,” answered the river-horse, yawning until it looked as if some -one had opened a big red flannel bag, so large was the hippo’s mouth. - -“Now for my trick,” said Beckie when she and her little brother were -over on the side of the circus barn where the elephants lived. “I was -thinking, Neddie, that if we could get a long plank, or board, we could -put it over the back of one of the big elephants. Then you could get on -one end of the board and I’d get on the other, and we would see-saw and -teeter-tauter up and down, and the people who watched us would like the -trick very much.” - -“Yes, I think that would be fine!” cried Neddie. “Why, that isn’t a -girl’s trick at all! It’s good enough for any of the boys! We’ll do it, -and maybe we’ll get a lot of sweet buns and some lollypops, too! Why, -that’s as good a trick as some that George does!” - -And George was a pretty good trick bear, too, let me tell you. When the -Professor blew on his brass horn, Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra! George would -somersault, or peppersault, and march like a soldier and do all things -like that. - -Well, Neddie and Beckie found a long teetery-tautery plank in the barn, -and then they asked the kind old elephant, who had once helped Neddie, -if he would let them put it on his back for a see-saw. - -“Why, to be sure I will,” kindly said the elephant, and with his long -rubbery, stretchy trunk he put the plank on his own back, for it was -quite too heavy for Neddie and Beckie to lift so high. - -“But I wonder how we are to get up on the plank now?” asked the little -girl bear. - -“You can climb up my neck, if you don’t scratch me too much,” said the -spotted giraffe, who was as tall as a stepladder. So Neddie climbed up -the neck of one giraffe, on one side of the elephant, and Beckie climbed -up another giraffe on the other side, the bear children taking care not -to scratch the tall, spotted creatures. Then the little bear cubs got on -the plank over the elephant’s back both at the same time, balancing -themselves nicely, and then they began to teeter-tauter! Up and down -they went, while Beckie sang this song. - - “Teeter-tauter - Bread and water. - Up and down we go. - Sometimes I am very high - Then again I’m low.” - -Well, the bear cubs were having a fine time, when along came the circus -man and the Professor, who owned George, the trained bear. The two men, -who could speak and understand bear, and all other animal languages, -watched Neddie and Beckie doing the teeter-tauter trick Beckie had -thought up all by herself. - -“That’s pretty good,” said the circus man, speaking bear talk, and -nodding toward the two little bears. - -“Yes, indeed,” said the Professor. Then the two of them talked for some -time in their own language, which Beckie and Neddie could not understand -very well. - -Beckie and Neddie felt very proud that the circus man and the Professor -should like their trick. But a little later, when the poll-parrot came -over to them, and told them something, they did not feel so happy. The -poll-parrot said: - -“Oh, you don’t know what I heard! I heard those two men talking about -you two little bears. I can understand man talk, and talk it myself, you -see.” - -“What did they say?” asked Neddie, sliding down off the teeter-tauter. -That let Beckie come down suddenly with a bump, but she fell on a pile -of soft shavings, so she did not get hurt in the least. - -“What did they say?” asked the parrot. “Why I heard them say that they -were going to dress you two bears up like clowns, and make you go down -South where it’s warm weather even if it’s winter up here. Down there -the Professor is going to take you and George and an elephant, and make -you do that see-saw trick. Oh, you’re going to be taken away from here!” - -Beckie and Neddie looked at each other. They had never thought such a -thing would happen when they did their little trick. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Beckie as she thought of going farther and farther -away from her home and her mamma. “I wish we’d never run away, Neddie!” - -“So do I!” exclaimed Neddie. “But I’ll not let them send us down South! -Listen, Beckie, we must run away again, only this time we’ll run back -home!” - -“Oh, goodie!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws. - -“Come on—right away!” said Neddie. “We’ll go before the Professor and -the circus man see us!” - -So the two little bear children slipped out of the back door of the -barn. They wished they could kiss George, the big, kind bear, good-by, -but it was impossible—which means you can’t do it. - -Oh! how fast Neddie and Beckie ran. Over the fields and through the -woods they went, until the circus barn was left far, far behind. And -finally, just as night was coming on, the two little children bears -reached the cave in the side of the hill where they lived, and they were -safe home again, and oh! how glad their papa and mamma and Aunt Piffy, -the fat bear lady, were to see them. And of course Mr. Whitewash, the -Polar bear, and Uncle Wigwag, the trick-playing bear, were glad also. -And oh! such a good supper as Neddie and Beckie had. - -“We’re never going to run away again!” they said. - -So that’s all to this story, but in the next one, if the dog barking at -the moon in our backyard doesn’t take off his collar and tie it on my -pussy cat’s neck, I’ll tell you about Neddie Stubtail and little Wuzzy -Fuzzytail. - - - - - STORY XIII - NEDDIE AND WUZZY FUZZYTAIL - - -“Come, children, it’s time to get up!” called Mrs. Stubtail, the bear -lady, as she stood at the foot of the stairs in the cave-house, on the -side of the green hill, one morning. “Come, Neddie! Come, Beckie!” - -Up out of their beds in the soft, brown autumn leaves jumped Neddie and -Beckie. - -“Oh, is that the Professor man, going to make us do our trick of -see-sawing on the elephant’s back?” cried Beckie, rubbing her eyes. - -“Or maybe it’s George, the tame bear, calling us,” said Neddie. Then he -and his sister looked at each other, and they both laughed. - -“Why, we’re in our own home!” exclaimed Beckie, looking around. - -“So we are! And not in the circus barn at all!” added Neddie, as he -noticed his own room in the cave. Then he and his sister laughed again, -jumped into their little bear suits, and slid down the stair rail to -breakfast. - -[Illustration] - -“Well, isn’t it good to be home again?” asked Mrs. Stubtail, as she put -some more corn griddle cakes on the stove to cook. - -“Indeed, it is!” said Beckie. - -“And I guess you didn’t get any nice sweet maple syrup honey like this -when you ran away from home, to go with the Professor man, and George, -the trick bear; did you?” asked Aunt Piffy, the fat old lady bear. - -“Indeed, we didn’t!” exclaimed Beckie, as she took another cake. “And -when you called us to breakfast just now, mamma, we thought we were back -in the barn again, with all the circus animals.” - -“Well, what are we going to do to-day?” asked Neddie, as he pushed back -his chair. And, just as he did it, Uncle Wigwag, the old gentleman bear, -who was always playing tricks on the animal children, tipped Neddie over -backward. - -“Oh, my!” cried the bear boy. - -“Don’t be frightened!” called Uncle Wigwag with a laugh. “I’m not going -to let you fall!” And with that he caught Neddie, chair and all, up in -his big paws and gave him a bear hug; he was so glad to see his little -nephew back home again. - -“Well, I know what I’m going to do,” said Beckie, “I’m going to give my -doll, Mary Ann Puddingstick Clothespin, a nice bath, and put a clean -dress on her.” For, you see, the rubber doll had got rather mussed up -traveling around through the woods. - -“I know what you are both going to do,” said Mrs. Stubtail, with a -smile. “You are both going to school. You have missed enough lessons as -it is, running off the way you did. - -“I’ll not punish you, although you did give us a bad fright, but you -really must go back to school.” - -“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Neddie, scratching his nose with his claws. - -“That’s what I say!” spoke Beckie. You see, she and Neddie had been out -of school nearly a week now, and it was rather hard to go back again. - -But they were pretty good little bear children—not too goody-goody, you -know, but good enough—and so they went to school. - -And something happened soon after they reached their classes. Neddie -talked in school. You see, the way it was, Joie Kat leaned over and -asked him: - -“Where have you been all this while?” - -And Neddie answered back: - -“Oh, in a circus. I’ll tell you all about it at recess.” - -The teacher heard them whispering, and kept both the little bear boy and -the kitten chap in after school. Joie Kat got out first, because he -finished his punish-lesson sooner than Neddie. - -And when Neddie Stubtail finally got out of school there was none of the -other animal boys to be seen. Every one, from Sammie Littletail, the -rabbit, to Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck, and Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, -the puppy dog boys, had all run off to play. - -“Well,” said Neddie, “I guess I’ll have to go home alone. Never mind, -maybe I’ll have an adventure.” An adventure, you know, is something that -happens; like when you drop your candy-penny down a crack in the -boardwalk. - -Well, Neddie was walking along through the woods, and wishing he could -find a lollypop, or maybe some honey cakes, when, all of a sudden, he -heard a little crying voice down under a pile of leaves. And it was such -a sad, baby sort of crying voice that Neddie was not at all frightened. -He just looked around to see who it was, thinking perhaps it might be -Jillie Longtail, the little mousie girl. - -But instead he saw a big tail sticking out from under the leaves, and -when Neddie had poked them away with his paw there he saw only Wuzzy -Fuzzytail, the tiny little fox boy. - -“Oh, hello, Wuzzy!” cried Neddie. “What are you doing here?” - -“I—I’m lost!” sobbed Wuzzy Fuzzytail. “I’m lost and I don’t know where -my home is—boo-hoo!” - -“Oh, never mind! Don’t cry!” said Neddie. “I’ll take you home. Why did -you hide under the leaves?” - -“Well,” said Wuzzy, “when I heard you coming along through the woods, I -didn’t know who it was. I thought maybe it was a bad bear, so I hid -under the leaves. Boo-hoo!” - -“Don’t cry!” said Neddie again. “I’ll take care of you.” - -“Oh, boo-hoo!” still sobbed Wuzzy. - -“Don’t say boo-hoo!” spoke Neddie. “Just say it backward for a -change—say ‘Hoo-boo!’ Maybe that will make you stop crying.” - -“Hoo-boo!” said Wuzzy Fuzzytail, the little fox boy, and, surely enough, -when he said that he stopped crying at once. - -Then Neddie took the paw of the little fox boy in his own big one, and -away they went through the woods together toward the hollow log where -Wuzzy lived with his papa and mamma. - -“I’m awful glad you found me, Neddie,” said Wuzzy Fuzzytail to the bear -boy. “I wish I could do you a favor for being so kind to me.” - -“Oh, that’s all right!” said Neddie, sort of careless-like. “Maybe you -can, some day.” - -Well, they were going along through the woods, when, all of a sudden, -they saw right in front of them the bad old skillery-scalery alligator. - -“Ah, ha!” cried the unpleasant creature with the hump nose, “at last I -have you, Neddie Stubtail! And a little fox, too. Better and better! -Well, I’ll take the bear first and the fox boy afterward,” and with that -he grabbed Neddie. - -“Oh, dear!” cried the bear boy. “Now I am caught. This comes of being -kept in after school.” - -He tried to get away from the alligator, but could not, and he felt very -sad. Poor little Wuzzy did not know what to do, so he just stood there -shivering and wondering who would take him home in case the alligator -carried Neddie away. - -But foxes are very smart, even when they are small, and Wuzzy was a -bright little chap. So, when he saw the alligator taking Neddie away, -Wuzzy said to himself: - -“I wonder if I can’t help him? He helped me, so it is only fair that I -should help him. What can I do?” - -He thought a minute and then he said: - -“Ah, ha! I have it. I’ll bite the alligator’s tail. He will be so -surprised that he will give a jump, and then maybe Neddie can get away.” - -So, going softly up behind the alligator, who did not see him, Wuzzy -nipped the alligator on the little end of his tail. And Wuzzy Fuzzytail -had very sharp teeth, let me tell you, as all foxes have. He gave the -’gator a good, hard nip. - -“Ouch! Wow! Horsecars and mustard seed!” cried the alligator, and he -jumped around so suddenly, to see who was biting him, that he let go of -Neddie. - -“Now’s your chance, Neddie! Run!” cried Wuzzy. And how Neddie did run! -Wuzzy ran after him, and soon they were so far away that the alligator -could not catch them. Then Neddie took Wuzzy home, and Mrs. Fuzzytail -thanked the bear boy very much and gave him a piece of cake. - -Then Neddie went home himself and he didn’t whisper in school any more -that day. So that’s all to this story. - -And to-morrow night if the poll-parrot doesn’t call the poodle dog funny -names and bite a hole in the firecracker, I’ll tell you about Beckie -making a doll’s dress. - - - - - STORY XIV - BECKIE MAKES A DOLL’S DRESS - - -“Beckie! Beckie, where are you?” called Neddie Stubtail, the little boy -bear, one morning after breakfast. “Come along! You’ll be late for -school. I’m not going to wait for you.” - -“I’m coming,” answered Beckie from inside the cave-house on the side of -the hill. “I’m coming! Wait a minute!” - -“I’m not going to wait, and be late!” said Neddie, and he was not quite -as polite as he might have been. - -“Oh, Neddie!” exclaimed Aunt Piffy, the fat old lady bear, puffing and -blowing, for she had been down cellar after some potatoes, and when she -came up stairs she always puffed and blew. - -“Why, Neddie!” she went on, “you should (puff) wait for (puff) your -little (puff) sister. She doesn’t very often (puff) ask you to (puff) do -it. More times she has to (puff) wait for you!” - -“Oh, well, I’ll wait,” said Neddie, and he felt the least little bit -ashamed of himself for having talked that way to his sister. “But I -don’t want to be late,” he added. - -“You won’t be late—I’m coming!” called Beckie. “I just wanted to find my -needle and thread.” - -“Needle and thread!” cried Neddie. “You don’t mean to tell me, do you -Beckie, that you’ve torn your dress and have to stop and sew it? And the -last bell will ring in a few minutes! Oh, I’m not going to wait at all -any longer! I’m going!” And off the little bear boy started, holding out -his little stubby tail as stiff and straight as he could. But at that it -wasn’t much larger than your thumb, and you could hardly notice it. - -“No, indeed, I haven’t torn my dress, and I don’t have to stop to sew it -up,” said Beckie, as she came running out of the cave-house. “Wait a -minute, won’t you please, Neddie? I’m just taking my needle and thread -and some pieces of silk to school with me so I can make my new doll, -Sarah Janet Picklefeather, a new dress.” - -“What, make your doll a dress in school?” cried Neddie, stopping and -turning around. “Teacher never will let you, Beckie Stubtail—never! And -you know it!” - -“Oh, but I’m not going to sew in school,” said Beckie, sweetly. “I’m -taking my lunch with me, and I’m not coming home to dinner, and I’m -going to sew on my doll’s dress during the noon recess. And I’ve got -some honey cakes for my lunch, too!” - -“Oh, wow!” cried Neddie. “So that’s how it is, eh? Then I’m going to -take my lunch, too, and stay at school and have some fun. May I have -some honey cakes, mamma?” - -“Oh, yes, I guess so,” answered Mrs. Stubtail, who, with Aunt Piffy, had -come to the door to see the children start for school. - -Then Neddie ran back to get his lunch put up. And such a busy time as -there was, for a few minutes. Mrs. Stubtail and Aunt Piffy both tried to -put the lunch up, so Neddie would not be late, and Mrs. Stubtail dropped -the bread, butter side down, and Aunt Piffy lost her breath and could -hardly find it again. Then Uncle Wigwag, the bear gentleman, who was -always playing tricks, sat down in the fly paper by mistake, and Mr. -Whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, had to pull the sticky stuff off -his friend, Uncle Wigwag. - -And that wasn’t all. For Mr. Whitewash was shaving his whiskers, and -when he wasn’t looking, Mrs. Stubtail knocked over the molasses pitcher -into his cup, full of soap-suds lather, and when Mr. Whitewash went to -lather his face again he was almost as badly stuck up as Uncle Wigwag -was with the fly paper. - -Oh, my! Such goings on! - -But, finally, Neddie’s lunch was put up and all this while Beckie waited -for him, and she never once said “hurry up!” or “I’m going on, we’ll be -late!” Not once did she say it, though she might well have done so, -since the last bell had been ringing for some time. - -But finally Beckie and Neddie got to school and they were only about one -forty-’leventh part of a second late, and that didn’t count. - -I wish I could tell you all that happened in school that day—how Neddie -went to the blackboard, and wrote a fine story of a poodle dog that -could stand on its head. And how Joie Kat drew such a real-like picture -of a mouse that Tommie Kat, Joie’s brother, wanted to chase it, and it -was all his sister Kittie Kat could do to stop him. - -But I haven’t room to tell you any of those things now. I must tell you -about Beckie making her doll’s dress. Now, hold on, boys, if you please. -You might think this is a girl’s story, but it isn’t—that is not all of -it, even if it is partly about a doll’s dress. - -If you just listen you’ll see that Beckie did a very brave thing, which -shows you that girls can do things as well as boys can, and lots of -times better. Take, for instance, braiding hair—a boy couldn’t braid his -hair to save him, but look how easily a girl can do it, and chew gum, -and read a book and talk, all at the same time. Well, I guess! - -Anyhow, pretty soon it was recess time, and all the animal children -could come out of school. Some went home to their dinner, and others, -who had brought their lunch, found nice cozy places where they could eat -it. - -Neddie went off with Tommie and Joie Kat, and with Jackie and Peetie Bow -Wow, the puppy dog boys. And as soon as Beckie had finished her lunch -she got out her needle and thread and thimble and the pieces of silk, -and began to make a dress for her doll, Sarah Janet Picklefeather. - -First she sewed in some—tuckers, I think they’re called, or maybe it was -puckers. Anyhow, she sewed them in the dress, Beckie did, to make it -look nice. - -Then the little bear girl made a few frills around the neck and down the -side she sewed in some rosettes. Around the middle she gathered some -insertions, and then on the bottom—let me see now, what did she put on -the bottom? Oh, I know, it was a ruffle. (You boys may skip this part if -you like. I wouldn’t write it only I have to put in something about the -dress, or the girls wouldn’t read the story.) - -Where were we? Oh, I remember. We’d gotten to the bottom part of the -dress. And that reminds me, if we’re at the bottom of the dress that’s -all there is to it, and I can stop, and so I’m at the end of that part, -and don’t have to write any more, thank goodness! - -Anyhow, Beckie was sitting on the steps of the school, in the warm -sunshine, sewing away on Miss Picklefeather’s dress, making her needle -go in and out, when, all of a sudden, along came a bad old, big bear who -didn’t like little bear girls, nor bear boys, either. - -“Ah, ha!” growled the bad bear. “This is the time I have caught you! -I’ve been waiting a long time to get you! Now I’m going to carry you -off to my den, and make you wash dishes for ever and ever. -Bur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!” - -Beckie looked up quickly and started to run, but she had no chance. The -bad bear was right in front of her, and the door, before which she was -sitting, was one that was hardly ever used, so it had been locked. -Beckie couldn’t escape that way. She looked all around the school yard, -but none of her friends was in sight. Neither was Neddie, who might have -saved her, and as for the teacher, she had gone home to her dinner. - -“Oh, help! Help!” cried poor little Beckie. She didn’t want the bear to -take her away, and, as for washing dishes, she just hated that work, -though she didn’t mind doing them for her mamma. - -“Pooh! No one will help you!” cried the bad bear. “So don’t bother to -call. Come along!” And he reached out his paws to grab Beckie. Then he -happened to notice the doll’s dress, and, being a very curious sort of -bear, he asked: “What are you doing?” - -“I am making a dress for my doll,” answered Beckie, as politely as she -could, with all her trembling. Then she thought of a trick to play on -that bear. “Would you like to see me sew on the doll’s dress?” Beckie -asked, sweetly. - -“Well, you might show me one or two stitches,” said the bear, sort of -careless-like. “But, mind you, I’ll carry you off just the same.” - -“All right,” answered Beckie. “Look closely now. You see, I put the -needle in this side of the silk and I push it through with my thimble.” - -“Yes,” said the bear, “I see.” - -“Now look closely,” said Beckie, and the bear leaned forward and put his -nose and eyes close down. “And then,” said Beckie, “I pull my needle out -this way, and—I stick it in your soft and tender nose—that way!” And -with that she did it, jabbing the needle into the bear’s nose! - -“Oh, wow!” cried the bad bear, and he was so surprised that he turned a -back