WAKING UP. 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 BY 
 
 EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 "ROYAL ROAD TO FORTUNE," "HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES.' 
 
 FIFTEENTH THOUSAND. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER. 
 
 1885. 
 
Copyright 1876, 
 By S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. 
 
TO THE. BOYS AND GIRLS OF 
 
 THE LITTLE CORPORAL, 
 
 THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS DEDICATED, 
 
 IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF TEN YEARS OF PLEASANT 
 COMPANIONSHIP. 
 
 EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER. 
 Chicago, iSft. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WHAT TOMMY DID, 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW IT WENT ON, . *5 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE, . .22 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 TOMMY AND THE DOCTOR, . . 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 APERIL FOOL, . .... 45 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 PANTS, ... - 5 6 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 TOMMY AT SCHOOL, 7 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MORE MISCHIEF, o, 
 
 . 04 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 LITTLE RUNAWAY, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TOMMY'S FORF'N JULY, . I07 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 TOMMY'S MENAGERIE, . . . Ilg 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 TOMMY'S BALLOON, I34 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 TOMMY'S ADVENTURE, I3 g 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE STORY WITHOUT ANY END, . . I52 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, . l6] 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 t. WAKING UP, . . . . Frontispiece 
 
 2. WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE, . . 30 
 
 3. AFTER THAT THE HORSE LOOKED AS IF 
 
 ONE END OF HIM HAD SAT DOWN TO 
 
 REST, 46 
 
 4. FIXING THE GALLUSES, . . . .68 
 
 5. "THAT'S A LELLIPHANT'S NEST, I B'LIEVE 
 
 so," 86 
 
 <*. " COIN* TO SHAVE ME SOME WHISKERS, 
 
 LIKE UNCLE JIM," ... 90 
 
 7. THE LOST BALLOON, . . ... 134 
 
 8. "On," SAID TOMMY, SITTING RIGHT UP 
 
 IN BED, HIS EYES SHINING WITH DE 
 LIGHT, 150 
 
 9. DOT LEONARD, 172 
 
WHAT TOMMY DID, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW THE WEEK BEGAN. 
 
 HE first day, of course, was Sunday. 
 |! Sunday always comes first in my 
 , though I have heard people 
 say it came away down at the 
 end, after Saturday. It came first in 
 Tommy's week, but he didn't know 
 much about it until he waked up one 
 morning and found the sun shining very 
 bright, and wondered why his mamma 
 
IO WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 didn't get up and dress him. Then he 
 crept out of bed, and went to the win 
 dow, and stood there in his night-gown, 
 watching an old robin that was feeding 
 her babies with worms for breakfast. 
 The baby robins opened their mouths 
 very wide, and seemed to relish their 
 breakfast, which reminded Tommy that 
 he wanted his own. But when he turned 
 around from the window, he saw his new 
 red trumpet lying on the floor, and he 
 picked it up and blew it very loud indeed. 
 It waked up everybody in the house. 
 Bridget thought it was the milkman, and 
 clattered out to the door with one foot 
 half way into her shoe ; and Tommy's 
 mamma opened her eyes very wide, and 
 said, 
 
 " Why, Tommy Bancroft ! didn't you 
 know it was Sunday morning?" 
 
HOW THE WEEK BEGAN. II 
 
 And that was the first Tommy ever 
 remembered about Sunday. After break 
 fast, Uncle Jim didn't go to the city, 
 but sat and read with his pretty new 
 slippers on, and Tommy was dressed up 
 in his white linen clothes and buttoned 
 gaiters, and had his yellow hair curled 
 into queer little curls that didn't stay in 
 very well, and went with his mamma to 
 a great house with a bell on the top of 
 it. They called it a church. Tommy's 
 mamma told him he mustn't talk in 
 church. There were a great many other 
 people there, and nobody talked at all, 
 except one man in a kind of a box high 
 up at one end, and that man talked 
 all the time. Tommy thought perhaps 
 he didn't know any better. There was 
 a little girl in the next seat, with a blue 
 and white feather in her hat. She 
 
12 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 looked at Tommy a good deal, and 
 Tommy looked at the feather. He 
 wondered if it was a rooster's feather. 
 He thought that he should like to have 
 a rooster with such feathers. Then the 
 little girl's hat began to move about ; 
 then there were two hats and two blue 
 and white feathers Tommy saw them ; 
 then three hats, then four, then the 
 whole air was full of them, and Tommy 
 laid his head down on his mother's lap 
 and didn't remember any more. 
 
