£5‘ : Girl’: “ L E‘ keg . ,,.,eW‘- \ 5- . \--\ I tit - -l- ._>.- '1 ¢&‘_ '.'P—§ Jifl a'“,- 2% 1:- -“ ' X a'“a,fi ‘"L“ ‘ 'p vc :1"? ' 3' vQ:'?',-t .. ‘§;““‘ -~, -2 "e“‘s ‘ ‘ . L- ‘@- -‘* i- fi‘ -J_ ‘gw ‘~ ‘Fa . _.‘_-,!" }v “-’ ma -‘ r /i £'_ELq-“ > -‘-, "-‘L _/_v‘ _ 1_ 4'‘ \ & wzg _ A5 L ‘ K» . ‘7>‘ x‘_ ¢._-.¢.a-. Yb” , ‘firm ' - '' " .---,- Q‘ . T‘. ‘J-I is 11 ‘x "‘ -_ Ms? .§g¢¥“ ’i ‘*‘#_v- PQ 1? f1“ _*1’ /a- fi“"t~ T’-_. . ":_%.“*"&‘ ’: 3* 1 ,5‘ i 3L '-- ir_g, \A\‘?? -¢ Ut‘.'Att .?\‘ *5 Adventures In Our Street fldventurew in Oar c/[reek »~g’rL’§-I (‘$41, :3‘ *5- I‘! gérlrade t/€.‘7iT:9}/' PHILADELPHIA DAVID MEKAY COMPANY WASHINGTON SQUARE Cornuorrr, 1925, BY DAVID MCKAY COMPANY Contents About the Children ..................... .. A Glimpse of Pie-crust Town .......... .. The Blue Balloon ....................... .. The String Basket ...................... .. Prince the Rocking Horse .............. .. Why Muddy-Heels Had a Sore Throat The Dwarfs .............................. .. The Genial Giant ....................... .. The Birthday Picnic .................... .. The Hay-loft ............................. .. The Bonfire .............................. .. The First Snow ......................... .. Christmas Time ......................... .. The First Day ........................... .. The Scolding Old Lady ................. .. The Sailor ................................ .. The Parson’s Horse ..................... .. A Present for the Queen of France .... .. About a Cocoanut Cake ................ .. The Runaway Schooner ................ .. Muddy-Heels Gets a Letter ............ .. The Last Day of School ................ .. The Birthday Party OD the shhhh.......'fff.'fIIfIIIII PAGI 1 7 13 22 28 34 40 45 51 56 63 67 70 75 79 87 90 97 102 109 113 120 126 -A ‘L__-'.._ \-—-an‘‘Infill! _ _- _ ' ii-E4 I \,' V - ‘ 4 ""3" “ta Juik‘- 0. ‘ gv -, ‘ 43¢- L; ‘ w K ‘;'\‘ L .\_}- --’ ““;‘“.' A "J 1" \ J/_fi_ae -I’ ‘’? ABOUT THE CHEDREN 3 \L\.\ll '00 , \Ql\O After coaxings and pattings and many pretty com- pliments, he was finally dressed, and dear old Puggsy led the two children down to breakfast. At the table Two-Braids was very nice and lady- like, doing exactly as Puggsy had taught her to do. But The Door-Slammer was—oh, very careless! Really it was a pity and it worried poor patient Puggsy very 4 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET much. Of course, he meant no harm and was at most times a very good little boy. Now these two children had very happy lives be- cause they happened to live in Our Street. There were lots of us, and we all played together—right in the street. You see it wasn’t like some streets with horses and wagons and other dangerous things that go fast. It was only open at one end and was so steep that horses and wagons did not often bother to come up that way, for if they did they only had to turn aroimd and go right back. Our Street started with Miss Chatty’s store, then went pell-mell down over the cobble-stones, past all the neighbors’ houses, curving some, then running very straight till it came to the mill and some otherstores and the station—then it wasn’t any more. Many other children besides Two-Braids and The Door-Slammer lived in Our Street. There were Yellow- Curls and Muddy-Heels and The Baby-VVh0-Couldn’tr Talk-Plain and The Children-Who-Broke-A1l-of~Their- Toys-on-Christmas and The New Children. But one never got to know The New Children very well because they had a thin, crabby nurse (Puggsy was fat) who called our games “rough sports” and would not allow her charges to play with us. But sometimes the poor ABOUT THE CHILDREN 5 things used to slip away from her and stand by and watch. But they didn’t really know a good game from a bad one or the difference between jack-straws and nine-pins. All of us liked The Children-Who-Broke-All-of-Their- Toys-on-Christmas and they were very happy children, even though they had nothing to play with most of the year. But they could make up beautiful games, could climb the very tallest trees, eat green apples, and stay out in the street long after the rest of us had been called in. And they could tell one fairy tale after another, just as fast as they could talk—quite terrible ones too that scared the rest of us—but not them! Just why they smashed all of their toys as soon as they got them nobody knows, but Christmas was a grand day for them while it lasted. Then there was The Baby-Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain. He wasn’t really a baby at all, for he wore regular coat and trousers, only he lisped, so that is why he was called that. But we all liked him because he was so generous with his fine black rocking horse. Now Yellow-Ciu'ls was said to be the most polite child in Our Street. Grown-up persons thought so, and they ought to know. She never had dirty hands or mussed her pretty frocks and when she skipped the rope her curls skipped too in a way pretty to see. Chapter H THE BIRTHDAY PARTY ON THE STAIRS N this particularly bright summer day after Two- 0 Braids and The Door-Slammer had eaten break- fast and wiped their mouths, folded and put their nap- kins in the rings, they opened the front door and stood on the step. “My birthday’s today, my birthday’s today!” called Yellow-Curls, the instant they appeared. She was sitting on her top step looking as sweet as a little flower. “How do you know it’s your birthday?” shouted The Door-Slammer, wishing very much that it was his instead, for he hadn’t had one for a long, long time. “My Mother said it was,” answered little Yellow- Curls. “And she said that I might have a party and that all the children in the street should come.” “How soon does it start?” asked Two-Braids. “I’ll go and ask—wait a minute,” said Yellow- Curls as she sped back into the house. Two-Braids and The Door-Slammer waited anxi- ously, very much fearing that Yellow-Curls had made a mistake. But no—back she came and her pretty mother too, who said that it was all true. She said that they 7 THE BIRTHDAY PARTY ON THE STAIRS 9 Now no one had said anything about presents be- fore, but as it seemed a rather good idea, the invitation was given that way from one end of the street to the other. Of course we were all greatly excited, for even though there was something always happening in the street, there had not been a single birthday party since Every- body’s Grandfather had had his seventy-seventh last winter. Finally every child was told, and there was a great flurry to get presents ready and tied up, and our best clothes all laid out on the spare bed ready to hop into. But at exactly the hour front doors opened up and down the street and out stepped very spick and span children. Someway they all looked quite different and walked rather stiffly. All but Muddy-Heels, who came rushing down the middle of the street waving his birth- day present on high. The paper blew off, so we saw that he had a needle-book like the very ones that Miss Chatty sold in her store. The Door-Slammer had a box of pink writing paper, also from Miss Chatty’s store, which he opened in the street to show to Muddy-Heels. Then and there they almost had a quarrel, for one boy said that a needle-book was a nicer present for a girl than grown-up writing paper, and the other boy said that only old u'»¢< r‘ E women used needle-books. But just then Two-Braids dragged The Door-Slammer away and made him walk on. The tallest child rattled the knocker and the door flew open, for Yellow-Curls was standing right there. And so the birthday party began. At first we stood around rather stiffly, just as if we didn’t know each other very well. Then Yellow-Curls’ THE BIRTHDAY PARTY ON THE STAIRS 11 mother came in and had us sit down and Yellow-Curls opened the birthday presents in the middle of the floor. She was very careful to say thank you after each one. We all thought her very polite. She got about three thimbles, a pin-cushion, one ink-well, a little purse, the pink writing paper and needle-book, and some hand- kerchiefs. The New Children did not come, but the rest of us did, and very soon (after Yellow-Curls’ mother left the room) the house rocked with Blind Man’s Bluff. Muddy- Heels really liked being Blind Man. He made a terrible one and at times it seemed almost as if he could see. One game followed another, “Button, Button, who’s got the Button,” “London Bridge,” “Old Witch”—the same games that one always played at parties. But by this time we were beginning to feel very warm and a bit tired, when all of a sudden Yellow Curls’ mother stood in the doorway and said that “everything was ready.” Of course we knew what that meant. So everyone trooped out into the hall and got a step on the stairs. It may seem a fumiy place to have a party, but it’s quite handy, for you can sit on one step and put yoiu' plate and mug on the next step higher up. It’s just as good as a table and heaps more fun. The first thing that happened were fancy colored 12 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET paper hats which we all put on OH!‘ heads. Of C0l1I‘S6 the boys had to play jokes and pull the girls’ caps off, but as soon as the napkins were passed they stopped. Then came plates, one for everybody, full of good things. There were little hot I'OL1I1d buns with cinnamon and sugar on top ; and chicken—(Muddy-Heels got the wish bone). And there were tarts with shaky red jelly in them and juicy pickles and lots of other things too. When about everything was eaten Yellow-Ciu'ls’ mother came with the wonderful big white birthday cake with five candles burning on top of it. And Yellow-Curls held it herself, then her mother cut it in enough pieces that we all had one—bigger than we ever had at home. And what do you suppose each of us found in our piece of the birthday cake? Why a ring with a beautiful colored glass set in it. And we had a grand time then trading rings back and forth with each other. Some of the Children forgot to say to Yellow-C1n'ls’ mother that “they had had a pleasant time” (that’s what they were told to say). But she knew without being told that it was true. Then the party was over and we trooped out into the street and played in everyday fashion till it began to get dark and Dick came up the hill to light the lamps. !\‘,L _ “- P7»:/, '?,"‘ .-g_‘ t"':1:;Qe 8g L“ fitL eh ‘£1t “'1 L“ Q,_ "_ " v‘_M “Mk r - - fig L“ /P 4 i-. "¢zig. o'- pl K” r 84. ._ ,. }I;w “.- -,\ ‘' - _~ -_ _;_ ‘u - vtt Q“ 3“ x -‘_ §_-_‘W J. KS_ 3 . _' ‘\ ' ‘r. 8, " _,Lt, ¢ t- -..;| ‘mi Lev t‘ J A ‘ '“ ii L Q .; ‘‘ ' ‘§"Q3‘' t" \ ., ‘. 