somersault and then he ran away off in the woods to get some honey -to put on his sore nose. So he didn’t take Beckie away after all. Which -shows you that it’s a good thing to make a doll’s dress, sometimes. - -Then, soon the other children came back to school, and so did the -teacher, and lessons went on and everybody said Beckie was very brave. -And I think so, too, and in the story after this, if the ashman doesn’t -take our furnace out in the yard so that it catches cold and can’t go to -the moving picture show, I’ll tell you about Neddie’s joke on Uncle -Wigwag. - -[Illustration] - - - - - STORY XV - NEDDIE’S JOKE ON UNCLE WIGWAG - - -“What is the matter? Why are you laughing so much?” asked Aunt Piffy, -the fat old lady bear, of Uncle Wigwag, the comical old bear gentleman, -one morning at the breakfast table. - -“Oh, ho! Ha, ha! I tee-hee—ho—ho! I just can’t help it!” said Uncle -Wigwag, giggling, so that he spilled some honey on the tablecloth. And -Mrs. Stubtail, the mamma bear, said: - -“Oh, there you go again!” - -“Excuse me!” spoke Uncle Wigwag, and then he laughed some more, and some -milk he was drinking went down his Sunday throat, and, as the day -happened to be Thursday, it was altogether wrong you see, and Uncle -Wigwag choked and sniffed and snuffled and laughed, all at the same -time. - -“Well, I do declare!” exclaimed Aunt Piffy, as she patted Uncle Wigwag -on the back, so he wouldn’t lose his breath. And he didn’t, I’m glad to -say, but Aunt Piffy accidentally pounded him so hard that she lost part -of her own breath, and when she talked next time she had to go like -this: - -“I never (puff) saw you behave so (puff) at the table before (puff) -Waggie, in all my (puff) life. Never! (puff). What is the (puff) matter, -Waggie?” You see she called Uncle Wigwag by the name of Waggie for -short. - -“Oh!” said Uncle Wigwag, when finally he could talk, “I just thought of -something, I did! It made me laugh!” - -Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, looked at Uncle Wigwag quite -severely, but he said nothing, and only went on eating his breakfast. - -“I think I know what made Uncle Wigwag laugh,” said Beckie Stubtail, the -little girl bear, to Neddie, her brother, some time later. - -“What?” he asked as he looked for his books to take to school. “What was -it, Beckie?” - -“He’s thinking of a joke to play,” said Beckie. - -“I believe you’re right,” went on Neddie. “Oh, Beckie, and I’ve just -thought of something, too.” - -“What is it?” she asked as she looked to see if her doll, Sarah Janet -Picklefeather, was nicely covered up in the puppy dog’s basket, so she -wouldn’t get cold while Beckie was at school. - -“We’ll just play a trick on Uncle Wigwag,” went on Neddie. “He plays so -many on us that it’s about time we played one on him.” - -“Oh, yes, let’s do it!” cried Beckie, clapping her little paws. “But it -won’t be a mean or an unkind trick, will it, Neddie? For Uncle Wigwag is -very good to us, and gives us lollypops, even if he does play a joke on -us now and then.” - -“Oh, no, it won’t be a bad trick,” said Neddie, laughing. “Only a funny -one.” - -So the two little bear children went on to school, talking on the way of -the joke they would play on Uncle Wigwag. In fact, Neddie was thinking -so much about this that he did not pay enough attention to his lessons, -and when the teacher asked him: “Why does a cow eat grass?” Neddie -answered: “Because it’s a joke!” - -You see, he was thinking of the one he and Beckie were going to play. -But the teacher didn’t know that, so she made Neddie go down to the foot -of the class for not answering correctly. - -Well, when school was out, Neddie and Beckie hurried off by themselves -to play the joke on Uncle Wigwag. - -“Have you thought of what to do yet?” asked Beckie. - -“Yes,” said Neddie, “you know it was cold last night, and the little -puddle of water near our cave-house is frozen over. It’s as slippery as -glass. Now we’ll cover the puddle over with some sawdust, so you can’t -see the ice. Then we’ll make believe write a letter to Uncle Wigwag and -we’ll put it on the top of the sawdust in the middle of the frozen -puddle. - -“He’ll run out to get the letter, when we tell him there is one for him, -and he’ll slip on the ice and go down ‘ko-bunk!’” - -“Oh, but won’t he get hurt?” asked Beckie, anxious-like. - -“No, for his fur is so thick now that he won’t feel the fall,” said -Neddie. “Come on, we’ll play the joke on him.” - -So the two little bear children got some sawdust, and, when no one was -looking, they sprinkled it on the ice so the slippery stuff could not be -seen. - -Then they made believe write a letter to Uncle Wigwag, and, putting it -in a large envelope, with his name on the outside, they put this right -in the middle of the frozen puddle, tossing it there so they themselves -would not have to walk on the ice and maybe fall down. - -“Now, we’ll hide behind this tree,” said Neddie, “and watch for Uncle -Wigwag to fall down.” They had left word with Mr. Whitewash, the polar -bear, to tell Uncle Wigwag, as soon as he came in, that there was a -letter for him on the sawdust. Mr. Whitewash, not knowing anything of -the joke Neddie was playing, said he would tell Uncle Wigwag of the -letter. - -Well, after a while, when Neddie and Beckie had been hiding behind the -tree for some time, out came Uncle Wigwag. - -“Now, watch!” whispered Neddie. “See him tumble when he gets on the -ice!” - -But, instead of going over and picking up the letter, Uncle Wigwag put a -box down on the ground, near the path by which Neddie and Beckie went to -school, and then the old gentleman bear himself went and hid behind a -tree. - -“Oh, what do you know about that!” whispered Neddie. “He is playing a -joke on us, just as I said he would. There’s nothing in that box but a -piece of brick, or maybe a lot of stones. Uncle Wigwag expects we’ll -pick it up, thinking it’s candy, and when we open it he’ll cry ‘April -fool!’ even if it isn’t the month to play those jokes.” - -“I believe that’s what he is doing,” said Beckie, laughing. - -“Well, we’ll just not be fooled,” went on Neddie. “We’ll leave the -make-believe box of candy alone, and wait until we see Uncle Wigwag go -out on the ice after his letter and fall down.” - -So the two little bear children, laughing to themselves at the joke they -were playing on their fun-loving uncle, waited behind the tree. Uncle -Wigwag waited behind his tree, too. - -Pretty soon, along came Tommie Kat, the kitten boy. He saw the white box -on the path, and cried: - -“Oh, joy! I guess this is something good!” - -“Watch him get fooled!” whispered Neddie. But lo and behold! Tommie -opened the box and there it was filled with the nicest kind of candy! -There wasn’t a stone or brick in it. - -“Oh, yum-yum!” cried Tommie, as he ate the sweet stuff. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Beckie. “It _was_ candy, after all. What kind of a -joke do you call that?” - -“I—I don’t know,” answered Neddie, rubbing his nose with his paw. “I -guess Uncle Wigwag played a different one this time.” - -“Then we oughtn’t to play a mean joke on him, as long as he played such -a nice candy joke on us,” said the little bear girl. - -“I guess you’re right,” agreed Neddie. “We’ll tell him not to go get -that letter.” - -But, before they could do this, Tommie Kat saw the white envelope out on -the sawdust-covered ice puddle. - -“Oh, joy!” he cried again. “Maybe that’s more candy!” And, before either -Beckie or Neddie could call to him, Tommie rushed out to get the -make-believe letter. And as soon as he got on the ice, which he couldn’t -see because of the sawdust on top, down he went ker-bunko! his feet -sliding out from under him, and the candy scattering all over. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Tommie Kat. “I’m all sawdust! And the nice candy! Oh, -dear! It’s all lost!” - -Neddie and Beckie rushed out from behind their tree. - -“We didn’t mean that you should fall, Tommie,” said Neddie, as he helped -the little kitten boy to stand up. “That was for a joke on Uncle -Wigwag.” - -“Well, I don’t call it a very nice joke,” said Tommie, rubbing his nose. -“But, anyhow, I did find some candy. Help me pick it up.” - -“I guess that was for us,” said Beckie. “It was one of Uncle Wigwag’s -jokes!” - -As the bear children and the kitten boy were picking up the scattered -sweet stuff, out came Uncle Wigwag from behind his tree. - -“Ha! Ha!” he cried to Neddie. “I guess I fooled you after all, didn’t I? -And so you were going to fool me, too, eh? But Tommie got my joke -instead. Oh, dear!” and he laughed so hard that he got the hiccoughs, -and Aunt Piffy had to rush out of the cave-house to pat him on the back. - -And then, all of a sudden, the bad bear, in whose nose Beckie had stuck -the needle when she was making her doll’s dress, came rushing up, -growling and wanting to bite some one. But Neddie Stubtail, brave little -chap that he was, threw a hard lollypop at the bad bear, hitting him on -his sore nose, making him cry, “Wow!” and run away off in the woods -where he belonged. - -Then the rest of the candy was picked up, and Beckie and Neddie said -they were sorry they had tried to play the ice trick on Uncle Wigwag, -and everything was all right. - -And on the next page, if the penholder doesn’t let the ink bottle fall -out of the window and make a black mark on the sidewalk, I’ll tell you -about Mr. Whitewash and the stovepipe. - - - - - STORY XVI - MR. WHITEWASH AND THE STOVE PIPE - - -“Oh, dear!” - -“What’s the matter?” - -“Where’s all that smoke coming from?” - -“Oh, ker-choo! Wuzz! Fuzz!” - -“Snicker-snacker-snookum!” - -Every one seemed shouting at once. - -There was great excitement in the cave-house, where the Stubtail family -of bears lived. Neddie and Beckie, the two little bear children, had -jumped out of bed and were choking and sneezing in the hall. - -“Why, the house is filled with smoke!” cried out Aunt Piffy, the fat old -lady bear, and she puffed so hard because her breath nearly got away -from her, that she almost slid downstairs. - -“Is the house on fire?” asked Papa Stubtail, as he looked around for a -pail of water. - -“Maybe this is one of Uncle Wigwag’s tricks,” said Beckie, as she wiped -the tears out of her eyes. She wasn’t exactly crying, you understand, -but you know smoke always makes tears come into your eyes. - -“No, no! There’s no fire!” called Mamma Stubtail, from down in the -kitchen. “I was getting breakfast when the stovepipe suddenly fell down. -I guess you’ll have to come and fix it, Hiram,” she called to Mr. -Stubtail. His first name was Hiram, you see. - -“Let me do it,” said Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, and before any one -else could hurry down to the kitchen Mr. Whitewash had slid down the -stairs, and soon he had the stovepipe in place again, and the stove -cooked things without smoking, and Mrs. Stubtail finished getting -breakfast. - -But that wasn’t all about Mr. Whitewash and the stovepipe. Just you wait -until you get to the end of the story and you’ll see. - -Soon breakfast was over, and Beckie and Neddie had started for school. -Then Mr. Stubtail went to work, and Uncle Wigwag went over to call on -Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, to talk about Christmas -and Santa Claus. - -That left Mr. Whitewash home with Mrs. Stubtail, who was washing the -breakfast dishes. - -“How did the stovepipe happen to come down?” asked Mr. Whitewash, -curious-like. - -“I guess it’s getting old and couldn’t stand up much longer,” answered -the lady bear. “The first I knew it had tumbled over and the smoke -poured out.” - -“Yes, there was lots of smoke,” said Mr. Whitewash. “We all were -frightened. I must take a look at that pipe,” which he did, putting on -his glasses so he could see better. - -“Ha!” he cried, after a bit. “I thought so. That stove needs a new pipe. -I’ll go after it and fix it before the children come home. Then we won’t -have any more trouble when you get up to get the breakfast, Mrs. -Stubtail.” - -“That will be very kind of you,” said the lady bear. - -So off Mr. Whitewash went to get the stovepipe. And very nice he looked, -too, walking along through the woods and over the fields, with his white -fur all combed out like a French poodle’s when he’s had his bath. Mr. -Whitewash was snow-white—and when he walked along sometimes his friends -took him for a snowman, and threw snowballs at him. But Mr. Whitewash -never minded that. - -Well, he got to the stovepipe store all right, but the cow gentleman, -who kept it, said: - -“I am very sorry, Mr. Whitewash, but we are all out of stovepipe this -morning. I expect some in at the end of the week.” - -“But I cannot wait that long,” said the white polar bear gentleman. “Our -old pipe may fall down any day, and fill the house with smoke again. -Then the fire engines will come out and squirt water in our cave, and -there’ll be a terrible time. I must have some stovepipe.” - -“Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” said the cow gentleman. “I sold some -pipe to Grandfather Goosey Gander, the duck gentleman, the other day, -and after he used it awhile he said he wanted a different kind. - -“So he took down that I had sold him, and got some different kind. The -old pipe is out in his back yard now, and I think he would give it to -you.” - -“It will do no harm to ask, anyhow,” said Mr. Whitewash. - -Over he went to the house of Grandfather Goosey Gander, and there, -surely enough, was the pipe. - -“Certainly you may have it,” said the duck gentleman. “I am glad to give -it to you. But be careful, for it is full of black soot, and it may get -on your white coat.” - -“Oh, I can wrap it up in a paper,” said Mr. Whitewash, which he did. -Then, taking care not to get the stovepipe, though it was wrapped up, -against his snow-white fur, off Mr. Whitewash started for the -cave-house, where he lived with the Stubtail family. - -Did you ever put up a stovepipe? No, I guess you did not. Well, it is -not easy work, as Mr. Whitewash soon found. Either the pipe he got from -Grandfather Goosey Gander was too large to fit in the chimney hole or -else the chimney hole was too small to let the pipe slide in. Anyhow, -Mr. Whitewash tried and tried again, and once more, but the pipe would -not fit. - -“I guess I’ll have to get on a stepladder,” said the polar gentleman, -breathing hard. - -“Oh, how black your paws are!” exclaimed Aunt Piffy, the fat lady bear. - -“Yes, it comes off the stovepipe,” said Mr. Whitewash. “Please bring the -stepladder.” - -So Aunt Piffy and Mrs. Stubtail went for the ladder, but in bringing it -through the kitchen door it slipped and caught on Mrs. Stubtail’s paws, -so that she fell down, and so did the fat lady; and Aunt Piffy lost her -breath. - -Aunt Piffy could hardly get her breath back again, either, but she -caught it just as it was slipping out of the door and then she was all -right again—at least for a while. - -“Now I guess I’ll fix this pipe!” cried Mr. Whitewash, as he stood upon -the ladder. Carefully he shoved the stovepipe into the chimney hole, but -still it stuck. - -“It must go in!” cried the polar bear gentleman, “or else we can’t have -a fire in the stove to cook dinner.” - -Then he gave a big push on the pipe. But something slipped. Part of what -slipped was the stepladder and the other part of what slipped was Mr. -Whitewash and the third part of it was the stovepipe. - -Down they fell in a heap together on the floor. - -“Oh!” screamed Aunt Piffy. - -“Oh, me! Oh, my!” cried Mrs. Stubtail. “Shall I get the doctor?” - -Mr. Whitewash didn’t say anything for a little while, and then he -remarked: - -“Please get me a dusting brush!” - -And he certainly needed it, for the soot from the stovepipe had -scattered all over him, and instead of being a pure white bear, he was -speckled black and white now, like those dogs which always run along -under a carriage. - -But when Aunt Piffy and Mrs. Stubtail tried to brush the black soot off -Mr. Whitewash, they found they were only making it worse. The brush -scattered the black all over him instead of leaving it only in spots. - -“I guess you had better not try,” said Mr. Whitewash. “I’ll take a bath -after I get this pipe up.” - -“Can you get it up?” asked Mrs. Stubtail. - -“Of course I can,” said Mr. Whitewash. - -So up on the stepladder the polar bear gentleman got again, and he tried -to fix the stovepipe. He almost had it in the chimney hole, and he was -just getting ready to holler “Hurray!” when, all of a sudden, there was -a growling noise at the back door, and Mrs. Stubtail screamed: - -“Oh, a lion! Here’s a lion coming after us!” and she and Aunt Piffy ran -in the parlor and hid under the sofa. - -“Bur-r-r-r-r-r!” roared the lion. “I’m a bad chap from the circus; and -I’ve come after Beckie and Neddie!” - -Then he roared again, and so loudly that he made the stepladder tremble. -This shook it so that Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, fell down again. -This time the stovepipe landed right on top of his head, like the tall -silk hat Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, wears. And the -soot from the stovepipe scattered all over Mr. Whitewash some more until -he was as black as a piece of coal. - -“Get out of here!” called Mr. Whitewash to the bad lion, and the lion -was so scared at seeing a white bear suddenly turn black, and wear a -stovepipe for a hat, that he ran away as fast as he could, taking his -tufted tail with him. So he didn’t get Neddie or Beckie after all, and a -little later Mr. Whitewash got the pipe all nicely fixed. - -Then he took a bath, for, oh! he was so black! But soon he was as nice -and white again as a French poodle. So there was no more trouble with -smoke in the Stubtail cave-house, and when Beckie and Neddie came home -from school they made molasses taffy on the stove. - -So that’s all I can tell you now, but on the page after this, in case -our cat doesn’t try to walk the telephone wire and fall off into the -rose bush, I’ll tell you about Papa Stubtail in a trap. - -[Illustration] - - - - - STORY XVII - PAPA STUBTAIL IN A TRAP - - -Now to-night I’m going to tell you a story about something sad that -happened to Hiram Stubtail, the papa bear. And I will not make it any -sadder than I can help. But still I have to tell things exactly as they -happened, or it would not be fair, and we must always try to be fair and -honest in this world, no matter what happens. Even when we’re sad we -must try. - -But I will say this, though there is a sad part to the story, there is -also a glad part. And the glad part I’ll put in last, so that when you -go to bed you will dream about that. I always like to have pleasant -dreams; don’t you? - -Once I dreamed I found a lot of money and to make sure I’d have it when -I awakened I put it under my pillow. But when I woke up the money was -all gone. Dream money always does that, you know. It disappears. - -And once I dreamed I found a lollypop, and when I put my hand under my -pillow there it was—all sticky! My little girl had put it there to keep -safe for the night. So that part of my dream came true. - -But I started to tell you about Papa Stubtail’s trouble, and I guess you -don’t want to hear about my troubles. - -Anyhow, one Saturday, when there was no school, Beckie and Neddie -Stubtail, the two little bear children, started off to the woods to see -if they could have any fun. It was quite cold, and it seemed as if it -were going to snow, but they did not mind that, for they had on their -warm fur coats. - -“I know what let’s do!” exclaimed Beckie. “Let’s go over and call on -Uncle Wiggily. You know since he found his fortune he has lots of money, -and he might give us some to get a popcorn ball with.” - -“All right, I’ll go with you,” agreed Neddie. So they went to the house -of the old gentleman rabbit. They found him at home, and he was glad to -see them. And, surely enough, he gave each of the bear children a penny -to buy a popcorn ball. Bears are very fond of those sweet things, you -know. - -Well, while Neddie and Beckie were enjoying the popcorn balls, their -papa had started to come home from where he worked in the bed factory, -making nice fuzzy mattresses, fluffing them up with his sharp claws, for -little bears to sleep on. - -“I will go home a little early to-day,” said Mr. Stubtail, to himself, -“and take Neddie and Beckie to a football game. They will enjoy that.” - -Well, as he was walking along, thinking how funny it was for Mr. -Whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, to put up a stovepipe and get all -black—as Mr. Stubtail was thinking of this, I say—all of a sudden he -heard some one crying: - -“Help! Help! Oh, will no one help me?” - -“Ha! Who can that be?” exclaimed Mr. Stubtail, looking all around, and -thinking maybe it might be one of his own children, little Neddie or -Beckie, in trouble. - -But he could see no one, though the voice still cried out: - -“Help! Oh, please help me!” - -“I would help you if I could see you,” said Mr. Stubtail, looking up and -down and sideways and even around the corner. Still he could see no one, -and then the voice said: - -“Here I am, right down by this board fence!” - -Then Mr. Stubtail looked more closely, and he saw, crouched on the -ground, at the bottom of a board fence, Jollie Longtail, the little boy -mousie. - -“Oh, there you are!” exclaimed Mr. Stubtail. “But why are you crying, -Jollie, and why don’t you run away?” - -“I can’t run away,” answered the mousie boy, “because my long tail is -fast through a knot hole in the fence, and that is the reason I am -crying.” - -“Your tail fast through a knot hole in the fence?” exclaimed