 They must have gone home after a 
 while, for Grandma Bancroft was there 
 to dinner, and she had her black velvet 
 ba^ with beads around the bottom. 
 
 o 
 
 Tommy liked to play with the beads, and 
 sometimes Grandma Bancroft used to 
 open the bag and give him some cara 
 way seeds, or red and white peppermint 
 
HOW THE WEEK BEGAN. 13 
 
 candies. This time she gave him * two 
 raisins, and asked him if lie could tell 
 her about the sermon. 
 
 " They didn't have any of them fings 
 to my church," said Tommy, innocently. 
 
 He thought about it while he was 
 eating his raisins, and then he said, 
 
 " Was that what the men passed 
 around in the boxes, dramma ? I didn't 
 take any of that. Wish't I had." 
 
 Grandma tried to explain about the 
 sermon, and told the little boy that the 
 minister was trying to tell the people 
 how to be good. But Tommy didn't 
 understand. 
 
 " He didn't speak to me, 'tall," he 
 insisted; "kept talkin' to himself all the 
 time. Course if he talked to me I 
 should understood him; what you 
 spose?" 
 
14 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 But, by and by, mamma took Tommy 
 on her lap, and told him all about 
 Samuel, the little boy that talked with 
 God ; and about David the shepherd 
 boy that slew the great giant ; and 
 about Jesus, the dear Savior, who 
 lived and died to save just such little 
 boys as he ; and then Tommy felt very 
 good and very loving, and meant to 
 mind his mamma as long as he lived, 
 and always let the baby have his red 
 ball and his trumpet, and say please 
 to Bridget, and not cry when his face 
 was washed. He said his little prayer 
 very earnestly and heartily, though he 
 was sound asleep two minutes after 
 ward. And after that, Sunday always 
 came regularly in Tommy's week. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW IT WENT ON. 
 
 ON DAY was Tommy's own day, 
 and he liked it the very best of 
 all. First, because it was wash 
 ing day, which was the very reason 
 mamma didrit like it. He knew it 
 was Monday the minute he waked up, 
 because there was his red plaid dress 
 and gingham apron for him to wear. 
 He always wore that dress on washing 
 days, and baking days, and days when 
 mamma was too busy to look after him ; 
 and Tommy's heart gave a great jump 
 of delight when he saw it, for he knew 
 
l6 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 he could dig in the dirt with the fire 
 shovel, and nobody would say, 
 
 " Why, Tommy Bancroft, look at your 
 new clothes!" 
 
 When his mamma dressed him, she 
 said, 
 
 " I can't stop to curl your hair this 
 morning, because it's washing day;" and 
 then Tommy was gladder yet. When 
 he was a man, he meant to have all his 
 hair cut close to his head, so nobody 
 could curl it it always made him so 
 cross to have it pulled. 
 
 After breakfast, his mamma tied his 
 old straw hat under his chin, and told 
 him to run and play, like a good boy. 
 Tommy went straight out to the sink 
 drain in the back yard. There was 
 quite a little river of soap suds running 
 through it, and Tommy fished in it 
 
HOW IT WENT ON. 1 7 
 
 awhile with the handle of his mother's 
 parasol that he found on the hall table. 
 She shouldn't have left it there, you 
 know. Then he thought he would build 
 a dam across the drain, and he threw 
 down the parasol and went in to get 
 the fire shovel to dig with. Bridget was 
 cross, and said she wanted the shovel 
 herself; did he think she was going to 
 put in coal with her fingers ? Then he 
 thought he would take a knife, and while 
 
 o 
 
 he was looking for one he spied his 
 mother's silver pie knife in the spoon 
 basket. It was broad and flat, pretty 
 much like a shovel, and Tommy thought 
 he could make it do. 
 
 " Course she'd let me take it ; won't 
 hurt it, 'tall," said Tommy to his con 
 science; but he was very careful to keep 
 it out of Bridget's sight as he trudged 
 
1 8 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 back to the drain. He found a nice, soft 
 place to dig dirt, in the middle of one 
 of mamma's flower beds. It was full of 
 little sticks, to show where the seeds were 
 planted a few days before ; but the seeds 
 had not come up, and Tommy thought it 
 must be because there was too much dirt. 
 He pulled off his hat for a cart, and it 
 was splendid fun to load it up with the 
 pie knife, and drag it to the drain by the 
 ribbons. Pie knives are not made to dig 
 
 o 
 
 with in the dirt, and pretty soon it began 
 to curl up at the point, and then the 
 handle doubled down sidewise, and 
 Tommy threw it down with the parasol, 
 saying to himself, " I guess Uncle Jim 
 can fix it." 
 