1‘ ‘ ‘ w, -:-itf" \ ,; ‘ ‘_ 1 . C‘ -_ ‘'- Chapter III A GLIMPSE OF PIE-CRUST TOWN OW Dick the Lamplighter was a fine fellow. The N children liked him, every one of them, and as soon as he started to climb the hill they ran to meet him. He had names for all of the lamp-posts, but he used to change them around just to tease us. Starting at the foot of the hill came Mary, then James, then Harry. And next was Tillie, then Peter, then Willie. On the night of the party before Dick had finished lighting the lamps Puggsy came to the door and called The Door-Slammer and Two-Braids. She said that they were tired. How Puggsy always seemed to know even before the children themselves did whether they were hungry or tired or dirty was certainly surprising. So they were led up to the ntu'sery and made ready for bed. While they were undressing they told their mother and Puggsy all about the birthday party. “And did they have their marmers about them, and make their bows and say what mother had drilled them to say to Yellow-Curls’ mother?” Two-Braids was sure that she had said it all, word for word, but The Door-Slammer was not so sure, and mother and Puggsy 13 14 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET seemed worried and said that they were not very proud of him. Then goodnights were said, the light was gone, and Two-Braids was asleep. Probably the reason she always was awake in the morning first was because she always went to sleep the instant the covers were tucked in around her ears. But The Door-Slammer liked to think things over and watch the shadows in the nursery. By this time all the children had been called in, even The Chil- dren-Who-Broke-All-of-Their-Toys-on-Christmas, and no one was down in the street but the lamp-posts, Mary and James and Han'y, and the others, Tillie and Peter and Willie. While The Door-Slammer was thinking of this some- thing quite surprising happened. Dick the Lamplighter came along. “Hooray,” said The Door-Slammer when he saw him. “Where are you going?” “Well,” answered Dick, “Mary and James and Harry and the other three, Tillie and Peter and Willie, are getting crosser every day they live. They want to go sight-seeing. They say that they never see anything but this same old street and that it’s getting on their nerves, too dull for words and so on.” “Where will you take them to see sights?” asked The Door-Slammer. A GLIMPSE OF PIE-CRUST TOWN 15 “Don’t know yet,” said Dick, “but we’ll get started and something will happen. It always does.” “I’d like to go too,” said The Door-Slammer. “Come along,” said Big Dick, “simplest thing in the world.” It did indeed prove quite simple, for the next minute they were down in the street together. But the strangest of sights met their eyes. Mary and James and Harry as well as Tillie and Peter and Willie were standing waiting for them, talking quietly together and dressed like regular children. Their lights were turned quite low under their hats and bonnets, which gave them a pleasant expression. And The Door-Slammer spied Miss Chatty’s big, yellow persian cat standing talking with the lamp-posts, so he concluded that the cat was going sightrseeing too. Then Big Dick said, “Come on everybody.” So they started down the hill. But when they came to the foot of the hill things looked very queer and un- natural. Where the mill and the stores and the station had always been there now stood a very high gray wall. It had one low door-way in it. And they all began to go on tip-toe, Big Dick, the lamp-posts, Miss Chatty’s cat, and even The Door-Slammer. The reason they did it was because it seemed to be that kind of a place, and no one knew what was on the other side of the high gray wall. A GLIMPSE OF PIE-CRUST TOWN 17 Everybody said, “Oh, really!” “Yes, really and truly,” answered the baker. The houses were tall and exceedingly pretty, with much lattice work and fluted roofs. And the windows had red jelly window-panes like party tarts. Some houses were trimmed in raisins, others in cloves. But strange to say each one had a “For Rent” sign on the door. But they were all very fancy and clever, and the Sight- Seers told the baker how much they admired his handiwork, for he had followed them in order to hear their remarks. “Ah, yes, yes,” sighed the baker. “All would be well if it were not for just one certain thing.” “What’s that?” asked everybody. “N o one will live in the houses,” answered the baker sadly. “Why not?” asked the Lamp-posts eagerly. The baker lowered his voice to a mysterious whisper and rolled his eyes about, then said—“Mice!” “Whew!” exclaimed Miss Chatty’s big, yellow per- sian cat. “Did you speak?” snapped the baker, whirling to- ward the cat. “Not yet,” answered the cat, “but I’m about to. How many mice have you?” ll;,>-\ i§awm» \“-Q Q . . 1 U I b mljllllll “Gillions!” answered the baker desperately. “That’s only a handful,” sneered the cat, who had an enormous appetite. “They’re yours,” said the baker, with a generous wave of the hand. “Done,” said the cat. And thus the agreement was made between the two A GLIMPSE OF PIE-CRUST TOWN 19 that Miss Chatty’s big, yellow persian cat was to put an end once and for all to the mice in Pie-Crust Town. When the bargain was completed the baker felt so happy that he hopped and skipped and invited them to sample the houses—to taste everything. It sounds funny, of course, but the houses tasted fine. Small wonder that the mice enjoyed living in Pie-Crust Town! All of the sidewalks were of pie-crust, then there was a lady-finger church, a macaroon schoolhouse, and every roof was frosted either in pink or white or chocolate frosting. It was a wonderful place. The lamp-posts were peeping into every door and window like regular sight-seers—not missing a single thing. Someone asked suddenly what had become of the cat. Everyone looked around, they then saw him away up on a roof doing a strange thing. He was rolling backwards and forwards in the elegant pink frosting with which the roof was covered. The baker groaned— “My best roofl” But he controlled himself as the cat bounced down off the roof into the square. “I’m ready for the contest,” said the now pink coated cat. “Bring on your mice.” “We won’t have to bring them,” answered the baker. “They’ll come.” The plan was that Miss Chatty’s big, yellow per- A GLIMPSE OF PIE-CRUST TOWN 21 to speak, but he managed to say that he had nearly ruined his only coat in order to trick those miserable mice and that it would take him weeks and weeks to lick all the frosting off—and he didn’t like the flavor-— at all. At that the baker gave the cat a scornful look and said he didn’t need to be so particular, for after all he had spoiled the very finest roof in town and his silly plan had been a fizzle in the end. And he wrung his hands and the tears squirted out of his little eyes as he thought about how he had allowed these sight-seers to snip off tastes of houses all over town! The lamp-posts were very stiff and indignant. They wouldn’t look at The Door-Slammer at all. They said it was an outrage when they were out to make a night of it to have all their fun spoiled by one careless noisy boy! Even Big Dick, who was never cross, started to say something cross—but suddenly he turned into Puggsy. Yes, he did. And Puggsy said the usual thing—“Time to get up little dears.” The Door-Slammer opened his eyes. Instead of standing in the square in Pie-Crust Town and being scolded for being careless and noisy, he was in his own nursery with Puggsy’s pleasant face smiling down on him. You see he had been dreaming. THE BLUE BALLOON §._§ '\.‘ 55;‘? AT breakfast The Door-Slammer tried his lbiestttqtell Puggsy and Two-Braids about his experience Pie-Crust Town, but Two-Braids kept interrupting and saying that it was only a dream and that dreams-4nevergj O came true. But Puggsy was very polite and l.i‘s_t‘ened‘ l carefully, and said that it was a very good dream and had a good moral which she hoped he would not forget. l‘ They were still talking about 'this*when they heard a l '1 strange sound—"Ba-loons—Ba-loonsi!” . I | “Hooray!” shouted the two Children, leaping from _~; their chairs. “Please excuse us Puggsy,” they called on°7_f their way out of the door. They made_ directly for the group in the middle of the street, surrounding ‘the Balloon Man who stood there holding the dancing, en- chanting things by their slender strings—red ones, blue ones, green ones, purple ones. How could anyone like one better than another! They were all so beautiful. The Balloon Man was a fat, frowsy fellow, but with that beautiful bouquet of balloons in his hand he appeared handsome enough to the children. He had a very loud <3‘ vi‘ I L 1 I Y’ 1 22 THE BLUE BALLOON 23 voice and kept calling over and over—“Ba-loons, ba- me—only a dime!” only cost a nickel it would have e of the children had a whole dy-Heels. He ran in and shook n pennies dropped out, but he hat Miss Chatty heard him and eh, ,- ~ ‘~‘<‘=-at ah liq- Eh“ il:-‘z~ 1* back—every one. he Door-Slammer had the sort open until they were full. You ut no matter how hard you * ne of The Children-Who-Broke- 15" ~ istmas had a cent. They earned ->1 errands, but always hmried up “"' nd spent it right off. <§.§31ldn’t-Talk-Plairi had had seven 5body’s Grandfather took him to mér_ nem all on the plate when a man éififrihad Yellow-Curls. on Man seemed to understand that no one was going to buy a balloon that day, and he was about to go when the garden gate at the New Children’s' house opened and the crabby nurse came out walking very proudly and straight. The Children all moved back as she went directly up to the Balloon Man and selected 24 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET a beautiful blue balloon. Then, holding it very tightly by the string, she went back into the garden and banged the gate behind her. The Balloon Man, concluding that he could not make any more sales that day, went off down the hill and disappeared from sight. The children felt rather disappointed, and decided to save their pennies so that when he came again they could buy balloons too. “Well, let’s do something,” said The Door-Slammer. “What shall we do?” asked the others. “Oh, I know!” said one of The Children-Who-Broke- All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas. “Let’s build a brick oven, with a chimney, and cook.” “Let’s,” said everybody. “Someone will catch us and make us quit,” said Muddy-Heels, still thinking of his thirteen pennies that he was not allowed to spend. “No they won’t,” said Two-Braids, who always looked on the bright side. “Come on everybody, get bricks,” said The Door- Slammer, “and I know where there is a piece of stove- pipe.” And so the oven was started. They all brought something, and it was built in the gutter where there was a nice little hollow place—just the thing for an oven. -— - THE BLUE BALLOON 25 . ,\\ \ /v .!ee” Everything was going finely, when suddenly a voice said, “Well, well, well, what