Mr. -Stubtail. “Why, how did that happen?” - -“Well, you see,” explained Jollie. “I was creeping along here, looking -for a piece of cheese, when my tail slipped through the hole. And, -before I knew it, another boy mousie named Snippy-Snoopy, who doesn’t -like me, came along and tied a knot in my tail so I couldn’t pull it -back through the hole again. And here I am held fast. Will you please -untie the knot in my tail? I can’t reach it.” - -“Oh course I will!” exclaimed the bear gentleman, and very gently, so as -not to hurt Jollie, he untied the knot in the mousie boy’s tail, so -Jollie could run along home. - -“Oh, thank you so much!” he called to Mr. Stubtail, most politely. “And -if ever I can do you a favor I will!” - -Then Mr. Stubtail hurried on home, thinking how nice it would be to take -Beckie and Neddie to the football game. And I guess Mr. Stubtail was in -such a hurry that he did not notice where he was going for, all of a -sudden, he stepped into a steel trap. - -“Snap!” it went shut, catching him on the paw. And, oh! how it did hurt. - -“My goodness me! Oh, dear! This is terrible!” cried Mr. Stubtail. “I am -caught!” - -He tried to pull his paw out but the more he pulled the worse it hurt, -and he had to stop. Then he tried to lift up the trap in his other paw, -thinking maybe he could carry it to the blacksmith shop and have it -filed off. But the trap was fast to a tree by a big chain and Mr. -Stubtail could not get it loose. There he was caught fast. - -This is the sad part of the story. I’ll make it just as short as I can -and get to the glad part. - -Well, poor Mr. Stubtail stood there in the trap not knowing what to do. -He thought he would never see his home again, or his wife, or Neddie, or -Beckie, nor yet Mr. Whitewash and Aunt Piffy and Uncle Wigwag. - -“Oh, dear!” sighed Mr. Stubtail. “What ever shall I do? Soon the hunter -who put this trap here will come along and get me. Then it will be all -up with Papa Stubtail.” - -But just then he heard a little rustling in the dried leaves, and a tiny -voice asked: - -“Can I help you, Mr. Stubtail?” - -The bear gentleman looked down and saw Jollie Longtail, the mousie boy, -whose tail he had untied a little while ago. - -“Oh, Jollie, it’s you, is it?” asked Mr. Stubtail. “No, I’m afraid you -can’t help me. You see, this trap and chain are made of iron, and though -you have very sharp little teeth to gnaw through wood, you can’t gnaw -iron.” - -“No,” said Jollie, “I can’t do that, but maybe I could go and get help -for you.” - -“So you can!” cried Mr. Stubtail, trying not to let the little mousie -boy see how much pain he was in. “The very thing, Jollie. Run home and -get Mr. Whitewash and Uncle Wigwag, and any one else you can, to come -and get me out of this trap before the hunter comes.” - -Away ran the mousie boy as fast as he could go. But it was a long way to -the cave-house—not very far for a bear gentleman, perhaps, who can take -long steps, but quite a distance for a little mouse chap. - -“But I’ll get there in time!” cried Jollie. “I must save Mr. Stubtail, -for he saved me. I’ll get there!” - -Faster and faster he ran on. Once a bad fox tried to grab Jollie, but -the mousie hid under a log until the fox had passed on. Again a big -horned owl bird, with staring eyes, swooped down on him but Jollie -dodged under a stone and the bird stubbed its beak, and didn’t get the -mouse. - -Then Jollie reached the cave-house and told what had happened to Mr. -Stubtail. - -Mrs. Stubtail was so excited that she nearly fainted and fell into a tub -of water when she heard the news. - -Aunt Piffy lost her breath completely this time, and it was several -seconds before Jollie could run after it for her and bring it back. - -“What!” cried Neddie, for he and Beckie had come home. “My papa in a -trap!” - -“Yes, and he needs help quickly!” cried Jollie. - -“Then I’ll go get my uncle and Mr. Whitewash!” said Neddie. Off he -rushed to find Uncle Wigwag and the polar bear gentleman. They also got -Uncle Wiggily, and Gup, the kind, strong horse, and as many other animal -gentlemen as they could, and back they hurried to where Mr. Stubtail was -in the trap. - -Together, with the help of a kind circus elephant, they pulled the trap -open and the bear gentleman was free. Then they all hurried away before -the hunter man, with his gun and dogs, could get them. Mr. Stubtail -limped a little and was lame for some time, but that is better than -staying forever in a trap. - -When he got home his wife was out of the tub of water, and she and Aunt -Piffy made some nice salve for Mr. Stubtail’s sore foot. Then they had a -lovely supper with honey ice cream, and everybody was happy and they -couldn’t do enough for Jollie Longtail. And this is the glad part of the -story. - -So this shows you that you should always untie a knot in a mousie’s tail -if you can, for you never can tell when a mousie might help you. - -And no more to-night, if you please, but very soon, if the milkman’s -horse doesn’t come up on our front stoop and take our doormat to wipe -his feet on, I’ll tell you about Mamma Stubtail’s honey cakes. - - - - - STORY XVIII - MAMMA STUBTAIL’S HONEY CAKES - - -“Oh, mamma!” cried little Neddie Stubtail, the bear cub, as he got ready -to go to school one morning. “What is it that smells so good in your -kitchen?” - -“What smells so good?” spoke Mrs. Stubtail, the mamma bear. “Well, I -don’t know. Maybe it’s the tea kettle boiling.” - -“Oh, mamma, you’re joking just as Uncle Wigwag often does,” said Beckie, -the little bear girl. “I, too, smell something good. Are you making -candy?” - -“Now, you children just run along to school and say your lessons,” said -Mrs. Stubtail, as she looked to see if there was any stove blacking on -her apron. But there was none, I’m glad to say. - -“Little bears should be seen and not heard,” said Aunt Piffy, the fat -old lady bear, as she came up from down cellar, where she had been -looking to see if any dust had gotten in the eyes of the potatoes. - -“Oh, but we smell something good!” cried Neddie. “Do tell us what it is, -mamma.” - -Then he and his sister Beckie sniffed and snuffed real hard, to try and -find out what it was that smelled so good. It was like molasses candy -and popcorn and lollypops and ice cream cones, all rolled into one. But -Neddie and Beckie could not tell exactly what it was. - -Anyhow, the school bell rang just then, and they had to run on to their -lessons, so they didn’t have time to find out what it was their mamma -was cooking in the kitchen that smelled so nice. - -But at noontime, when they came home for dinner, they discovered the -secret. Neddie ate up his dessert and then he blinked both his eyes at -his sister Beckie. That meant, in bear language: - -“Come on outside. I want to talk to you.” - -Then Beckie wiggled both her ears and this meant: “All right. I’ll be -out in a minute.” - -And when Beckie met Neddie outside the house and they were on their way -to school, Beckie asked: - -“What is it, Neddie? What smelled so good?” - -“It’s honey cakes,” said he. - -“Honey cakes?” exclaimed Beckie. “Why, we don’t have them until -Christmas.” - -“I know,” said Neddie, “but it’s almost Christmas now. Mamma is making a -lot of honey cakes. That’s what smelled so good this morning. They’ll be -done this afternoon and she’ll put them out on the back steps to cool, -as she always does.” - -“Well, is that all?” asked Beckie, anxious-like. - -“No, not quite,” said Neddie. “When we come home from school you and I -will go softly up on the back stoop and we’ll get some of the honey -cakes. They’ll be cool by then.” - -“Oh, but that’s not right!” cried Beckie, “We can’t eat mamma’s honey -cakes without asking her.” - -“I didn’t say anything about eating them,” spoke Neddie. “I just said -we’d take a few cakes in our paws. Then we’ll go to mamma and say we saw -the cakes out on the back stoop, and we’ll ask her if we can eat them. -Mind you, we won’t take so much as a smitch of one before we ask her! - -“But when she sees we have the cakes of course she’ll let us take a -nibble. Even Aunt Piffy would do that. Otherwise we’d never get a honey -cake until Christmas. Will you do it?” asked Neddie. - -“Oh, well; yes, I guess so,” said Beckie. “But I’m afraid it isn’t -exactly right.” - -“Oh, yes, it is,” said Neddie. “Now, come on to school, and when we come -home this afternoon we’ll get some honey cakes.” - -But I’m afraid, after all, that what Neddie was going to do was not -exactly right. However, let us see what happens, as the telephone girl -says. - -Neddie and Beckie went on to school, but they did not do very well in -their lessons, for they were thinking so much about honey cakes. And if -they had known that Uncle Wigwag, the old bear gentleman, who was always -playing tricks, had heard them talking about what they were going to do, -maybe they would not have felt so happy. - -For Uncle Wigwag, hiding behind a stump, had heard just what Neddie and -Beckie had planned to do to get some honey cakes. And the old joking -gentleman bear said to himself: - -“Now, I’ll play a joke on those children. It isn’t right for them to do -that, and I’ll teach them a lesson.” - -So he went out on the back steps, where the pans of honey cakes were -cooling. Honey cakes, you know, are made from honey and sugar and other -sweet things, and are very good. Little bear children love them more -than anything else. - -“Let me see now. What trick shall I play?” said Uncle Wigwag to himself. -“Oh, I know. I’ll put a lot of glue on the back steps, and make them all -sticky like fly paper. Then, when Neddie and Beckie come up to get the -honey cakes they’ll step in the glue, and they’ll be held fast, and -they’ll make such a fuss that their mamma and Aunt Piffy will hear them. -They’ll come out, and I guess those bear cubs will never take any more -honey cakes without asking.” - -So Uncle Wigwag got a lot of sticky glue from the doll factory where -they glue dolls’ wigs on, and he spread the sticky stuff all over the -back steps, where, on the top rail, Mrs. Stubtail had set the honey -cakes to cool. - -Oh, how delicious they smelled! Uncle Wigwag could not help taking one, -but of course that was all right, as he paid his board to Mrs. Stubtail. - -Then Uncle Wigwag spread out the sticky glue, taking care not to step in -it himself, and then he went and hid behind a stump to see what would -happen when Neddie and Beckie came softly along to get the honey cakes. - -But something else happened. I’ll tell you all about it if you’ll -listen. - -Neddie and Beckie hurried out of school that afternoon. They had managed -to get through their lessons, and were very anxious to eat some of the -honey cakes—that is, if their mamma would let them. - -“I hope they’re out on the stoop when we get there,” said Beckie. - -“Oh, you honey cakes!” exclaimed Neddie, jolly-like. “Of course they’ll -be there.” - -And just then, as it happened, there was a bad old wolf behind the -fence. And he heard what the bear cub children were saying. - -“Honey cakes, eh?” exclaimed the wolf. “I guess I’ll go get some for -myself.” - -So he ran through the woods, a shorter way than Neddie and Beckie went, -and the old wolf got there first, just as the one did in the Little Red -Riding Hood story. - -“Ah! ha!” exclaimed the wolf, as he smelled the honey cakes. “Now for a -good meal! I’m glad I heard Neddie and Beckie talking about this. Oh, -you honey cakes!” - -The old wolf went softly to the stoop. He looked all around, but he saw -no one. Mrs. Stubtail was washing the dishes and Aunt Piffy had gone to -lie down and take a nap. Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, was over -visiting Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, and Uncle Wigwag, -as we know, was hiding behind the stump. - -The wolf saw no one, and up the back steps he went to get the honey -cakes that were set out there to cool. But something happened. - -All of a sudden the wolf stepped in the glue and stuck fast. All four -feet were caught in the sticky stuff and when the wolf tried to get -loose he only stuck the faster. - -“Oh, wow!” howled the wolf. “Oh, dear, I’m caught!” - -Uncle Wigwag, hiding behind the stump, heard the noisy noise and, not -yet having seen the wolf, he cried: - -“Ah, ha! Now I have caught Neddie and Beckie. I guess this will be a -lesson to them not to take honey cakes again!” - -Out rushed the old gentleman bear, and when he saw the wolf caught in -the glue, instead of the little bear cub children, Uncle Wigwag did not -know what to say, he was so surprised. - -And when the wolf saw the bear gentleman he cried: - -“Oh, dear! Don’t bite me! I’ll be good! I’ll not take any of your honey -cakes!” - -“You’d better not,” spoke Uncle Wigwag. And then the wolf was so -frightened that he managed to pull his feet loose from the sticky glue, -and away he ran without a single honey cake. - -And when Neddie and Beckie came along later to take some cakes, -intending to ask if they could eat them, they found every one so excited -at the bear cave that they didn’t take any cakes at all. Besides, Mamma -Stubtail had lifted the honey cakes inside after the wolf made such a -racket. - -“But you were almost caught!” said Uncle Wigwag to Neddie and Beckie, as -he told them what he had heard them say. Then they promised never to -think of such a thing again, and their mamma gave them each some nice -honey cakes for supper. But the wolf had none, and it served him right. - -So Uncle Wigwag played his trick just the same, though, on a wolf -instead of the bear children. Then Aunt Piffy scrubbed all the glue off -the back steps and everybody was happy. - -And in the next story, if the molasses jug doesn’t go down cellar and -cry in the coal-bin so the coal is all stuck up, I’ll tell you about -Neddie and the kindling wood. - - - - - STORY XIX - NEDDIE AND THE KINDLING WOOD - - -“Neddie! Neddie! Where are you?” called Mrs. Stubtail, the mamma bear, -one afternoon as she stood on the back steps, which were still colored -dark from the glue that Uncle Wigwag had put there, the time Neddie and -Beckie were going to take the honey cakes, as I told you in the other -story. “Neddie! Neddie!” called the mamma bear. - -There was no answer for a moment, and then Tommie, the little kitten -boy, came running as fast as he could run. - -“What’s the matter, Tommie Kat?” asked Mrs. Stubtail. “Is a bad rat -chasing you?” - -“Oh, no, not a bad rat,” answered Tommie, as he quickly hid under an old -ash can. “You see we’re playing hide and seek, and Neddie, he’s it. I’m -hiding away from him. Don’t tell where I am; will you?” - -“Of course not,” said Mrs. Stubtail, with a laugh. “So that’s why Neddie -didn’t answer me,” she went on. “He’s playing a game. Very well, Tommie -Kat, but when you get in homefree, or when Neddie finds you, just tell -him for me, if you please, that I want to see him.” - -“I will,” promised Tommie Kat, and then he pulled his tail in close -under the ash can so when Neddie came to look for him he wouldn’t see -him. - -Truly enough, in a short time, Neddie Stubtail, the little boy bear, -came looking for all the animal children who were playing the game. He -found Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck, hiding under some corn meal -sacks. Then he saw Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel, in a nut bag, and -Neddie saw Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow cuddled up together behind the rain -water barrel. - -But Neddie could not find Tommie Kat, and finally the little boy bear -had to call out: - -“Givie up! Givie up! Come on in free!” - -This meant that when Tommie ran out from where he was hiding Neddie -would not tag him, and the kitten boy would not be “it.” So out Tommie -came from under the ash can, and Neddie said: - -“Oh, so that’s where you were; eh?” - -“Sure I was,” said Tommie. “But say, Neddie, your mamma wants you.” - -“Really?” asked Neddie. - -“Really, truly, and truly ruly,” laughed Tommie. - -Just then Mrs. Stubtail came out and called again: - -“Neddie! Neddie! I want you!” - -“What is it, mamma?” asked Neddie, politely, and wondering where he -would hide when it came his turn. - -“I want you to bring me in some kindling wood for the stove, so I can -easily make a fire in the morning to get breakfast,” said the bear lady. - -“Oh, mamma, I don’t want to!” exclaimed Neddie. “I want to play hide and -seek some more. It’s my turn to hide, and I know a dandy place where -they can’t find me. Sammie Littletail, the rabbit, has to be it, and -he’ll never find me.” - -“Well, my dear little bear boy,” spoke Mrs. Stubtail, “I know you like -to play, but you must also help me. Bringing in the wood is one of your -tasks. So don’t make a fuss about it.” - -“All right, mamma, I won’t,” said Neddie, eagerly. “Only do I have to -bring in the wood right away?” - -“It would be better to get it in before dark,” said Mrs. Stubtail, “but -I don’t mind if you wait a little while longer. Only don’t forget it, -and don’t be too long. It soon gets dark, you know, and you can’t see to -get me nice sticks of wood. But go on and play a while longer.” - -Mrs. Stubtail wanted to be kind to Neddie, but she also wished him to -feel that he had certain things to do, and must do them. - -Well, Neddie went on playing hide and seek, and he hid in the big -clothes basket that was in the yard. He pulled a clean sheet from the -line over him, and really the basket looked as though it were filled -with clothes from the wash. - -Of course when Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, who was searching for -the other animals this time, passed by the basket, he only saw the -sheet, and never thought that Neddie was hiding under it. So Sammie -didn’t find Neddie, though he did all the other animal boys, and such -fun as Neddie had when he ran in home free. - -“I told you that you couldn’t find me!” he said, as he tried to stand on -one ear, but he couldn’t because his ear bent double. Then Neddie fell -down, and he knocked over Peetie Bow Wow and Peetie bumped up against -Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck, and for a time it looked just like an -animal circus. - -Well, Neddie Stubtail was having so much fun that he forgot all about -bringing in the kindling wood for his mamma. Then, all of a sudden it -got dark—so dark that the animal boys couldn’t play hide and seek any -more—and Neddie remembered the wood. - -“Oh, dear!” he exclaimed. - -“What’s the matter?” asked Charlie Chick, who was also playing the game. - -“I forgot all about the wood,” spoke Neddie. “You stay and help me carry -it in; won’t you? I’ll give you a honey cake, if you do, Charlie.” - -“Well, I’d like to very much,” said Charlie Chick, “for I am very fond -of honey cakes. But my mamma told me to come home just as soon as it got -dark. I’ve got to help shell some yellow corn for breakfast. Good-bye!” - -Then Charlie Chick trotted off to his chicken coop, and all the other -animal boys went to their homes, though Neddie asked each of them to -stay and help him bring in the wood. - -But none of them could, for they, too, had little things to do at home. - -“Oh, dear!” sighed Neddie. “I’ve got to bring in the kindling wood all -alone. And it’s dark! But I suppose it serves me right for letting it go -so long. Next time I’ll not.” And I suppose it did serve Neddie right, -though that did not make it any the more pleasant. - -So the little bear boy went out to the woodpile. It was so dark he could -hardly see, but still he was brave, and he made up his mind he was not -going to ask Uncle Wigwag, or Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, to help -him. - -“For it’s my own fault for not bringing in the wood earlier,” thought -Neddie. - -He hurried all he could, and brought in one pawful, which he put in the -wood-box behind the stove. His mamma didn’t say anything when Neddie -stood there in the kitchen a minute, sort of waiting-like, as though he -hoped she would excuse him. - -Mamma Stubtail really felt sorry for her little bear cub, but she knew -it would be a good lesson to him. And there are more kinds of lessons in -this world than you learn from your school books, you know. - -So Neddie went out to the woodpile again, and it was darker than ever. -The little bear boy piled his paws full of the firesticks and started -for the house. It was quite a distance, and before Neddie got there some -one stepped up behind him and grabbed him tightly. - -“Oh, dear!” cried the little bear boy. “Who is it?” - -“It is I! The skillery-scalery alligator!” was the answer, given in a -shivery sort of voice. “At last I have you! I have been waiting until it -was dark enough for me to carry you off without any one seeing me. Now -I’ve got you. Come along!” - -“No, I’m not going!” cried Neddie, and he struggled to get loose. But he -couldn’t, for the ’gator held him too tightly. - -“Oh, help! help!” cried poor Neddie. - -“Hush! No more of that!” snarled the skillery alligator, and he held one -paw over Neddie’s mouth so the little bear boy couldn’t call for help. - -“Come along!” cried the alligator, and he started to drag Neddie away. - -And then the little bear cub thought of something. In his paws were a -lot of sharp, jagged sticks of wood. As quickly as a flash Neddie -dropped all but one of these sticks of wood. This one he grasped tightly -in his paws, and with that stick he gave that bad alligator such a whack -on his nose that tears came into his eyes. - -“Oh, wow! Trolley cars, and ice cream cones! What happened to me?” cried -the alligator. “Did it thunder and lightning?” - -“No! I did it with my little stick!” cried Neddie and he gave the ’gator -another whack, if you will