 Whils he was squatted up in the very 
 middle of the drain, somebody emptied 
 another tub full of suds, and it came 
 
HOW IT WENT ON. 19 
 
 swashing along and washed Tommy and 
 the dam away together. He gave one 
 little squeal of astonishment ; but, though 
 he was very wet and muddy, he only put 
 on his dirty little hat and started after 
 the gray kitten that was watching a bird 
 under the raspberry bushes. He chased 
 her three times around the garden and 
 twice under the fence, but he couldn't 
 catch her, though he tore the brim half 
 off from his hat, and did something to 
 the skirt of his plaid dress that made it 
 hang down around his feet. Then he 
 
 o 
 
 went into the coal cellar, and climbed up 
 and down the great mountain of coal, 
 and played he was a traveler, climbing 
 up some icy mountains, like some men 
 Uncle Jim read about. When he was 
 tired of this he thought it must be dinner 
 time, so he started for the house. 
 
20 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 There was an elegant carriage at the 
 gate, and he wondered if his Aunt Louise 
 hadn't come to bring him the velocipede 
 she promised him. He went to look for 
 his mamma, but she was not in her room, 
 or the dining room, or the nursery. So 
 he walked straight into the parlor, and 
 there was his pretty mamma, in her nice, 
 ruffled morning dress, and there were 
 two strange ladies and the minister s 
 wife ! 
 
 Dear, dear ! how his mamma looked ! 
 She felt as if she should faint away ; and 
 the strange ladies said, " Is this your 
 youngest, Mrs. Bancroft ? " and tried not 
 to laugh ; but the minister's wife said, 
 "Come here, Tommy;" and then she gave 
 right up and laughed till the tears ran 
 down her cheeks. Tommy's mamma 
 laughed, too, though she looked at first 
 
HOW IT WENT ON. 21 
 
 as if she were going to cry ; and Tommy 
 stood there with his old, torn skirt 
 hanging down over his muddy little 
 trousers and stockings, his old, torn hat 
 brim flopping about his shoulders, and 
 his hands and face and his long, yellow 
 hair all black and grimy with coal dust, 
 and wasn't one bit ashamed ! 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE. 
 
 F it had not rained that day, it 
 never would have happened ; but, 
 before Tommy had half finished his 
 breakfast, Uncle Jim got up and 
 walked to the front window, and 
 remarked that it was " raining cats and 
 dogs." 
 
 Tommy looked up, with his mouth 
 full of bread and butter, to see if Uncle 
 Jim was really in earnest; but as he 
 looked perfectly sober, he immediately 
 scrambled down from his chair and 
 
WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE. 23 
 
 rushed to the window, expecting to see 
 a shower of black and white kittens, 
 with a smart sprinkling of curly dogs. 
 What he really saw was a very muddy 
 river, rushing along through the gutter ; 
 two men, with tin pails and short pipes, 
 tramping down the street ; and a miser 
 able-looking dog, with a bone in his 
 mouth, picking his way through the mud. 
 He looked as if he might have rained 
 down, but Tommy knew he didn't, 
 because he knew where he lived up the 
 alley, and he had often seen him sneak 
 ing around the back door after bits 
 which Tommy threw away when he 
 took his lunch out-doors. Just at that 
 instant Uncle Jim came in from the back 
 hall, and said, in a very dreadful voice, 
 " Now, then, Tommy Trotter, where 
 are my rubbers ? " 
 
24 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 When anything was lost in that house 
 they always asked Tommy about it. It 
 was a habit they had of supposing that 
 Tommy had had it, especially if it was 
 something he never ought to touch. 
 
 Tommy forgot all about the cats and 
 dogs, and looked at Uncle Jim, and said, 
 quickly, " I d'n know." 
 
 That was a habit Tommy had, and he 
 always said, "/ d'n know" before he 
 stopped to think. But he did know very 
 well, and so he said, 
 
 "O yes, Uncle Jim. They're over to 
 Billy's house, in the big troft where the 
 horse drinks. Me and Billy sailed 'em 
 for boats, all full wid oats, and they 
 sinked down to the floor, of the water." 
 