are you children doing?" “There,” said Muddy-Heels, desperately, “I knew we’d be caught.” “No we’re not,” said Two-Braids. “It’s only Puggsy.” Puggsy never spoiled the fun, as we all knew. Instead she squatted down in the street and peeped 26 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET inside the oven. And she said she guessed she’d stay and show us how to roast potatoes. Then she sent The Door- Slammer in to ask his mother to give him some potatoes to roast. Then the first thing we knew all the mothers had come out to look at the oven too, and they seemed to think it was all right as long as Puggsy was there to watch the fire and see that no harm was done. And now the potatoes were roasting nicely and we were all sitting around waiting, when one mother came out with some sandwiches, then another sent some crack- ers and cheese, and Yellow-Curls’ mother sent a big plate of hot cookies. What do you think of that? Here we were having a sort of picnic even if we didn’t get to buy balloons. Finally Puggsy poked the potatoes with a stick and said that they were done, and we all sat on the curb in a row and ate. We had a wonderful time of course. Puggsy told us about the ovens she used to build when she was little. But while we were sitting there Yellow-Curls sud- denly screamed—“Oh look!” What do you suppose she saw? Why the beautiful blue balloon that the New Children’s nurse had bought for them. Someone had let go of the string. It floated gently upward with its string dangling. It moved off so easily—almost as if THE BLUE BALLOON 27 it were happy to be free. Up over the house-tops, over the trees into the sky. Then, try as you would, you could not see it any more. The blue balloon was gone. “Oh, where has it gone?” asked all of the Children together. “Do you know, Puggsy?” They all thought that Puggsy knew everything. “No, I don’t know,” said Puggsy, shaking her fat head till her ear-rings swrmg. “But maybe if it don’t get caught in a tree it will in a cloud.” “Then what would happen?” asked Muddy-Heels. “Well,” said Puggsy, “it might ride along on the cloud all day till evening, then the cloud might go too near the sun, and the balloon would blow up and that would be the end of it.” “Poor little blue balloon,” said Yellow-Curls, “why did you run away?” And the Children all felt very sorry for the New Children who had lost their lovely balloon and had not helped to build the gutter oven or eaten the potatoes and other good things. ‘NI! G 32 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET fairy, “I didn’t see any of the excitement because I was taking a snooze. Somebody please tell me all about it.” That was exactly what the ragged fairy was aching to do, so he began without being urged further. “It was this-a-way,” he began. “I was sitting on the toppest leaf of the tallest poplar that ever grew.” “Bragging again,” said the other fairies together. But the ragged one went on—“And I saw this enormous balloon coming snorting and roaring through the air.” “Take it back,” shouted the others. “It wasn’t making a single sound.” So rather than stop, the ragged fairy took that part of his story back. “And,” he continued, “I knew I could catch it because I have the best wings that any fairy living ever had.” At this every fairy in the basket groaned, and some of the worst looking ones threatened to push the ragged one out of the basket unless he stopped this foolish bragging. So he promised that he’d stop if they would allow him to finish his story. “So,” he went on, “away I went after it and soon caught up, flying at top speed as I was. It took nerve of course!” “Oh, rats!” yelled a bad looking fairy and started __¢_ _ Chapter VI PRINCE THE ROCKING HORSE THE Baby-Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain was a very generous child, and none of us ever dreamed of making fun of the way he talked because we were all so fond of him. He had by far the finest rocking horse in the street. He called the horse Prince, which was a very good name because Prince did not look at all like a com- mon horse, having always a very proud glitter in his round glassy eyes. Then, too, he had a wonderful gallop very much like a “really” horse. And he was coal black, with a stiff black tail and a very red nose and mouth. 34 PRINCE THE ROCKING HORSE 35 The Baby-Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain allowed any of us to ride whenever we wished. Sometimes when the weather was bad we kept Prince on the go all day long. But everyone patted him a great deal, so probably he rather liked it. We used to pretend that he understood what we said, but, of course, he didn’t. One day we were all sitting on the floor and had stopped riding so that Prince could get his breath. Muddy-Heels said, “I wish we knew more about Prince. Can’t somebody tell us a story about him?” “Sine I can,” said the biggest of The Children- Who - Broke - All - Their - Toys - on - Christmas. We often called her the Story-teller because she usually knew one, and made up most of our games and always thought up new Adventures when we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. “Well,” began the Story-teller, rolling her eyes, which she always did until she got a good start. “Shall I start with ‘Once upon a time’ or ‘Many, many years ago’?” “ ‘Many, many years ago,’ ” agreed everybody. So she did, and this is the story of Prince, the black charger, just as she told it: “Many, many years ago there was a Robber. He lived in a deep wood, and the wood was very dark and dangerous. The Robber was not as terrible as some 36 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET robbers, yet when Kings and Nobles came riding along with heavy bags of gold he, of course, made them give the gold up. Yet he never killed anybody and was generous to beggars who were not robbers also. “Now the Robber had living with him his aged mother, who happened to be a Witch. Most of the time she was a good Witch, but sometimes she did evil things, such as tiuning folks into toads—(which is some- times called Magic). ‘ - “Now the Witch made brews in a big black pot.” “What are brews?” asked Muddy-Heels. But the other children made him hush because it was against the rules to ask a Story-teller questions. “Well,” went on the Story-teller, “one day she went deep into the dangerous, dark wood to get herbs for her brew. She dug and dug all day long, and when night came she took her way back to the little hut among the tall trees. But she found the door standing open and the Robber was not there. Even his hat with the long red plume was gone. “All that night she watched and waited, and he did not come, or for many, many more days and nights. She would have died from worry if it had not been for the brew which she drank out of the big black pot. It kept her alive. PRINCE THE ROCKING HORSE 37 H “fin Then one day, all of a sudden, the Robber came crawling back through the trees and br1ars—and there ‘I ‘i gyfliflwhf pix?‘ \l ll was a piece of a chain hanging to him. He was pale and weak, for he had been in prison down in a dark dungeon.” 38 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET “How did he get out?” asked Muddy-Heels, in- terrupting again. “Oh, he escaped,” said the Story-teller quickly, “and made his way back through the wood to the little hut where his mother, the Witch, lived. “While the Witch had been off gathering herbs for her brew the Robber had been caught by a young Prince and his Nobles whom he had tried to rob of their gold and jewels. Strong as he was, they made him a captive and threw him into prison. And he was fed on bread and water and tormented by rats and beetles. “And when he told his story to the Witch she scowled darkly and grew very angry and vowed that she would punish the Prince for his impudence. She could not decide just how to punish him, so she stirred and stirred her brew until she got an idea. She would use Magic! She would turn him into a beast, so that he could never never put any more nice robbers in prison. “She waited for her chance. Some days later the dashing young Prince and his band of Nobles came riding along all beautifully dressed in satins and velvets and riding fine steeds. And suddenly the young Prince spied a poor old, old beggar by the roadside and stopped to give her a piece of silver. As he leaned down from his saddle she hissed and made three passes in the air. 7 PRINCE THE ROCKING HORSE 39 The f'n‘st thing that the Prince knew he had been turned into a coal black Charger. His Nobles fled in terror, fearing that they too might be turned into beasts. “So ever after the dashing young Prince was a coal black Rocking-horse.” “How did he get here?” asked Muddy-Heels. “Well, don’t you know when a story is over?” asked the Story-teller in a hrut tone. “You must not go on asking questions for that spoils a story.” So, knowing what Prince had been before he came to live with The Baby-VVho-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain, we all had great respect for him and admired him even more than we had before. “apt Chapter VII WHY MUDDY-HEELS HAD A SORE THROAT ‘ X IE usually all played together, but there were times when the boys played marbles and the girls cut out paper-dolls. But after Puggsy made the Doll-House things were quite different, for the girls spent a great deal of time up in Puggsy’s room where the wonderful Doll-House was kept. And the boys were always left out of the fun, not that they wanted to play with dolls—oh, never! But they thought that some one—certainly Puggsy herself—-should have at least asked them to come too. It made them quite cross. It was really a wonderful Doll-House. It had cur- tains and a carpet on the floor and wall-paper on the walls! And Everybody’s Grandfather had made some tiny pieces of furniture out of cigar boxes. There was a table and little chairs and a bed. And they had blue dishes on the table and a pillow and patch-work quilt on the bed. A long-haired doll lived in the house and the girls made dozens and dozens of dresses for her and hats and hats. And they cut scraps all over Puggsy’s room, but she didn’t even say “tut-tut.” Puggsy didn’t! 40 VVHY MUDDY-HEELS HAD A SORE THROAT 41 Well one day, when the girls had whispered a lot about the Doll-House and finally all scampered up to Puggsy’s room to play, the boys decided that .they would go on some fierce Adventure and not tell the girls a word till it was all over. They knew how sorry they’d be then! But they couldn’t think of anything quite fierce enough. Finally Muddy-Heels said, “Let’s go fishing.” “We’re not allowed,” said The Door-Slammer. “We are too,” answered Muddy-Heels, “but we’re not allowed to go wading. No one ever said a word about fishing.” And this was quite true as far as it went—for every child in the street had been forbidden to wade in the creek unless some grown-up person were along, but no one had ever said anything about fishing in the creek. So it was decided that it would be an Adventure if they stole off, without the girls ever guessing, and caught fish in the creek. None of those little boys knew much about fishing, but they did know that angle worms, bent pins, string, and sticks would be needed. These things were soon gathered together and they got away without being seen, down the hill, back of Our Street, to where the little creek curved between the trees and went off through the meadows toward the mill. WHY MUDDY-HEELS HAD A SORE THROAT 43 and Miss Chatty hustled him home, and she put him to bed. The rest of us wondered whether she did that to Q!’ \ . %? 0"! f/kw 301‘ W71 punish him or to get him warmed up. Anyway we didn’t see him again that day. And not one of the boys said a word about Adventures. Every child in the 44 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET street, whether they had been fishing or not, got a good talking to about how dangerous little creeks were. And the next day poor Muddy-Heels had a sore throat and had to wear a red flannel around it and stay in doors. All he could eat was bean-soup, which he did not like. The rest of us talked to him through the window pane and The Baby-Who-Couldn’t-Talk- Plain gave him his new puzzle. Miss Chatty said that it all came about because we were disobedient, and Muddy-Heels hung his head and didn’t say anything. \ “ii Chapter VIII THE DWARFS NE day Two-Braids and The Door-Slammer were 0 sent on an errand to one of the stores down by the mill. They liked very much to go down there because it was quite different from Our Street and you were liable to see something exciting—horses and car'ts and new people. Well, sure enough, as they came nearer the mill they saw a man with a long handled brush and a bucket of paste, putting up a big bill. They stood still and watched. When the bill was slapped into place it showed a picture of- some strange, strange people, short and fat, with big heads and bulging eyes. As neither of the children could read the printing they asked the man with the long handled brush what it meant. All he said was “Dwarfs” and went on pounding the picture to make it stick on the mill. “Dwarfs, what are dwarfs?” said the children to each other. The bill-man did not seem to want to talk, so they did their errand like good children and hurried up to Everybody’s Grandfather to ask him if he knew what “Dwarfs” meant. And he did. He told them all 45 46 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET about some dwarfs that he saw once years ago. They must have been fine. Then The Door-Slammer and Two-Braids spread the news up and down Our Street and we all went down to look at the picture on the mill. There were three dwarfs, one funny little woman and two little men, and they were coming on the Seventeenth—in a tent—ad- mission ten cents. Just as it was the day the Balloon Man came— nobody had ten cents. What were we to do? “Let’s earn money,” said one of The Children-Who- Broke-All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas. “Let’s,” agreed the rest of us. Everybody went home and talked about the Dwarfs and how we just must earn the money to see them. It was quite easy for Muddy-Heels to ear n money because when he carried baskets for ladies who had been to Miss Chatty’s store they nearly always gave him a penny. Yellow-Curls’ mother, who always helped, said she could earn her ten cents pulling bastings. Two-Braids wiped dishes for the cook and The Door-Slammer was paid a penny every time he didn’ t slam a door. And The Baby-Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain was given a penny each time he hung up his clothes and brushed his teeth. 48 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET boys mostly. A man on a box in front of the tent was urging everybody to hurry inside before all the seats were taken. Everybody’s Grandfather bought us each a bag of peanuts, then we all paid our dimes to the man 33 ._- -: ll! nil, Iifslfwi \ 4-43”‘ 1lLi \;\fl‘!&‘ 2 I . . - P if *“ll'llll@.liig ,5 - ' standing on the box, lifted the loose side of the tent, and went in. We were the first ones there! It was very hot and there were wooden benches in rows, so we sat down. A funny looking piano stood in one corner and a red curtain divided off another corner. We could hear THE DWARFS 49 queer voices behind the curtain. Everybody’s Grand- father told us that it was time to eat peanuts—so we did (all but Miss Chatty). But before long a lady with very red cheeks opened the curtains, came out, and started to play on the piano. She, however, was not a dwarf. Then the red curtain moved again and out stepped the Lady Dwarf. We all clapped om hands and she began to sing in her weenty- teenty voice. She looked like her picture that was pasted on the mill and she wore a blue satin dress with a train. When she had finished the song the man who had stood on the box outside came in and told us all about her— how much she weighed, how old she was, and where she came from. And all she did while he was talking was to blink her eyes very fast. We wondered if she liked being a dwarf. Then the man beckoned to Yellow-Curls who had to go up on the platform and stand beside the Lady Dwarf just to show how little she really was. Poor Yel- low-Curls looked very big and shy standing there. Next the two Men-Dwarfs came out and wrestled, and the boys all stood up to look until Miss Chatty made them sit down again. This time The Baby-Who- Couldn’t-Talk-Plain was called up to the platform to stand by the little men. And they only came to his 4 50 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET shoulder. Then the man who had stood on the box outside told us all about the Men-Dwarfs, and they blinked their eyes very fast. After that they jumped off the platform and came down by the benches selling photographs of themselves. We all wanted to buy one, but, of course, nobody had a quarter. Then the three dwarfs sang a song together and made gestures with their short arms—and that was the end of the show. We were told that the next one would be in fifteen minutes. We climbed over the benches, lifted the loose side of the tent, and were out in the fresh air once more. And everybody talked at once and wished that they had an- other dime to see it all over again. t Chapter IX THE GENIAL GIANT N daytime, when Miss Chatty’s Store was open and I customers might drop in at any moment, she was very stern and quite liable to snap her thin fingers at you if you asked too many questions or dropped things on the floor. But evenings, after she had locked the front door, counted the money in the black tin box, and put everything in good order—then she was a different per- son. She wouldpush her glasses up on top of her head, take her green watering can, and go out into the garden behind the store to water the plants. The big yellow cat would jump down out of the window and slowly follow her. And about that time in the evening if Muddy- Heels teased hard enough she nearly always told him a story. She had a great many of them in her head, and he, like all the other children in the street, never, never got enough stories. One evening we were all up at that end of the street, playing jack-straws. We saw her lock the door and someone said, “Let’s get her to tell us a story.” 51 Chapter X THE BIRTHDAY PICNIC IT was now time for another birthday in Our Street. The Door-Slammer was very happy indeed because it was his birthday. He thought about it a great deal and talked it over with his mother, and between them- selves they decided that it would be great fun to have a Birthday Picnic, and invite all of the children in the street, Everybody’s Grandfather, and Puggsy, of course. They decided to have the picnic down by the creek. When it would be time to eat The Door-Slammer’s mother would send all the pretty baskets and come herself with the big table-cloth which she and Puggsy would spread on the grass under a big tree. Then, of course, everybody would stop playing and sit down and eat the picnic. The Door-Slammer certainly thought that he could not wait until the day came. But he and his mother thought it would be fimny to keep the picnic a secret, so he went about singing “I know a secret—I know a secret!” And Two-Braids very nearly guessed it. But she didn’t. At last there was just one more day left. The Door- Slammer’s mother said thasié it was time now to invite MM?’ __.}\7 — 58 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET At exactly ten o’clock we all rang The Door-Slam- mer’s door bell. The picnic was supposed to start then——- and it did! Puggsy took charge of all the wrapped-up birthday presents and said that they were not to be opened until later. For a moment The Door-Slammer felt a little bit cross, but got over it at once, because you know that if you are cross on your birthday you’ll be that way all through the year. Then we were told that it was time to start, and we went gaily down the hill toward the creek. Puggsy was very careful going down a hill because she said if she ever got started rolling she’d go clear to the bottom. “Oh, oh! Well, well!” said Everybody’s Grand- father: “Just see this!” But nobody could see because they were not tall enough. It was a beautiful bird’s nest and Grandfather lifted each of us up, in tiun, to look into the little home where three tiny bright-eyed birds cuddled together making a great deal of noise. But their poor little worried mother on a near-by branch made even more fuss. Then Muddy-Heels said that he would like to have one of the little birds for a pet, to put in a cage. But Grandfather said that it would be very, very wicked to take it, indeed it would be stealing. And just think how badly the poor little bird would feel THE BIRTHDAY PICNIC 59 to leave its home and how the poor little mother would miss it! So everyone of us promised that never, never would we rob a bird’s nest. When we reached the creek what do you suppose Puggsy said? Well, she said that we could all go in wad- ing! Shoes and stockings came off in a jiffy and in we went. The water was nice and warm and the sand in the bottom was soft and oozy and the stones were as smooth as satin. The sunlight came through the leaves and danced gaily on the water. Everybody’s Grandfather sat on a log and watched us. Then he surprised every- body by putting a funny little boat on the water. He had made it quick as a flash out of a piece of bark with a big maple leaf on a twig for a sail. Wasn’t that funny? Then he made some more little boats, till we had a whole fleet. 