excuse my saying so. Then the alligator cried -“Wow!” again, and more tears came into his eyes, and he could not see -through so much salt water, and then Neddie managed to wiggle loose and -run into the house. And the ’gator had too much of a toothache to -follow, so the little bear boy got away after all. And the -skillery-scalery alligator went to the dentist’s, to have his tooth -fixed. - -After that, Uncle Wigwag helped the little bear boy bring in the rest of -the wood, and never again did Neddie let his work go until dark. And on -the next page, if the coffee grinder doesn’t take a bite out of the gas -stove and make it sing in its sleep, I’ll tell you about Beckie and her -cough medicine. - - - - - STORY XX - BECKIE AND HER COUGH MEDICINE - - -“Ker-choo! Ker-choo! Ker-choo!” sneezed little Beckie Stubtail, the bear -girl, as she sat up in her bed of straw one night. “Ker-choo! -A-ker-choo! Boo-hoo!” - -“My goodness me sakes alive and some castor oil!” cried Aunt Piffy, the -nice old bear lady, waking up from a sound sleep in the next room. “What -ever is the matter, Beckie?” - -“Oh, dear! I don’t know!” cried Beckie, as she rubbed her eyes in the -dark. “But I feel so queer! My nose is all stopped up, and I can’t -breathe and my throat tickles and I’m cold——” - -“Oh my goodness!” cried Aunt Piffy, jumping out of bed so quickly that -she almost stepped on the pussy cat’s tail. - -Mrs. Stubtail, the mamma bear, had also heard her little cub girl -sneezing and coughing, and Mamma Stubtail jumped up too, and ran to -Beckie’s room, turning up the night light so she could see what was the -matter. - -“What is it, Beckie? What has happened?” asked mamma. - -“Oh, dear! I’m so miserable,” said poor Beckie, crying. - -“Oh, no wonder!” remarked Aunt Piffy. “See, she is all uncovered, and -she has taken cold. We must put her feet in hot mustard water at once, -and send for Dr. Possum. Oh, the dear child is going to be ill!” - -“I hope not,” said Mamma Stubtail, but she was afraid just the same. - -Then such a time as there was with the two lady bears bustling around to -look after Beckie. And all through it Papa Stubtail never waked up, for -he had worked hard that day, and was a sound sleeper. But Uncle Wigwag, -the funny old bear gentleman, did awaken, and, putting on his dressing -gown and slippers, he stuck his head in Beckie’s room, and asked: - -“Is there anything I can do?” - -“Yes,” said Aunt Piffy. “You might heat some water. We want to give -Beckie a hot bath.” - -“I will,” said Uncle Wigwag, and he didn’t try to play any tricks at all -then, but heated the water at once. And Uncle Wigwag was very fond, too, -of playing tricks and jokes, let me tell you. - -Well, soon Beckie was nice and warm, and she had soaked her paws in -mustard water, and taken some sweet medicine. And all this while Neddie -her little bear brother, had not awakened from his sleep. - -But Mamma Stubtail and Aunt Piffy were kept very busy until nearly -morning looking after Beckie. Finally she did not cough or sneeze so -much, and she fell asleep. Everybody was glad. - -“When it’s morning we’ll have Dr. Possum,” said Mrs. Stubtail, softly. - -Well, morning came after a while, but it always seems to come very -slowly when you are awake and waiting for it, especially if some one is -ill. And Beckie was quite ill. She seemed to get worse all the while. - -When Dr. Possum came, right after breakfast, he felt of Beckie’s paw to -tell how fast her pulse was beating. Then he made her put out her tongue -to see how red it was, and the animal doctor gentleman said: - -“Yes, Beckie is a pretty sick little bear girl. But I think I can cure -her. She needs some cough medicine.” - -“Will it be bad, bitter medicine, doctor?” asked Beckie, as she sat up -in bed, with a dry-leaf quilt wrapped around her. - -“Well, Beckie, I might as well tell you the truth, for you would find it -out anyhow as soon as you tasted it,” said Dr. Possum. “The cough -medicine is going to be very bitter and bad. I will not deceive you. But -I can do one thing—I can make it a pretty color.” - -“Do, please, then,” begged Beckie. “But why is it that you doctors can’t -make medicine that is not bitter?” - -“I’ll tell you why, Beckie,” spoke Dr. Possum. “You see the bad cold or -other disease gets inside you and it likes you so well it stays there, -and as long as it stays you can’t get better. So we give bitter -medicines—not to you, but to the bad cold that’s inside you. - -“And when the cold sees that bad, bitter medicine coming down your dear -little red throat, the cold says to itself: - -“‘Ha! Hum! This is no place for me! I’d better get out!’ And out the -cold goes, and then you get better. That’s what bitter medicines are -for.” - -“I see,” said Beckie. “Well, I’ll take it.” - -“And you can make as many faces as you like when you swallow it,” said -Dr. Possum with a laugh. Then he mixed up some bitter cough medicine for -Beckie, but he colored it pink, just to match the shade of the little -bear girl’s hair ribbon. - -“There, now,” said the possum doctor gentleman. “You can make believe -it’s pink candy syrup, Beckie.” - -“I’ll have to make believe very, very hard to do that,” said Beckie, -smiling the least little bit. - -Well, Dr. Possum went away, and Beckie had her first dose of the bitter -cough medicine. It was so bad and sour and puckery that she made a -terribly funny face when she took it. It was such a funny, queer face -that Neddie, her brother, who was watching her take the medicine, had to -laugh. And, as he was drinking a glass of water just at that minute, the -water spilled all over him, of course. - -“Well, Neddie,” said his mamma, “I guess you had better go on to school. -This is no place for you.” - -So Neddie went to school, and Beckie stayed home with her cough and the -pink, bitter cough medicine. For some time she felt quite miserable, and -then the medicine made her sleepy. - -And Aunt Piffy, who was taking care of Beckie, said to herself: - -“Well, now, as long as she’s quiet, I’ll have time to run across the -street and get some sugar from Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady. I will -make Beckie a little sugar candy to take after her medicine.” - -So Aunt Piffy, leaving Beckie asleep, stepped out of the bear cave. And, -as it happened, Mrs. Stubtail had gone out, too. She went over to Mrs. -Kat’s house to see about getting a thimbleful of thread to sew some shoe -buttons on Mr. Stubtail’s coat. That left Beckie sleeping all alone in -the house, for Neddie, her brother, had gone to school, and Mr. -Whitewash, the polar bear, had gone out hunting after honey, and Uncle -Wigwag, the funny bear, was over calling on Grandfather Goosey Gander, -the duck gentleman. - -And a bad old lion, who used to work in a circus, came along just then. -Seeing the door of the bear cave open, as Aunt Piffy had left it when -she went out, the lion said: - -“Ah, ha! I’m going in here! Perhaps I shall find something good to eat!” - -In he went, and he saw Beckie asleep in her bed. - -“Ah, ha! A little bear girl!” growled the lion. “The very thing for me! -I’ll take her away with me!” - -He was lifting Beckie up in his big paws, and was just walking away with -her, when the little bear girl awoke. And she was so frightened at -seeing the lion that she coughed and sneezed and choked something -dreadful. Oh, yes, indeed! - -“A-ker-choo! Ker-fooz! Ach! Hoch! Pitzel!” sneezed Beckie. “Oh, dear!” -she cried. - -“Keep quiet!” said the lion, rudely enough. “Some one will hear you!” - -“That’s what I want,” said Beckie. “Oh, please let me alone.” - -“No! No!” growled the lion. Then Beckie coughed some more, and her -throat hurt her, and she saw the bottle of pink, bitter medicine Dr. -Possum had left on her table. - -“Oh, please let me take some of that pink stuff!” begged Beckie of the -lion. - -Now, the lion had some good in him, after all, and when he saw how much -Beckie was suffering, he handed her the bottle of cough medicine. Beckie -took some, and it stopped her cough at once, but she made such a funny -face when she swallowed it that the lion cried: - -“Ha! That must be fine stuff to have you make such a funny face. I must -look into this. Yes, indeed!” - -“Would you like some of my cough medicine?” asked Beckie, hoping the -lion would take some. She knew what it would do to him. - -“Indeed, I will,” the lion said; “I’ll drink the whole bottle full of -pink stuff, and then you’ll see what a queer face I’ll make.” - -So the lion tipped up the bottle of bitter, sour, pink cough medicine -and swallowed it all at once. Of course it wasn’t meant to be taken that -way—not even by a lion—all at once. - -And such a face as the lion made! It was seven different kinds of a face -at once, and then the lion howled and roared and said, “Oh, dear!” for -his throat seemed to be on fire. - -And then, without trying to bother Beckie any more, out of the window -the lion jumped, to run off to find some ice water, so his throat -wouldn’t burn from the cough medicine. - -Of course Beckie’s medicine was all gone, but it did not matter, for her -cold was soon better. I don’t know whether it was from the medicine she -took, or whether the lion scared the cold away. - -Anyhow, Beckie got all well, and the lion didn’t bother her again for -more than a week. - -And, if the bag of peanuts doesn’t step on the elephant’s toe and make -him sneeze, I’ll tell you next about Neddie and the tooting horn. - - - - - STORY XXI - NEDDIE AND THE TOOTING HORN - - -“Mamma, can’t Beckie come out and play?” asked Neddie, the little bear -boy, as he ran home from school one afternoon. “I came home early on -purpose. It was such a nice, sunny day that teacher said I might come -out before the others, to amuse Beckie.” - -“That was very kind of you,” spoke Mrs. Stubtail, “and I think I will -let Beckie out a little while. But you must look after her, and see that -she does not stay late, for it gets cold after the sun goes down, and -you know she is hardly over her cough yet.” - -“Oh, I’ll be careful of her,” said Neddie, and he was so glad he could -take out his little sick sister, that he stood up on the end of his -short, stubby tail. - -That is, Neddie tried to stand on the end of his tail, but the truth of -the matter is, my dear little friends, that Neddie was getting to be -such a fat, heavy little chap of a bear cub that his tail would not hold -him any more. - -So over he fell, ker-thump-o! But he landed in a pile of leaves so he -was not hurt at all. - -“Don’t let Beckie try that, Neddie,” said Mrs. Stubtail, with a laugh. -“She is only just out of a sick bed, you know.” - -“I won’t!” laughed Neddie, as he picked himself up and brushed off the -leaves. You know I told you, in the story before this one, how Beckie -had to take some pink, bitter medicine for her cough that Dr. Possum -gave her. Hold on, I don’t mean that Dr. Possum gave her the cough—no, -he gave her the medicine to cure it. And a bad lion got in after Beckie, -and he swallowed the whole bottle of medicine and that gave him such a -conniption fit that he was glad to leave the little girl bear alone. - -So while Neddie waited outside the bear cave, Mrs. Stubtail went inside -to get Beckie ready to take a little walk in the woods. - -“Oh, it is just lovely to get out again, after being in the house so -long!” sighed Beckie, as she walked along with her brother Neddie, -holding his paw. - -Neddie was as nice as could be, and he walked slowly with his sister who -had been ill, taking good care that she did not stumble over a stick or -a stone. - -On and on they went, and pretty soon, when Neddie was thinking it was -about time to start for home with his sister, all of a sudden they heard -a tooting horn in the woods. - -“Hark! what’s that?” cried Beckie, giving a jump. - -“I don’t know,” answered Neddie, and he looked all around, ready to run -in case there should be danger. - -“Maybe it’s a hunter and his dogs,” suggested Beckie. “Oh, Neddie, I’m -so frightened!” - -“Don’t be frightened, Beckie,” he said gently. “I’ll take care of you. -Maybe, after all, it’s only the nice trained bear, George, and the -professor man who toots on his brass horn.” - -“Oh, but if it’s he maybe he’ll want to take us back to the circus -barn,” went on Beckie. “I wouldn’t like that.” - -“Nor I,” said Neddie. “But I don’t believe it is. Let’s take a look.” - -So the two bear children looked all around, and then they heard the -tooting horn again. And this time they saw who was blowing it. It was a -hunter man, and he had his gun and his dog with him. - -“Quick! Jump behind this big tree!” cried Neddie, and he helped Beckie -to hide herself. They were only just in time, too, for just then the -hunter looked around, and he might have seen the bear children, except -for the tree. - -Then the hunter blew his horn again, and, not seeing anything to shoot, -he whistled to his dog, put his gun over his shoulder and slinging the -horn by his side, down the hill he went, leaving Beckie and Neddie -alone. And, oh, how happy they were! - -“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” said Beckie, with a long breath. “We won’t -come to these woods again.” - -“I guess not,” said Neddie. “Let’s hurry home.” - -“What kind of a horn was it that the hunter man had?” asked Beckie, as -she and her brother took hold of paws again, and started for home. “It -wasn’t at all like the one the professor man blew on. His was brass.” - -“I know it,” answered Neddie, “and this one was made of birch bark, -rolled up like a cornucopia such as come on Christmas trees. Only those -are filled with candy, and this one had nothing but air in it.” - -“I see,” said Beckie. “And can you blow on a birch bark horn, Neddie?” - -“I can blow a little bit on that kind of a horn,” said Neddie. “But we’d -better not stop now to try it. Let’s hurry home.” - -So the two little bear children went on, over hills and dales, and -through the woods. - -Now, whether they were not careful to take the right path, or whether -the hunter and his dog and gun had so scared them that they didn’t know -what they were doing, I can’t begin to say. It might have been one -thing, and then, again, on the other hand, it might have been something -else. And I don’t want to make a mistake. - -Anyhow, the first thing Beckie and Neddie realized was that they were -lost. They didn’t know where they were, nor how to get home. All they -knew was that they were in the woods, some distance from home, and night -was coming on. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Beckie, when she saw that Neddie did not know his way -home. “Oh, dear me!” - -“Don’t worry, sister dear,” he said. “I’ll take care of you,” and he put -his paws about her. - -“Oh, I know you will,” said Beckie, “and you are as kind as you can be; -but, still, and with all that, if I stay out after dark my cold may get -worse again, and I’ll have to take more of that bitter medicine.” - -“You can’t!” exclaimed Neddie. “The bad lion swallowed it all for you!” - -“Oh, but Dr. Possum can make plenty more, and maybe worse than that!” -cried Beckie. “Oh, dear! Where is our home? It’s lost!” - -“No, it’s we who are lost,” said Neddie, with a laugh. “Our house is -just where it always was.” And he giggled again. He didn’t feel very -much like laughing, you know, but he did it to cheer up his little -sister. It’s a good thing to laugh, sometimes, even when you don’t feel -like it. - -Well, it kept getting darker and darker, and Beckie was more and more -frightened, even though Neddie was as jolly as he could be. Finally he -said: - -“We’ll just call for help. Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear, or our papa, -or Uncle Wigwag might be roaming through these woods, and they’d hear us -and take us home.” - -“Oh, then, holler as loudly as you can,” said Beckie. “Perhaps mamma, or -Aunt Piffy, is out looking for us.” - -So the two little bear children called as loudly as they could. Again -and again they shouted, but only the echoes answered them. - -“It’s of no use!” said Beckie, and she was almost ready to cry, for her -cough was hurting her again. Then Neddie thought of something. - -“I have it!” he cried. “I’ll make a tooting horn out of birch bark, like -the one the hunter man had. I’ll blow on the horn, and surely some one -will hear that.” - -“Oh, goodie!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws. Then she felt better. - -Neddie with his sharp claws quickly stripped off some white birch bark -from a tree. He rolled the bark into a sort of cornucopia, large at one -end and small at the other. He put the small end to his mouth. - -“Toot! Toot! Toot!” went the little bear boy on the birch bark horn. -Again and again he blew it. Finally Beckie said: - -“I hear some one coming!” - -Surely enough there was a sound in the bushes. - -“Come and get us!” cried Neddie. - -“I’m coming,” said a voice, and then, instead of their papa or uncle -bear, out jumped the bad old skillery-scalery alligator. - -“Now I have you!” he cried, snapping his teeth. - -“Oh, no, you haven’t!” said Neddie. And with that he blew such a blast -from the tooting horn in the face of the ’gator that the bad creature -turned a somersault and a peppersault mixed together and away he ran -back to the drug store, where he belonged. Then Neddie blew some more -tunes on the tooting horn, and this time his papa, who was searching in -the woods, heard him and came to get his little boy and girl bear. - -So Neddie and Beckie weren’t lost any more, and soon they were safely -home, and I’m glad to say that Beckie’s cough got no worse. And they had -hot mush for supper with sweet molasses on. - -And in the next story, if the lady downstairs doesn’t come up and take -my typewriter to get her baby asleep with, I’ll tell you about Beckie -and the hand-organ man. - -[Illustration] - - - - - STORY XXII - BECKIE AND THE HAND-ORGAN MAN - - -“Beckie,” said Mrs. Stubtail, the lady bear, as she came into the -sitting-room in the cave-house where the little cub girl was playing -with her rubber doll; “Beckie, I wonder if you are well enough to go to -the store for me?” - -“Of course I am, mamma,” answered Beckie. “My cold and cough is all -cured now. I can go to school next week, I think.” - -“I hope so,” said Mrs. Stubtail, “for you have been very ill.” - -I told you, you know, about how Beckie had to take some very bitter, -sour medicine, and how she fooled the bad lion with it. - -And, since her illness, Beckie had not been to school. But she was -better now, and that’s why Mrs. Stubtail thought perhaps the little bear -girl could go to school. - -“Well, as long as you think you are able to be out,” went on the mamma -bear, “I’d like you to bring me a cake of yeast. I want to bake some -bread. - -“I would go to the store for it myself,” went on Mrs. Stubtail, “only I -have to stay in the house, since Aunt Piffy is visiting over at Mrs. -Wibblewobble’s duck pond, and I expect Mrs. Bow Wow the dog lady might -call this afternoon. That’s why I asked you to go for the yeast, -Beckie.” - -“Oh, mamma, I don’t in the least mind,” said Beckie, politely. “I think -the walk will do me good. It is a nice day, though it does look as -though it were going to snow. And I’ll take my doll, Isabella Trolleycar -Jamkitchen, along with me. She needs the air, too.” - -“Well, wrap up warmly,” spoke Mrs. Stubtail, “and don’t catch any more -cold.” - -“No, and I won’t let the cold catch me!” laughed Beckie, as she looked -for her little red jacket, hanging on the hat rack. - -So the little bear girl started off through the woods to go to the store -for a yeast cake for her mamma. - -The store was kept by a nice, kind old pussycat lady, and when Beckie -got there the pussycat was just drinking a saucer of warm milk. - -“Would you like some, my dear?” asked she of Beckie. - -“Thank you, I would,” said the little bear girl, politely. - -So before buying her yeast cake, Beckie had some nice, warm milk, and a -molasses cookie, which the cat lady storekeeper baked all by her own -self. - -“Now be careful, and don’t lose your change,” said the lady cat, as she -gave the pennies to Beckie. “And put the yeast cake in your pocket, -where it won’t fall out.” - -“I will,” answered Beckie. - -Off she started for home, with the pennies and the silver-covered yeast -cake rattling about in her pocket. Now a yeast cake, as I guess you all -know, is something to make a loaf of bread light and fluffy. The yeast -makes the bread all full of little holes, so that the butter won’t fall -off it when you spread it on. - -Well, Beckie was going along, thinking how much nicer it was to be well -than ill, and she was wondering what the animal girls would say to her -when she went back to the school, when, all of a sudden, Beckie heard -some one crying behind a clump of bushes. - -“My goodness!” cried the little bear girl. “That’s a man!” - -You see she could tell right away that it was no animal crying. - -“Yes, it’s a man!” thought Beckie, and she got ready to run as soon as -she could see which way to go, so as not to run into the man. For most -men, Beckie knew, would like to carry away a little bear cub like -herself. - -Then Beckie heard the crying again and a voice said: - -“Oh, dear! How sad I am. Poor George has run away and left me!” - -“George!” thought Beckie. “Why, that was the name of the nice, tame, -trained bear that Neddie and I ran off to travel with some time ago. I -wonder if that man can be the Professor who blew on the shiny, brass -horn?” - -So Beckie peeked around the corner of the bramble briar bush, behind -which the crying man was hiding, and she saw that he wasn’t the -Professor gentleman at all. - -He was a hand-organ man, with a nice fur coat, and he was crying as hard -as he could cry, that man was. - -“I don’t think he’d be cruel to me,” thought Beckie. “Anyhow, he’s in -trouble, and maybe I can help him. Besides, hand-organ men most always -have monkeys, and if they are kind to the monkeys they’ll probably be -kind to little bear girls. I’m going to ask him if I can help him.” - -Just then the hand-organ man cried again, and said: - -“Oh, dear! Oh, George, why did you ever run away and leave me?” - -Oh, I forgot to tell you that the reason Beckie knew the crying man -played a hand-organ was because there was a hand-organ standing up -against a tree near him. Only he wasn’t playing it just then. You can’t -very well play a hand-organ and cry at the same time. At least I never -saw any one do it, though, of course, it may be done. - -“What is the matter, hand-organ man?” asked Beckie, politely, making a -little bow, as she stepped in front of him. “Why do you cry, and who is -George? Was he a little bear?” - -“Oh, no,” said the man, who could understand bear talk, and speak it, -too. “No, George was not a bear. He was a monkey, and he used to do lots -of tricks as I played the music. But he has run away and left me.” - -Then Beckie noticed that there was no monkey with the hand-organ, as -there should have been, by rights. - -“So you are crying for George; is that it?” she asked the man who was -wiping away his tears on the back of his cap. - -“That is just why, little bear girl,” he said. “I have no monkey to do -funny tricks when I play the music, and, unless I have a monkey, the -people will not give me pennies. Oh, I have no money, I can’t get any, -and I am so hungry.” - -“Poor hand-organ man!” exclaimed Beckie. “Maybe I could be a monkey for -you.” - -“You!” exclaimed the man. “Why, you are too big. But I thank you just -the same.” - -“I know I am a little larger than a monkey,” said Beckie, “but I can do -tricks. I learned them from some circus animals, when my brother Neddie -and I ran away with a bear named George. At first I thought you meant -the bear George.” - -“No, my monkey was named George, too,” said the hand-organ man. “But let -me see you do some tricks.” - -So Beckie danced around in the woods, and played soldier, as she had -seen the bear George do, and she climbed a tall tree and then she stood -on her hind paws and begged like a little poodle dog, and the man -exclaimed: - -“Why, that’s just fine! Now we’ll have a little music!” - -So he played a jolly tune and Beckie did more tricks. Then the man said: - -“Will you come with me for a while, little bear girl, and do tricks for -the people while I play? In that way I may get some pennies, even if I -have no monkey.” - -“Yes, I will come with you for a little while,” said Beckie, “but I can -not stay very long, for my mamma expects me home with the yeast cake.” - -So Beckie went with the hand-organ man, down to the city where he -played. And such nice tricks as the little bear girl did! The hand-organ -man said she was better than his monkey, and I guess the boys and girls -who saw Beckie climb a telegraph pole thought so too. Anyhow, the man -got lots of pennies, which Beckie took up in his cap, passing it around -in her paws. - -Then it was time for her to go home, but the hand-organ man was sorry to -have her leave him. - -“Maybe I’ll help you again some day,” said Beckie. - -“I hope so,” said the man, and he didn’t cry any more, for he had many -pennies to buy food. And he gave Beckie half of the pennies for her own -self. Wasn’t he good? - -And on the way home a bad old tiger from the circus chased Beckie, but -she threw the bright, shining yeast cake at him, and the tiger thought -it was a bullet from a bang-bang gun, and he was so frightened for fear -he might get shot that he ran off and left Beckie alone. - -Then she picked up the yeast cake, which was only bent sideways a little -bit, and got safely home with it, and it made a nice loaf of bread. - -And on the next page, if the wallpaper doesn’t jump down off the ceiling -and go to sleep in the baby’s crib, I’ll tell you about Neddie playing -the piano. - - - - - STORY XXIII - NEDDIE PLAYS THE PIANO - - -“Come, Neddie!” cried Mamma Stubtail, the lady bear, one day, as she -went to the door of the cave-house and looked out in front where Neddie, -the little boy bear, was playing football. “It’s time to practice your -music lesson, Neddie.” - -“Oh, dear!” cried the little bear boy. “I wish I was a player-piano!” - -“What a funny wish!” said Beckie, who was taking her doll, Elizabeth -Jane Huckleberrypie, out for a walk. - -“Why do you want to be a player-piano, Neddie?” - -“Then I wouldn’t have to practice my music lesson,” said the little bear -boy. - -However, since his mamma had called him, Neddie started to go in. Then -Tommie and Joie Kat, the kitten boys, and Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the -puppy dog boys, called to him: - -“Where you going, Neddie?” - -“I have to practice my music lesson,” he answered, and he went into the -cave-house, but he didn’t feel very happy. He sat down to the piano, and -he began to play: - - “Tinkle-tinkle tinkle-tink! - Dum-te dum-dum dum-dum doo! - Plinko-plunko smasho-bang! - How I wish that I was through!” - -That’s the kind of a tune Neddie had to play for his exercise music -practice lesson, and really he didn’t do it well at all. For you see he -was anxious to go back to play football with the boy animals. - -And that’s often the way it is when real boys and girls have to practice -music lessons. I wish it were not so, for there is nothing nicer in this -world than music, and in order to play it well you have to practice. And -some day, if you take music lessons, you’ll be glad that you did run up -and down the piano keyboard with your fingers when you had much rather -be out having games with your friends. For it is very nice to be able to -play tunes. - -But Neddie didn’t think so as he sat on the piano stool, drumming away, -and looking at the clock, every now and then to see when his time would -be up, so that he could go out and play with his animal friends. - -Finally the clock struck five and Neddie finished his practice with a -bang. It wasn’t music at all, but he did not care. - -“Hurray!” he cried. “Practice is over. Now I can have some fun!” - -Out of doors he rushed and more than ever he wished he were a -player-piano, so that all he’d have to do would be to jump up and down -with his feet when he wanted music. That is a good way to make nice -sounds, too, on the player-piano, and I can play one or two pieces -myself, that way. But, oh, how I wish I could play by hand! - -However, Neddie’s friends were glad to see him come out again. They -played football and nearly broke the window in Mrs. Wibblewobble’s duck -pen, so that she had to run out and call to them: - -“Now, boys, you must go right away from here. Play football somewhere -else.” - -So Neddie, the little bear boy, and his friends had to move along and -look for a vacant lot where they could kick around their football -without breaking any windows. - -That night, when Mr. Stubtail, the bear papa, came home, he asked -Neddie: - -“Did everything go all right in school to-day?” - -“Yes, sir,” answered Neddie politely. - -“And when you came home did you practice your music lesson?” - -“Yes, sir,” answered Neddie, and he was glad he had not skipped it, as -he sometimes did. - -“Very good,” said Mr. Stubtail. “Then on Saturday afternoon I will take -you and Beckie to a nice moving picture show.” - -“Oh, joy!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws. - -“Oh, happiness!” said Neddie, and he was glad again that he had not -missed his music practice. - -Well, that night, after Neddie had finished his home school-work, he -wanted to sit up a little longer to read a fairy story. His mamma let -him do this, but when it came time for Neddie to go to bed, he had not -finished the story. So he begged: - -“Oh, can’t I stay up just a little longer, mamma?” - -Then, as he had been such a good boy, Mrs. Stubtail said that he might, -so Neddie settled down into the deep-cushioned easy chair, and read all -about how the pink fairy turned herself into a pumpkin and rolled down -hill so the giant couldn’t make a Jack-o’-lantern of her. - -And then quite a lot of things happened. Mrs. Kat, the mother of Tommie -and Joie and Kittie Kat, came in to call on Mrs. Stubtail. And Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, came to ask Aunt Piffy what the old -lady bear did for dyspepsia when she ate cheese for supper. And -Grandfather Goosey Gander came in to play a game of Scotch checkers with -Uncle Wigwag, while Mr. Whitewash, the Polar bear, went out to look for -a cake of ice on which to sleep, for, he always liked things cold, you -know. - -And there were so many things going on that no one thought anything -about Neddie. There he sat in the big chair, reading the fairy story -until he fell asleep. Then, as it happened, all the company went home at -once and in a hurry, and when Papa and Mamma Stubtail locked up the -cave-house, and put the cat down cellar, no one thought that Neddie was -asleep in the big chair. His sister Beckie had gone up to bed some time -ago, and every one thought Neddie was in bed also. - -So upstairs in the cave-house went all the big folks, not knowing that -Neddie was in the chair. And there he stayed until it got real late and -dark. And, oh, so quiet was it in the house! Why, you could have heard a -pin drop, if any one had let one fall. - -All of a sudden Neddie awakened. He sat up with a jump, and looked all -around in the dark. Of course he couldn’t see anything, for it was all -black. - -Then, hardly knowing where he was, Neddie rubbed his eyes with his paws, -but still he could scarcely see. Then he noticed a little light from the -street lamp outside, shining in through the window, and he could tell -where he was. - -“Why!” he exclaimed, “I’m home, in my own house! I fell asleep in the -big chair. Huh! I guess I’d better go up to bed!” - -Neddie stretched himself, and was wondering if he could find his room in -the dark, without waking every one up, including Mr. Whitewash, who was -asleep on a cake of ice, when, all of a sudden, Neddie heard a noise. It -was right under the window, near which he had been sleeping, and he -listened to a voice, saying: - -“Now we’ll break in through the back door, and we’ll take Neddie and -Beckie and carry them off to our den and never let them out again.” - -“Yes, that’s just what we’ll do,” answered another voice, and then -Neddie tiptoed to the window, and looking out he saw two bad old lions -that had run away from a circus. They were coming to get Neddie and -Beckie. - -“Oh, what shall I do?” thought Neddie. - -“Those lions can easily break into our house. And if I call out to papa -and mamma now the lions will hear me and they’ll jump in through the -window and get me before I have a chance to run. - -“Oh, what can I do? How can I scare those lions away?” - -Just then Neddie heard a tiny mousie run up and down on the piano keys, -making a little tinkling sound. This made the little bear boy think of -something. - -“I have it!” he whispered to himself in the darkness. “I’ll go in to the -piano, and I’ll play the loudest bang-bang tune I know. Maybe the lions -will think it’s thunder and lightning and guns shooting off, and they -may be afraid and run away!” - -So Neddie stole into the piano room and, all of a sudden, he banged his -paws down on the loud keys as hard as he could. Then he played on the -tinkle-tinkle keys, and again on the thunder notes. The lions, who were -just going to break into the cave-house, heard the noise. They had never -heard music in the dark night before, and they thought it was thunder -and lightning. - -“Oh! wow!” cried one lion, “we’re going to be caught in a storm! Come on -home to our cave!” - -“I’m with you!” growled the other lion, shivering, and away they ran, as -frightened as could be, because Neddie remembered enough of his music -lesson to make a thunder sound that he had practiced several times. - -“And I’m never going to make a fuss about practice again,” he said. -“Music is a good thing, after all. It scares lions away.” - -Of course everybody in the cave-house woke up when Neddie played the -piano, and when he told his papa and mamma why he did it, to drive away -the lions, they said he had done just right. - -Then everything got quiet, and Neddie finished his sleep in bed. And -nothing more happened. So, pretty soon, if the trolley car doesn’t run -off the track and bunk into the dishpan and make a big dent in it, I’ll -tell you about Neddie and Beckie going to a party. - - - - - STORY XXIV - NEDDIE AND BECKIE AT A PARTY - - -One day, when Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little boy and girl bear, -came home from school, where they had said their lessons, each one -getting a good mark for not whispering—one day, as they ran in the house -to get a honey cake, they saw two little white envelopes lying on the -dining-room table. - -“Hello!” exclaimed Neddie, looking at them. “Here’s some post-office -mail mamma has forgotten to open.” - -“I’ll take it to her,” spoke Beckie, as she put her school books on the -sideboard; “I think she’s in the kitchen. And while I’m out there I’ll -get the honey cakes.” - -“Good!” cried Neddie, as he wiggled his little tail. “And while you are -about it, get as many honey cakes as you can, Beckie.” - -“I will,” answered the little bear girl. Bears are very fond of sweet -cakes, you know, especially if they have honey in them. - -But when Beckie took up the tiny envelopes she gave a little squeal of -surprise, just like a baby piggie under a gate, and she said: - -“Why, Neddie! These are for us—they are letters, with our names on!” - -“Are they?” asked Neddie. “Sure enough!” he cried as he looked. “I -wonder who can be writing to us?” - -“The best way would be to open them and find out,” suggested Aunt Piffy, -the fat old lady bear, as she came up from down cellar, where she had -gone to keep the apples from getting lonesome. Oh, Aunt Piffy was the -kindest old lady bear you ever heard of. She was even kind to the apples -and potatoes, and all things like that. - -“Open your letters,” she said to Neddie and Beckie, “and then you can -tell whom they’re from.” - -Beckie began to tear open her envelope, but Neddie, after looking at his -for a moment, said: - -“Oh, ho! I know. This is a joke of Uncle Wigwag’s! I’m not going to let -him fool us!” - -Uncle Wigwag, you know, was an old gentleman bear who was always playing -tricks, or jokes, on Neddie and Beckie, and sometimes on Aunt Piffy, -too. - -Just then in came Mr. Whitewash, the Polar bear gentleman. - -“Has anybody seen my cake of ice?” he cried. “I can’t find it. Some one -must have my cake of ice!” - -You see, being a white Polar bear, from the North Pole, Mr. Whitewash -always used to sit on a cake of ice to keep cool, and he often mislaid -it, or couldn’t find it, just as Grandma CluckCluck, the old lady hen, -used to lose her glasses. - -“Where is my cake of ice?” asked Mr. Whitewash, as he looked all around -the bear cave-house. - -“Oh, my goodness me sakes alive and some horseradish-mustard!” cried -Aunt Piffy. “I think I put your cake of ice under the stove, to have it -out of the way while I swept, and by this time——” - -“Yes, by this time it must be all melted!” cried Mr. Whitewash, as he -rushed out to the kitchen. And, as luck would have it, just then, -through the door, came Mrs. Stubtail, the mamma bear, and in her hand -she had a plate of honey cakes, that she had just baked. Of course Mr. -Whitewash rushed right into her, but he didn’t mean to. Down went Mrs. -Stubtail, down went the honey cakes—down went Mr. Whitewash, and such a -mix-up you never saw in all your life! - -But no one was hurt, I’m glad to say, though some of the honey cakes -were broken. But that did not hurt them, and Neddie and Beckie picked -them up and their mamma let them eat the pieces. - -Then Mr. Whitewash managed to find his cake of ice under the stove. It -was not quite all melted, but nearly. However, there was enough left for -him to sit on and keep cool, until the ice man came with another cake. - -Then when everything was quiet Neddie took up his envelope again, and -said: - -“Look, Mr. Whitewash, Uncle Wigwag is trying to play another joke on -us.” - -“No, I do not think so,” answered the white Polar bear gentleman. “He -has not been in the house in some time. He and Uncle Wiggily Longears, -the rabbit gentleman, are playing a game of hop butterscotch on the duck -pond. I think your letters are no joke.” - -“Then I’m going to open mine!” exclaimed Beckie, and when she had done -so and had read the writing inside, she called out: - -“Oh, Neddie! It’s an invitation to a party! Kittie Kat, the little pussy -girl, is giving a party and she’s asked me to come to it. Is yours an -invitation, too?” - -“Why, yes, it is,” said Neddie slowly. “I guess I’ll go.” - -“Go? Of course we’ll go!” cried Beckie. “I wonder what dress I’ll wear?” - -“Oh, that’s just the way with girls!” cried Neddie. “As soon as they -hear of a party they begin thinking of dress.” - -“Pooh! I guess you boys are just as fussy about wearing a new necktie!” -said Beckie, as she waggled her little stubby tail. - -Well, to make a long story short, Neddie and Beckie got ready to go to -the party Kittie Kat was to give. It took place three nights after the -invitations came out, and Neddie and Beckie, the little bear children, -each one dressed very nicely, went on and on through the woods and over -the fields to the Kat home. It was not very far, and there was a bright -moon shining in the sky, so they were not afraid. - -And I just wish you could have been to the party, which Kittie Kat gave -for all her animal children friends. No, on second thought, perhaps, it -is just as well you were not there. The animal children wouldn’t know -you, and they might have been frightened. But some day I’ll take you -around myself to call on them, and after that they won’t mind you. - -Anyhow, everybody whom Beckie and Neddie knew seemed to be at Kittie’s -party. Her brothers, Tommy and Joie Kat, waited on the door and let in -the guests as they came. Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit -children, were there, and Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dog boys, -and Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the ducks, and oh! -everybody. - -And such fun as they had! They played all sorts of games, such as little -bear in the corner, hide the potato, lose the piano and find the -molasses. And whoever found the molasses could have some of the sweet -stuff on a spoon. Neddie and Beckie liked this game the best of all. - -Then there was another game. Kittie Kat brought in an empty barrel, and -in the bottom she put a box of candy. - -“Now,” said Kittie, “whoever can reach over in and down and get that box -of candy may have it. But, mind you, you’ve got to get it with your -paws, you can’t use a stick or a hook to pull it up.” - -Now the barrel was quite a deep one, and though all the animal boys and -girls tried, they could not reach down and get the box of candy. - -“Oh, dear!” sighed Beckie, “this is just the kind of a trick Uncle -Wigwag would play!” - -“Well, it’s only in fun,” said Kittie Kat, with a laugh, “and when -you’ve all tried and can’t do it, I’ll turn the barrel upside down, the -candy will drop out and we’ll all have some.” - -“Wait! I haven’t finished yet!” called Neddie Stubtail. “I think I can -claw up that candy!” - -So he leaned over the edge of the barrel and stretched his paw down in -for the candy. At first he could not get hold of the box. Farther and -farther he leaned over the edge, and his hind paws came up off the -floor. - -“Look out, Neddie! You’ll fall in!” cried Beckie. - -And that is just what Neddie did. All of a sudden into the barrel he -went, head over paws and everything. “Ker-bunko!” went Neddie. - -Everybody laughed when he went down inside the barrel, and when he -bobbed up again, holding the candy in his paws, the animal children -laughed more than ever. For Neddie was all covered over with white. He -looked just like Mr. Whitewash, the Polar bear gentleman, only smaller. - -“Oh, Neddie, what happened to you,” asked Beckie, in surprise. - -“I know!” exclaimed Kittie Kat. “That barrel had flour in it, and I -didn’t dust it all out. The white flour is all over Neddie’s fur.” - -And so it was, but no one minded. - -“I don’t care. I got the candy anyhow,” said Neddie as he jumped out of -the barrel. Then he gave all the animal children some of the sweet -stuff, and when a few more games were played it was time to go home. - -Neddie and Beckie went through the forest, and when they were almost at -the bear cave, Beckie said: - -“Some one is following us through the woods. Maybe it’s a bad lion.” - -“Bur-r-r-r-r! I hope not!” cried Neddie. He turned around to look, and -there it was, a bad circus lion. But an instant later the lion roared -out: - -“Oh, excuse me, Mr. Whitewash, I didn’t know it was you!” and then the -lion ran away. You see he looked at the white flour still on Neddie’s -fur, and the bad lion thought he saw the big, strong Polar bear -gentleman, while it was really only little Neddie. Then the bear -children ran safely home. - -So you see it was a good thing Neddie fell into the flour barrel and got -all white after all, as it scared away the bad lion. And next, if the -horsie doesn’t jump out of his picture frame on the wall, and run over -my typewriter with the pony cart, I’ll tell you about Neddie in the -snowbank. - - - - - STORY XXV - NEDDIE