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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Charlie and His Puppy Bingo, by Helen Hill
-
-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
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Charlie and His Puppy Bingo
-
-Author: Helen Hill
- Violet Maxwell
-
-Illustrator: Helen Hill
- Violet Maxwell
-
-Release Date: May 16, 2021 [eBook #65360]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Charlene Taylor, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed
- Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
- produced from images generously made available by The Internet
- Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLIE AND HIS PUPPY BINGO ***
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- A SECOND BOOK OF CHARLIE STORIES
-
- Charlie and His Puppy Bingo
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
- THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
- NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
- ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
-
- MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
- LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
- MELBOURNE
-
- THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
- TORONTO
-
-
-[Illustration: _Charlie_]
-
-
-
-
- CHARLIE AND HIS
- PUPPY BINGO
-
- BY
- HELEN HILL
- AND
- VIOLET MAXWELL
- AUTHORS OF “CHARLIE AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY”
-
- ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHORS
-
- New York
- THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
- 1923
-
- _All rights reserved_
-
-
-
-
- PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
-
- COPYRIGHT, 1923,
- BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
-
- Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1923.
-
-
-
-
- DEDICATED TO
- A. T. M. M.
-
-
-
-
-FOREWORD
-
-
-The authors have made every effort to write these little stories in
-language that will be intelligible to very little children.
-
-They have observed that it is much easier to hold a small child’s
-attention when _telling stories_, rather than when reading them aloud.
-So they have tried to put these stories in informal English, using
-frequent repetitions, with here and there an _interesting_ long word,
-and italicizing words on which emphasis is to be laid, their object
-being to write the stories as they would be told.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- CHAPTER PAGE
-
- I BINGO COMES TO LIVE WITH CHARLIE 1
-
- II CHARLIE LEARNS THE TRAFFIC LAWS 13
-
- III HOW BINGO LOST HIS SPOTS 28
-
- IV CHARLIE RIDES ON THE ENGINE OF A REAL TRAIN 41
-
- V BINGO AND THE ANGRY ROOSTER 56
-
- VI CHARLIE DELIVERS MAIL FOR THE STAGE DRIVER 67
-
- VII CHARLIE MAKES A POOL AND SAILS HIS BOAT 87
-
- VIII CHARLIE BUILDS A REAL HOUSE OUT OF BRICK 104
-
- IX BINGO LEARNS TO COME WHEN HE IS CALLED 120
-
- X WHAT CHARLIE DID ON A RAINY DAY 135
-
-
-
-
-ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- Charlie _Frontispiece_
-
- PAGE
-
- The puppy drank all the milk _Opposite_ 10
-
- Bingo had to travel in the baggage car _Facing_ 43
-
- The rooster kept Bingo a prisoner “ 63
-
- Charlie blew a tremendous blast “ 77
-
- Charlie and the stage driver talk together “ 81
-
- The boat sailed beautifully “ 99
-
- Charlie watched the builders _Opposite_ 107
-
- One of the strange boys held Bingo _Facing_ 129
-
- Charlie made three villages _Opposite_ 143
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-Charlie and His Puppy Bingo
-
-
-
-
-TO READ FIRST
-
-
-Charlie was a little boy who lived with his Mother and his Daddy and
-his Auntie in a house in the city. The house had a big yard all around
-it, where Charlie liked to play.
-
-A cat called Jane and her kitten Topsy also lived in the house. Topsy
-and Charlie were great friends and they played together all day long.
-Jane sometimes played with them too, but Jane was a cat who loved
-little babies, both baby cats and baby humans, and she was sad because
-Charlie was growing to be a big little boy, and Topsy was a big little
-kitten--so big that he could wash himself and it would have been
-_ab-surd_ for Jane to go on washing him when he was such a big little
-kitten!
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-BINGO COMES TO LIVE WITH CHARLIE
-
-
-One morning Charlie woke up suddenly because his kitten Topsy had
-jumped on his bed and was tickling him under the chin!
-
-Charlie woke up, and somehow he felt different--he felt most _awfully
-old_--and then he remembered why!
-
-“I’m five years old!” he shouted and jumped out of bed. With Topsy on
-his shoulder, he ran downstairs to the kitchen where his Mother and
-his Auntie were getting breakfast ready.
-
-“I’m five years old!” he shouted again, and jumped into his Mother’s
-arms. “I’m a great big boy now.”
-
-His Mother said, “Yes, indeed, you are a great big boy now, think of
-it! It takes _all_ the fingers of one hand to tell how old you are!”
-And his Mother hugged him hard and his Auntie hugged him hard too and
-they both wished him “Many happy returns of the day.”
-
-Then Charlie ran upstairs again and started to dress himself. He could
-dress himself quite easily, but sometimes when he was lazy he would
-pretend that he could not and call out for his Auntie to button him up.
-
-But as he was five years old to-day Charlie was going to show everybody
-what a big boy he was. So he brushed his hair and cleaned his teeth
-and buttoned _all_ the buttons and came out of his room at the same
-time as his Daddy came out of _his_.
-
-“_Oh, what_ a big boy you are!” said his Daddy. “I can hardly lift
-you.” But he did lift him all the same and carried him down the stairs
-and into the dining room on top of his shoulder!
-
-And when they got into the dining room Charlie scrambled all down
-his Daddy without waiting to be put down--for there were the most
-ex-cit-ing looking parcels on the table beside his plate, and one of
-them was so e-nor-mous that it took up half the room on the table!
-
-Charlie could not wait _one_ minute, he started right away to take the
-wrapping paper off the great, e-nor-mous parcel.
-
-It was tied with blue ribbons just like the other parcels, for all that
-it was so e-nor-mous. Charlie pulled and he tugged and at last the
-wrapping paper was all off. And what do you think it was? You never
-can guess! _No one_ could ever guess that such a thing could be on the
-breakfast table beside a little boy’s plate, even though it was the
-little boy’s birthday and he was five years old. It was an automobile!
-Yes, it was an automobile that Charlie could sit in and pedal with his
-feet, and it would go just like a real automobile. Charlie’s Daddy
-lifted it to the floor and Charlie ex-am-ined it all over. It had real
-lights and a wind shield and a steering gear. It was the most beautiful
-automobile that any little boy ever had!
-
-There were a lot of other parcels beside his plate, and they were
-_all_ interesting. There was a new suit for Charlie, and it was a
-sailor suit, just like those that big boys wear. It had a lanyard and
-a whistle, and it had a red stripe and an emblem on the sleeves. Then
-there were two new cars for his electric train, and a pair of scissors
-with blunt edges, so that Charlie could cut things out himself and not
-always have to ask his Mother or his Auntie to do it for him. There was
-an express wagon that he could haul stones and grass in, and there was
-a new battery for his flashlight!
-
-Charlie was still looking at all his beautiful presents, when there
-came a ring at the door and a loud whistle. It was the postman! Charlie
-ran to the front door and opened it. And he said to the postman, “I
-am five years old, and I’ve got an automobile and a whistle just like
-yours, and a lot of other things.”
-
-And the postman said, “I _thought_ that you had grown a lot taller
-since I saw you yesterday. It’s fine that you have got a whistle like
-mine. There is nothing to prevent you from being a postman yourself
-now, is there? Then you can carry your own mail. Look what a lot of
-letters I have brought this morning--and they are all for you!”
-
-Yes, indeed, the postman was right, _all_ the letters were for Charlie,
-and every letter had a beautiful card in it wishing him “Many happy
-returns of the day.” And there was a letter from Uncle Jim; it had a
-whole dollar bill in it, and the dollar bill was for Charlie! Yes, the
-dollar bill was all for Charlie, and his Mother said that she would
-take him down to the stores and he might buy whatever he liked with it.
-
-Then his Daddy said, “What are you going to buy with the dollar?”
-
-And Charlie said, “I am going to buy a present for Mother and a present
-for Auntie and a present for _you_, then we will all have presents on
-my birthday!”
-
-Well, it took such a long time opening all his presents and looking at
-all his birthday cards that it seemed as if Charlie would not get any
-breakfast at all that day. But at last he had all his presents spread
-out on the table in front of him, so that he could look at them while
-he was eating his breakfast; that is, all except the automobile, and
-that was on the floor beside his chair.
-
-At last he finished his breakfast and he went into the kitchen to give
-Jane and Topsy _their_ breakfast, when--what do you think? Jane wasn’t
-there! No, Jane was not in the kitchen at all, or in the dining room,
-or upstairs in any of the bedrooms, nor was she in the yard. Jane had
-ab-so-lute-ly disappeared!
-
-Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie called, “Jane, Jane, Kitty,
-Kitty, Kitty!” all over the house and all over the yard, but no Jane
-came.
-
-Never before had Jane been late for breakfast, but now that she did not
-come Topsy had to have breakfast all by himself.
-
-Charlie felt very sad that Jane had disappeared on his birthday. He
-loved Jane very much, nearly as much as he loved Topsy. He sat down on
-the floor and began to play with his new toys, but every few minutes
-he got up and went to the window to see if Jane was coming back. Yes,
-Charlie went to the window three, four, _five_ times, and there was no
-Jane. The _sixth_ time that Charlie looked out of the window, what do
-you think he saw? He saw Jane coming down the garden path, and she was
-carrying something in her mouth. It was something big and heavy, four
-times as big as a mouse! It was so big and heavy that Jane had to drag
-it along the ground.
-
-Charlie rushed to the door and called out, “Mother! Auntie! Come quick!
-Jane has come back and she has something e-nor-mous in her mouth AND
-IT’S ALIVE!”
-
-Then he opened the front door just as Jane reached it, and Jane dropped
-the thing that she was carrying in her mouth. What do you think it was?
-
-You never can guess. IT WAS A LITTLE, TINY PUPPY! Yes, a little baby
-puppy, so little that it could hardly walk!
-
-Jane had been so sad at not having any baby kitten to play with any
-more, now that Topsy had grown to be such a big kitten, that she had
-found a baby puppy instead, and she had brought it home on Charlie’s
-birthday so that it could be Charlie’s puppy too.
-
-Oh, but Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie were excited! They picked
-up the baby puppy and they stroked Jane and told her what a good cat
-she was.
-
-Then Charlie’s Auntie took the puppy into the kitchen and tried to feed
-him with some warm milk, but he was _so_ little that he had not learned
-how to drink yet!
-
-So Charlie’s Mother said, “I will go to the toy shop, and I will buy
-a doll’s baby bottle. Perhaps the puppy will be able to drink out of
-that.”
-
-And she did. Yes, Charlie’s Mother put on her hat and coat and she went
-to the toy shop. She was not gone five minutes. She hurried so fast,
-because she was afraid that the puppy might be hungry.
-
-When Charlie’s mother came back with the doll’s baby bottle his Auntie
-heated some nice warm milk and put it in the bottle, and the puppy
-sucked and sucked just like a baby. Yes, he sucked and sucked until he
-had drunk all the milk that was in the bottle!
-
-Then Charlie’s Mother put the puppy into Jane’s basket and Jane got in
-also and the puppy snuggled up close to her and went to sleep.
-
-Topsy was so interested in the baby puppy that he tried to get into
-the basket also, but there was no room for him. So he sat outside the
-basket and every now and then he patted the puppy with his paw, but
-very gently so as not to wake him.
-
-[Illustration: _The Puppy Drank All the Milk_]
-
-When Charlie’s Daddy came home in the evening, he was most interested
-and most excited to hear that Jane had brought a puppy home to live
-with them.
-
-He said to Charlie, “What are you going to call the puppy? Of course,
-he is really Jane’s puppy, but I think Jane means him to be partly
-yours, as she brought him home to you on your birthday. Anyway, Jane
-cannot choose a name for him that _we_ would understand.”
-
-So Charlie thought for a minute. Then he said, “I think I will call the
-puppy Bingo. The iceman has a dog and _his_ name is Bingo. I think he
-is such a nice man, and Bingo is a _beautiful_ name.”
-
-Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie and his Daddy thought it a beautiful
-name too, so the puppy was called Bingo. He slept in a basket with Jane
-and Topsy, for Charlie’s Auntie got another basket that was big enough
-for the three of them. And he took his meals out of the doll’s baby
-bottle. Jane washed him all day long and she was as happy, as happy
-could be, now that she had a darling little baby of her own again. In
-fact she was as happy as if it was _her_ birthday instead of Charlie’s.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-CHARLIE LEARNS THE TRAFFIC LAWS
-
-
-Now that Charlie had an automobile, you may be sure that he drove in it
-every single day--that is every day that the sun was shining, for, of
-course, he could not drive in the automobile when it was raining!
-
-In the mornings, when his Mother and his Auntie were busy in the
-house, Charlie used to drive up and down the garden path; but in the
-afternoons, when his Mother and his Auntie went for a walk, he drove
-beside them in his automobile, and Bingo always came too.
-
-Bingo was growing to be a big little puppy--he no longer drank his milk
-out of a bottle. Oh, dear, no! Bingo could lap up his milk as well as
-any grown-up dog. He had a saucer to himself just like Topsy and Jane,
-and Charlie gave him his breakfast every morning and his dinner and his
-supper at the same time that he gave Jane and Topsy theirs.
-
-You may be sure that Charlie enjoyed driving in his automobile with
-Bingo prancing beside him. But though Charlie drove his automobile
-every morning and every afternoon, he did not really know how to
-drive it at all! No indeed! Charlie always wanted to pedal so fast
-that he paid no attention to his steering, and the automobile went
-_wiggly, wiggly_ all over the place. When he was driving in the garden
-Charlie never could keep to the path, he would pedal so fast that the
-automobile would run up on the grass and into the flower beds. And
-when he was out on the sidewalk with his Mother and his Auntie, the
-automobile would zigzag from left to right and from right to left in a
-most _pe-cul-iar_ way.
-
-His Mother and his Auntie said to him again and again, “Don’t pedal so
-fast, Charlie. Go slower and try to steer properly, some day you will
-crash into a lamppost and maybe break your automobile all to pieces.”
-But Charlie did not listen. He just went on pedaling as fast as ever he
-could and paid no attention to his steering at all.
-
-One day his Mother and his Auntie were walking along the sidewalk and
-Charlie was driving in front in his automobile, while Bingo pranced
-along, sometimes beside Charlie, and sometimes running back to see what
-Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie were doing. Charlie was pedaling away
-as fast as ever he could and his automobile was going _wiggly, wiggly_
-all over the sidewalk.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-Quite a little way in front, an old gentleman was walking, and he
-was on the outer edge of the sidewalk, as was right and proper for
-him to be. He was looking at his newspaper and he did not know that
-Charlie was driving toward him, paying no attention to his steering
-and zigzagging from left to right and from right to left again--when
-suddenly, Charlie’s automobile went crash! Bang! straight into the old
-gentleman! That was dreadful!
-
-The old gentleman stopped short, and, when he had got his breath, he
-said, “Don’t you know that automobiles should keep to the right? Or
-is it possible that you are driving an automobile and don’t know the
-traffic laws?”
-
-Of course Charlie apologized very politely to the old gentleman for
-bumping into him, and then he had to say that he knew nothing about the
-traffic laws at all. This made Charlie feel very much ashamed.
-
-“Dear me!” said the old gentleman. “That is the most extraordinary
-thing I ever heard! To own an automobile, and not to know the traffic
-laws!”
-
-By this time Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie had come up and it was
-very surprising--the old gentleman seemed to know them both very well.
-He shook hands with them both and said, “This young man has just been
-telling me that he does not know the traffic laws, though I have often
-watched him out of my window driving his automobile, and the way he
-zigzags up and down the pavement would be enough for him to have his
-license taken away if a policeman were to see him!”
-
-Charlie felt very sad when he heard this. He had a beautiful license
-number on the back of his automobile and he thought it would be a
-dreadful thing if a policeman were to take it away because he did not
-know the traffic laws.
-
-Then the old gentleman said, “I have an automobile of my own, and it
-is a big one that runs with gasoline. I would be very glad to take you
-for a drive this afternoon and teach you every traffic law there is, if
-your Mother will let you come with me. I live quite near here, so we
-could start right away.”
-
-Of course Charlie’s Mother said at once that she would be delighted if
-the old gentleman, whose name was Mr. Armstrong, would take Charlie for
-a drive in his automobile.
-
-Suddenly Bingo, who had been jumping around as usual, went straight up
-to Mr. Armstrong and stood up on his hind legs as if begging to go too.
-
-Then Mr. Armstrong said, “Is that your puppy?” And Charlie said, “NO,
-that is my _dog_. His name is Bingo! He does not like to be called a
-puppy. May he come with us too?”
-
-Mr. Armstrong looked doubtful. He said, “Bingo looks very much like a
-puppy to me, and puppies are apt to get into mischief; but if you are
-careful to keep him on his leash and hold on tightly to him, you may
-take him with us.”
-
-You may be sure that Charlie felt very much excited at the thought of
-driving in a real automobile and learning the traffic laws just like a
-grown-up person.
-
-He and his Mother and his Auntie went home and put Charlie’s automobile
-in the back hall while Mr. Armstrong went round to his garage to get
-his automobile. Soon he drove up in it and Charlie climbed in, holding
-Bingo firmly by the leash so that he should not get into mischief.
-
-Mr. Armstrong said that they had better drive downtown as there was
-such a lot of traffic there and Charlie would be able to watch the
-policeman handle the traffic. On the way Mr. Armstrong told Charlie all
-about the traffic laws and the reason for every one. He told him how an
-automobile must _never_ pass a street car when it has stopped to let
-off passengers, and how an automobile driver must _always_ hold his
-arm out when he is going round a corner, so that people crossing the
-street can see in which direction he is going.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-It was all very interesting and Charlie kept a strict lookout to see if
-all the automobiles they passed were observing the traffic laws.
-
-At last they reached the business section of the city, where there
-are so many automobiles and street cars and carts that a policeman
-has always to stand in the middle of the road to direct the traffic;
-otherwise people would never be able to cross the street in safety at
-all.
-
-Charlie thought that the policeman looked very grand standing all by
-himself in the middle of the road. And whenever he blew his whistle,
-either the crosstown traffic or the uptown and downtown traffic in turn
-was stopped, as if by magic, to let the other have the right of way.
-Then the people on the sidewalk all crossed together in a crowd, for
-they knew that the automobiles and street cars would not go on again
-until the policeman blew his whistle.
-
-When Mr. Armstrong wanted to stop outside a shop and it was on the
-left side of the street, he drove all the way to the next corner and
-he waited there until the policeman could let him turn his car around
-and drive back so that the shop was on his right and he could stop
-his car close to the sidewalk just in front of the shop. It was a
-confectioner’s shop and they both went in and Mr. Armstrong ordered
-chocolate and sponge cake for them both. It was delicious! While they
-were in the confectioner’s Bingo was left tied up in the automobile. He
-did not like it at all and he called out “Yap, yap, yap!” at the top of
-his lungs until Charlie and Mr. Armstrong came back.
-
-At last it was time to go home. When they had driven into the main
-street again and Charlie was turning his head this way and that, so
-as not to miss a single thing that was going on, he was so interested
-that he forgot all about Bingo. Indeed, he almost let go of his leash,
-he was holding it so loosely--when, suddenly, what do you think? Bingo
-gave one yank at the leash and jumped right out of the automobile! Yes,
-he did!
-
-All the automobiles were slowing up for the crossing, and the
-policeman was standing quite close, but at any moment he might signal
-for them to go on again.
-
-It was _dreadfully_ dangerous for Bingo to be all by himself in the
-middle of that crowded street with automobiles and street cars, and
-carts and trucks all moving along. Charlie was so frightened that he
-called out, “Mr. Policeman, Mr. Policeman!” and the policeman looked at
-him, and he saw Bingo at the same moment and guessed what had happened.
-
-He blew his whistle three times, and all the automobiles stopped, those
-going uptown and downtown, and those going crosstown, they all stopped
-_immediately_. Then the policeman tried to catch Bingo, but he was so
-frightened that he crawled right under an automobile, and he would not
-come out when the policeman called him.
-
-So the policeman came up to Charlie and said, “You had better come
-along with me. If you call your dog, he will know your voice and come
-out when you call him.”
-
-Charlie took the policeman’s hand and they went in and out among the
-automobiles and carts and trucks and busses, which were all standing
-perfectly still, till they came to the automobile under which Bingo was
-hiding. When Bingo saw Charlie and heard him call “Bingo, Bingo!” he
-came crawling out and he was so glad to see Charlie that he jumped high
-in the air, wagging his tail and barking, “Yap, yap, yap!”
-
-As soon as Charlie and Bingo were safe in Mr. Armstrong’s automobile,
-the policeman blew his whistle and all the traffic, which had been
-held up to rescue Bingo, started again. And Charlie held Bingo as
-tight as ever he could, so that he should not jump out again. But I
-don’t think that Bingo would have done so, even if he could have, he
-had been so frightened when he was hiding under the automobile, with
-so many trucks and carts and cars around him. And he was right to be
-frightened, for he would have been in great danger if the policeman had
-not blown his whistle just at the right moment.
-
-And now Charlie knew for himself how _very_ important the traffic laws
-are, for if one single automobile had disobeyed the policeman when he
-blew three blasts on his whistle and had not stopped _immediately_,
-Bingo might have been run over!
-
-So, ever after that, when Charlie was in his automobile he was _always_
-careful to follow every one of the traffic laws that he had learned.
-
-He _never_ pedaled faster than he could steer, and he _always_ kept
-on the right side of the pavement so as not to run into people by
-accident. When he came to a corner, he _always_ stretched out his arm
-to show the direction he was going in. And, when a street car stopped
-in the middle of the road to let off passengers, Charlie always
-stopped too, until it had gone on again.
-
-Yes, Charlie followed the traffic laws so carefully that the policeman,
-who always stood at the Park gate, noticed it; and he said to him one
-day, “As soon as you are sixteen years old, you can come to me, and
-I will see that you get a license to drive a _real_ automobile. If
-everybody obeyed the traffic laws as well as you do, there would never
-be any accidents at all.”
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-HOW BINGO LOST HIS SPOTS
-
-
-Bingo was a nice little puppy and a dear little puppy. He played with
-Charlie and Topsy all day long. He frisked around and barked “Yap,
-yap,” for though he was getting to be a big little puppy, he could not
-yet say “Bow-wow,” though you may be sure he tried to over and over
-again.
-
-Charlie and Topsy and Bingo had lots of fun playing together and, when
-Charlie was playing with them, Topsy and Bingo were always good; but
-sometimes, when Topsy and Bingo played alone together, they were as bad
-as bad could be and got into all kinds of mischief--especially Bingo.
-
-Yes, Bingo could think up the _naughtiest_ things to do! He liked to
-dig in the flower beds and bury bits of sticks that he pretended were
-bones. That was lots of fun for Bingo but very bad for the flowers! And
-he liked to go into people’s bedrooms and hide their bedroom slippers
-so that they could not find them anywhere.
-
-But most of all he liked to eat up the carpet in the dining room. Oh,
-my goodness! What fun Bingo did have with that carpet! He would hold
-one corner in his mouth and he would waggle his tail and scrabble with
-his paws and he would growl and growl and he would chew at that carpet
-till the wonder was he did not chew it all up.
-
-Yes, Bingo thought up all these naughty things to do when he was
-playing by himself and he also tried to imitate the things that Topsy
-did.
-
-Topsy was very fond of climbing, and he could climb beautifully. He
-hardly ever knocked anything down. No indeed! Topsy could jump straight
-on to the mantelpiece and walk among the ornaments and not knock a
-single one down!
-
-Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie did not like Topsy to do this. They
-were afraid that some day he might throw something down--but he never
-did. Bingo thought that he would love to be able to climb like that.
-He looked at Topsy with admiring eyes and this made Topsy all the more
-anxious to show off.
-
-Sometimes Topsy would climb up the dining room curtains all the way
-to the top, and that made Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie very angry,
-because his little sharp claws made scratches on the curtains. Then
-they would shake them hard so that Topsy would have to climb down. He
-_would not_ learn that he must not do it again.
-
-For Topsy loved to show off. He knew that he could climb better than
-anybody in the house and so he wanted to do it all the time, and the
-more he did it the more Bingo wanted to show Topsy that he could climb
-as well. But of course he could not.
-
-One reason was that Bingo could not _jump_ as high as Topsy. A little
-dog never _can_ jump as high as a kitten. They are not made that way.
-So when Bingo wanted to climb he had to scramble up with his paws and
-he always knocked against something or other which would come down with
-a crash and a bang and somebody would say, “Oh, you bad Bingo, you have
-broken something again!” It was very discouraging.
-
-One day Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie had gone out. They had
-gone downtown to do some shopping so they had decided to leave Bingo at
-home, as one cannot very well take a little dog into a department store.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-So Topsy and Bingo were left all alone with nobody to look after them
-but Jane, and she was not much good, as she was feeling very sleepy and
-had gone up to the attic to sleep undisturbed.