60 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET We paddled around in the creek until the mos- quitoes found us and began to nip our legs. So Puggsy said that we had better come out and get into our shoes and stockings. She had a towel for each of us, but we got our shoes and stockings mixed up and had a great time. After that the boys went to hunt tree-toads and the girls strung dandelions and made baskets out of burrs as little girls always do at picnics. Then The Cl1ildren- Who-Broke-All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas climbed trees, tall ones, but the rest of us were afraid and sat still and watched. While we were doing this we heard a gay “Co’ee,” and at the top of the hill was The Door-Slammer’s mother waving and calling to the boys to come and help her carry down the baskets. - It didn’t take those boys very long to get up the hill, and in about a minute everything was down—even the big blue bucket of lemonade and the watermelon. Then The Door-Slammer’s mother told us to tin'n our backs and hide our eyes till she called—“ready.” So we turned our backs and dug our fists into our eyes till we saw colored stars. It seemed along, long time till she called—“ready now.” We spun around quick as a flash at that. My, my, how pretty the picnic was! THE BIRTHDAY PICNIC 61 There on the big white table-cloth under the tree were the prettiest little baskets you ever saw—one for each child, and Grandfather too. And The Door-Slammer’s Mother and Puggsy told us to sit down, and at The Door-Slammer’s place was the pile of wrapped-up birth- day presents. So before we ate anything he opened them all. There was a knife with two blades, a game in a box, a necktie, a story book, and heaps of handkerchiefs. But we were even more interested in the picnic baskets, and when The Door-Slammer’s mother said the word we lifted off the covers all at once. Everybody gasped! And Muddy-Heels upset his lemonade. There were fancy sandwiches and stuffed eggs, which you had to pick up very carefully. There were pickles, of course, and chicken drum-sticks which you could wave at your friends across from you. Then there were cookies with sugar and nuts on top and candy wrapped in tin-foil. We all drank a great many glasses of lemonade and most of us asked for some more watermelon. We told riddles, the same old ones that are always told at parties, but nobody cared. The Door-Slammer’s mother said that we were each to keep our little baskets to take home with us. And so that part of the picnic ended. Then The Children-Who-Broke-All-Their-Toys-on- 62 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET Christmas invented a new game called “Robber, Robber,” but it was rather rough, and several of the girls got their dresses torn, and The Baby-VVho-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain fell down and skinned his nose, so we played Crack-the-Whip instead. And before we knew it the sun was away down in the sky behind the trees. It was time to go home, for the picnic was all over and the creatures that lived around the creek were beginning to make night noises. Then like polite children we followed Yellow-Curls to tell The Door-Slammer’s mother that we had had “a pleasant time.” Chapter XI THE HAY-LOFT ACK of the house where The Children-Who-Broke- B All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas lived was a most in- teresting barn. It was red and dark, and filled with all sorts of things. And it was the finest place in the world to play on rainy days. When you first went in you couldn’t see for a minute, then after a while you began to know what was there, a spinning wheel, a frmny little old trrmk, broken chairs, old lanterns, and boots—and there were cob-webs over everything! But we didn’t ever really know all the things that were back in the darkest corners or under the stairs. g When you were downstairs you heard mice running around upstairs, and then when you were up there yourself, you could hear them scampering about below. There was hay in the loft, fine slippery hay. If you climbed way, way up to the top of the stack you could sit down and slide very nicely or else jump, if you’d rather. Sometimes Major, the horse, was in the bam, but most always he was out on “the farm,” then we played in his stall too. 63 THE HAY-LOFT 65 Seek. Two-Braids was “it.” We had counted out in the usual way and as she was the last one “out” she had, of course, to be “it.” She hid her eyes in her apron and counted to a hundred, or pretended to—for she couldn’t really count. Then she called just as loud as she could, “A bushel of wheat, a bushel of barley, all not ready holler Charley.” She waited a minute, and as none of us hollered Charley, she started to hunt. All was as quiet as a mouse. We peeped and saw her tipping about, looking behind things and under things. Then she be- gan to dig in the hay. Suddenly she squealed, “Oh, looky, looky, what I’ve found.” We all jumped out from our hiding places, for we knew that it was really something that she had found. Two-Braids had come across a nest full of eggs. The eggs were so small that we guessed at once that they must belong to Yellow-Curls’ little bantam hen. Every day the little hen started out in her business-like way, crawled under the hedge, then after a while came back with a bragging little cluck. None of us touched the nest and we decided to play Hide and Go Seek with the little bantam hen herself. So we all got back into the hay and waited. It wasn’t so very long until we heard her coming—scratch, scratch, up the stairs. It took her so long that she flew the rest 5 68 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET huge bonfire and snapped and crackled, and the sparks and smoke went away up in the sky in fine style. And the bonfire had a very nice smell, which somehow made us hungry. Finally every leaf was gone, not one more to be seen, and the fire got smaller and smaller, and then got black and was gone. Just then a door opened. “Come children,” said a pleasant voice, “come right back to the kitchen.” It was the Mother of The Baby- Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain, and she was inviting Puggsy and all of us into her nice, big kitchen. We went, of course, though we didn’t know what was going to happen —something to eat we hoped, because we were all as hungry as bears. And this is what happened. She said that such good children as we were to sweep the whole street should have a treat, so she was going to let us pop corn and pull taffy. Think of it—doing both of those things all in one day. The boys said, “hooray!” And probably the girls said, “goody, goody.” We took off our caps and muf- flers and cloaks in a hurry, and washed our hands be- cause we were told to. Then the mother of The Baby- Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain tied big gingham aprons around all of us, even the boys, and we went to work. 1 qfi -: t‘? t. ‘' ‘'¢ ‘. i 1Q'w'”v ‘Q ‘H t:‘ X \ ‘Jab I ‘ m $’??? -a t‘; .-;-'.1 _ ‘t_'l‘ ‘ ‘%-£ A ‘ ‘ - P‘ . 6 - 6 \,‘ MiL $ ru- THE BONFIRE 69 Some shelled pop-corn, which is sharp and prickly and hard to get off the cob. Someone else put it in the popper, which was kept flying backward and forward over the hot stove. Very soon it began to smell good, then to sputter, and pop as white as snow. The syrup for the taffy was boiling away and Puggsy watched that, her face getting redder and redder beside the hot stove. The Door-Slammer and Muddy-Heels made a great noise cracking nuts for the taffy on a flat iron. Some- times they cracked their fingers instead. Then when the syrup was ready some of us made lovely round white stickey pop-corn balls and others pulled taffy till it was stiff. Then we ate and ate till every- thing was gone, but you should have seen that kitchen! But good old Puggsy helped put it in order; then it was time to go home. Chapter XIII THE FIRST SNOW NEARLY every day in Our Street brought its own Adventure, which was always helped along, if it were the right sort of adventure, by some of our dear kind friends among the grown-ups. Not very long after the bonfire came the first snow. One day we were standing in our different win- dows overlooking Our Street, drawing with one finger on the steamy window-panes. This is great fim, but as a rule mothers do not like it because it makes the windows look badly. We had flattened our noses against the cold window-panes, stuck out our tongues and waved and waved to each other, and had really run out of any- thing to do. The big, soft quiet snow-flakes were coming down thick and fast. They had fallen so far that we wondered if they were not very glad when they reached the ground. At just about the same time we all began to tease our mothers to be allowed to go and see Everybody’s Grandfather. We said he was lonesome. Whether he was or not no one will ever know. The mothers finally 70 THE FIRST SNOW 71 gave their consent and doors opened all along the street and out we came in our caps and hoods and things. <\ \- -~=)~ $- 0- *- ' 1 an. ' Some had red mittens and some had blue ones—and some of the mittens had holes in them. Of course the boys began to make snow-balls at once and the girls squealed and ran as girls always do. THE FIRST SNOW 73 Then the next thing it was morning. We all bounced out of bed without being called, dressed in a jiffy, ate our breakfasts as fast as we could, and scrambled into our out-door things. My, what a calling and laughing in the street! We all ran as fast as we could, pell-mell, over to see if Grand- father had finished the sled. He had. And he was putting on his cap with the ear-tabs and his muffler and big red mittens. Then he said that he was going coasting too, that we needed a man to steer the White Flyer. Everyone there jumped up and down with ex- citement. When the White Flyer was out in the street it looked very fme and there was loads of room for everyone. All who could grabbed a hold on the rope and we dragged it up to the top of the hill by Miss Chatty’s door, where we planned to start. Her big, yellow persian cat sat in the window solemnly watching us. And Miss Chatty herself came out and admired the VVhite Flyer and looked very much as if she would enjoy a ride too. Well, we got on. Grandfather was first, holding the rope, with his feet up on the bar that you steer with. The Baby-Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain was next, then the girls, and last of all Muddy-Heels, who was to give us a push, then rim and jump on. 74 ADVENTU RES IN OUR STREET Off we went. The start was fine, but we ended in a snow-drift. It was very furmy. But the next time we went clear down the hill past the mill, as far as the