IN A SNOWBANK - - -“Mamma,” said Neddie Stubtail, the little boy bear, as he got up from -the supper table one evening, “may I go over to Sammie Littletail’s -house to-night?” - -“What for?” asked Mrs. Stubtail. - -“Oh, we’re going to play with his magic lantern,” answered Neddie. -“We’re going to show some funny pictures. All the boys are going to be -there.” - -“Oh, I wish I could go,” cried Beckie, the little girl bear, as she -looked to see if her green hair ribbon had turned pink. But it had not, -I am sorry to say. - -“Pooh! You wouldn’t want to be the only girl there,” spoke Neddie. - -“Oh, yes, I would,” exclaimed Beckie. “I like boys better than I do -girls,” and she wasn’t at all bashful-like as she said that. Some girls -are that way, you know. - -“Well, maybe I’ll take you some other night,” said Neddie. “But may I go -over this evening, mamma?” - -“Well, I guess so,” answered the lady bear, slowly. “But first you must -study your school lessons.” - -“Oh, I’ll do that,” cried Neddie eagerly. “I’ll learn my reading lesson -and my number work. I haven’t got much. I’ve just got to find out how -many apples a man would have left if he bought two peaches for five -cents and sold a bushel of potatoes for thirteen musk melons.” - -“What a funny thing to want to know,” laughed Beckie. “Who asked you -that question?” - -“I don’t know,” replied Neddie. “It’s in the book, that’s all I know, -and I’ve got to find the answer for myself. I’m not sure, but I think -it’s a dozen honey cakes. Now please don’t bother me any more, Beckie, -for I’m going to study.” - -“Oh, I won’t bother you,” said the little girl bear. “I’ve got to study -my own lessons. And after that I’m going to make a sky-blue-pink dress -for my new doll, Lillian Cheesecake Clothes-basket.” - -Neddie hurried with his studying so that he might go over to the house -of Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, and see the magic lantern show. - -A magic lantern, you know, is something like a moving picture show, only -different. I guess you’ve seen one, so I don’t need to tell you about -it. - -Well, Neddie finished his home school-work, and I guess he did as you -boys and girls may often have done—he skipped the hard parts and only -took the easy questions, such as how to spell dog, and cat, and rat, and -apple, and cake. - -Then Neddie put on his hat and coat, and started to go over to Sammie -Littletail’s house. It was not a great way there through the woods. The -moon was shining brightly, just as it was the night before, when Neddie -and Beckie went to Kittie Kat’s party, and Neddie fell into the flour -barrel, as I had the pleasure of telling you in the story before this -one. - -When Neddie got to Sammie Littletail’s house he saw many of his little -animal boy friends there, and Sammie was all ready to start the magic -lantern show. - -And, oh! what a nice show it was! A white sheet was tacked on the wall, -and on that the pictures were shown. There was one picture of some -little dogs in a country called Germany, walking around on their hind -legs and eating pie with a spoon. Then there was another picture of a -cow blowing her horns to make a nice tune so the grasshoppers could -dance. - -After that Sammie showed a picture of a big lion, roaring in his loudest -voice, and, so as to make it seem more like a lion, Neddie, the little -bear boy, growled as loudly as he could, stooping down under the table -to hide himself. - -And when that picture was shown, and when Neddie growled, Jilly -Longtail, the little mousie boy, was so scared that he cried right out -loud: - -“I want to go home! I want to go home!” - -Of course, every one laughed at him, but for all that poor little Jilly -was quite frightened. - -“Why, it’s only a picture,” said Neddie, as he crawled out from under -the table, where he had been trying to roar like a lion. “Don’t cry, -Jilly,” and he wiped away the tears of the little mousie boy on his soft -fur. - -Well, after that more pictures were shown, and then Mrs. Littletail, the -rabbit lady, brought out some nice sweet cakes for the animal boys, and -Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl, who was a sister to Sammie, as I -guess you know, helped her mamma pass the cakes around to every one. - -Well, everybody had a good time, and when it came the hour for the boys -to go home, which was quite early, Sammie looked out of the window and -exclaimed: - -“Why, it’s snowing hard!” - -“Snowing lard, did you say?” asked Neddie. - -“No, not lard, and not butter either,” answered Sammie, with a laugh. “I -said it was snowing hard—h-a-r-d—not soft, you know.” - -“Oh, now I see!” cried Neddie. “Well, I’m glad it’s snowing, for we can -have some fun, making snow men, and building forts and sliding down -hill.” - -“I’m glad, too!” exclaimed Tommie Kat, the kitten boy, “for it will soon -be Christmas, and I always like snow at Christmas.” - -Everybody else at the magic lantern show said the same thing, and soon -they had started for their homes, because it kept snowing harder all the -while, and they did not want to get snowed in. - -Neddie Stubtail, the little bear boy, hurried along, kicking his paws -through the snow, and thinking what fun he would have with his sister -Beckie on their way to school next morning. - -“I’ll get out my sled and pull Beckie,” thought Neddie. He would do -this, you see, because Beckie could not come to the magic lantern show. - -Well, Neddie was walking along, and he was putting out his tongue and -letting the snowflakes melt on it, sort of tickling himself like, when, -all of a sudden, Neddie heard a roaring sound, and a voice cried: - -“Ah, ha! Now I’ve got you. You shan’t fool me this time by covering -yourself with flour and making believe you’re a Polar bear. I’m after -you!” And out from behind a snowbank rushed the bad old circus lion who -had chased Neddie and Beckie the night before, when they were on their -way home from the Kat party. - -“Oh, my!” exclaimed Neddie. “I guess I’d better run!” And run he did, -through the snow, as fast as he could. But the lion ran, too, and he was -almost catching up to Neddie, when, all at once, the little bear came to -the edge of a hill. - -He came to it so suddenly that he couldn’t stop himself, and the first -thing the little bear knew he slid over the top of the hill. Down he -fell, right into the middle of a big bank of snow, on the other side. - -Now a snowbank isn’t hard like the iron bank in which you put your -pennies, and so Neddie wasn’t hurt the least mite, I’m glad to say. -Gracious, if he had fallen on a hard iron bank, I don’t know what might -have happened. I guess maybe he’d have broken his toothache anyhow. I’m -not saying for sure, but maybe. - -Anyhow, Neddie fell “ker-flop!” into the soft snow, and the fluffy -flakes closed up over his head, not leaving any hole to show where he -had gone in. So that when the bad lion came to the edge of the hill and -looked down, expecting to see the little bear boy, he couldn’t see him -at all, at all. For Neddie was hidden by the kind snowbank. - -“My, that’s rather queer,” said the lion, sort of roaring to himself and -scratching his nose with his tail. “Very strange to be sure! I’m -positive that bear boy is around here somewhere. I’ll just call and make -him come out.” - -So the lion called: - -“Hey, you, Neddie Stubtail! Come out of where ever you are and let me -bite you!” - -But, of course, Neddie was too smart for that. He just stayed hiding -under the snowbank, and finally the bad lion went away through the -storm, growling to himself and wondering what had happened to Neddie. - -But Neddie stayed in the snowbank for some time, and then finally the -little bear chap began wondering how he was ever going to get out to go -home. For the snowbank was very big. - -And then a funny thing happened. Neddie’s warm breath melted a hole in -the snowbank and the little bear boy could look out just as if he were -looking through a window in a snow house. And in the shining moonlight, -for it had stopped snowing, he saw, a little way off, the very cave in -which he lived. Then he scratched hard with his paws and breathed hard -with his warm breath and soon he was out of the snowbank. A little later -he was safe in his own house. And oh my! how glad his mamma was to see -him! - -So he had quite an adventure, which goes to show that you can never tell -what will happen when a lion chases you. And on the next page, if the -popcorn doesn’t go bang up against the ceiling and knock the gas light -down cellar, I’ll tell you about Neddie and Beckie helping Uncle Wigwag. - -[Illustration] - - - - - STORY XXVI - HELPING UNCLE WIGWAG - - -One day, when Neddie and Beckie Stubtail, the little bear children, came -home from school, they saw in the dining-room Uncle Wigwag, the funny -old gentleman bear, who was always playing jokes. And Uncle Wigwag was -laughing and chuckling, and giggling to himself, bobbing up and down, -and tickling himself on his ribs to make himself laugh all the harder. -And then he’d sit down in a chair and hold his sides with his paws -because they ached so from his jollity. - -“Why, what in the world can be the matter with Uncle Wigwag?” asked -Beckie, dropping her books, and hurrying toward him. - -“Maybe he’s sick,” suggested Neddie. “I guess I’d better run for Dr. -Possum.” - -“Sick! He isn’t sick at all!” exclaimed Aunt Piffy, the fat old lady -bear. “He’s just up to some of his tricks. If you ever joke with me -again that way,” she went on, looking at Uncle Wigwag sort of -sharp-like, “if ever you do that again, I’ll never give you any maple -sugar on your honey cakes.” - -“Oh, what did he do? Tell us!” cried Neddie and Beckie, while Uncle -Wigwag laughed harder than ever. - -“Why he came home from the five-and-ten-cent store—I guess it must have -been,” explained Aunt Piffy, “and he gave me a box to open. He asked me -if I didn’t want a new side hair comb, and of course I did. Well, when I -opened the box out popped a green snake. I was so scared that I ran down -cellar and hid, and I nearly lost my breath, and could hardly find it -again. Oh, dear!” and Aunt Piffy fanned herself with her apron, she was -so warm. - -“Well,” said Uncle Wigwag, and he stopped laughing long enough to talk. -“I really didn’t say there was a side comb in the box, Aunt Piffy. -Besides, it wasn’t really a snake, you know,” he said, turning to Neddie -and Beckie. “It was only a snake made of paper, with a spring inside -like a jack-in-the-box.” - -“Oh, I know,” said Neddie. “Where is it? Let me take it, and I’ll play a -joke on some of the fellows at school.” - -“Take it!” exclaimed Aunt Piffy. “I don’t want to see it again. And mind -you!” she said to Uncle Wigwag, shaking her paw at him, “if you joke -with me any more—no maple sugar on your fried eggs for breakfast.” - -“Oh, I’ll be good,” said the old bear gentleman. - -But it was very hard for Uncle Wigwag to stop playing jokes. A little -later that afternoon he gave Beckie what she thought was a candy egg, -and when she tried to bite into it, thinking it was nice and sweet, the -egg popped open, and a little chicken inside, made of paper and -feathers, crowed just like a rooster, and Beckie nearly jumped out of -her hair ribbon, she was so surprised. - -“Ha! Ha!” laughed Uncle Wigwag. “That was a good joke!” - -“I don’t think so,” said Beckie, sort of sorrowful-like. - -“Don’t you? Well, maybe it wasn’t,” spoke Uncle Wigwag. “Anyhow, here’s -a penny for you to buy some real candy.” Uncle Wigwag was always that -way—first he’d play a joke on you and then he’d do you a kindness. He -was quite nice after all. - -And a little later Neddie was looking for a pencil to write down some of -his home school-work on his paper pad. - -“Here’s a good pencil,” said Uncle Wigwag, taking one from his pocket. -Neddie didn’t think anything, and started to write with the pencil. But, -as soon as he did so, it bounced out of his paw and jumped around on the -floor. For inside it was a jumping-jack. It was a trick pencil, you -know, and Uncle Wigwag had played another joke. - -“Excuse me while I laugh,” said the old gentleman bear. And Neddie -laughed, too, for he rather liked the trick pencil. - -And then Uncle Wigwag played another trick. Oh, but he was full of them -that day! wasn’t he? I guess he must have been roaming around two or -three five-and-ten-cent stores to find those jokes. - -The last trick Uncle Wigwag played was on Mr. Whitewash, the white Polar -bear gentleman. Mr. Whitewash used to have a cup of tea every afternoon, -while he sat down to read in the paper about whether it was going to be -cold or hot the next day. - -Mr. Whitewash used to sit on a cake of ice, you know, because he liked -everything cold, except his tea, and he did not like warm weather at -all. - -Well, he was sitting there, reading his paper, and sort of not looking -what he was doing. He reached out his paw to take his cup of tea, with -his eyes still on the paper, and when he picked up the cup and started -to drink from it, there was no tea in it. Instead, Uncle Wigwag had put -in some ink, and when Mr. Whitewash, not looking at it, started to drink -it, the ink spilled all over his white fur. It made him look like a -spotted clown in the circus. - -“Ha, ha!” laughed Uncle Wigwag. “That’s a fine joke!” - -“I don’t think so,” said Mr. Whitewash. “And you had better look out, or -I’ll play a joke on you.” - -Then Uncle Wigwag felt sorry he had done such a thing, and he helped Mr. -Whitewash clean the ink off his white fur. Neddie and Beckie helped -also. And a little later the Polar bear gentleman said to the two -children: - -“You just watch and see what a trick I shall play on Uncle Wigwag.” - -So Neddie and Beckie watched, though they didn’t see anything for some -time. But toward dark that evening, when Neddie was bringing in his wood -to fill the box behind the kitchen stove, he heard some one crying in -the fields across the way from the bear cave. - -“Help! Help! Oh, help!” called a voice. - -“Why, who can that be?” asked Beckie, who was watching Neddie bring in -the wood. - -“I’m sure I don’t know,” answered the little bear boy, “but I’m going to -see.” - -“Oh, you’d better not,” spoke Beckie. “Maybe it’s the bad old lion.” - -“Yes, and maybe it’s Uncle Wiggily, the nice rabbit gentleman. He may be -in trouble,” went on Neddie. “Come on, it isn’t far. We’ll go see. We -must help Uncle Wiggily, you know.” - -There was no one else in the bear cave just then to go to the help of -whoever was calling, as Mrs. Stubtail and Aunt Piffy had gone over to -the house of Mrs. Kat, the kitten children’s mamma, to ask about making -sugar pie. So Neddie and Beckie had to do whatever they were going to do -all by themselves. - -They hurried on toward where they heard the voice. It was still calling: - -“Help! Help! Oh, will no one help me?” - -“Yes, we are coming!” answered Neddie, and then he and Beckie ran around -the corner by a stump, and they saw, sitting there, Uncle Wigwag, the -old joking bear gentleman himself. He did not seem to be in any trouble, -and the bear children wondered what had happened to him. - -“Help! Help!” he called. - -“Why, what is the matter?” asked Neddie. “If you are in trouble why -don’t you come away? I see no one hurting you.” - -“No, you can’t see it, but I’m in trouble just the same,” said the bear -gentleman making a funny face. “I am frozen fast to a cake of ice!” - -“Frozen to a cake of ice?” said Beckie in surprise. - -“Yes. It’s a trick played on me by Mr. Whitewash, but I am not -complaining about it. It serves me right for playing so many jokes -to-day, especially the one on him with the ink. - -“I was walking along, thinking of a new joke to try, when I saw what I -thought was a nice seat here by this old stump. The seat had a blanket -over the top, and a sign saying: - - ‘PLEASE SIT DOWN ON ME!’ - -“Well, of course, I sat down, and before I knew it I was frozen fast. -You see there was a cake of ice under the blanket, and I’m sure Mr. -Whitewash put it there, just to fool me.” - -“I guess he did,” said Neddie, and he could hardly keep from laughing, -for Uncle Wigwag looked so funny, frozen fast. - -“Can’t you help me?” asked the bear gentleman. “You see Mr. Whitewash -can sit on a cake of ice without freezing to it, for he is used to -living at the North Pole, but I am not. Oh, dear! I’m freezing tighter -and tighter. I may have to stay here all night.” - -“Oh, no, we will help you,” said Neddie kindly. So he and Beckie blew -their warm breath on the cake of ice, and soon it was melted enough so -that Uncle Wigwag could pull himself loose. And very glad, indeed, he -was to get up. Then along came Mr. Whitewash saying, as he combed his -claws through his white fur: - -“Well, I see my trick worked after all.” - -“Yes,” spoke Uncle Wigwag, “it did. And it served me right. Now let’s -all go and have some hot chocolate, for I am chilled through.” So they -had the hot chocolate in the drug store, and everybody was happy, and -Uncle Wigwag didn’t play any more tricks until the next time. - -And if the cat in our back yard doesn’t try to walk across the clothes -line and fall off into the ash can, I’ll tell you next about Beckie -Stubtail and her wax doll. - - - - - STORY XXVII - BECKIE AND HER WAX DOLL - - -Beckie Stubtail, the little girl bear, who lived in the cave-house near -the nice woods, had more dolls than any real girl I know of, except -maybe the daughter of Santa Claus—that is if he has any children. But, -of course, Santa Claus must have children of his own, or else how could -he love so many children that belong to other persons—always giving them -nice things at Christmas, and all that? - -Oh, yes, I know, lots of folks say there isn’t any Santa Claus at all, -but you and I know differently, don’t we? And if those persons don’t -believe it, I can show them, right on the roof of my house, the very -same chimney down which Santa Claus comes every Christmas. - -That ought to make them believe, oughtn’t it now? Well, I guess yes, and -some lollypops besides! - -But what I started to say was that Beckie Stubtail, the little girl -bear, had more dolls of different sorts than any real child. Of course a -daughter of Santa Claus wouldn’t count, for she could go to her papa’s -big present-bag and take out as many dolls as she wanted—or rocking -horses or jumping-jacks or anything else. So I don’t mean her. - -Really Beckie had the mostest dolls, if you will kindly let me use such -a word, which I know isn’t just right. Beckie had a rubber doll that -would bounce up and down when you dropped her in the bath tub or on the -floor. That doll’s name was Sallie Ann Kissmequick. - -And then there was a rag doll, with shoe buttons sewed in her face for -eyes. And the funny part about that doll was that she always kept -looking at her feet. I suppose it was on account of the shoe buttons. - -“But best of all,” said Beckie, when she was talking about her toys to -Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl, “best of all, I like my sawdust doll, -Matilda Jane Shavingstick. She is just lovely!” - -“What funny names your dolls have,” said Susie. - -“Yes, some of the names were given them by my Uncle Wigwag. He’s always -playing tricks, and jokes, you know.” - -“I know!” exclaimed Susie with a laugh, as she remembered how Uncle -Wigwag, the funny old bear gentleman, had played one joke too many a few -days before and how he had frozen himself fast to a cake of ice that Mr. -Whitewash, the Polar bear gentleman, used as an easy chair. - -“And I like my clothespin doll, too,” went on Beckie, for she did have a -doll made of a clothespin, with inky eyes. - -“I like my wax doll best of all,” said Susie. “My Uncle Wiggily Longears -gave her to me last Christmas. Oh, she’s such a darling! Her cheeks are -so pink and her eyes are so blue, and she can open and shut them, too, -and she can say ‘Mamma’ and ‘Papa,’ when you push on a spring in her -back.” - -“Oh, I wish I had a wax doll!” exclaimed Beckie, the little girl bear, -sort of sad-like. “But I don’t s’pose I’ll ever get one, even if -Christmas is coming.” - -Now, you boys needn’t go away just because you think there’s nothing but -dolls in this story. I’m going to put in a real scary part pretty soon. -In fact, it’s coming around the corner of my typewriter now and I’ll be -up to it in a minute. - -Well, Susie, the rabbit girl, and Beckie, the little bear girl, talked a -lot more about dolls. I could write down what they said, but I guess you -girls know pretty much what it was, anyhow, and as for the boys—well, -I’ll just say that the two little animal girls kept on saying such -things as, “Oh, she’s just too sweet for anything!” “She’s a darling!” -“And she blinks her eyes so natural!” All doll-talk, you know. - -Well, Beckie and Susie walked on through the woods, and pretty soon they -came to a place where there was an old hollow stump. In the summer time -a nice family of birds lived in it. They were some relation to Dickie -Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy, but now all the birds had flown away down -South, where it was nice and warm. For it was winter in bear-land, you -know. - -All the while Beckie Stubtail was wishing and wishing she had a wax -doll, with real hair, and then, all of sudden, she looked at the old -hollow stump, and, my goodness me sakes alive, and some molasses -cookies, she saw a lovely wax doll there. - -“Oh, look!” cried Beckie. “What a sweet doll. Whose can she be?” - -“Why, she’s yours, of course,” said Susie with a smile, as she wiggled -her long rabbit ears. - -“Oh, I only wish she was!