-
-Topsy and Bingo decided that they would have a glorious time with
-nobody to interfere with them, no matter what mischief they might be up
-to.
-
-First they went into the dining room and they had a grand time playing
-with the rug. This, as you know, was one of Bingo’s favorite games and
-he showed Topsy ex-act-ly how to play it--how you pretend that the
-rug is a wild animal, and how you grab the end in your mouth and kick
-and scrabble with your paws and growl in a low and dreadful voice.
-Topsy thought that this was a grand game. He liked the growling part
-especially. You should have heard the ferocious growls that Topsy made.
-Bingo felt quite frightened, although he knew it was only in fun.
-
-When they got tired of that game, they went into the kitchen to see
-what interesting things they could find to do there. And, of course,
-Topsy began to climb--yes, he climbed up on everything in the kitchen
-except on the kitchen stove. He was too wise a kitten to do that. He
-climbed up on to the window sill and on to the table and on to the
-sink. Then he jumped up on to the kitchen dresser and climbed to the
-very top shelf, where he walked in and out among the plates, and yet he
-did not knock a single one down! Every now and then Topsy looked down
-at Bingo and tossed his head, as if to say, “Don’t you wish _you_ could
-do it, too?” Bingo was wild with excitement. He jumped up on his hind
-legs and barked, “Yap, yap, yap!” in his funny, hoarse little voice.
-
-At last he _determined_ that he would climb up on the kitchen dresser,
-too. Yes, he would climb up to the very top shelf and show Topsy that
-he could climb, too!
-
-There was a chair close to the kitchen dresser and Bingo first managed
-to climb up on that, then he scrambled up on to the dresser. He felt
-very proud when he looked down to the floor and saw what a height he
-had climbed to. Topsy was still up on the top shelf looking down at
-him with his head on one side.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-Bingo then stood up on his hind legs and he put his paws up on the next
-shelf--but, oh, dear! Bingo was unlucky again! He knocked against a
-big, round, white tin that had FLOUR written on it in gold letters. And
-it toppled right over!--yes, it toppled right over and banged Bingo on
-the head, and a lot of white, powdery stuff fell all over him and got
-in his eyes. It was awful!
-
-Poor Bingo did not want to climb any more. He jumped straight off the
-kitchen dresser on to the floor, and he ran out of the kitchen with his
-little short tail hanging down. He went into the living room and hid
-under the sofa--poor Bingo was feeling very unhappy and he wanted to be
-alone.
-
-Soon he heard the front door open and he heard Charlie’s voice in the
-hall. Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie had come home.
-
-Charlie said, “Oh, Mother, look at those funny white tracks all along
-the floor. What do you think they can be?”
-
-His Mother and his Auntie looked, and they said, “How extraordinary!
-They look like Bingo’s footprints. I wonder what he can have been up
-to.”
-
-Then Bingo himself came running out into the hall to meet Charlie. He
-had forgotten his troubles and he jumped up in the air and barked,
-“Yap, yap, yap,” he was so glad that Charlie had come home again. But
-when Charlie saw Bingo, he called out in amazement, “Mother, Auntie,
-_look_! What has happened to Bingo! He has lost his spots!”
-
-And it was true. Bingo had lost all his spots! He had lost the black
-spot on his head, and the ones on his ears, and the big black spot on
-his back, and the little black spot on the end of his stumpy tail! Yes,
-Bingo was now white all over without a particle of black anywhere.
-
-“What have you done to yourself?” said Charlie as he picked him up.
-Bingo tried to tell him all about it, as he wriggled and barked and
-tried to lick Charlie’s face. And--lo and behold! the black spots began
-to show again, first the one on Bingo’s head, then the ones on his
-ears, then the big one on his back, and last of all the little one on
-his tail. But now it was Charlie who was white--yes, he was white all
-down the front of his coat!
-
-Then Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie followed Bingo’s little
-white tracks to where they came from. They wanted to discover what in
-the world Bingo had been doing to get himself white all over. Yes, they
-followed the tracks all the way to the kitchen, and there they found
-the tin of flour lying on the floor near the dresser--and _then_ they
-knew what Bingo had been doing while they were out.
-
-Oh, how Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie did laugh at the idea of
-poor, fat, little Bingo trying to climb up on the kitchen dresser, and
-knocking the tin of flour all over himself! But they were sorry for
-Bingo, too, because they knew how it must have frightened him.
-
-So Charlie’s Auntie found Bingo’s brush, and she took him out into
-the back yard and brushed all the rest of the flour off him--all that
-wasn’t on the carpet or the kitchen floor or on Charlie’s coat! And
-Charlie’s Mother swept up the flour in the kitchen, and swept the
-tracks on the living-room carpet, and she gave Charlie a whisk broom to
-brush off the front of his coat. And then she went to the ice box and
-got a little bone, and she gave it to Bingo to comfort him.
-
-So Bingo was happy again after all his troubles--but never again did he
-try to climb up on high pieces of furniture, no matter how perky Topsy
-looked at him and tried to egg him on. No, Bingo was a wise little
-dog now, and when Topsy climbed up on the mantelpiece and looked down
-at him, tossing his head as much as to say, “Don’t you wish you could
-climb like me?” Bingo would jump in the air and bark, “Yap, yap!” Then
-he would stand up on his hind legs and beg--and that was _one_ thing
-that Topsy did not know how to do!
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-CHARLIE RIDES IN THE ENGINE OF A REAL TRAIN
-
-
-One day Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie and Topsy and Bingo and
-Jane went to stay in the country.
-
-It was a very interesting place where they were going to stay in the
-country. What do you think? It was the place where Charlie’s Daddy had
-lived when he was a little boy!
-
-Yes, that is where they were going, and, as it was a Saturday,
-Charlie’s Daddy was going with them, too. He was not going to live with
-them in the country, because on weekdays he had to go to the office
-every day. But he said that he would come down _every_ Saturday and
-stay in the country till Sunday night.
-
-So they all went to the railway station in a taxicab. Jane traveled in
-a cat basket and Charlie’s Auntie carried her. Topsy also traveled in
-a cat basket and Charlie’s Mother carried him, but Bingo had to travel
-in the baggage car and he had a ticket all to himself because he was a
-dog. Charlie thought that he ought to feel very proud.
-
-When they got to the station they all went straight through the gate
-to the platform, and there the train was waiting for them. It was a
-great e-nor-mous train with ever so many coaches. First, Charlie and
-his Daddy took Bingo to the baggage car, and the baggage man fastened
-Bingo’s leash to the end of a trunk and promised Charlie to be good to
-Bingo.
-
-Then they all got into the day car, and the train gave a loud whistle
-and steamed out of the station. My goodness! how fast it went!
-Everything just seemed to go flying past.
-
-[Illustration: _Bingo had to travel in the baggage car_]
-
-Soon the conductor came walking down the aisle and he took everybody’s
-ticket. He was a very grand-looking man; he was tall, and stout, and
-he had a beautiful blue uniform on. He soon came to the seat where
-Charlie and his Daddy were sitting, and he took the tickets. Yes, the
-conductor took all the tickets and he stuck Charlie’s Daddy’s ticket in
-his hatband, but as his Mother and his Auntie had no hatbands, he stuck
-_their_ tickets into the top of the seat in front of them. Then he took
-Charlie’s ticket, and he stuck it in Charlie’s hatband. Charlie felt
-very proud, and he would not take his hat off. No, he kept his hat on
-all the time because he wanted everybody to see that _he_ had a ticket
-in his hatband just like all the other men.
-
-Then Charlie said to his Daddy, “Daddy, what _ex-act-ly_ makes the
-train go?”
-
-And his Daddy said, “It’s the steam that makes the engine work, and
-it is the engineer and the fireman who look after the steam and the
-engine.” Then Charlie said, “What I want to know is _ex-act-ly_ what
-the fireman and the engineer do when they are making the engine go.”
-
-But what do you think? His Daddy did not know _ex-act-ly_ what they
-did--he said that he had never ridden on an engine in his life, so how
-could he know what they did? And Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie did
-not know either. That was very surprising.
-
-Well, after they had been in the big train for about a whole hour, they
-came to a station where there were a lot of tracks. This station was
-called a junction, because there were so many tracks.
-
-Some of the tracks went to the North and some to the South and some to
-the East and some to the West. The train that Charlie and his Daddy and
-his Auntie and his Mother were on was going toward the West; but now
-they wanted to go to the North, so they had to change trains and go on
-a train that was going toward the _North_.
-
-The train was already waiting on its own track. It was a very little
-train, it had only two coaches!
-
-Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie and Jane and Topsy got into the train,
-and they took Bingo with them, because, as it was such a little
-unimportant train, the conductor said that Bingo could travel in the
-day coach instead of being tied up in the baggage car, and Bingo was
-very glad. But Charlie and his Daddy waited on the platform till it was
-time for the train to start, and they looked at all the interesting
-things about them.
-
-Then a man came up. He wore overalls and a peaked cap. And--you
-_never_ can guess who it was? It was the _fireman_ who helped work
-the engine of the train they were going to take. And what _do_ you
-think? The fireman knew Charlie’s Daddy! Yes, the fireman came up to
-them, and said to his Daddy, “Hello, Bob!” Bob was his Daddy’s name
-that his Mother and his Auntie always called him! And his Daddy said,
-“Why--Hello, Bill,” and they shook hands.
-
-Charlie was _very_ much surprised that the fireman and his Daddy knew
-each other, but it was not so very surprising after all. The fireman
-lived in the village where Charlie’s Daddy had lived when he was a
-little boy, and where Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie were going
-to live for a whole month, and his Daddy and the fireman had gone to
-the same school when they were little boys!
-
-Well, the fireman then looked at Charlie, and he said, “And is this
-your boy?”
-
-Then Charlie’s Daddy said, “Yes, this is Charlie, and you are the
-very man he wants to meet. Charlie wants to know _ex-act-ly_ what the
-fireman and the engineer do to make the train go--and he can’t find
-anybody who knows. So go ahead and tell him all about it.”
-
-But the fireman said, “I can do better than that. Suppose you and
-Charlie take a ride on the engine with me; then he can see everything
-with his own eyes, and learn all there is to know in case he wants to
-be a fireman himself.”
-
-Yes, the fireman _ac-tu-al-ly_ said those words! And Charlie’s Daddy
-said, “That will be fine. I’ll just go and tell Charlie’s Mother and
-his Auntie what has become of us, so that they won’t worry.”
-
-And he did so. Then the fireman, and Charlie and his Daddy all got
-into the cab, which is back of the engine, where the engineer and the
-fireman sit.
-
-The engineer was already sitting in his place, which is on the right of
-the cab. He was very pleased to meet Charlie and his Daddy, but he said
-that after the train had started he would not be able to speak a word
-to anybody, and nobody must speak to him. Yes, nobody must _ever_ speak
-to the engineer when he is driving the engine, because if anybody spoke
-to the engineer it might distract his attention and then the train
-might be wrecked!
-
-All the time that the train is going the engineer has to sit on his
-seat with his hand on the throttle, which is the thing that makes the
-train stop in a hurry, and all the time he has to look out of the
-window to see what the signals say, and to see that there is nothing on
-the track ahead of him.
-
-If he sees a green signal on the signal post that means that the
-engine can go straight ahead, but if the signal is red, then it means
-“Stop”--and the engineer presses on the throttle, and the train stops.
-
-The engineer told all this to Charlie while they were waiting for the
-train to start. Then the engineer got the signal from the man on the
-platform; he blew the whistle, and the train started, and he could not
-say another word.
-
-Well, the fireman’s place is on the left side of the cab, and Charlie’s
-Daddy sat between him and the window, and Charlie sat on his Daddy’s
-knee.
-
-The fireman has to work very hard, but when he is not working he can
-talk if he wants to. This fireman was very kind, and, when he was not
-working, he explained everything to Charlie and his Daddy--but all the
-time he was ex-plain-ing he had to keep looking out of the window, too,
-in case he should see anything that the engineer did not see. There are
-a great many windows in the cab of an engine--it has windows all round,
-because it is so _very important_ that the engineer and the fireman
-shall see all that there is to see.
-
-Well, I will now tell you what the fireman was doing all the time that
-Charlie and his Daddy were riding on the engine with him.
-
-In front of the fireman was the steam gauge, which is a round thing
-like a clock, and it has a hand like a clock hand, too, and the steam
-makes the hand move--so that you can see how much steam is coming out
-of the boiler. When the steam is getting low the hand drops, and when
-the hand of the gauge drops to 150 the fireman knows it is time to put
-more coal in the fire box.