place where the Dwarf’s tent had been. Each time it got nicer and nicer and the White Flyer went faster and faster. After Grandfather went in to warm his feet Muddy-Heels sat in front and steered. Grown-ups in the houses watched and waved. The poor New Children were allowed to watch us, but not to come out and coast—the poor things. It was so much fun coasting that we hated to waste time eating our dinners. And before we knew it the sun was ready to have the Genial Giant put him to bed. Then we were called in. And the White Flyer was put to bed in Miss Chatty’s Store where she said we might keep it so that when morning came it would be ready to start right off down the hill. Zea T». Chapter XIV CHRISTMAS TIME THE snowy days kept on coming, with a little fresh snow on top every night, so that we coasted and coasted. But Christmas was in the air and we were all counting the days and talking of the things which we hoped Santa Claus would bring to us. There were a great many secrets in our street. We all knew that Everybody’s Grandfather had one because he kept himself shut up in his room, and we could hear sawing and hammering and smell paint. And Puggsy had a secret too. VVhenever she heard any of us children coming she’d cover something in her lap with her apron. Of course all the mothers in the street had secrets as well, and drawers and closets were locked up tight as never before. Christmas surely was in the air. Then people began to hang holly wreaths in their windows and it was just a few days away. And at last it was The Night Before Christmas, which is by far the nicest time in the whole long year because you know that some- thing grand is going to happen. You know it for certain sure, and it’s such fine fun to keep on guessing and guessing. . rs 76 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET Well, on this Night Before Christmas we all went to bed expecting to hear sleigh-bells in the night, then look out and see Santa Claus just going down this chimney or that chimney with his enormous pack fairly spilling over the roof. But instead we slept through it all—never heard a sound! My, oh, my! the surprises that there were on Christ- mas morning! How Santa Claus ever managed to deliver so many things in one street in just one short night was a mystery. And, furthermore, he left a beautiful tree all trimmed at every house where there was a child—he did. Another remarkable thing he seemed to know about all the things each of us particularly wanted, and brought besides a lot of things that we wanted without knowing it. And at last we knew Grandfather’s and Puggsy’s secrets. Grandfather had made little sail-boats for each of the boys and a beautiful work-box for every girl. They were just like things out of a store, all shiny and painted. Now we knew what Puggsy had kept covered up in her lap before Christmas—mittens! Fine red ones with fancy wrists—every child a pair. Then came the Santa Claus presents and the presents from our parents, so that there were toys everywhere. 78 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET rolling and marbles, and later we flew our kites and played jack-straws on the steps. But there came a time at last for us all to start to school, in the red school-house, way down the hill from the mill, across the bridge, far from Our Street. Then our Adventures were quite different, but we kept right on having them, and our pretty teacher’s name was Miss Phoebe, and we each had a fine black slate, and a pencil with red stripes rumiing around it, and a primer, which later we learned to read. i i _ __ ..-_~ t Chapter XV THE FIRST DAY TARTIN G to school was a new and wonderful ad- S venture to all of us in Our Street. We had talked about it and thought about it a great deal and had had our slates and pencils ready for days and days. At last the morning came. When the school bell finally rang we were waiting on the steps with our hats on and our school bags over our shoulders. The girls had clean gingham aprons and the boys stiff high collars and we all pranced when we walked. But we didn’t start off alone, not by any means, for nearly the whole street went with us—Parents, Puggsy, of course, Miss Chatty, and Everybody’s Grandfather. He said that he went along to tell the schoolma’am that she never need get after us with a birch. That rather scared us, and we wondered what she would be like. We met other children on the way, big boys and girls, who carried blue geographies and grammar books. They laughed at us—we didn’t know why, but we didn’t care because we were at last going to school too. We went down Our Street, passing some stores bigger than Miss Chatty’s. One of them was the ice- 19 ____ __i____ _____--df .-_.....=;§—_.;..__ ._ .-». ,\ _.2T____._‘- \... _ .. e _-. 1. __... J_1=.A_'uif\==':- THE FIRST DAY 81 scared. But when we saw Miss Phoebe no one was scared any more, not even Yellow-Curls. For Miss Phoebe had blue eyes and pink cheeks. She wore a big breast-pin with a tree and a house on it, and when she turned around there was a row of little curls on her neck. She wore a gray striped dress with ruffles and her hands were very white, and she had a ring on. We all liked her and Everybody’s Grandfather talked to her and she laughed and looked down at us. We sat in the first row by the windows that had plants in them and Muddy-Heels had the front seat. Blackboards went all around and there was a stove in one corner, and Miss Phoebe’s desk in the front and an organ near the desk. Miss Phoebe told us to put our slates on our desks and our primer books inside and to sit up straight and fold our hands like this. We must not whisper or trn'n around. But the Door-Slammer forgot and Miss Phoebe shook her head at him, which made her curls wiggle. Then our parents and Puggsy and Everybody’s Grandfather went home. Then maybe we did feel a little strange, and it seemed a long way back to Our Street. VVhen Miss Phoebe turned her back the bad big boys in the fourth row made ugly faces at us. They had bottles of ink, lots of books, and threw paper wads. 6 THE FIRST DAY 83 was about a cat and its picture was right across. Ducks were on the next page, and the third lesson was about a dog. ‘<1 The Door-Slammer always knew the first when Miss Phoebe said how much is two times three, but she let Two-Braids water the plants in the window. One day when The-Baby-VVho-Coulcln’t-Talk-Plain tried to say “rabbit” instead of “wabbit” the big boys THE FIRST DAY 85 would run, and when we were safe in Our Street call back, “Can’t catch a flea, can’t catch a flea.” The-Children- Who-Broke-All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas taught us that. Standing on the bridge and looking way down into the creek and dropping stones that made circles was great fun. Muddy-Heels and the Door-Slammer used to try to show off like the big boys and walk the top rail and stay till the last minute before Miss Phoebe rang the tardy bell. The-Baby-Who-Couldn’t-Talk-Plain told on them, and they called him tattle-tale, but Miss Phoebe made them stay in after school to punish them. Coming home from school we liked to look in the shop windows, which were bigger than Miss Chatty’s. And there was a wooden lady by the barber shop, an Indian lady, that we used to wonder about. And one windy night she blew over and broke her hatchet. She was upset in the street the next morning when we went to school. We always walked very slowly past the store where ice-cream was sold—and looked in. It was very pretty inside, with a big colored paper place on the ceil- ing. And you ate your ice-cream on marble-topped tables that were cold. Miss Phoebe told us that we were going to have Speaking Day and were all to have a speech and stand up by her desk and say it. Our mothers taught us our THE SAILOR 95 Suddenly the Sailor jumped to his feet, and at the same time the deep-voiced Whale said, “Equator to the port side.” And there exactly on the Equator was a big ship, the very ship that Our Sailor had been pushed off of by the wicked Captain. There he stood on the bridge, looking this way and that through his glass. But he didn’t see the Whale and the Sailor. He was flying a black flag from the mast and wearing a red sash. He was every inch a Pirate. The Sailor whispered quietly to the Whale, who winked shrewdly and moved up alongside the Pirate Ship. He arched his back and the Sailor stepped quickly on board. Stealing up behind the Captain he gave him a rude shove overboard. Then like a flash he turned the ship about and was off. He hauled down the black flag, told the frightened crew that henceforth he was the captain, and the ship set forth on an honest cruise. When they were well under way he went below and there spread out on the table was breakfast, starting with grape-fruit, ending with flap jacks, with ham and eggs in between. “What became of the wicked Captain?” asked Muddy-Heels. “I didn’t look back,” answered the Sailor. 96 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET But we all knew. Our fathers said that the Sailor’s story was the biggest fish story ever told, and our mothers said it wasn’t a particularly nice story. But we liked it. Muddy-Heels told it to Miss Phoebe, but she said it wasn’t a true story, for no one every really saw the Equator, even if our Sailor did say that he had. So probably he made it up just for fun. Don’t you suppose so yourself? ‘ow QM _ ll‘ / Z00‘! I'I] \°0. I -_ n__i _l _—- _M E ~__ 98 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET it made her shy when people talked about how large they were. But even if om‘ teeth did trouble us we had lots of exciting things happen—Adventures. And the one about the Parson’s Horse was one of the best. One day when we were coming home from school The-Children-Who-Broke-All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas began to clap their hands and say, “Oh, goody, goody.” Starting to run they called, “Come on.” Everybody ran, and in through their gate and around the house we went. And there, down back of the garden in the high grass,was the Parson’s horse and buggy tied to a post. The horse’s name was Duke and he was white and yellow. You see the Parson and Everybody’s Grandfather were friends and visited back and forth and talked about “the old days.” The Parson was a preacher and we went to his Sunday-school, and Everybody’s Grandfather sat in the front seat of his church, so that he could hear. But sometimes he went to sleep. Duke, the horse, and the buggy, which was crooked on the side where the Parson drove, was always tied down back of the garden where the tall grass was. And Duke ate all day long. He wouldn’t even stop eating when we patted him. But he’d jerk if we touched his ears. “Let’s