 " Why, Tommy Bancroft," said his 
 mamma, looking greatly troubled, " what 
 shall I do with you?" 
 
WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE. 25 
 
 Uncle Jim looked at him very soberly, 
 and said, 
 
 "Well, young man, here I am, two' 
 miles from my office, and no rubbers* 
 I should like to know what you mean 
 to do about it ? You ought to buy me 
 some more. I shall catch my death of 
 cold, and then how'll you feel, sir?" 
 
 Tommy's little face brightened in a 
 minute. 
 
 " O, I'll buy you some more," said he ; 
 and he trotted away to get his bank, 
 which had a loose floor, so that whatever 
 you put in at the top could be easily 
 shaken out at the bottom, an arrange 
 ment Tommy found very satisfactory. 
 The first thing that came out was a 
 quarter, new and crisp, but Tommy's 
 heart never faltered. 
 
 " There," said he, " you can buy some 
 
26 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 more rubbers, and I won't never sail 'em 
 in the troft." 
 
 " Very well," said Uncle Jim, putting 
 the money in his pocket, and going into 
 the hall. 
 
 " Uncle Jim," called Tommy," if there's 
 any shange left, you buy me some 
 peanuts, will you ? " 
 
 Uncle Jim nodded, and said, " I 
 shouldn't wonder," as he strode out into 
 the rain. 
 
 Tommy's mamma gave the baby her 
 breakfast, talked awhile with Bridget 
 about supper, dusted the parlor, watered 
 the ivy in the bay window, and then she 
 put the baby on the floor in the dining 
 room, and gave her some clothes pins 
 and a tin pan to play with. Tommy 
 had his Noah's ark r but he had to keep 
 it on the table, because the baby put 
 
WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE. 2 7 
 
 the camels and elephants into her 
 mouth whenever she got a chance, and 
 once she sucked all the paint off from 
 Shem, Ham and Japheth, and made 
 herself quite sick. Ellen was ironing in 
 the kitchen, and Mrs. Bancroft said, 
 
 " Now, Ellen, it is such a rainy day, 
 nobody will be in, and I am going up 
 to look over the winter clothing and put 
 it away. The children will do very well 
 in here, but you must keep your door 
 open, and look in once in a while." 
 
 " Yes'm," said Ellen ; " Tommy 's gettin' 
 right handy to mind the baby when he 
 tries." 
 
 "O, I'll 'tend to her," said Tommy, 
 who was trying to stand Mrs. Noah on 
 the ridge pole to the ark. "Ellen needn't 
 mind about us at all." 
 
 So Tommy's mamma went away up 
 
28 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 stairs, and Elien hurried with her ironing, 
 looking out once in a while through the 
 rain to see if the grocer's young man was 
 not coming for his orders. When he did 
 come, she shut the dining-room door, 
 because the baby was always frightened at 
 the grocer's young man, though Ellen 
 herself did not seem at all afraid of him. 
 It was just at this moment that Tommy 
 spied a bottle of mucilage on the clock 
 shelf over the table, and it struck him 
 instantly what a fine thing it would be 
 to fasten on the elephant's trunk and 
 Noah's head again. It was quite easy 
 to reach it and pull out the cork, but 
 there did not happen to be any brush, 
 so Tommy was forced to use one of 
 his fingers, which answered very well, 
 only he had to wipe it frequently upon 
 his apron. Noah's head refused to stick, 
 
WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE. 2Q 
 
 and so did the elephant's trunk, though 
 he tried it on nearly all the animals. 
 
 Then he concluded he would paste 
 up handbills, as he had seen men do 
 on the street. So he got baby's little, 
 soft, white hair brush, and poured out 
 some of the mucilage into the seat of 
 Uncle Jim's table chair. Then he 
 dipped the brush, and stuck pieces of 
 the morning paper on the walls, on 
 the doors, on the stove, and, last of all, 
 he happened to remember how he had 
 seen a funny man walking through the 
 streets with handbills on his hat and 
 his back, so he pasted some papers on 
 the baby's back, and on the top of her 
 poor, little, bald head. Baby had no 
 hair to speak of, but she did not at 
 all fancy this way of dressing it, so 
 she set up a loud scream of anger, and 
 
30 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 at that very moment came a ring at 
 the door bell. 
 