-
-Every time that the hand of the gauge dropped to 150 the fireman got
-up and opened a little door in the back of the cab, which opened right
-into the fire box, so that you could see the fire all red and glowing,
-and the fireman scooped a great shovel full of coal into it. The
-fireman told Charlie that it was _very_ important how one shovels the
-coal into the fire box. It has to be shoveled very evenly, so that it
-is not all black with coal in one place and all red hot with embers in
-another place. Yes, the fireman told Charlie that it needs a lot of
-practice before one can shovel the coal in just _ex-act-ly_ right.
-
-Then the fireman also had to watch the water gauge, which shows how
-much water there is in the boiler.
-
-When he saw by the water gauge that the water was getting low in the
-boiler, then the fireman had to turn a valve, which is a sort of handle
-that starts a pump working, and the pump pumps water into the boiler.
-
-Charlie very much wanted to turn the valve himself, but the fireman
-said, “No,” that it needed a whole lot of practice before one could
-pump water into the tank--as it was _very_ important just how much
-water to pump. If too much cold water is pumped into the boiler it
-might cool the water already in the boiler so that no more steam would
-come out--and then the train would stop!
-
-Do you think that the fireman on an engine is a busy man? Indeed he is!
-
-But that is not all that the fireman has to do. Oh, dear, no! The
-fireman has a lot more work to do.
-
-When the train is coming to a steep place--and there were a lot of
-steep places on the railroad that Charlie was traveling on--the fireman
-has to make the fire _red hot_, so that lots and lots of steam can come
-out of the boiler. He makes the fire get hotter and hotter until the
-steam gets so strong that the “safety valve” pops off--and this shows
-the engineer that there is enough steam to push the train up the steep
-place. Yes, you can see that it would need a lot of extra steam to push
-a train up a steep, high hill.
-
-The fireman also has to blow a whistle, whenever the train comes to a
-crossing or to the station. And when they got to the last stop--which
-was the village where Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie and Bingo
-and Topsy and Jane were going to live for a whole month--the fireman
-let Charlie blow the whistle himself! Yes, he did, and you should have
-heard what a loud whistle Charlie blew.
-
-Well, at last they had come to the end of their journey, and Charlie
-certainly had learned a whole lot about engines. Yes, Charlie had
-learned a whole lot more than most people know. Of course he told his
-Mother and his Auntie about everything, so that they, too, should know
-all about what the fireman and the engineer do to make the train go.
-
-And Charlie said, “Now, when I get home to the city I will be able to
-play with my train in _just_ the right way. I will be able to play that
-I am the fireman and the engineer, and I will know _ex-act-ly_ what
-they do, and I will practice and practice being a fireman so that I can
-be one when I grow up!”
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-BINGO AND THE ANGRY ROOSTER
-
-
-I told you in the last story how Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie
-and his Daddy and Topsy and Bingo and Jane all went to the country
-together. And how Charlie rode on the engine, which he liked very much,
-but Topsy and Jane had to travel in baskets, which they did not like at
-all, and Bingo had to travel all by himself in the baggage car, and he
-did not like that either.
-
-But when at last they arrived at the farm where they were going to
-stay for a whole month, Charlie opened the baskets and let Jane and
-Topsy out, and he unfastened Bingo’s leash, and they all went exploring
-together. _Then_ Jane and Topsy and Bingo were delighted. They liked
-the country _tre-men-dous-ly_, and the longer they stayed the more they
-liked it.
-
-There were so many delightful things for cats and dogs to do, which
-they could not do in the city. Instead of long straight roads with
-automobiles dashing past all the time, there were fields and meadows to
-run around in. There were tall trees for Topsy to climb and nice muddy
-puddles for Bingo to roll in, and Jane could go out for long walks by
-herself without ever meeting anything dangerous.
-
-Charlie always got up very early when he was in the country because he
-liked to see the cows milked, and Topsy and Bingo and Jane liked to
-see the cows milked also. Charlie always carried three little bowls
-down to the barn, and the farmer filled them with milk straight from
-the cow, so that Topsy and Bingo and Jane could have their breakfast
-without waiting. This interested them all three very much, because they
-knew that at home their milk always came out of a milk bottle which had
-been left at the front door by the milkman.
-
-All the time that Charlie was in the country he was allowed to run
-around in the fields and meadows all by himself, and of course Topsy
-and Bingo followed him wherever he went. It would take a whole book by
-itself to tell you _all_ the delightful things that they did together.
-
-Now, wouldn’t you think that Bingo, with all the big countryside to
-play in, and ever so many interesting things to do all day long, would
-have been able to keep out of mischief at least as long as he was in
-the country? But no, he could not. You see, puppies nearly always
-_are_ in mischief--they are made that way. So Bingo often went off by
-himself and thought of nice, mischievous things to do.
-
-One of the things that Bingo liked to do more than anything else was to
-go and bark at the chickens. That was very naughty of him, and Charlie
-always stopped him when he found him doing it. But often Bingo would
-slip away from Charlie and dash down to the chicken house and bark,
-“Yap, yap, yap!” He loved to see the hens running this way and that,
-clucking loudly and calling all the little chickens who came running
-to hide themselves under their Mother’s wings. Bingo enjoyed this
-tremendously and never tired of the naughty game. Of course he never
-hurt any of the chickens or the hens. Bingo was a dear, nice, little
-puppy and he would never do a thing like that, but he _did_ like to
-watch them running around and saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK!”
-Yes, it amused Bingo very much.
-
-One day Charlie was busy helping the lady at the farm to make the
-butter. This is a very interesting thing to do. Bingo watched Charlie
-for a while thumping away with the dasher, but soon he got tired of
-watching and not doing anything himself, so he decided that he would go
-and play with the chickens.
-
-He began to bark before he got there, and the hens began to cluck,
-cluck, cluck, and the chickens ran this way and that way and scrambled
-under their Mother’s wings.
-
-Bingo was so busy with his barking that he did not notice that there
-was a newcomer among the hens. This was a big white rooster that the
-farmer had brought home from the fair the night before.
-
-He was an ENORMOUS rooster. He had won a prize at the fair because
-he was so big. When Bingo jumped in among the hens, they were all
-so scared that they ran around and said, “Cluck, cluck, cluck,
-CLUCK.” But the rooster was not a bit scared--no, indeed, he was
-most _indignant_. He opened his beak, and Bingo heard a TREMENDOUS
-sound--“Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!
-ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” And the rooster sprang up in the air, and
-flapped his wings, and rushed at Bingo!
-
-Bingo was so startled that he jumped backwards toward the chicken
-house, and the rooster dashed after him. All the hens came hurrying
-up and the chickens, too, saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK.” They
-seemed to be on every side! Poor Bingo was terribly frightened, as well
-he might be--because the rooster was really very much annoyed, and he
-would have pecked Bingo if he had caught him.
-
-But he did not catch him. Just in the nick of time, Bingo saw the
-chicken house, and he just managed to scramble in at the door before
-the rooster caught him--he was safe.
-
-Yes, he was safe, but he had to stay there! The rooster did not
-quite like to go in after Bingo (you see Bingo was really very
-nearly as big as the rooster), but he determined to keep Bingo
-a prisoner. He strutted solemnly up and down in front of the
-chicken-house door, and every time that Bingo would try to come out
-he would crow, “Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!
-ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” and scare Bingo so that he decided to stay
-where he was.
-
-Poor Bingo! it seemed to him that he had been hours and hours in the
-chicken house. He wondered if he would ever get out again. He was sure
-that it was long past his dinner hour, he felt so _dreadfully_ hungry.
-Poor Bingo was a very unhappy little dog.
-
-[Illustration: _The rooster kept Bingo a prisoner_]
-
-At last Charlie had finished helping the farm lady make the butter.
-They had taken it out of the churn, and the farm lady had put it in a
-big wooden bowl and beaten it with wooden butter paddles so that all
-the butter milk was squeezed out. She had given Charlie some butter in
-a smaller bowl so that he could finish making some of the butter all by
-himself. The farm lady had promised him that they should have it on the
-dinner table and surprise his Mother and his Auntie.
-
-But it wasn’t dinner time yet, so Charlie ran into the garden to
-play with Bingo--and there was no Bingo to be seen! He called
-Bingo, but Bingo did not come. Then he decided to go down to the
-big barn to look for him. As he passed near the chicken house he
-heard a _tre-men-dous_ commotion--“Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck,
-CLUCK,” “Ooka-ooka-ooka-oooooooooo, ooka-ooka-ooka-oooooooooo,
-ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo” ... Bingo had been trying to get out again!
-
-Then Charlie said, “Shoo, shoo, shoo!” and the hens and even the
-rooster all got out of the way, and Bingo was free again! Oh, how glad
-he was! He jumped, and pranced, and followed Charlie to the kitchen,
-where his dinner was waiting for him.
-
-But never again did Bingo bark at the chickens and chase them. He no
-longer thought it an amusing game. In fact Bingo never went near that
-chicken house again, he was so afraid of that terrible rooster.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-CHARLIE DELIVERS MAIL FOR THE STAGE DRIVER
-
-
-Well, I can tell you that Charlie and Topsy and Bingo liked living in
-the country very much. There were so many interesting things to do, and
-so many interesting people to talk to, and every single thing in the
-country was different from what it was in the city.
-
-Charlie had different things to eat, and he wore different clothes. You
-never can guess what kind of clothes Charlie wore when he was in the
-country! Charlie wore blue denim overalls, just like the farm workers,
-and his Mother bought them for him at the country store, which is
-_ex-act-ly_ where the farm workers bought theirs!
-
-One day Charlie ran out to the gate before breakfast to mail a letter
-for his Auntie. In the country there are no post boxes at every corner
-as there are in the city. Oh, no! When Charlie wanted to mail a letter
-he just had to go down to the gate and put it in the box that was
-fastened outside; then he had to take out an old red tobacco tin that
-was inside the mail box, tied to it by a string, and leave it hanging
-outside the box, so that the mailman would see it when he went past
-and know that there was a letter for the mail. If he did not see the
-tobacco tin hanging out, the stage driver would not stop at all--so it
-was very important not to forget to hang the tobacco tin out.
-
-Well, Charlie got to the gate just as the stage driver was driving up.
-When he saw Charlie standing there, he said, “Hello, good morning.” And
-Charlie said, “Hello, good morning,” too. Then he said, “Are you the
-postman?” The stage driver laughed. “We-e-ll, I reckon that you can
-say that’s what I am, though folks here about call me the stage driver.”
-
-“That is very interesting,” said Charlie. “Do you know, in the city the
-postman wears a gray cap and coat and trousers and he does not drive a
-cart, he has to walk?”
-
-The stage driver was most surprised. “Is that so?” he said. “Well, I
-reckon there’s lots of things they do differently in the city, and you,
-being a city boy, must surely know all about it. I certainly would like
-to hear about city ways. Supposing you ask your Mother if she would let
-you drive with me this afternoon when I take the afternoon mail up;
-then you can show me how they deliver mail in the city.”
-
-Oh, my goodness, but Charlie was excited! He ran to the house so fast
-that he puffed and he blowed, and, as he ran, he called out, “Mother,
-Auntie! The stage driver says that I can go with him and give out the
-letters just like a real postman in the city! He says that I can go
-this afternoon, if you say yes. Oh, Mother, oh, Auntie, I _can_ go,
-can’t I?”
-
-Of course his Mother and his Auntie were _de-light-ed_ when they heard
-that Charlie was to go and help deliver the mail just like a real
-postman, and of course they both said “Yes,” that Charlie might go.
-
-Well, the very minute that Charlie had finished his dinner, he said
-very politely, “Please excuse me, I don’t want to keep the stage driver
-waiting.” Then the lady where they were boarding and his Mother and his
-Auntie said, “Yes,” he might be excused.
-
-So Charlie got his hat and his whistle, which belonged to his sailor
-suit, because he knew he would need it as he was going to be a
-postman--and he ran down to the gate as fast as ever he could. No,
-Charlie did not keep the stage driver waiting. It was Charlie who had
-to wait for the stage driver!
-
-But at last he came driving down the road and, when he saw Charlie
-waiting at the gate, he said, “Hello, young man, so you are coming with
-me. That’s fine! Hop in.”
-
-So Charlie hopped in and he showed the stage driver his whistle and how
-he was going to blow it just like a real city postman.
-
-The stage driver said, “First we are going to the station to get the
-mail;” and he clicked with his whip and said, “Gid ap, gid ap!” to
-the horses, and they _did_ “gid ap,” and their bells jingled as they
-trotted along the road.