ride horseback,” said the Children-Who- THE PARSON ’S HORSE 99 Broke-All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas. They didn’t seem at all afraid and had already started to untie Duke’s harness. So we all said, “Let’s.” Duke didn’t want to stop eating and kept his big head down, but they pulled with all their might, and pretty soon they had him untied all around and led him out of the buggy. The rest of us wondered how they’d ever get him back again, but they didn’t seem to think about that. He looked so tall and big and stamped loud with his feet, but they kept hold and, pulling him over to the fence, began to get on. It looked fine and exciting and scarey. We took turns riding, three of us at a time. There was plenty of room and your feet stuck out about straight, Duke’s back was so broad. And while part of us rode horseback the rest sat in the buggy and cracked the long black whip. Then one of The-Children-Who-Broke-All-Their- Toys-on-Christmas said she had a grand idea for “Pre- tend.” That was our favorite game now. “Let’s pretend that Muddy-Heels is George Wash- ington, and he’ll sit up straight all alone on Duke and the rest of us will march behind like soldiers.” (They had a picture over their mantle like that.) We thought it was fine, and Muddy-Heels was so pleased to be George 100 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET Washington and ride alone that his teeth chattered. Well, everything was ready and we were going to start when The Door-Slammer suddenly cracked the whip too near Duke’s ears. Goodness, but we were scared. Duke gave a big jump with his back feet and went galloping across the garden with poor Muddy-Heels hanging on for dear life and the harness dragging on the ground after them. We tried to keep up, but Duke went too fast. On they went through all the gardens without ever stopping till they came to Miss Chatty’s gate. Muddy- Heels had forgotten to catch the hook, so Duke went bolting right in, upsetting the broom and the sprinkling can. And the first thing that he did was to bite off the tops of Miss Chatty’s fuchsias. That was the worst thing he could have done in Miss Chatty’s garden, and poor Muddy-Heels couldn’t stop him. By this time about everybody in Our Street was out to see what all the yelling was about. We saw Every- body’s Grandfather and the Parson coming up the middle of the street looking very SU.I'pI'lS8Cl. But all our mothers and Puggsy looked scared. And poor Miss Chatty was pale as pale with seeing a big white horse tramping her neat garden and with Muddy-Heels on his back. But Duke was hard to catch. He acted as if he THE PARSON’S HORSE 101 enjoyed being a runaway. It took a lot of lump sugar till finally someone got hold of him. Then Muddy- Heels was lifted down and sent whimpering into the house. By this time everyone had forgotten about George Washington, for we knew that we would be scolded-— Muddy-Heels most of all. Though The-Children-Who- Broke-All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas were really the ones who started it. Their mother was always too busy to punish them, but anyway Everybody’s Grandfather was there to take their part if she did. Then Duke was led down the street. He was still chewing Miss Chatty’s fuchsias. The Parson and Every- body’s Grandfather hitched him back in the buggy, and all that they said was “the young rascals.” ‘fill \'r|\ ll A PRESENT FOR THE QUEEN OF FRANCE 103 coming down the hill. Both sides told on each other, but he didn’t seem to hear, but kept saying “Cannibals, ho, ho !” And he sat down with his back against the hut and we all sat down too—real close, for we thought that maybe he would tell us a story. We kept very quiet and he kept on saying “Canni- bals, ho, ho!” and chuckling. Of course he knew that we wanted a story. He could always tell. Finally he said, “Do you want to hear a story about a present for the Queen of France?” “Oh, yes,” we all said. Well, here’s the story about as he told it: Once upon a time there was a Queen of France who was always sighing- and wringing her hands for some- thing—one day for one thing and for something dif- ferent the next day. You never could tell what she would want. The King and all his Knights had worried frowns on their faces from trying to please her. Then one day she declared that she couldn’t live unless she had a blue parrot—it would be so amusing. But there were no blue parrots in France—they scoured the Kingdom try- ing to find one, “No——a red one, or a green one, or even a purple one would not do. It must be blue!” “Now, what shall we do?” said the King to his Knights. A PRESENT FOR THE QUEEN OF FRANCE 105 I full of red parrots and green ones and even white ones. But no blue ones. He hunted high and low and asked every one whom he met along the way what they knew about blue parrots. And everybody answered, “nothing.” Then one day after a long voyage on the ocean he came to the last island of all where there was nothing but tall bamboo trees. But there was something about the island that was strange and scarey, so the Beggar Boy went tiptoeing about while he hunted for blue parrots. “Lost something?” said a scratchy voice suddenly. Looking up the Beggar Boy nearly dropped, for there in the top of a bamboo tree sat a—Blue Parrot. “Well, I’ll be”—said the Beggar Boy. “You will if you stay,” said the Blue Parrot. “Will what?” asked the Beggar Boy. “Be eaten,” said the Blue Parrot. “Cannibals?” asked the Beggar Boy. “Hungry ones,” answered the Blue Parrot. “They eat everyone who calls, so that I have no one to visit with. I can’t stand talking with them. They have no manners and all they do is to trade cook-book receipts- ‘Broil till tender and serve with parsley sauce, or stew with carrots and onions and season to taste.’ Bah, I’m tired of it all.” 106 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET “Tell you what,” said the Beggar Boy, “I know the very place for you. It’s a fine job—no work. You will be the pet of the Queen of France.” “Nothing of the kind,” said the Blue Parrot quickly, “I don’t like women and I can’t talk French.” Now what was to be done. The Beggar Boy sat down to think. Here was a blue parrot, at last, probably the only one in the world, but it refused to become a queen’s pet. He tried to bribe the parrot with gold, and he told A PRESENT FOR THE QUEEN OF FRANCE 107. him how fine it would be to live in the palace and eat crackers from morning till night. “Cannibals, Cannibals,” suddenly yelled the Blue Parrot in a horrible voice, which ahnost made the Beggar Boy’s heart stop beating. And without another word he jumped up and started back to the boat. He didn’t know that he could run so fast. So the Blue Parrot was left behind and the Beggar Boy turned back to France without it. But he was an honest beggar boy and determined not to cheat the King who had offered him both adven- ture and gold if he should bring a blue parrot for the Queen. As for adventure—he had had enough—and the gold he would return. VVhen at last he reached France he knocked again on the castle gate and the King looked down from the tower. “Bless my soul,” said he, “it’s that foolish Beggar Boy with the blue parrot. VVhat will we do? The Queen won’t give it houseroom now that she has her mind set on a speckled elephant.” But while they were talking it over the gate keeper had allowed the Beggar Boy to enter, for he remembered him and his errand, and he led him up to the tower room. Bowing deeply the Beggar Boy handed the bag of 108 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET gold to the King and told him that he had retinned with- out the blue parrot. He expected the King to be very angry and probably say, “off with his head.” But in- stead he said, “good boy,” and slapped him on the back. And the Beggar Boy wondered again if the King were joking. But such was not the case, though he did say that the Beggar Boy was too honest to remain a beggar. So he made him a Knight and gave him a barrel of gold. Just then we heard all our mothers calling “dinner’s ready,” and the Sailor and the rest of us climbed the hill inahurry. Chapter XX ABOUT A COCOANU T CAKE BY this time we were all quite used to going to school and no one ever got homesick any more. Of course sometimes we got into trouble and spilled ink on our clothes and cried, and got tardy marks and bad grades. Then, of course, we fell down and skinned our knees and noses, or on windy days our hats blew off into the Creek. But on other days things went well and we were allowed to draw on the blackboard with colored chalk and spell down. We could sing lots of different songs—very loud. And we had copy books where we wrote about good things to do. But we didn’t always do good things, though we didn’t set out to do bad ones—they just turned out that way. We sometimes got into quarrels—~the boys against the girls. That was because the boys were bossy. But there were more of us girls. One Saturday morning the boys were all sitting on the curb and the rest of us on Yellow-Curls’ steps and she was counting Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggerman, Thief down the back of one of The-Children-Who-Broke- 109 110 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas. But there were so many buttons gone that we couldn’t tell whether or not it was Beggerman or Merchant. But just then Two-Braids said, “Somebody’s making cake frosting.” “How do you know?” asked all the boys, who were letting on mad. “I hear them beating it,” answered Two-Braids. Sure enough we all listened and heard too. “I believe its Puggsy,” said Two-Braids, starting off on a rim. We got up and followed her. The beating grew louder and louder and when we got as far as the gooseberry patch we knew for sure that it was Puggsy. We boosted each other and peeked. She was slowly spreading frosting over the high cake with a knife. It was cocoanut. When she had finished it she went down steps, and 1 v km? "- ABOUT A COCOANUT CAKE 111 Muddy-Heels and the Door-Slammer looked in the cellar window and said they could see the cake on the shelf. “Let’s have a picnic,” said the Clrildren-Who-Broke- All-Their-Toys-on-Christmas. “What on?” said the Door-Slammer. “On Puggsy’s cake,” several answered at once. “That would be stealing,” said Yellow-Curls very promptly. “Would not,” said the Door-Slammer. “You can’t steal from your own folks.” And that made us all think of apples and the Scolding Lady. We girls took sides against the boys, and they called us Sissy and Fraid Cats. “We fellows will take it then,” said the Door- Slammer, “we aren’t afraid.” “And we’ll eat it too,” said Muddy-Heels, looking greedy- “All right, then,” said Two-Braids, “we’ll tell.” So we decided to make up, and