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws. “But how do -you know?” - -“Oh, it’s easy enough to tell that,” answered Susie. “That doll is -yours, Beckie. It must be. You see, I have a wax doll, so I don’t need -another. You have no wax doll and you want one.” - -“Indeed I do, very much!” exclaimed Beckie. - -“Then she is yours—take her,” went on the little rabbit girl. “I’m sure -she is meant for you.” - -“But who could have left her here?” asked Beckie wonderingly. - -But Susie did not know this, nor did Beckie. But it would not surprise -me the least bit if Santa Claus himself had dropped that doll in the -hollow stump. You know he often comes around a few days before Christmas -to see how things are getting on and to find out what boys and girls and -animal children need. So I think it’s safe to say that Santa Claus left -that doll in the hollow stump for Beckie. - -Anyhow, the little bear girl clasped in her paws the lovely wax doll, -and then she and Susie looked at her and made her open and shut her -eyes, and they felt of the soft wax in the doll’s pink cheeks, and they -were both happy, especially Beckie. - -“Let’s go home!” exclaimed Susie. “I’ll get my wax doll and we’ll play -house.” - -“All right, we will!” said Beckie. - -So she and Susie, the little rabbit girl, started back through the -woods, Beckie carrying her new wax doll. Well, they hadn’t gone very far -before, all of a sudden, out from behind a tree, sprang the bad old -skillery-scalery alligator, and he popped out into the path, in front of -Beckie and Susie, and he wound his long double-jointed tail around them -so they couldn’t move and there he had them fast. - -“Ah, ha!” cried the bad old alligator, blinking his fishy eyes, “now I -have you both, and a little baby, too.” - -You see the alligator thought the doll that Beckie carried was a real -baby, and honestly it did look like one. Of course the alligator didn’t -know any better, you see. - -“Yes, now I’ve got you two animal girls, and also the baby,” went on the -bad creature. “Oh, ho! This is a lucky day for me!” and he blinked his -fishy eyes real sassy-like. - -“What—what are you going to do with us?” Beckie asked, trying to be -brave and not afraid. - -“What am I going to do with you?” repeated the alligator. “Why, I am -going to carry you off to my cave and there I’ll keep you for a year and -a day. And after that—ha, hum—let me see. Why, I guess I’ll keep you -there forever.” - -“Oh, dear! That will be terrible,” cried Susie, as she thought she might -never see her little brother Sammie any more, nor Uncle Wiggily, either. - -“Please let us go!” cried the little rabbit girl. - -“No, I will not!” growled the bad old skillery-scalery alligator. - -Then Susie and Beckie tried as hard as they could to get away, but the -alligator only wound his double-jointed, stretchy, rubbery tail the more -tightly about them. Then he began to drag them off to his dark cave, to -keep them forever and a day, and then—and then—— - -All of a sudden something happened. Beckie felt her new wax doll -wiggling in her arms, and the doll seemed to be trying to get away. -Beckie held the doll tightly, but the wax creature only wiggled the -more. - -Then all at once that doll grew up into a great big giant lady, as tall -as a tree in the woods, taller and bigger and stronger than the old -alligator, and then that wax doll just took her two strong arms, and -with them she unwound the alligator’s tail from about Beckie and Susie. -And then the doll lady cried: - -“There you go, you bad creature, and don’t let me ever catch you -bothering Susie or Beckie again!” And with that the doll lady just -tossed the alligator into one peppersault after another over the tree -tops, and away he sailed, turning over and over through the air, and if -he hasn’t stopped he may be sailing yet for all I know unless he has -reached the moon. - -Beckie and Susie were so surprised that they did not know what to do, -but while they looked the doll lady shrank down to her regular wax size -again, and she blinked her eyes and said “Mamma” and “Papa” just like -any phonograph doll can do. - -“Well, what do you know about that?” cried Beckie. “What a wonderful -doll I have, to be sure!” - -But that was the only time Beckie’s wax doll turned herself into a giant -lady, and she wouldn’t have done it that time only to save Beckie and -Susie from the alligator. - -The two little animal girls were very glad indeed to get away from the -skillery-scalery alligator, and they hurried home as fast as they could, -and played house with the wax doll, and had a lot of fun. - -And in the next story, if the baby carriage doesn’t fall down stairs and -bump the rubber tires off the wheels, for the puppy dog to chew for gum, -I’ll tell you about Neddie and the lemon pie. - - - - - STORY XXVIII - NEDDIE AND THE LEMON PIE - - -“Ho, Neddie boy!” called Uncle Wigwag, the gentleman bear, to the little -boy bear who was coming home from school, swinging his books in a strap -that dangled from his paw. “Ho, Neddie boy, your mamma wants you!” - -“She does?” asked Neddie. “What for?” - -“To go to the store for a bushel of lemons!” said Uncle Wigwag, waltzing -around on one paw, and holding the other up in the air like a -jumping-jack dancing on top of a frosted cake. - -“Oh, now I know you’re joking,” said Neddie, for Uncle Wigwag was a -funny old bear gentleman, always playing tricks. - -“Well, I am joking, just the least little bit,” admitted Uncle Wigwag, -blinking both his eyes slow and careful like, so as not to get any dust -in them. “But really your mamma does want you to go to the store. She -told me to tell you just as soon as you came home from school.” - -“What does she want?” asked Neddie. “I was going over to Jackie Bow -Wow’s house to play football with him.” - -“Your mamma wants you to go to the bakery for a lemon pie,” said Uncle -Wigwag, scratching his left ear with his right paw, which is not an easy -thing to do. “I just said a bushel of lemons for fun, you know. But -really I think I’d like a pie with a bushel of lemons in.” - -“So would I!” exclaimed Neddie. “I love lemon pie. I hope mamma wants me -to get a big one, with that funny white of egg stuff and sugar on top.” - -“That’s the very kind I want,” said Mrs. Stubtail, the lady bear, coming -to the door just then. “Get me a large lemon meringue pie, Neddie. You -see we are going to have company to-night, and really I haven’t time to -bake a pie, and Aunt Piffy is so busy with dusting and sweeping that she -hasn’t either. And as for asking Uncle Wigwag to make a pie, why I’m -afraid he’d play some joke with it—such as putting in sawdust, or -filling the top with white cotton batting.” - -“Yes, I guess maybe I would,” said Uncle Wigwag, smiling at himself, -which is another hard thing to do. “I will have my joke. But as long as -I have told Neddie what you want of him, I suppose I may go over and see -Grandfather Goosey Gander now, may I not?” asked the old bear gentleman, -turning a peppersault as easily as a cow can blow her horn. - -“Yes, I won’t need you around here, as long as I have Neddie to run on -my errands,” said Mrs. Stubtail. “But don’t play too many tricks, -Waggy,” she said, calling Uncle Wigwag a pet name he sometimes went by. -“And be sure to be back here for supper,” went on the lady bear. - -“Oh, you may be sure I’ll not miss that!” exclaimed Uncle Wigwag with a -laugh. “I want some of that lemon pie Neddie is going to bring home from -the baker’s.” - -So off went Uncle Wigwag to call on Grandfather Goosey Gander. - -“Where is your sister Beckie?” asked Mrs. Stubtail, of Neddie, as she -gave him the money to get the pie. - -“Oh, she went over to Susie Littletail’s house, to talk about wax dolls, -I guess,” spoke Neddie. “She told me to tell you she’ll be home to -supper. I know I’ll be here to supper, anyhow,” went on Neddie, smacking -his lips as he thought of the lemon pie. “Who are the company, mamma?” - -“Mr. and Mrs. Silver-tip, a new family of bears who have moved into the -cave across the street,” answered Mrs. Stubtail: “I want to make them -feel at home.” - -“Do they like lemon pie?” asked Neddie. - -“Oh, I guess so,” said Mrs. Stubtail. - -“Oh, dear!” sighed the little bear cub. - -“Why, what’s the matter?” asked his mother. - -“So many people like lemon pie,” he replied. “I’m afraid there won’t be -enough to go around. There’s Uncle Wigwag, and—” - -“Oh, don’t worry!” laughed Mrs. Stubtail. “You may get the largest lemon -pie the baker has.” - -Then Neddie felt happy, and off he went to the baker’s as fast as his -paws would take him. Sometimes he ran along on just his hind feet, -walking almost like a real boy and like the trained bears you see in the -circus. And again Neddie would drop down on his four feet and go along -that way for a while, like a little poodle doggie. - -It was quite cold and there was some snow on the ground. Not as much as -the time Neddie jumped into the big drift, but enough to make some -snowballs. Neddie made a few in his paws, tossing them up into the -air—the snowballs I mean he tossed, not his paws—and he caught the -snowballs as they came down. - -Pretty soon Neddie came to the baker’s, and he said: - -“I want the largest lemon pie you have, if you please.” - -“All right,” said Mr. Peetie Skeezex, the baker, “you shall have it. I -have a specially fine large one.” - -Then he brought out from the oven the loveliest lemon meringue pie -Neddie had ever seen. It was almost as large around as a Christmas drum, -and on top was a lot of that white fluffy stuff made from eggs, and it -was browned just the least little bit, and sprinkled with powdered -sugar, and around the edge was some sort of curly-cue stuff like twisted -rope, and the pie was as pretty as one picture and part of another one. - -“Oh, yum-yum!” cried Neddie when he saw the lemon pie. He could not help -it, and he could hardly stop from taking a taste. But the baker knew -what hungry bear boys might do to a lemon pie, so Mr. Peetie Skeezex put -the lemon pie in a paper and tied it very tight. - -“There you are, Neddie,” he said to the little bear boy. “There’s your -pie. Hurry home with it.” - -“I will,” answered Neddie. “We’re going to have it for supper. We’ve got -company coming.” - -“Fine!” said Mr. Skeezex, giving Neddie a sweet cake to keep him from -getting too hungry on the way home with the pie. I guess the baker was -afraid that maybe Neddie might bite the pie, just to see if it were -real. But if Neddie had a sweet cake of his own to nibble on, this might -not happen. - -Neddie started for home, carrying the big lemon pie as carefully as the -milkman brings in a bottle of cream for the cat, and the little boy bear -was about half way to the cave-house, when, all of a sudden, while he -was thinking how he could get two pieces of pie for supper, all at once -out from behind a mulberry bush jumped an old sea lion. - -“Bur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!” roared the sea lion, shaking his whiskers -from side to side. “Bur-r-r-r-r!” - -“Oh, dear!” cried Neddie, standing still with the lemon pie, he was so -frightened. “Oh, dear!” - -“Bur-r-r-r-r-r! Wow! Woff! Snuff! Bur-r-r-r!” growled the sea lion. -“Don’t be afraid, little bear boy.” - -Well, now, I leave it to you, wouldn’t anybody be afraid to be stopped -on their way home with a lemon pie for supper—stopped by a sea lion who -growled like that? I guess they would. Neddie Stubtail was, anyhow. And -by rights, that sea lion ought to have been in the ocean where he -belonged. But the ocean was so cold, on account of the ice being in it, -that the sea lion had flopped out. And now he was going to catch Neddie. -Oh, dear! - -“Don’t be afraid,” said the sea lion to Neddie. “I am not going to hurt -you. What have you there?” - -“A lemon pie, if you please,” answered Neddie, his teeth chattering. - -“Bur-r-r-r-r!” growled the sea lion. “Give it to me. I am very fond of -lemon pie. I like it better than lollypops.” - -“But, if you please,” said Neddie, “this pie is for supper. We have -company coming.” - -“That matters not to me,” said the sea lion. “Give me that pie!” - -And then brave Neddie, thinking he must save the pie, whatever else -happened, gave a big jump. Right over the sea lion’s head he went, and -then how Neddie ran for home! - -“Ha! You can’t get away like that!” cried the sea lion, and after Neddie -he flopped. Well, Neddie ran as fast as he could, and the sea lion -flopped as fast as he could, and the bad creature had almost caught the -little bear boy when, all at once part of the lemon pie slipped off the -bottom crust. - -Right through a hole in the bag it went, and into the path it fell, and -before the sea lion could stop himself he had slipped on the slippery -lemon stuff of the pie and head over flippers he went, slipping and -sliding, until he came to the top of a hill, and he fell over that and -down into a bramble briar bush, and he didn’t get out for a week and a -day. - -So Neddie was saved, and he got safely home with the rest of the pie, -and only a little bit had fallen off, so there was enough left for him -and for Beckie and the company, and even for Uncle Wigwag. - -So that’s the story of Neddie and the lemon pie and if the iceman -doesn’t take our refrigerator home with him to keep his little pussy cat -warm in, I’ll tell you next about Beckie and the cold birdie. - - - - - STORY XXIX - BECKIE AND THE COLD BIRDIE - - -“Oh, see it snow!” exclaimed Neddie Stubtail, the little boy bear, as he -looked out of the window of the cave-house. “Look, Beckie!” - -“I can’t, Neddie, dear,” said the little girl bear. “I am making a new -dress for my wax doll, Clarabelle Sarahjane Peartree, and if I look up I -may drop a stitch or two.” - -“Oh, if you drop them I’ll pick them up,” said Neddie most politely. - -Beckie laughed. - -“You don’t understand,” she said. “When you are sewing and drop a stitch -it means you let it slip out of the cloth. It doesn’t drop on the -floor.” - -“I don’t understand,” said Neddie; “I admit that. But anyhow it’s -snowing, and I’m going out and have some fun.” - -“I will come, too, as soon as I get this doll’s dress done,” answered -Beckie. “But I have to put some frills down the middle and some plaits -up the side. Then around one edge there is to go some lace, and on the -other some insertion and——” - -“That’s enough,” cried Neddie. “I give up! I’m going out and make a -snowball, and there won’t be any lace on it, nor any tucks, either.” - -“Oh, you boys!” said Beckie with a sigh, as she threaded her needle with -a fine piece of corn silk that she was using to sew her doll’s dress. - -So Neddie went out to play in the snow, and while he was hopping about, -making snowballs and throwing them up in the air to watch them come -down, and now and then rolling over and over in the snow to make himself -look white like Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear—while Neddie was doing -this, his sister Beckie was sewing her doll’s dress. - -Pretty soon she had it nearly finished, so she laid it aside, and put -her needle safely away where Uncle Wigwag or Aunt Piffy, the fat old -lady bear, would not sit on it by mistake, and then Beckie went out to -play with her brother Neddie. - -The two bear children had lots of fun in the snow, and in a little while -Neddie said: - -“Let’s go over in the woods, Beckie. Maybe we’ll find a lemon pie or a -pollylop, or something like that.” - -“What’s a pollylop?” asked Beckie, as she caught a snowflake on the end -of her tongue, just as the clown in the circus catches a little piggie -by his tail. “I never heard of a pollylop, Neddie.” - -“Why,” said the little bear boy, “a pollylop is just like a lollypop -only different. You see a lollypop is a stick with a lump of candy on -one end.” - -“Oh, yes, I know that,” answered Beckie. - -“And a pollylop,” went on Neddie, “is a lump of candy, with a stick on -one end.” - -“Oh, I see what you mean!” exclaimed Beckie with a laugh. “One is upside -down and the other——” - -“The other is downside up,” finished her brother, as he turned a -peppersault into a bank of snow, and came out on the other side with a -feather sticking in his ear. - -“Oh, look at that!” exclaimed Beckie. “Where did you get that feather, -Neddie?” - -“Why, I don’t know,” he answered, scratching his left paw with his right -ear. “I guess it must have come out of the snowbank.” - -“Feathers don’t grow in snowbanks, Neddie,” spoke Beckie. - -“No more they do,” he answered, taking this one from his ear and looking -at it. “I guess this feather must be off a chicken or a turkey, Beckie.” - -“No, it isn’t large enough for a chicken’s or a turkey’s feather,” said -Beckie. “It must be from a little bird. But what would a bird be doing -in a snowbank?” - -And just then the two little bear children heard a voice crying: - -“Oh, dear! How cold I am! Oh, I am almost frozen!” - -“Oh, the poor thing!” exclaimed Beckie. “That’s a poor little birdie in -the snowbank, Neddie. You must get him out and we’ll warm him.” - -“How?” asked the little bear boy. “How can you warm him?” - -“Oh, I’ll find a way,” said Beckie. - -“All right. Then I’ll dive into the snowbank again,” said Neddie. And -into the snow he went, scattering it carefully about with his paws -until, down near the bottom, on the ground, covered with the white -flakes, and almost frozen, was a poor little birdie. - -“Oh, the dear little thing!” cried Beckie, as Neddie brought out the -birdie in his paws, holding it carefully so as not to squeeze it. - -“Cheep! Cheep!” went the cold little birdie. That was all it could say. - -“Quick, Neddie!” exclaimed Beckie. “You run home and get me some nice -warm milk in a bottle. Aunt Piffy will heat it for you. Bring it back -here to me, and some bread crumbs, too, I’ll feed the little birdie.” - -“But why don’t you bring it home with you?” Neddie wanted to know. - -“Because I don’t want to carry it through the cold air,” answered -Beckie. “I’m going to warm the birdie in my fur while you are gone after -the milk.” - -So Neddie ran back home to the cave-house, and Beckie sat down on a -stump that stuck up above the snow, and in her warm fur Beckie cuddled -the cold birdie, holding her paws over it to keep off the frosty north -wind. - -“Cheep! cheep!” went the small birdie, and soon it was nice and warm and -could flutter its wings a little. - -“Do you feel better now?” asked Beckie. - -“Oh, much better,” answered the fluttering creature. “Thank you so much -for warming me.” - -“But how did you happen to get in the snowbank?” asked Beckie. - -“It was this way,” explained the bird. “Yesterday all my friends and -brothers and sisters flew away down South, where it is warm. But I -stayed to have a game of tag with Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck girl, and -I was left behind. Then it got colder and colder, and I could not fly. I -fell into the snow and there I stayed until you came to get me out. I -can never thank you enough.” - -“Pray do not think of that,” said Beckie most politely. “I am glad we -could save you. I suppose it was your feather that stuck in Neddie’s ear -when he took a peppersault dive through the snow.” - -“Yes,” said the birdie, “it was a loose one from my tail. And it is a -good thing it came off, otherwise you would never have known I was -here.” - -“Very true,” answered Beckie. Then she warmed the poor, cold little -birdie some more in her fur, and wondered when Neddie would be back with -the hot milk and the bread crumbs. - -All of a sudden, as Beckie was sitting there on the stump, warming the -birdie, out from behind an old apple tree came the biggest fox Beckie -had ever seen. He was much larger than the little bear girl. In fact, he -must have been the grandfather of all the foxes. - -“Wuff! Wuff! Wuff!” barked the fox. “I can see where my Christmas dinner -is coming from.” - -“From where?” asked Beckie, as bravely as she could, though really she -was much frightened. - -“From you and that bird,” answered the bad fox. “I am going to carry you -both off to my den, and what a Christmas dinner I will have!” - -Well, he was just going to jump and grab Beckie, when the little birdie -that wasn’t cold any more, but nice and warm, thanks to Beckie’s -fur—that little bird just flew right into the face of that fox, and with -its sharp beak the bird picked the fox on the end of his nose as hard as -anything. - -“Oh, wow!” cried the fox. “I guess I have made a mistake! I don’t want a -Christmas dinner off you at all.” - -“I guess you don’t!” chirped the birdie, pecking him on the nose again, -and the fox ran away, taking his bushy tail with him, and Beckie and the -birdie were safe. Then Beckie warmed the birdie some more in her fur, -and pretty soon along came Neddie with the hot milk and bread crumbs, -and the birdie ate as much as it wanted. - -Then Beckie and Neddie took the birdie home with them to keep it in the -warm cave until summer should come again; and everybody was happy except -the fox with the sore nose, and it served him right. And in the next -story, if the dinner plate doesn’t get hungry and bite a piece out of -the salt dish, I’ll tell you about Neddie helping Santa Claus. - -[Illustration] - - - - - STORY XXX - NEDDIE HELPS SANTA CLAUS - - -“Only three days more until Christmas! Aren’t you glad, Neddie?” asked -Beckie Stubtail, the little girl bear, one morning as she jumped out of -her bed in the clean straw of the cave-house where she lived, and ran to -the door of her brother’s room. “Aren’t you just glad, Neddie?” - -“Glad? Well, I guess I am!” answered Neddie, as he tickled himself with -a clothespin to make himself laugh. “I don’t even want to go to school -to-day, I’m so happy.” - -“Oh, but I s’pose we do have to go,” spoke Beckie. “But