-
-The station was a long way off from the farm where Charlie and his
-Mother and his Auntie were staying, but the horses trotted so quickly,
-so quickly, that they got there before the train did.
-
-Charlie and the stage driver got down, and the stage driver hitched the
-horses to the post, and then they both went on to the platform to wait
-for the train.
-
-Everybody in the station talked to Charlie--even the station master and
-the man in the ticket office--and they said, “Is this the new stage
-driver?” The stage driver said, “No; this boy is the new postman and he
-is going to deliver the mail for me.”
-
-You can believe that Charlie felt proud and important when he heard
-them talk like that.
-
-At last the train came in, and it was the same train that had carried
-Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie and his Daddy and Topsy and Bingo
-and Jane to the country. Yes, it was the very same train and the very
-same engine that Charlie had ridden on, and the fireman was there, and
-he looked out of the cab and called out, “Hello, Charlie!”
-
-Well, the stage driver went to the baggage car and a lot of men were
-unloading packages, and there was one great big sack.
-
-Charlie asked what was in that great big sack--and the stage driver
-told him that was the mail. Yes, all the letters that Charlie was going
-to deliver were stuffed into that great big sack!
-
-So the stage driver got the mail bag and the packages on to the stage.
-The stage driver carried all the big packages and Charlie carried all
-the little ones.
-
-Then the stage driver said, “Gid ap!” and off they went again. First
-they went to the post office and waited there a long time. They had to
-wait till the postmaster had taken out of the mail sack all the mail
-for the people who lived near the post office and who had to come and
-get their mail for themselves. But at last the postmaster had finished
-_his_ job, and it was time for Charlie and the stage driver to begin
-theirs.
-
-This, of course, was the interesting part of the drive. The stage
-rattled along the road, the horses went so fast; and at last they came
-to a house and the horses stopped of their own accord.
-
-The stage driver gave Charlie some letters and told him to go and
-deliver them.
-
-So Charlie climbed down from the stage and he blew his whistle, one,
-two, three times--but nobody came to the gate to get the letters from
-the postman. No, even though Charlie blew again and again, nobody came
-at all.
-
-Then the stage driver said, “I reckon the folks at this farm are not
-used to city postmen. I reckon they don’t even _know_ that that whistle
-means that there is mail for them. You had better just slip the letters
-in the box, the way we do in these parts, and we’ll drive on to the
-next farm.”
-
-So Charlie did as the stage driver said. He had to stand on tiptoe
-because the box was so high. He felt a little sad that nobody had come
-to get the letters from him--but it was fun putting the letters in the
-box.
-
-Then they drove on to the next farm. This time there were a whole lot
-of letters and a parcel, too. Charlie carried the parcel himself, as it
-was a little one. He said to the stage driver, “Perhaps I had better
-not blow my whistle this time.” But the stage driver said, “Oh, go
-ahead and blow your whistle, you know you are a city postman and you
-must do as they do.”
-
-So Charlie blew on his whistle--he blew a TREMENDOUS blast, and he blew
-again and again. And--what do you think?
-
-The farmer who was in the field, hoeing potatoes, threw down his hoe
-and he came running, as fast as he could run, to see what Charlie’s
-whistle meant.
-
-And the farmer’s wife, who was in the kitchen frying doughnuts, the
-minute she heard Charlie’s whistle, threw down her cooking spoon and
-ran out of the kitchen door to see what Charlie’s whistle meant.
-
-And the cat, who was sleeping on a rocking chair on the porch, sprang
-straight up in the air when she heard the whistle; and _she_ came
-tearing down to the gate to see _what in the world_ all that whistling
-meant.
-
-And the watch dog, who was tied up outside his kennel--he jumped and
-pranced and tried to get loose because _he_ wanted to find out what all
-that whistling meant!
-
-And they all came rushing down to the gate, except the dog, and when
-they saw Charlie with the parcel and the letters--my goodness, they
-were surprised!
-
-The farmer said, “Well, well, to think that we have a postman just the
-same as they have in the city--well! well!” and he shook hands with
-Charlie.
-
-Then the farmer’s wife said, “Mr. Stage Driver, couldn’t you wait a
-minute while I run into the house and get a doughnut apiece for you and
-the postman?” The stage driver thought that would be very nice--so
-the farmer’s wife brought the doughnuts and they were _delicious_.
-
-[Illustration: _Charlie blew a tremendous blast_]
-
-Then they said, “Good-by” to the nice farmer and his wife and thanked
-her for the delicious doughnuts, and off they went to the next farm.
-Charlie blew his whistle, and he blew his whistle every single time
-they came to a farm, but nobody else came to the gate to see what was
-the matter; so Charlie put the letters in the box every time.
-
-Soon they came to a long stretch of road where there were no houses at
-all, and Charlie and the stage driver could talk together without being
-interrupted every minute by Charlie having to deliver letters.
-
-Charlie told the stage driver all about the city and about his Mother
-and his Auntie and his Daddy, and about Jane and Topsy and Bingo, and
-about the iceman and the postman, and the letter boxes that are at the
-corner of the streets where you mail your letters.
-
-Then the stage driver told Charlie all about the country and what an
-important person the stage driver is when he lives in the country--even
-more important than the postman. For the stage driver not only brings
-letters, and parcels for birthdays or Christmas, he brings _everything_
-that the people in the country need--clothes, and furniture, and
-medicine--every single thing that they use, except what they grow
-themselves.
-
-Everything is sent from the city by the train in great big packages.
-And the stage driver puts the packages on to the stage, and carries
-some of them to the country store, where the people can come and buy
-the things they want--but some of the things go directly to the farmers
-who live too far from the country store.
-
-Charlie thought this very interesting. There were a whole lot of
-questions that he wanted to ask. But now they had come to another
-farm and there was a great big package all ready at the gate!
-
-[Illustration: _Charlie and the stage driver talked together_]
-
-The stage driver got down and put it on to the stage. Charlie was much
-surprised. He said, “I thought you brought packages _to_ people, I did
-not know that you took any away.”
-
-Then the stage driver said, “I reckon you can’t guess what is inside
-_this_ package and where it is going to be sent. Why, this package is
-full of maple sugar, and it is going to be sent to the city because
-people could not get maple sugar in the city unless the people in the
-country sent it to them. This package is going to a big store in the
-city, and when you go back home, maybe you and your Mother will go into
-the store and buy a pound of this very same maple sugar that is in this
-package!”
-
-Yes, that is what the stage driver said, and Charlie was so interested
-and surprised that the stage driver started to surprise him some more.
-
-“See all those pretty blossoms on the apple trees. Well, by Fall they
-will all have turned into apples. Then the farmer will gather them off
-the trees, and he will put them in sacks, and I will take them to the
-station on my stage and load them on to the train, and they will be
-taken to the city, where you city folks will buy them. Same thing with
-the wheat growing in the fields, and the vegetables, and everything
-the farmer raises. Everything that he doesn’t need for his own use the
-farmer sends to the city, first by the stage driver and then by the
-train.”
-
-My goodness! This gave Charlie a lot to think about! He said, “I think
-that trains and mail stages are the most interesting things in the
-world. I will either be a stage driver or a fireman when I grow up, and
-I will take things to the country people that _they_ need and bring
-back things to the city people that _they_ need.”
-
-By this time _all_ the letters and _all_ the packages had been
-delivered. And the stage driver was driving back the way they came.
-
-At last they came to the farm where Charlie was staying. And the stage
-driver said, “Here is one more letter for you to deliver, and then your
-job will be finished. You have been a great help to me to-day. I think
-you are a fine postman and I hope you will come with me another day and
-deliver the mail for me. This letter is for your Mother.”
-
-So Charlie thanked the stage driver and climbed down from the stage.
-He ran all the way to the house; then he rang the bell and blew his
-whistle just as the postman did at home. And who do you think opened
-the door? It was his Mother.
-
-She said, “Good afternoon, Postman, have you a letter for me?” And
-Charlie said, “Yes, ma’am,” just like the postman. Then he couldn’t
-help laughing, and he forgot that he was the postman, and he hugged his
-Mother and said, “Is it a letter from Daddy?”
-
-And it _was_. Yes, it was a letter from Daddy, and what do you think?
-The letter said that Daddy found that after all he would be able to get
-away from the city--and that he would arrive on Friday afternoon, and
-Charlie was to be sure to come and meet him.
-
-Then Charlie’s Mother hugged him again for bringing her such a nice
-letter and his Auntie came downstairs, Topsy and Bingo prancing after
-her. Bingo jumped up and down and Topsy climbed on to Charlie’s
-shoulder, and they all listened to the adventures he had had that
-afternoon when he was a postman.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-CHARLIE MAKES A POOL AND SAILS HIS BOAT
-
-
-All the time that Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie were living in
-the country Charlie’s Daddy came down every single Saturday to visit
-them, and he stayed in the country with them until Sunday night, when
-he had to go back to the city. And every Saturday, when Charlie’s Daddy
-came to visit them in the country, he _always_ brought a present for
-everybody!
-
-One Saturday Charlie’s Daddy came and he brought Charlie’s Mother a
-basket of peaches, and he brought his Auntie a box of candy, and he
-brought Bingo a ball, and he brought Jane and Topsy a catnip mouse--and
-what do you think he brought for Charlie? I will tell you. Charlie’s
-Daddy brought Charlie a sailboat! It was a beautiful boat, painted
-white with a green water line. It had a mast and two sails. His Daddy
-told Charlie that the big sail at the back is called the _mainsail_ and
-that the stick that holds it out at the bottom is called the _boom_;
-and that the little three-cornered sail in front is called the _jib_
-and the stick to which it is fastened is called the _bowsprit_.
-
-Of course Charlie’s Daddy did not say “the front and back” of the ship
-either. Oh, dear, no! Charlie’s Daddy called the front part of the ship
-the _bow_, and he called the back part the _stern_, and the bottom of
-the ship he called the _keel_--and, I can tell you, _nobody ought to
-own a ship who does not know these things_.
-
-Well, of course, the very first thing that Charlie wanted to do was to
-go and sail his boat--but what do you think? The brook was so shallow
-and full of stones that there was no place deep enough to sail the boat
-at all! That was very sad.
-
-Charlie and his Daddy walked a long way beside the brook looking for a
-pool where the water was deeper, but they could not find one.
-
-Then Charlie’s Daddy said, “Well, unless some rain comes to make the
-brook get deeper, I guess you’ll have to wait to sail your boat till
-you come back to town and can sail it in the bath tub. As long as you
-are in the country you will have to say that the boat is in ‘dry dock.’”
-
-But what do you think? Charlie didn’t even know what a dry dock _is_.
-No, his Daddy had to explain to him all about it--how the ship is put
-into “dry dock” when it has to be mended or painted below the water
-line. First the ship sails into the dock, and then the dock is closed
-up behind the ship and all the water is pumped out and the ship is
-propped up straight with props from each side of the dock.
-
-So Charlie and his Daddy made a dry dock for his ship on the bureau in
-his room. They made the dock of books, and propped the ship up straight
-with blocks on each side of the keel. The ship looked very beautiful on
-the bureau, but Charlie _did_ wish that he could sail it and that he
-did not have to keep it in “dry dock” all the time.
-
-One day, when his Daddy had gone back to town, Charlie and his Mother
-and his Auntie went for a walk.
-
-They went for a new walk. Instead of just going along the road, they
-thought it would be interesting to follow the creek. So they climbed a
-wall and followed the creek through the fields and into a wood which
-was “private property”; but there was a sign which said people could
-walk there if they did not do any damage.
-
-Then they came to a place where there was a stone wall built right
-across the creek from side to side and above the stone wall was a great
-_e-nor-mous_ pool! And the water pounded over the stone wall like a
-waterfall. The pool was very deep and wide, but above the pool the
-creek was all stony and shallow again.
-
-Charlie was very much interested. He said, “Why is that stone wall
-built across the creek, and what makes that pool so deep and broad when
-the rest of the creek is shallow and narrow?”
-
-Then his Mother explained to Charlie all about it. She explained to
-him that the pool was a swimming pool, and that the stone wall built
-across the creek from side to side was a _dam_. The dam keeps the water
-in like a basin until it gets as deep as the dam is high and then the
-water flows over the top.
-
-Charlie was _very much interested_ when he heard this. He said to his
-Mother, “Can anybody build a dam?”
-
-And of course his Mother said that anybody could. She said that you
-only had to heap a lot of mud and stones together just below where you
-wanted the pool to be, and just as high as you wanted the pool to be
-deep.