the boys said they’d give us some of the cake if we wouldn’t tell. We all stayed hidden in the gooseberry patch under the window while the boys whispered about Puggsy’s cake. It took a great deal of whispering before all the plans were made, and some of it was very loud whispering that sounded like robbers’ talk. 114 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET And he was a vain Young Schooner, and was no end of proud of his three new sails without a break in them. He was fond of flashing those bright sails in the harbor where his poor little second cousins, the coal barges and tugs, worked like dogs from morning till night with never a decent stitch to wear. But the Young Schooner didn’t want it known that there were any tugs and coal barges in his family. You see he was a snob, that schooner. But he was very proud to speak of his Uncle, who was a big freighter and went every which way. Well, this Young Schooner was bold for his years and used to take great chances shooting in front of other boats, nosing in and out, just to show off. And one dark night he hit something—bang. There was a fearful cracking and snapping and great confusion. The Yoimg Schooner was really frightened. He said to himself that the only thing for him to do was to run away. You see he knew how all the other boats in the harbor would laugh when they found out the next day what he had done. So without stopping to ask what had happened he turned around and made off in the darkness. He hurried away as fast as he could and by daylight was far out at sea where all the waves were strangers. He felt rather 116 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET side and he was tired and all out of breath. He climg there, saying over and over, “What’s the use, what’s the use?” When morning came he looked about him. He was out in the middle of the ocean, stuck on a big rock, the poor boy! Then far away on the horizon he saw a speck. It must be a sail. He waited anxiously, hoping that it might be some boat that he had known back home. But as it came nearer he saw that it had two strange big square sails not like anything that he had ever seen before. And it had a face painted on like a fish and huge bludging eyes. The boat was a total stranger, but it came up in such fine style, twisting and turning its big sails, that the Young Schooner was delighted. He had never seen such a clever boat before or such splendid sails. My, my, if he could only do such things and look like that! And the big square sailedstranger circled around him several times, smiling with its pleasant fish’s face and winking with its two big eyes. Then it came up close enough to give the Young Schooner a nudge with its big shoulder, first on one side, then on the other, till sud- denly he slid down off the rocks, back into the water. “Oh, thank you, Sir,” said the Young Schooner, but the big stranger could only shake itself in reply, _\1‘—_-— X _ _ _ _ T THE RUNAWAY SCHOON ER 119 And so the other ships helped him to get ready to go home. His big friend, the Chinese Junk, gave him a square red sail and they patched up his sides, and finally he was ready and off they started, the Young Schooner clipping along at his Uncle’s heels. Then finally, after days and days, they slowly en- tered their own harbor and all the old friends saw them coming. “What on earth?” shrieked a little black tug. “Can it be our grand cousin, the Schooner?” said a coal barge. “Only look at that queer old hand-me-down sail!” “It sm'ely is the Schooner,” said all the Second Cousins together. “Mercy on us, but he has seen hard times judging from the dents and patches on his sides!” There was much whispering and nudging among the cousins, and finally they decided, kind souls that they were, to give him such a rousing welcome that he would forget all his troubles and be glad to be back in his old harbor again. So all the whistles started to whistle, hoarse ones and shrill ones. It was a glorious racket, and so pleased the Young Schooner that even though his own whistle trembled a bit from his feelings, he managed to let them know how glad he was to see them all once more. Chapter XXII MUDDY-HEELS GETS A LETTER ()NE morning we were all sitting on The Door- Slammer’s front steps and the boys were showing off, standing on their heads right on the side-walk, when Miss Chatty came to the doorway of the store and called Muddy-Heels to come home. She had something in her hand and we all wondered what it was. But Muddy- Heels thought she only wanted him to carry a basket somewhere and told us not to do anything until he got back. So we waited, but he was gone such a long time that we got tired and went off down to the hut to play a pretend game. But when we came back we found out at once that something had happened. Miss Chatty was sitting in the store with Muddy-Heels on her lap and he was crying with his fists dug in his eyes. As soon as he knew that we were there he cried louder than ever. AH the mothers and Puggsy and Everybody’s Grandfather were standing about looking solemn. Miss Chatty had been reading a letter which had come with Andrew Malesberry written on it. That was Muddy-Heels’ name. It was from his Father. 120 MUDDY-HEELS GETS A LETTER 121 We all thought that Muddy-Heels was an orphan who belonged to Miss Chatty because she was his armt. He didn’t have any mother, and as far back as we could remember he had lived in the store with Miss Chatty. Everybody had stopped thinking about his Father, for he had gone away so long ago that nobody ever talked about him any more. But Muddy-Heels wasn’t an out-and-out orphan after all, for his Father wrote him a letter with money in it, and said that he‘ wanted Andrew to come and live with him, out West, and that he would make a man of him. When Muddy-Heels heard the letter he burst into tears and grabbed Miss Chatty’s skirts and said he didn’t want to be made a man of and leave Miss Chatty and Our Street and everybody. He stamped his feet and said he wouldn’t go—which wasn’t one bit like Muddy-Heels acting that way. But Miss Chatty talked to him quietly for a long time till he stopped stamping and only sniffled. She told him that he must obey his father, no matter what, but we knew from her face that she wasn’t very happy. She said that Muddy-Heels could come and visit and that she would write letters to him. He listened, but he wouldn’t take his fists out of his eyes. MUDDY-HEELS GETS A LETTER 123 packed a lunch in a basket with a cover. She didn’t want him to get hungry, so she fixed enough for six boys. It looked like a picnic basket and there was a cocoanut it * ‘ \l at (y, ,(l( /"2 . i‘ ‘@- \!,\ \ \', \l\l-ll ‘% =-_ ,‘ cake like the one that we tried to steal. He would have enough to eat until he got out West. We were all excited—and so was Muddy-Heels. He came running down the street in one of his new checkered suits, and at first we didn’t know him. His new hat had a ribbon on and he didn’t wear copper-toed shoes. Chapter XXIH THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL NE day all of a. sudden a Merry-Go-Round came. Q It was all under a round tent and there were black horses and gray horses and brown horses. But The Door-Slammer said that the sleighs with seats in them were only for scarey girls and babies and fraidcats. He talked that way because he’d been hanging around the big boys and thought he was big himself. We used to stop every day on our way home from school and look at the fine horses who stared straight ahead and showed their teeth. Then one Saturday afternoon, after we had all had a bath and were wearing our second-best things, Puggsy took us for a ride on the Merry-Go-Round. You bought tickets of a man for a nickel, then when you got on before it started he came and asked for them back. But Puggsy wouldn’t ride even in a sleigh, though The Door-Slammer dragged on her dress and called her “fraidcat.” The Merry-Go-Roimd man offered to help her and called her “madam,” but she wouldn’t. Some of 11s were kind of scared, but The Door Slammer said he wasn’t, and picked out a big black horse to ride on. 126 THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL 127 Then it started, and you felt like a Circus Person. The music was so fine and the horses’ backs were slippery. But it went faster and faster and we had to hold on with "ll:mu!'""'mmtmuI"||-m|"\mulllllu-itnuI""""n|nu|u|ll"'»-ttitmtmu|"mt|,“,,.t-t""’’-’|-|nuIl-l”'l\uu|-- "I"""“"'!!! I <2 our legs and arms. Finally it went so fast that we couldn’t see Puggsy or the mill. Then all of a sudden someone began to cry—even louder than the music, but we didn’t dare to look arormd to see who it was. We were too busy trying not to fall off. “Puggsy, I’m sick! I’m sick, I say! Stop!” It was The Door-Slammer. The Merry-Go-Rormd man made THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL 129 The schoolhouse was down the road, so he went on Firefly, but the teacher was not pretty like Miss Phoebe. Then he said he guessed he must close, and how was Everybody’s Grandfather, Miss Phoebe, The Sailor, and everybody. He would like to see them and would come on a visit some day his Father said. It sormded very grand to us—the brown pony with a black tail. Probably it looked like some of the Merry- Go-Rormd horses. We wondered if he would bring it when he came visiting. We could play Circus then, and all of us pretended ourselves riding fruiously on the pony’s back standing on one toe. Warm days had come and we formd it hard to study lessons in school. The bees came buzzing in at the open windows, making sleepy sounds, and it looked cool and nice under the trees. Finally the last day of school came. We wore our new summer dresses and the boys had gingham suits on. When we went into the room a young man sat beside Miss Phoebe’s desk pretending to read out of a book. He had red cheeks, a big black necktie, and a fancy vest. He sat on his chair very carefully and didn’t look around. The big boys whispered a lot and said it was Miss Phoebe’s beau. And sure enough when it was time to go and we had 130 ADVENTURES IN OUR STREET 1 all our books and slates ready to take home Miss Phoebe said she had a surprise to tell us. We all listened and this was it. She would not come back to teach us any more because she was going away to be married. But she would never forget us because we had had such happy times together, or something like that. And she hoped that we would all grow up to be nice women and men. I \ /Ill’! uni!/1;, III! "'I4llIIIl||| /III mm 1 111110171’ nu llll\‘\‘\'\ mm ' IIIII ":1 1021:: um- ’ 4"/"" \|||| /gr nag. ‘Am II:' '_'fili||"' §“ ‘ II l'_u| 7 _~ '.In-nu fl" ! JPN .Kay15 A2 Kay, Gertrude A. 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