 " Dear, dear ! " said Tommy's mamma, 
 peeping out at her chamber window, 
 " if there isn't Miss Dilly Dean come 
 to spend the day." 
 
 Mamma hurried down to the door to 
 receive Miss Dilly, who stood in the 
 hall, with the inky water running off 
 from her umbrella, and making a little, 
 black river on the oilcloth. 
 
 " You didn't look for me to-day, I'm 
 sure,' 7 said Miss Dilly, "but I thought 
 I should be sure of a good, long visit 
 all to myself, because it rained so." 
 
 Ellen went back to try to hush the 
 baby, and Tommy stood in the door 
 with the hair brush in his hand, while 
 mamma said, 
 
 " Well, come right into the dining 
 
WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE. 
 
 Page 30. 
 
f 
 
 WHAT BECAME OF THE MUCILAGE. 3! 
 
 room, Miss Dilly, and dry your feet; 
 we keep a fire there on account of the 
 baby." 
 
 And Tommy kept on staring at Miss 
 Dilly's funny little curls, until mamma 
 pushed Uncle Jim's chair to the grate, 
 and said, 
 
 " Sit right down here, Miss Dilly ;" 
 and Miss Dilly sat down. 
 
 Mamma began to pick up things 
 about the room, and by and by she 
 found the empty mucilage bottle, and 
 she said, 
 
 "Why, Tommy Bancroft, where's my 
 mucilage ?" 
 
 o 
 
 Then Tommy put his finger in his 
 mouth, and looked at Miss Dilly harder 
 than ever, and said, " Sites sittid on it? 
 
 Miss Dilly jumped up as spry as a 
 kitten, and the chair jumped, too ; and 
 
32 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 Miss Billy's best alpaca dress was just 
 about ruined. 
 
 I don't know just what Tommy's 
 mamma said to him, but whatever it 
 was, she put him to bed afterward to 
 think about it. 
 
 And that was what happened on 
 Tuesday. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TOMMY AND THE DOCTOR. 
 
 HE next day must have been 
 Wednesday, but Tommy did not 
 remember much about it, for long 
 before morning he began to feel 
 very sick. He had bad dreams. First 
 he thought an elephant picked him up 
 with his long, crooked finger, and 
 tucked him away in one corner of his 
 big mouth, and Tommy felt very hot 
 and uncomfortable in there. And then 
 he thought he had swallowed the ele 
 phant, and found him very cold and 
 
 3 
 
34 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 heavy, and altogether too large for his 
 quarters. And the next Tommy knew, 
 his mamma was standing by his crib, 
 with a lamp in her hand, looking very 
 anxious, and that set Tommy to cry 
 ing. He cried so long and so loud 
 that Uncle Jim came to see what was 
 the matter. Uncle Jim looked very 
 sleepy ; said he guessed Tommy would 
 be all right in the morning ; most 
 likely he had eaten something. Now 
 that was one of Uncle Jim's aggra 
 vating ways ; whenever Tommy was 
 sick, he always insisted it was because 
 he had "eaten something? as if boys 
 were not always eating something. 
 When he had said this he felt as if 
 he had done his whole duty, and went 
 back to bed contentedly; but Tommy's 
 mamma soothed, and petted, and fussed 
 
TOMMY AND THE DOCTOR. 35 
 
 over him until morning, when she told 
 Uncle Jim that, in her opinion, Tom 
 my was a very sick boy, and must 
 have the doctor at once. Uncle Jim 
 finished his breakfast and then went 
 into the bedroom chewing his tooth 
 pick. He sat down by the bed and 
 took Tommy on his knee. 
 
 "Well, sir," said he briskly, "are you 
 going to the city with me, to-day?" 
 
 Tommy tried to smile, but he only 
 sneezed five times in succession. 
 
 " My dear child ! where's your hand 
 kerchief?" exclaimed Uncle Jim, grop 
 ing about in a bewildered fashion, as 
 if he supposed little boys had half 
 a dozen pockets in their nightgowns, 
 and carried handkerchiefs in them all. 
 Mamma rushed to the rescue, but, by 
 that time, Uncle Jim had solved the 
 
36 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 difficulty by wiping Tommy's nose with 
 the corner of the white counterpane. 
 