-
-Oh, my goodness! Charlie _was_ excited then. I wonder if you can guess
-what he said?
-
-I will tell you. Charlie said, “Mother, Auntie, I want to go home
-_im-me-di-ate-ly_, I AM GOING TO BUILD A DAM! Yes, I am going to
-build a dam across the brook and make a great ENORMOUS pool to sail
-my boat in.” Of course his Mother and his Auntie said they would go
-home immediately when they heard that Charlie was going to do such an
-important thing.
-
-So they did go home, and Charlie put on his overalls and he ran down to
-the brook and began to work at his dam.
-
-First he found a place where the brook was a little wider and where the
-banks were quite steep. Then he started scooping out the stones at the
-bottom of the brook, so that there would be no rocks for his boat to
-get wrecked on.
-
-You may be sure that Bingo and Topsy were very much interested in what
-Charlie was doing. Yes, they both came and watched him awhile. Then
-Topsy began to dig a hole in the grass--he wanted to show that _he_
-could dig a hole just as well as Charlie could. Bingo tried to dig a
-hole, too, but he soon got tired of it and ran around and barked, “Yap,
-yap!” He wanted Charlie and Topsy to come and play with him.
-
-But Charlie was much too busy to pay any attention to Bingo. He just
-went on bending over the brook, digging out the stones until he had the
-bottom of the brook, where his pool was going to be, nicely cleaned
-out. Then he started to work on the dam.
-
-First Charlie hunted around until he had got together a nice lot of
-flat stones, and he began to pile them up one on top of the other, and
-he went on piling them up until the dam went right across the brook
-from bank to bank.
-
-At first the water paid no attention to Charlie’s dam at all. It just
-went on flowing through the chinks between the stones, just as if
-there were not any dam there at all! But Charlie piled up great banks
-of mud, and put in more big stones and then little stones to fill the
-chinks--and at last the water began to rise!
-
-Yes, the water rose, and it rose until it was a nice big pool and came
-up to the top of the banks on both sides, and then it began to dribble
-over the top of the dam. So Charlie knew that the dam was finished! Of
-course the water in the pool was _dreadfully_ muddy, but Charlie did
-not mind a bit. Why should he, when the pool was so nice and wide and
-deep? Yes, it was so deep that it came all the way up to his knees!
-
-Then Charlie saw his Mother and his Auntie walking across the field
-from the house. They had come to see how Charlie was getting along with
-his dam.
-
-And, my goodness, how astonished they were when they saw that Charlie
-had _ac-tu-al-ly_ finished the dam and what a huge big pool he had made!
-
-But both his Mother and his Auntie could not help laughing when they
-saw how Charlie was all covered with mud. He had mud all over the front
-of his overalls, and on his hands, and there was a big splash of mud
-on the end of his nose!
-
-Then his Mother said, “Now, Charlie, dinner will soon be ready, so you
-must hurry home and wash your face and hands, and put on a clean suit.
-Then after dinner you may sail your boat in your beautiful big pool.”
-
-So Charlie ran to the house, and he washed his face, and he scrubbed
-his hands, and he put on a clean blue sailor suit, and he ate his
-dinner.
-
-Then he gave Topsy and Bingo and Jane their dinner. And then--he and
-his Mother and his Auntie went down to the pool to sail the boat. And,
-what do you think? The mud had all settled at the bottom of the pool
-while Charlie was eating his dinner, and the pool was as clear as glass
-so that you could see to the very bottom and you could see the dam that
-Charlie had built.
-
-Then Charlie launched his boat. The pool was deep enough--but the boat
-did not sail quite well even yet. No, the boat leaned a little to one
-side and, when a gust of wind came, it would have turned right over if
-Charlie had not caught hold of the mast just in time.
-
-Charlie felt very sad that his boat would not sail properly when he had
-built such a beautiful pool for it.
-
-But his Auntie said, “Cheer up, Charlie, I know exactly what is the
-matter with the boat so that it will not sail, and it can be fixed so
-that it will sail _beautifully_. The trouble is that the boat has not
-enough _ballast_. That means that the masts and the sails are too heavy
-for the keel. But if we nail a strip of lead along the bottom of the
-keel the boat will stay upright and will not lean to one side.”
-
-Well, Charlie and his Auntie took the boat and went to the barn, where
-the farmer was mending his mowing machine.
-
-And his Auntie asked the farmer if he knew where they could get a strip
-of lead to nail to the keel of Charlie’s boat.
-
-The farmer said, “Right here I have all the lead that you can use.” And
-he cut off a strip of lead just the size of the keel. Then the farmer
-also gave Charlie some interesting-looking nails that he said could be
-just the thing to nail the lead to the keel. They were crooked nails
-that folded over and looked just like tiny croquet hoops.
-
-Then Charlie’s Auntie took the mast and sails off, and she hammered the
-nails over the lead so that it was fastened to the keel of the boat.
-Then she put the masts and sails back. Don’t you think that she was a
-clever Auntie? Yes, indeed, she was.
-
-So they went back to the pool again, where Charlie’s Mother was waiting
-to see if the boat would sail right _this_ time.
-
-[Illustration: _The boat sailed beautifully_]
-
-And what do you think? _It did!_ Yes, the boat sailed beautifully, it
-sailed right away to the other side of the brook, and when Charlie
-turned the rudder to the right the boat turned in the opposite
-direction and sailed right back again!
-
-Yes, that boat could do everything that a real boat does, and when the
-wind blew hard it keeled over to one side but it did not capsize. No,
-nothing could make that boat capsize. Even when Bingo stood upon his
-hind legs and tried to catch it when it went sailing past, he fell
-splash into the pool and made a great ENORMOUS wave, just like the
-waves in the middle of the ocean--_still_ that boat did not capsize.
-
-Well, every day after that Charlie sailed his boat in the pool. He made
-a dock for it, with stones, and he put grass and pebbles on the deck
-for the cargo, which he loaded and unloaded at the dock, and the boat
-sailed from side to side of the pool. When the boat got to the other
-side Charlie would jump across the brook where it was narrow and turn
-the rudder so that the boat would turn right round and sail back again
-to the dock.
-
-Yes, Charlie had more fun than I can tell you playing with his boat.
-And Topsy and Bingo played, too; they jumped across the brook backwards
-and forwards and they tried to catch the boat as it sailed past. And,
-Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie liked to help Charlie sail his boat;
-yes, they enjoyed watching it sail so beautifully before the wind.
-
-And--on Saturday, when Charlie’s Daddy came down to visit them all--my
-goodness! he was surprised and _de-light-ed_ to see the dam and the
-pool that Charlie had made all by himself, and to see how beautifully
-the boat sailed, with its sails blown out by the wind, and with its
-cargo of grass and pebbles piled up on deck.
-
-Yes, Charlie’s Daddy thought that Charlie was a very clever boy to have
-made that dam and that pool all by himself--and I think so, too.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-CHARLIE BUILDS A REAL HOUSE
-
-
-Well, the days passed and passed--and at last it was time for Charlie
-to go back to the city. He said “Good-by” to the stage driver and to
-the postmaster and to the man at the country store and to the lady at
-the farm, where he and his Mother and his Auntie lived while they were
-in the country. And he said “Good-by” to the cows and to the chickens
-and to the baby pigs.
-
-Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie packed the suitcase and the trunk and
-put Topsy into his basket, and he did not like it at all and said
-“Miaouw, miaouw!” And Jane was put into _her_ basket and _she_ did not
-like it either, but she was a good cat and she did not say a word.
-Then Charlie put the leash on Bingo’s collar and they all climbed into
-the surrey, which is a two-seated carriage, and they all drove to the
-station. Then they all got on to the train and off they went to the
-city.
-
-This time there was another fireman, as Charlie’s friend was having a
-day off, so Charlie did not ride on the engine _this_ time; no, _this_
-time he rode in the day coach with his Mother and his Auntie and Topsy
-and Bingo and Jane.
-
-Charlie was feeling rather sad that he had to leave the country and
-all his new friends, but as the train steamed farther and farther away,
-he began to think that it was rather nice to be going back to the city
-after all.
-
-It would be nice to see his Daddy again and the iceman--and he wanted
-to tell the postman all about the stage driver and how letters
-are delivered in the country. And Charlie wanted to see his house
-again, where he lived, and the garden and his electric train and his
-automobile and his great _e-nor-mous_ flashlight. Yes, Charlie began to
-feel very glad that he was going home again.
-
-And--when Charlie _did_ get home, what do you think he found? Why,
-Charlie found that something _most_ interesting and ex-cit-ing had been
-happening while he was away in the country. Some builders had started
-to build a house on the other side of the road, and he could sit on his
-own front gate and watch them build.
-
-[Illustration: _Charlie Watched the Builders_]
-
-The builders had already built quite a lot of the house, and in front
-of what they had built was a big pile of bricks and also a pile of sand
-and quicklime to make mortar of.
-
-It was late in the afternoon, so the builders had stopped working,
-but Charlie wanted to stay right there and look at everything. But
-his Mother and his Auntie said, “No.” They said that it was getting
-late and Charlie must come right in and have his supper and go to bed.
-To-morrow he could watch the builders build as much as ever he wanted
-to.
-
-So the next day Charlie ran out _immediately_ after breakfast. The
-builders were already at work--they were working hard, putting the
-bricks on top of each other. Charlie saw how they put each brick on
-top of two others, he saw how they did it _very carefully_ so that the
-brick was _ex-act-ly_ in the middle of the two below it. Then he saw
-how carefully the builders put the mortar on with a flat, wide knife,
-so that none of the mortar dripped over the edge of the bricks but made
-a nice straight line up and across. And, because the bricks were laid,
-one in the middle of the two below, the white line of the mortar made a
-most interesting design.
-
-Charlie was _ab-so-lute-ly_ fascinated, he thought that he would
-_never_ get tired of watching those builders build.
-
-Then Topsy and Bingo came out to see what Charlie was doing and to
-get him to play with them, but Charlie was _much_ too interested in
-watching the house being built, so he paid no attention at all. No, he
-paid no attention to Topsy and Bingo, but went on watching the builders
-build the house.
-
-After a while one of the builders looked up, and he said, “Hello, you
-seem to like watching us build this house; I guess you would like to
-be over here helping us.” And Charlie said, “Oh, yes, I _would_ like
-to come over and help you, I mean to be a house builder when I grow
-up.” Then the builder said, “Is that so? Have you had any practice in
-building houses?” Charlie said, “No, I have never built a _real_ house,
-but I can build _beautiful_ houses with my wooden blocks.”
-
-But the builder said, “Well, I guess you need more practice than
-_that_--you have to know how to put the mortar on, and that is not as
-easy as it looks. How would you like me to give you some bricks and
-mortar and then you can build yourself a house in the corner of your
-yard?” Yes, the builder _ac-tu-al-ly_ said that to Charlie! And he also
-asked him, “Have you an express wagon that you can haul the bricks in?”
-
-Of course Charlie said, “Yes,” and he ran off to the house to tell his
-Mother and his Auntie all about the house builder, and to ask if he
-might go across the road by himself to get the bricks. And his Mother
-and his Auntie both said, “Yes.” They said that it would be perfectly
-safe for Charlie to go across the road all by himself, because no
-automobiles were allowed on the road and there was a sign which said,
-“Closed to Traffic.”
-
-Then Charlie got his express wagon and he went across the road to get
-the bricks. He loaded the bricks into his express wagon and he dragged
-them across the road and in at the garden gate to the corner of the
-garden where there were no flowers and no vegetables. Charlie did this
-over and over again; he did it so often that his legs ached,--and every
-time that Charlie went across the road Topsy and Bingo followed him.
-When Charlie had been across the road four, five, _six_ times getting
-his express cart full of bricks every time, the builder said, “Now
-you have enough bricks to start with. Suppose you go now and ask your
-Mother for a pail and I will give you some mortar, already mixed.”
-
-Charlie ran and got the pail, and the builder filled it with mortar and
-carried it over to Charlie’s yard himself because it was too heavy for
-Charlie to carry. The builder certainly _was_ a nice man.
-
-Of course Charlie wanted _immediately_ to start in building the house.
-But his Mother and his Auntie said, “No.” They said that Charlie had
-worked enough for one day, and that he had better play a little. And
-his Mother said, “You had better wait till your Daddy comes home before
-starting to build your house; I think you ought to ask his advice as to
-exactly where would be the best place to build it.”
-
-Charlie thought that his Mother was right and he determined to wait
-till his Daddy came home before building the house. So he went off and
-had a lovely game with Topsy and Bingo.