maybe we’ll get -out early.” - -Just then from the kitchen came a call: - -“Hurry, Neddie—Beckie—breakfast is ready! Come and get your griddle -cakes with honey on!” - -Then Beckie and Neddie, the little bear children, hurried downstairs. -Soon they were eating their breakfast. Their papa, Mr. Stubtail, the old -bear gentleman, had had his breakfast some time ago and gone to work. -Uncle Wigwag, the gentleman bear, who was always playing tricks and -cracking jokes, as a squirrel cracks nuts, was sitting in a corner, -trying to think of something new to do to make Aunt Piffy, the fat lady -bear, laugh. - -Mr. Whitewash, the Polar bear gentleman, was out in the yard, looking -for a fresh cake of ice to sit on while he read the morning paper. - -Pretty soon Neddie and Beckie started for their classes. They had on -their fur coats, for it was rather cold, you see. And in a little while, -when the bear children were almost at school, and had met Tommie and -Joie and Kat, the kitten children, in their red mittens and rubber -boots, it began to snow. - -“Oh, how nice!” cried Beckie, jumping about. - -“It’s just fine!” exclaimed Neddie. “I always like it to snow around -Christmas, for I’m going to get a new sled.” - -“And I’m going to have a pair of skates,” said Tommie Kat. “At least I -asked Santa Claus for them, and I hope he brings them, and also some -ice, so I can use them.” - -“Mr. Whitewash will lend you his cake of ice to skate on, if the pond -doesn’t freeze,” said Neddie. - -And then the school bell rang, and the animal children had to hurry on, -so they would not be late. - -Such fun as they had in school that day! It was so near Christmas that -the professor-teacher was not very strict, and when the children missed -their lessons he gave them another chance. - -And the Professor let Beckie draw a picture of Santa Claus on the -blackboard, with a red cap, and fur on the coat and a big pack on his -back—I mean Santa Claus had all these things on, though of course the -blackboard had also, after Beckie got through drawing. - -Well, when school was out, Neddie and Beckie ran home with the rest of -the animal children, but, all of a sudden, as the little bear boy came -to the old hollow stump, where Bully, the frog, used to give jumping -lessons in summer, Neddie happened to think that he had left his reading -book in school. - -“I’ll run back and get it,” he said. “You go on, Beckie, and I’ll soon -catch up to you.” - -But Neddie Stubtail didn’t come back as soon as he thought he would, for -when he got to the school he found that a little mouse boy had taken the -reading book down a rat hole to look at the pictures. And by the time -Neddie got his book back it was quite late, and growing dark. - -“But I’m not afraid,” said Neddie as he hurried on toward home, with the -book under his paw. On and on he went, through the wood. It became -darker and darker. Neddie began to whistle, so he could not hear any -rustling in the bushes. For when the bushes rustled he imagined it might -be the skillery-scalery alligator, or maybe a bad wolf after him. - -But nothing like that took place, and soon Neddie was almost home. Then -all of a sudden something did happen. Just as he was passing under a big -oak tree, with the brown leaves on it shaking in the wind, the little -bear boy heard a buzzing sound, and then a crash and a bang, and a -rattle, and some one cried: - -“Oh, dear! Now I have gone and done it! Oh, my, yes! and some -reindeer-lollypops besides! Oh, what am I going to do now? And not half -my work done!” - -Neddie crouched down under the bushes. He knew well enough that -something had happened up in the oak tree. What it was he could not -tell. - -“But if it’s a giant, or a bad elephant or a flying eagle trying to get -me, they shan’t!” exclaimed Neddie. - -Then he heard the voice crying again: - -“Help! Help! Is there anybody around to help me? I’m stuck in the tree!” - -“Ha!” exclaimed Neddie to himself. “He’s only saying that to fool me. I -believe that’s the skillery-scalery alligator sailing around in a -balloon, looking for me. But he shan’t find me. I’ll hide here until he -goes away.” - -So Neddie got farther under the bush, and then the voice cried again: - -“Help! Help! Please help me!” - -Then some bells jingled, and Neddie heard a song that went something -like this: - - “Won’t you please come to help me. - I am caught fast in a tree. - Christmas time will soon be here, - But I’ll sure be late this year, - Unless some one comes quickly, - And gets me loose from out this tree.” - -Hearing that nice song Neddie wasn’t afraid any more. He opened his ears -as wide as he could and listened. He opened his eyes as wide as he could -and looked up. Then he saw a strange sight. - -Caught fast in the tree was an airship—you know what they are—a sort of -flying balloon, like a toy circus one, only larger. And in the airship -was a nice old gentleman, with a red coat and long white whiskers; and -beside him in the airship was a big bag just filled to the top with -sleds and dolls and rocking horses and cradles, and steam engines and -toy motor boats, and skates and jumping-jacks, and, oh! I couldn’t begin -to tell you what was in it. Neddie knew right away who was in trouble. - -“You’re Santa Claus, aren’t you?” he asked, as he came out from under -the bush. - -“That’s who I am,” answered the old gentleman. “I was flying down here -from the North Pole in my airship, when I got caught in the tree. I’m -stuck fast and I can’t get out, and I don’t know what to do. Can you -find some one to help me?” - -“I will help you myself,” said Neddie bravely and kindly. Then, laying -down his school books, he climbed the tree sticking in the bark his -sharp claws as he had learned to do from George, the tame trained bear, -who went around with the Professor. - -Soon Neddie was at the top of the tree. Then he broke off the branches -that held fast Santa’s airship, and dear old St. Nicholas could travel -on again, with his bag of good things for Christmas. - -Off through the air sailed Santa Claus, and as Neddie climbed down the -tree, after having helped the nice old gentleman, a voice called. - -“I’ll see you soon again, Neddie. But don’t tell anybody you saw me for -it’s a secret.” - -“I won’t,” said Neddie, and he didn’t. Then the little bear boy hurried -on home, and he had honey cakes for supper, and he never said a word -about Santa Claus. And on the next page, if the umbrella doesn’t climb -up the hat tree and pick off all the breakfast oranges, I’ll tell you -about Neddie and Beckie in the chimney. - - - - - STORY XXXI - NEDDIE AND BECKIE IN THE CHIMNEY - - -“Neddie, what makes you act so queerly?” asked Beckie Stubtail, the -little bear, one morning when she and her brother were on their way to -school. - -“Queer! Do I act queer?” asked Neddie, as he turned around to see if any -snowballs were growing on the end of his tail. None were, I’m glad to -say. - -“Queer! I really think you do act strange,” said Beckie, as politely as -she could, while eating a bun Aunt Piffy had given her. - -“What do I do that’s queer?” asked Neddie, curious-like. - -“Why, you go around looking up in the air all the while, and listening, -and then looking up again. I should think you would get a stiff neck,” -said Beckie. “Why do you do it, Neddie?” - -“Oh, that’s nothing,” said Neddie, sort of confused like. “I—er—I guess -I’m looking up to see if it’s going to snow any more for Christmas.” - -“Neddie Stubtail!” exclaimed Beckie, shaking her paw at him. “That isn’t -it at all! You’re looking for something in the air and I know it. And, -besides, you talked in your sleep last night!” - -“Did I?” asked Neddie, sort of anxious-like. “What did I say, Beckie?” - -“Well, I couldn’t understand it all. But it was something about a tree, -and getting caught in it, and then you hollered out: ‘I won’t tell, -Sandy!’ That’s what you talked.” - -“Did I say Sandy?” asked Neddie. - -“Well, it sounded like that,” answered Beckie. “But I won’t be sure.” -Then she looked at her brother. Neddie was all sort of red back of his -ears, and his little stubby tail was going wiggle-waggle-wog. Then -Beckie suspected something. - -“Neddie Stubtail!” she cried. “I believe you know something about Santa -Claus! That’s it! It was Santa—not Sandy. Oh! Neddie, do you—really? -Tell me, please! I won’t tell. Come on, do, it’s so near Christmas!” - -Beckie took hold of Neddie’s paw and kissed him on the nose. - -“Aw, quit!” he cried. “I’m not a girl!” - -“I know, Neddie, dear,” said Beckie softly. “But I love you!” - -“Huh! Yes! I guess you want me to tell you the secret, don’t you?” he -asked, and really Neddie did not speak as politely as he might have -done. But he did not mean to be unkind. - -“Oh, a secret!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws. “Do tell me, Neddie, -dear.” - -“I promised not to,” said the little boy bear, looking at his toes. - -“Oh, if you will,” said Beckie, “I’ve got a honey cake, and I’ll give it -to you. Do tell me!” - -“Well,” said Neddie, slowly, as he ate the cake his sister gave him, “It -happened last night. I promised not to tell, but then you’re my sister -and it’s almost Christmas, anyhow. I guess he won’t care.” - -And then, because he loved his little sister bear, Neddie told all about -having helped Santa Claus, who got caught in the tree top with his -airship, as I told you in the story before this one. - -“Oh, how perfectly lovely!” cried Beckie, clapping her paws. “Neddie, if -I had another honey cake I’d give it to you. Just to think! You really -saw Santa Claus!” - -“But it’s a secret!” said Neddie, quickly. - -“Of course—I know,” said Beckie, sticking up her nose just the little -tiniest bit. “I won’t tell a single soul.” - -And then they were at school. They studied their lessons and then, as it -was recess, all the animal children went out in the yard to play. And, -of course, Beckie had to go and tell that she had a secret. - -And, of course, all the girls wanted to know what the secret was. And, -of course, Beckie said she couldn’t tell, but the girls, like Alice and -Lulu Wibblewobble, the ducks, and Kittie Kat, and Brighteyes, the guinea -pig girl, all begged and teased, and well—— - -“Now promise, cross your heart and twist your paws you’ll never, never -tell if I tell you,” asked Beckie. - -“Oh, we promise,” said all the animal girls. - -Well, you can easily guess what happened. Beckie told how her brother -Neddie had helped Santa Claus out of the tree in his airship. And, of -course, all the girls promised not to even whisper it. And then, -somehow, all the boys had heard of what happened to Neddie. And, in a -short time, everybody in the school knew all about the little boy bear -having seen Santa Claus. - -“Well, it’s very queer!” exclaimed Beckie when Neddie spoke to her about -it. “I only just told a few girls—only a very few, and they all promised -not to tell!” - -“Huh!” exclaimed Neddie. And then, as he saw that his little sister felt -badly, he added: “Never mind, Beckie. You didn’t mean to, and I guess -Santa Claus won’t care, anyhow.” - -And Neddie let Beckie kiss him again, which was very nice of him, I -think. - -Then, when recess was almost over, Jackie Bow Bow, the puppy dog boy, -said: - -“Pooh! I don’t believe Santa Claus comes down the chimney the way they -say he does.” - -“You don’t believe that?” cried Neddie Stubtail, surprised-like. - -“No, I don’t,” said Jackie. “Maybe he has an airship, for you saw that, -but nobody ever saw him come down the chimney.” - -“The idea!” cried Beckie. “What a funny boy! Of course he comes down the -chimney.” - -“How can he with a pack on his back? Answer me that!” cried Jackie. -Neddie and Beckie looked at one another. They both thought of the same -thing. Then Neddie said: - -“Of course Santa Claus comes down the chimney. What if he is big? I’m -bigger than Sammy Littletail, the rabbit, and I can go down a chimney.” - -“So can I!” cried Beckie. - -“And we’ll do it, too!” added Neddie. “We have a few minutes of recess -yet. Beckie and I will go down the school chimney to show them all that -Santa Claus can do the same thing.” - -Then, while all the other animal children looked on in wonder, Beckie -and Neddie scrambled up on the roof of the schoolhouse. They could -easily do this as there was a tree growing near it. Then Neddie got in -the chimney first. It was a large, wide one. - -“You’ll get all black soot,” said Beckie. - -“Never mind, it will all wash off,” spoke Neddie. “Come on in, Beckie. -There’s lots of room.” - -So Beckie got in the chimney, too. Just then the school bell rang. -Recess was over. All the animal children had to run in. - -“Oh, you’ll get a bad mark!” they cried to Neddie and Beckie. “You’ll be -late!” - -“Hurry up! Slide down the chimney and go to school that way!” cried -Beckie to Neddie. - -“I can’t! I’m stuck fast!” he said. - -“I’ll give you a push!” she cried. And she did. She pushed so hard that -both she and Neddie fell right on down through the hole in the chimney, -into the fireplace in the school room. But, luckily, there was no fire -on the hearth, so they were not burned. Which shows you that Santa Claus -can come down a chimney, and which also shows you that you should not -have a fire in the grate on Christmas eve. - -Well, of course, Neddie and Beckie coming down the chimney made quite -some excitement in the school, but all the animal children laughed, and -the professor-teacher laughed, too, and then, as it was so near -Christmas, he said there would be no more lessons that day. So Neddie -and Beckie, having proved that Santa Claus could come down a chimney, -went home to wash off the soot. - -What’s that? How does Santa Claus get the black soot off him when he -comes down a chimney? Why, he always has a whiskbroom with him, you -know, and every time he comes down a chimney he brushes himself off. -See? - -And now we have come to the end of this book, for you can easily tell, -by looking, that there isn’t room for another story in it. - -I’ll just say, though, that Neddie and Beckie had the finest Christmas -that ever you can imagine. And such presents as they received! And the -candy and nuts and oranges and honey cakes—Oh, my! It makes me hungry -just to write about it. - -And the two little bear children, and their papa and mamma, and Aunt -Piffy, the fat bear, and Uncle Wigwag, and Mr. Whitewash lived happily -for ever after—for many years after. And every time he got a chance -Uncle Wigwag would play a joke. And Mr. Whitewash would always sit on a -cake of ice when he could find one. - -But if I can’t get any more stories in this book, I can put them in -another. And I will. That book will be called “Bully and Bawly No-Tail,” -and they will be stories about the two little frog boys, who lived in a -pond, and could swim as good as a gold fish. They had no tails, except -when they were baby tadpoles, but those tails soon fell off. So their -names were “No-Tail” you see, just as Buddy and Brighteyes, the guinea -pigs, had no tail. - -So I’ll say good-bye now, for a little while, as I have to write the new -book for you. - - - THE END - - - - - THE FAMOUS BED TIME SERIES - - -Five groups of books, intended for reading aloud to the little folks -each night. Each volume contains 8 colored illustrations, 31 stories, -one for each day of the month. Handsomely bound in cloth. Size 6½x8¼. - - =Price 60 cents per volume, postpaid= - - * * * * * - -HOWARD R. GARIS’ Bed Time Animal Stories - - No. 1 SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL - - No. 2 JOHNNY AND BILLY BUSHYTAIL - - No. 3 LULU, ALICE & JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE - - No. 5 JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW-WOW - - No. 7 BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG - - No. 9 JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT - - No. 10 CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK - - No. 14 NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL - - No. 16 BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL - - No. 20 NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAIL - - No. 28 JOLLIE AND JILLIE LONGTAIL - -Uncle Wiggily Bed Time Stories - - No. 4 UNCLE WIGGILY’S ADVENTURES - - No. 6 UNCLE WIGGILY’S TRAVELS - - No. 8 UNCLE WIGGILY’S FORTUNE - - No. 11 UNCLE WIGGILY’S AUTOMOBILE - - No. 19 UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE - - No. 21 UNCLE WIGGILY’S AIRSHIP - - No. 27 UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE COUNTRY - - * * * * * - - For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the - publishers - - =A. L. BURT CO., 114–120 East 23d St., New York= - - Copyright, 1913, by - HOWARD R. GARIS - Copyright, 1914, by - R. F. FENNO & COMPANY - Neddie and Becky Stubtail - - - - - The Boy Allies With the Battleships - - (Registered in the United States Patent Office) - - By ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE - - Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid - - -Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other -in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place -them on board the British cruiser “The Sylph” and from there on, they -share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, -the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably -the many exciting adventures of the two boys. - - THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; or, The Vanishing Submarine. - - THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the - Czar. - - THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; or, Striking the First Blow at - the German Fleet. - - THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; or, Sweeping the Enemy from the Seas. - - THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; or, The Naval Raiders of the - Great War. - - THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEAS; or, The Last Shot of - Submarine D–16. - - - - - The Boy Allies With the Army - - (Registered in the United States Patent Office) - - By CLAIR W. HAYES - - Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid - - -In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to -leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the -Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and -escapes are many, and furnish plenty of the good, healthy action that -every boy loves. - - THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; or, With the Italian Army in the Alps. - - THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; or, The Struggle to Save a - Nation. - - THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; or, Through Lines of Steel. - - THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; or, Twelve Days Battle Along the - Marne. - - THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; or, A Wild Dash over the - Carpathians. - - THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the - Aisne. - - - - - Our Young Aeroplane Scouts Series - - (Registered in the United States Patent Office) - - By HORACE PORTER - - Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid - - -A series of stories of two American boy aviators in the great European -war zone. The fascinating life in midair is thrillingly described. The -boys have many exciting adventures, and the narratives of their numerous -escapes make up a series of wonderfully interesting stories. - - OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ENGLAND; or, Twin Stars in the London - Sky Patrol. - - OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ITALY; or, Flying with the War Eagles of - the Alps. - - OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM; or, Saving the - Fortunes of the Trouvilles. - - OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN GERMANY; or, Winning the Iron Cross. - - OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN RUSSIA; or, Lost on the Frozen Steppes. - - OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN TURKEY; or, Bringing the Light to Yusef. - - - - - The Big Five Motorcycle Boys Series - - By RALPH MARLOW - - Price, 40 Cents per Volume, Postpaid - - -It is doubtful whether a more entertaining lot of boys ever before -appeared in a story than the “Big Five,” who figure in the pages of -these volumes. From cover to cover the reader will be thrilled and -delighted with the accounts of their many adventures. - - THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON THE BATTLE LINE; or, With the Allies - in France. - - THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS AT THE FRONT; or, Carrying Dispatches - Through Belgium. - - THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS UNDER FIRE; or, With the Allies in the - War Zone. - - THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS’ SWIFT ROAD CHASE; or, Surprising the - Bank Robbers. - - THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS ON FLORIDA TRAILS; or, Adventures Among - the Saw Palmetto Crackers. - - THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS IN TENNESSEE WILDS; or, The Secret of - Walnut Ridge. - - THE BIG FIVE MOTORCYCLE BOYS THROUGH BY WIRELESS; or, A Strange - Message from the Air. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Moved first ad page from after the Title page to after p. 253. - 2. P. 182, changed “I’ll you” to “I’ll tell you”. - 3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 4. Anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as - printed. - 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - 6. Enclosed bold font in =equals=. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Neddie and Beckie Stubtail (Two Nice -Bears), by Howard R. 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