-
-At last Charlie’s Daddy came home. Charlie was watching for him out
-of the dining-room window. As soon as he saw his Daddy come in at the
-gate, Charlie ran out to meet him and to tell him all about the bricks
-that the builder had given him and about the house he was going to
-build.
-
-Charlie’s Daddy was very interested; he was so interested that he said
-he would like to help Charlie to build the house. Then Charlie’s Daddy
-went upstairs and changed into his old suit, the one he always wore
-when he was digging in the garden, and he found a spade, and he said,
-“Come on, Charlie, let us start building the house.”
-
-So they went into the garden and started to build the house. First
-Charlie’s Daddy dug a trench, the size that the house was to be; this
-was to be the foundation so that the house should not blow over in a
-wind-storm. Charlie helped dig the trench also. It was very hard work
-digging the trench--it was such hard work that both Charlie and his
-Daddy were puffing and blowing before they had finished digging. But at
-last the trench was finished, and while they were both standing still
-to admire it Charlie’s Auntie came and called them in to supper.
-
-So they both had to go in and change their clothes and eat their supper
-and, by the time that supper was over, it was too dark to work at the
-house any longer. Charlie did not like this at all, he said, “I do not
-want to stop for a single minute until the house is built.”
-
-But his Daddy said, “Cheer up, Charlie, to-morrow is a legal holiday,
-and I shall be home all day. So I shall be able to help you build your
-house until it is finished.” Then Charlie was satisfied and he went to
-sleep the minute he got into bed--and all night long he dreamed about
-the beautiful house he was going to build.
-
-The next morning both Charlie and his Daddy got up early; they got up
-at six o’clock! They each had a glass of milk and a cookie, then they
-went into the garden and began to work.
-
-First they started piling bricks into the trench, one on top of two
-others, _ex-act-ly_ the way Charlie had seen the builders doing it; and
-his Daddy showed him how to put the mortar on each brick with a flat
-trowel that he had found in the woodshed and that looked _ex-act-ly_
-like the one the builders used. It is very important to put the mortar
-on right, as that is what makes the bricks stick together.
-
-Before breakfast Charlie and his Daddy had _ac-tu-al-ly_ finished
-the foundation! Charlie was very glad that he had his Daddy to help
-him--why, if it had not been for his Daddy I don’t think that Charlie
-would have thought of building _any_ foundation for his house, and
-then it would have blown down!
-
-Well, you may be sure that the moment they had finished breakfast, and
-when Charlie’s Daddy had smoked just one cigarette, they both of them
-were hard at work on the house again.
-
-For one reason Charlie was sorry that it was a legal holiday, and
-that was because the builders were having a holiday, too, and Charlie
-_would_ have liked them to see him in his overalls that were all
-covered with mortar and pink with brick dust--so that he looked
-_ex-act-ly_ like a real builder.
-
-Well, they worked and they worked. And you never can guess how
-clever Charlie’s Daddy was. He was just as clever as a real builder.
-Yes, Charlie’s Daddy _ac-tu-al-ly_ knew how to make a window in the
-house--and a door also! The window went all the way to the top of the
-roof and so did the door, for Charlie’s Daddy said that there was
-_one_ thing he did not know how to do that a real builder knows, and
-that is how to make an arch, with a keystone! Soon the house was tall
-enough for Charlie to go in at the door, and then his Daddy said that
-the front of the house was tall enough. But the sides had to be built
-sloping higher toward the back so that the roof should slope--it is
-very important that a house should have a sloping roof so that the
-water may drain off it when it rains.
-
-At last his Daddy said, “There, the house is finished, all but the
-roof!”
-
-Charlie _was_ excited! He jumped and he shouted, “My house is nearly
-finished, my house is nearly finished!”
-
-Then his Daddy went off to the woodshed and he brought back a whole lot
-of boards and a roll of tar paper. He put the boards all across the
-roof and covered them with tar paper--and THE HOUSE WAS FINISHED!
-
-Yes, it was _ac-tu-al-ly_ finished. It had a beautiful doorway, and a
-window and a roof--anybody could see that it was a real house.
-
-Topsy and Bingo were nearly as much excited as Charlie. Bingo ran in
-and out of the door and barked and barked. But Topsy climbed up the
-wall and in at the window and he did this again and again.
-
-Then Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie came to look at the beautiful
-house. And, my goodness! they _were_ surprised that Charlie and his
-Daddy had built a house that looked exactly like a real house.
-
-And Charlie’s Mother said, “Now, we will go back to the house and we
-will bring Charlie’s little chairs and his table, and I will get a rag
-rug that is in the attic; then the house will be furnished and Charlie
-can live in it with Topsy and Bingo and Jane.”
-
-So that is what they did! And Charlie’s Auntie hung some curtains
-across the window and tied them with blue ribbon, and his mother put
-the rag rug on the floor, and placed the furniture around the room so
-that it looked _most_ cozy and _most_ comfortable.
-
-Well, just when everybody was standing and admiring the house, Jane the
-cat came up, and she looked at the house for a minute. Then she walked
-straight in at the door and lay down on the rug, and she purred and
-purred as loud as she could purr, because she liked Charlie’s house so
-tremendously. But Topsy jumped in at the window and _he_ walked around
-the house and sat down on every one of the little chairs and even on
-the table, but when he jumped into the express cart, which was in the
-corner of the house, he liked it so much that he curled up and went
-to sleep. But Bingo was the most excited of all--he dashed around and
-around the house, and he jumped up in the air and barked and barked and
-BARKED!
-
-The next day, when the builders were at work again, Charlie climbed up
-on the gate and called out to the builder who had given him the bricks,
-“Good morning, Mr. Builder! I have finished my house!”
-
-The builder was most interested and he came over to look at the house
-that Charlie had built.
-
-He said, “Did you build that house _all_ by yourself?”
-
-And Charlie said, “Yes, I built that house _all_ by myself, and my
-Daddy helped me.”
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-BINGO LEARNS TO COME WHEN HE IS CALLED
-
-
-Bingo was a very clever little dog--he learned very quickly all the
-tricks that Charlie taught. He could sit up and beg, and he could bark
-three times for the flag, and when Charlie put a piece of cake on his
-nose Bingo could toss it in the air and catch it in his mouth, and,
-if Charlie threw a stick, Bingo would always run and bring it back.
-Yes, Bingo could do all these things and he liked to do them again
-and again. He was such a clever little dog that all the boys in the
-neighborhood knew him well, and they used to watch him over the fence
-doing all the tricks that he had learned.
-
-But there was _one_ thing that Bingo never _would_ learn and that was
-to come _immediately_ when he was called. If Bingo thought that Charlie
-was going for a walk or that his dinner was ready, he would come the
-very minute that Charlie called him; but if he was doing something
-interesting or something that he should not be doing, Charlie could
-call “Bingo, Bingo, Bingo,” till he was hoarse, Bingo would not come!
-He would wag his tail and perk up his ears to show that he had heard,
-but he would not come.
-
-One day Charlie was playing in the garden with Bingo and Topsy when
-Bingo suddenly saw something that interested him in the road and he
-scrambled under the gate and went scampering along down the road.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-Charlie did not approve of this at all. He called and he called,
-“Bingo, Bingo, Bingo”--but Bingo would not come, he went on racing
-along the road. He had decided that he would like to go out and see the
-world!
-
-Then Charlie ran into the house to tell his Mother and his Auntie. He
-could not run after Bingo, because of course he was not allowed to go
-outside the garden gate by himself. His Auntie did not even wait to put
-on her sweater though it was very cold; she ran straight out of the
-gate to bring Bingo back--but Bingo had _ab-so-lute-ly_ disappeared!
-
-Charlie and his Auntie put on their coats and went a long distance
-down the road, calling Bingo all the time, but they could not find him
-anywhere. They asked everybody that they met if they had seen a little
-white dog with black spots but nobody had seen him. Then they went home
-again, hoping that Bingo would have arrived there before them. But no,
-Bingo was not there!
-
-Now I will tell you what happened to Bingo. When he had run along the
-road for quite a distance he came to a turning where the road ran very
-steeply downhill. There was a boy with a bob sled, and just as Bingo
-reached the corner the boy lay down flat on his sled, and biff! off he
-flew down the hill! Bingo was much excited. He barked, “Yap, yap, yap,”
-and ran after the bob sled as fast as ever he could. He was determined
-to catch that bob sled! But of course he could not. The boy and the
-sled reached the bottom of the hill before Bingo, but not long before.
-
-The boy had decided to go home, as it was near his dinner time, and he
-was dragging his sled after him when Bingo arrived at the bottom of the
-hill, all out of breath and with his little red tongue hanging out. But
-he was not too out of breath to jump up at the boy and bark “Yap, yap,
-yap!” He was trying to tell him how glad he was that he had caught up
-with him at last.
-
-The boy patted Bingo on the head and talked to him, but of course he
-did not know his name as he lived quite a distance away and had never
-seen Bingo before.
-
-Bingo liked the boy very much and decided that he would go for a walk
-with him. So he followed after him. It was a long, long walk, but at
-last they arrived at the boy’s house.
-
-It was a tall brick house very much larger than the house in which
-Bingo lived with Charlie; and it had to be larger too, because a great
-many people lived in it--two families lived on every floor!
-
-The boy climbed up five flights of stairs; he lived on the top floor of
-all--and Bingo followed after him.
-
-The boy’s Mother was cooking dinner in the kitchen and she was very
-much surprised when she saw Bingo. She said, “Who is that dog?” The boy
-said, “I found him and I am going to keep him for my dog. I have always
-wanted one.”
-
-But his Mother said, “How can we keep a dog when we live five flights
-up and have only three rooms? It is impossible. After you have had your
-dinner you must take him back to where you found him, then he will
-be able to find his way home. He has a collar on so he must belong to
-somebody. In the meantime, take him downstairs and tie him up in the
-yard. I have just washed the kitchen floor and I am afraid he will make
-it dirty again.”
-
-The boy felt very sad because he could not keep Bingo, but he took him
-down to the yard as his Mother had told him to, and he tied him up to
-the fence with a piece of rope.
-
-Bingo did not like this at all. He pulled and he pulled and he pulled,
-but he could not get loose. He pulled and he pulled and--he PULLED,
-and--suddenly the fastening of his collar snapped (it snapped because
-Charlie had not fastened it properly that morning), and Bingo was a
-free dog.
-
-Then he scampered gayly out of the yard and into the street again.
-He thought that it was time to go home to Charlie and his dinner.
-But--what do you think? Bingo could not find his way home! He ran
-through street after street but he could not find the house where he
-lived with Charlie and Topsy and Jane. The boy’s Mother must have
-thought that Bingo was older than he really was when she said that he
-could find his way home by himself.
-
-Bingo was beginning to be worried--there were a great many children
-playing in the streets through which he passed and every now and again
-he thought that he saw Charlie, but it always turned out that he was
-mistaken. Sometimes some of the children would try to stop him but
-Bingo always ran away from them. He wanted to go home.
-
-At last he passed four little boys who were walking along together.
-Bingo was very tired now and he was not running any more; no, he was
-walking very slowly and limping a little because he had hurt his foot.
-
-One of the boys looked at him limping along in front and he said,
-“Look at that puppy. He looks exactly like Charlie’s Bingo, who does
-such wonderful tricks!”
-
-The other boy said, “He does look like him. Let’s call him and see if
-he answers to the name Bingo.” So they called, “Bingo, Bingo, Bingo!”
-
-You may be sure that when Bingo heard his name called _this time_ he
-did come running as fast as ever he could.
-
-Bingo did not know the boys but they knew him. They had often watched
-him over the fence doing the tricks that Charlie had taught him, so
-they knew where he lived. Now that they were sure it _was_ Bingo, as
-he had come at once when they called him, they decided that they would
-take him back to his home; for they knew how unhappy Charlie must be
-because he had lost his dog.
-
-[Illustration: _One of the strange boys held Bingo_]
-
-But they were afraid that Bingo might run away again, so one of the
-boys held on to him while the others made a harness for him out of
-some string that one of them had in his pocket. Then they put it on
-Bingo and they tied a long piece of string to the middle of the harness
-for a leash.
-
-So they started on their way--but you can think how funny Bingo did
-look in his rope harness! The boys could not help laughing at him, and
-Bingo did not like that at all. He had a feeling that he looked very
-ragged and untidy, as indeed he did; and all the dogs that he met and
-who wore beautiful collars, sniffed at him, as though to say, “What an
-extraordinary thing to wear, instead of a collar!”
-
-Bingo wished very much that he had not lost his own collar, which was a
-very beautiful one. He wanted to stop and tell the other dogs all about
-it. But the four boys were in a hurry, and they pulled at his rope so
-that he had to follow them.
-
-At last they reached the bottom of the hill that the boy had coasted
-down. It was ever so much harder to climb _up_ that hill than it had
-been running down it that morning. But at last they got to the top and
-Bingo began to feel very excited because he recognized the street that
-they were now walking along. Every single day he walked along that
-street with Charlie and Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie on their way to
-the park.
-
-And--then at last they reached the garden gate and Bingo was home! He
-was so excited that he barked “Yap, yap, yap!”
-
-Charlie was eating his supper in the dining room and when he heard it
-he said, “That’s Bingo’s bark!” and he and his Mother and his Auntie
-and his Daddy all jumped up from the table and ran to the front door.
-And--there were the four little boys holding Bingo by the rope!
-
-Well, you may be sure that everybody was glad to see Bingo. Charlie
-grabbed him in his arms and hugged him while he thanked the boys for
-bringing him home, and Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie thanked them
-also. Then Charlie’s Daddy put his hand in his pocket and he brought
-out four beautiful new quarters and he gave one to each of the boys, so
-they were very happy, too. But the happiest of all was Bingo, he barked
-till he could bark no more because he was hoarse. He barked so loudly
-that he wakened Jane and Topsy from their nap and they came out to see
-what it all meant.
-
-When Jane saw Bingo, what do you think she did? Why, she started to
-wash him! Yes, she did; she washed him all over and he needed it, I can
-tell you.
-
-Then, when Bingo was nice and clean, Charlie gave him his dinner, and
-when he had eaten it he was so tired that he curled up beside Jane on
-the kitchen rug, just as if he was a baby puppy again, and went fast
-asleep. But always after that, Bingo would come when he was called.
-He came so quickly when Charlie called, “Bingo, Bingo, Bingo,” that
-everybody noticed it, and said to Charlie, “What a well-trained dog you
-have. Did you train him yourself?” And Charlie would say, “Yes, I did.
-He _is_ a clever dog; there isn’t _anything_ that Bingo can’t do!” And
-I don’t believe there was!
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-WHAT CHARLIE DID ON A RAINY DAY
-
-
-One day it was a rainy day. The rain poured and it poured, and the wind
-blew. It was a very disagreeable day. It poured so hard that Charlie
-could not go out in the yard and play in his little house. His Mother
-and his Auntie both said that it was the kind of day when it is best
-to stay indoors.
-
-Then Charlie’s Mother said, “As it is such a rainy day that I cannot
-go out, I shall make preserves all the morning. I shall make plum
-preserves and orange marmalade, and we will have some for supper
-to-night.”
-
-And his Auntie said, “I shall sew all the morning; yes, I will make
-myself a nice new dress.”
-
-Topsy and Bingo and Jane did not say anything. But they all three lay
-down on hearth rug and went to sleep. They had decided that, as it was
-such a disagreeable, rainy day that they could not go out and play,
-they would sleep all the morning, and, maybe, dream a nice dream about
-playing in the fields in the country.
-
-As for Charlie--_he_ did not know _what_ to do. He stood at the window
-and he looked out at the rain pattering on the ledge and against the
-window pane--and he said, “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what
-to do!” And he said it again and again.
-
-His Auntie said to him, “The very idea, Charlie, you have _heaps_ of
-things to do! Why don’t you play with your toys--with your train and
-with your blocks?”
-
-But Charlie shook his head. “It’s no fun playing with my train--it just
-goes round and round, and I have built everything with my blocks that
-I know how to build. I want something _new_ to play! Something I have
-never played before.”
-
-His Auntie thought hard for two whole minutes. Then she said, “Look
-here, Charlie, I have a splendid idea! You run up to my room and bring
-me a pile of typewriting paper that you will find on my desk. Also
-bring a paper of pins out of my top bureau drawer, and I will show you
-something new to play with.”
-
-So Charlie ran upstairs and brought down these things. Then his Auntie
-told him to get his own scissors with the rounded tops and his box of
-colored chalks.
-
-Charlie began to feel very interested and excited. He wondered _what in
-the world_ his Auntie was going to do.
-
-Well, when he had brought his scissors and his crayons, his Auntie sat
-down at the table and she took a piece of typewriting paper and folded
-it this way and that way. Then she colored one part of it red with
-the red chalk, and she made three little green strokes with the green
-chalk, and with the scissors she cut along the creases, and folded it
-some more; _then_ she pinched it here and pinched it there, and she
-stuck a pin in at the back, and--there was a beautiful little white
-house with a red roof and green shutters, and a door that opened and
-shut!
-
-Charlie was delighted. He said, “Oh, oh! _How beautiful!_ Show me how
-to make it. _Please_, Auntie, show _me_ how to make a little house.”
-
-[Illustration]
-
-So his Auntie showed him _ex-act-ly_ how to make the little house--and
-you will see in the picture on this page _ex-act-ly_ how Charlie’s
-Auntie cut the paper, and where she painted it red for the roof, and
-where she put the windows with the green shutters, and where she cut
-the door so that it could open and shut, and where she put the pin
-in at the back to keep it together. Yes, Charlie’s Auntie used a pin
-instead of paste, because paste does not always stick very well and it
-often makes things look messy unless you are very skillful.
-
-Well, after Charlie had tried several times and his Auntie had showed
-him every time where he had gone wrong, he _ac-tu-al-ly_ succeeded in
-making a paper house all by himself! And it was a beautiful house.
-
-When his Auntie saw that Charlie could make paper houses just as well
-as she could, she said, “Now I must go upstairs and sew my dress, and
-_you_, Charlie, can make a whole, big village of little houses, and I
-am sure that you will think of some nice game to play with them.”
-
-Well, Charlie did go on making his houses until he had made a whole lot
-of them--yes, he had made a _tre-men-dous_ number of houses; maybe he
-had made _fifteen_ houses out of paper, with red roofs and green doors
-and shutters. Then he thought that he had made enough and that he would
-like to play with them--and so he did.
-
-I will tell you how Charlie played with the houses. First he went over
-to a corner of the room where there was no furniture to get in the way
-and there he set up some of his houses and made a village of them. Then
-he had a _grand_ idea--and the idea was that he would like to have some
-trees in his village, and he knew _ex-act-ly_ how to make them!
-
-He ran into the kitchen where his Mother was making delicious preserves
-and he said, “Oh, Mother, I want some branches off the bush near the
-back door--and it is _very important_. Can I go out just for a minute
-and pick some?”
-
-And his Mother said, “Yes. If you put on your rubber boots and your
-slicker and your sou’wester, you can go out for just a minute, even
-though it is raining, and pick the branches you want, but you must not
-be long.”
-
-So Charlie did so--he put on his rubber boots and his sou’wester and
-his slicker and he picked all the branches that he wanted. When he
-brought them into the house he had to shake them over the sink because
-they were so wet.
-
-Now I suppose you will wonder how Charlie made those branches stand
-upright on the floor to make them look like trees?
-
-I will tell you. Charlie went to his box, where he kept the old toys
-that he used to play with when he was a very little boy, and there he
-found a whole lot of spools. When he was a baby he used to like to
-string spools together and his Mother and his Auntie always gave him
-their spools of thread when they were bare, so Charlie had _dozens_ of
-spools and he sometimes let Bingo and Topsy play with them.
-
-Well, Charlie got these spools and he stuck a small branch in the end
-of one of them and stood it upright. It made a beautiful tree! So he
-made a dozen trees and set them all along the streets of the village.
-
-[Illustration: _Charlie Made Three Villages_]
-
-But there were no people in the village. Charlie thought hard for two
-whole minutes--then he went and found his old Noah’s ark and his box
-of lead soldiers. Of course, Noah and his wife and his family were the
-people who lived in the village, and so were some of the soldiers. The
-animals of the ark he stood up in the fields behind the houses and he
-pretended that they were all cows--yes, he pretended that the elephants
-and the giraffes and the lions and the tigers were all cows.
-
-When Charlie had finished making one village, he started right away and
-made two more, so that he had _three_ villages, and each village had a
-railway station. Then he arranged his railroad track so that it went
-between the different villages, and he made his train run up and down
-between them. He put some of the lead soldiers in the coaches. And
-every time that his train came to a station Charlie blew his whistle
-and called out, “All out for Stony Hollow! All out for Pine Hill! All
-out for Ford’s Crossing!” and some of the soldiers got out at every
-station and others got in.
-
-My goodness! but Charlie did have a good time playing with his train
-and with his villages. He had such a good time that the morning only
-seemed five minutes long!
-
-When his Mother and his Auntie came in to see what he had been doing
-with himself all the morning, and to tell him that it was time to get
-ready for dinner, they _were_ surprised and de-light-ed when they saw
-the beautiful villages that Charlie had made.
-
-Well, the very minute that Charlie had finished his dinner he went back
-to his villages, because he had thought of several new ideas while he
-was eating his dinner.
-
-Yes, he remembered a little tiny horse and wagon that his Mother had
-given him. When his Mother had given it to him there was some candy
-tied to the wagon, and of course Charlie had eaten the candy long ago;
-but he had kept the horse and wagon because it was so cunning and
-little, though he thought that it was too little to play with. But now
-Charlie was going to use it for his village.
-
-I wonder if you can guess what he was going to use it for? I will tell
-you. Charlie decided that the little wagon should be the stage, and he
-put a lead soldier in it and pretended that he was the stage driver.
-Then he loaded the stage with little parcels made out of paper which he
-pretended were sacks of apples that the farmers of the villages were
-sending to the city; and he loaded them on to the train, and blew his
-whistle--and off it started!
-
-Charlie played all the afternoon with his train and his stage and
-his villages; he played with them for hours and hours. The rain had
-stopped and the sun was shining but Charlie did not notice that--until
-he heard a little hoarse “Wow-wow!” outside the door.
-
-It was Bingo. Yes, Bingo had wakened and wanted Charlie to come and
-play with him. So he opened the door and Bingo came jumping into the
-room, and the very first thing he did was to knock over three houses in
-Charlie’s village. And Topsy came chasing after Bingo and _he_ knocked
-over four more with his tail. They would have knocked all the houses
-over if Charlie had not stopped them. But Charlie took Bingo and Topsy
-out of the room and he shut the door behind him so that they should not
-spoil his village.
-
-Then Charlie’s Mother called to him and she said, “Why don’t you and
-Topsy and Bingo run out and play in the yard? The sun is shining, but
-you must put on your rubber boots, as the grass is still wet.”
-
-Charlie thought that it would be fun to run around a little as he had
-been so busy all day. He called Topsy and Bingo, and they had a grand
-time chasing each other around the garden and in and out of Charlie’s
-little house that he had built of the bricks that the builders had
-given him. Sometimes Charlie would catch Bingo, and, when Bingo was
-caught, _always_ he rolled over on his back and stuck his four legs in
-the air--so that he looked ridiculous!
-
-But Charlie never _could_ catch Topsy. Whenever he nearly caught him,
-Topsy would just climb up a tree, and he’d climb _way_ up and peek down
-at Charlie through the branches.
-
-So Charlie and Topsy and Bingo played together in the garden till
-Charlie’s Daddy came home. Then, of course, Charlie had to show his
-Daddy the beautiful villages he had made, and the way each one had a
-railway station, and how his train ran up and down the line between
-the stations, just like a real train, and carried packages and mail and
-passengers.
-
-His Daddy was _most_ interested and de-light-ed. He was _so_ interested
-and _de-light-ed_ that he sat straight down on the floor, and began to
-play with the villages himself. But Bingo and Topsy had to be left in
-the garden while Charlie and his Daddy were playing with the villages,
-because they wanted to play also, and _their_ idea of playing with the
-villages was to knock down _all_ the houses and _all_ the trees!
-
-Well, Charlie and his Daddy played together till supper was ready.
-Then Charlie’s Mother said, “I have been making preserves all day,
-and now we will eat some for supper. I have made plum jam and orange
-marmalade.” Charlie and his Daddy tasted the plum jam and the orange
-marmalade--and they both were _delicious_.
-
-And what do you think? Charlie’s Auntie had finished her new dress and
-she wore it down to supper--and it _did_ look beautiful.
-
-So Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie all had a nice day after all,
-even though it was such a rainy, disagreeable kind of a day. And Topsy
-and Bingo and Jane had enjoyed the day too!
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
-
-
- Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
-
- Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
-
- Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
-
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