 " It's only a cold," he said, putting 
 him back in bed ; " but if it will be 
 any satisfaction to you, I'll have the 
 doctor come around and look at him. 
 I wouldn't worry about him, though/' 
 
 As if the dear little woman could 
 help it! 
 
 Doctor Smith was out of town, so 
 Uncle Jim sent Doctor Brown, a very 
 pompous individual, but quite good 
 natured. He looked at Tommy, and 
 Tommy's mamma watched him very sus 
 piciously. He looked at his tongue, and 
 felt of his pulse, then rubbed his hands 
 together and asked, 
 
 " Has he eaten anything to disagree 
 with him, madam?" 
 
 "Not a thing? said Mrs. Bancroft, 
 
TOMMY AND THE DOCTOR. 37 
 
 positively. " I'm very particular about 
 his diet." 
 
 Then the doctor looked closely at 
 Tommy's face, which was quite red and 
 blubbery, partly with the cold and partly 
 with crying so much ; he looked behind 
 his ears and under his chin ; lifted the 
 yellow hair from his neck, and said, 
 
 " Hm m ; has your son ever had the 
 measles, madam ? " 
 
 " Never," said Mrs. Bancroft, faintly 
 
 " Then he has them now, madam," 
 said the doctor, blandly ; " a very clear 
 case, and coming out finely." And he 
 nodded his head at Tommy as if it was 
 a delightful thing to have the measles. 
 
 Then they all went out, but presently 
 the doctor came back with a spoonful 
 of nice, red jelly, and said, 
 
 " Here, my little man, is something 
 
38 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 very nice for you ; let me see you take 
 it." 
 
 Tommy had never been deceived 
 about medicine, so he sat up directly 
 and took it in his mouth, but it tasted 
 very badly, and he would have spit it 
 out, only the doctor looked very fierce, 
 and said, " Swallow it, quick" in such a 
 dreadful voice Tommy dared not do 
 anything else. 
 
 The doctor went away laughing, as if 
 it was a good joke to cheat a little boy ; 
 but Tommy lay down on his pillow, with 
 his honest little heart full of indignation. 
 By and by he said, 
 
 " Mamma, don't doctors have to tell 
 the troof, like other folks?" 
 
 Tommy's mamma wished him to re 
 spect the doctor, but she thought it 
 a great deal more important that he 
 
TOMMY AND THE DOCTOR. 39 
 
 should respect the truth, so she told 
 him that everybody was bound to speak 
 the truth', and that it was not right to 
 deceive sick people, or cheat little boys. 
 Tommy grew worse instead of better. 
 There were the little red spots on his 
 neck, but no more measles came out, 
 and his mamma began to grow alarmed. 
 She wondered if the doctor knew so 
 very much. He wasn't her doctor, and 
 she had not a particle of confidence in 
 the good sense of any other doctor in 
 the world but her doctor. What if 
 Tommy should die ? And then she 
 remembered all his naughty little pranks, 
 and wondered how she could have been 
 so vexed with him about the mucilage, 
 and thought, if he only got well, she 
 would never be vexed with him again. 
 About noon she sent Ellen for Uncle 
 
4O WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 Jim, and begged him to telegraph to 
 New York, for Tommy's papa to come 
 straight home. Uncle Jim sat down by 
 Tommy again, and began to question 
 him. Uncle Jim was a very obstinate 
 man, and he still believed Tommy had 
 " eaten something." 
 
 " Where was he yesterday ? " he asked. 
 
 " In the house all day," said mamma; 
 " don't you remember how it rained ? " 
 
 "He was over to Billy's, ma'am, about 
 tea time," said Ellen ; " you mind you 
 said he might go and play in the barn." 
 
 " O, yes," said mamma. " I had for 
 gotten ; but it was only half an hour 
 or so, and he had on his rubbers." 
 
 " Did you play in the water, Tommy ? " 
 asked Uncle Jim. 
 
 " N no," said Tommy, faintly; "only 
 we tried to catch it in our moufs, where 
 
TOMMY AND THE DOCTOR. 4! 
 
 it runned down the roof, and it went 
 down our backs, and felt awful funny." 
 
 "I should think so," said Uncle Jim; 
 " and what else did you do ? " 
 
 " Noffin ; only played." 
 
 "Played what? What did you eat?" 
 persisted Uncle Jim. 
 
 " Noffin," said Tommy, " only I was 
 Billy's horse, and O, yes, Uncle Jim, 
 he gave me some shopped feed? 
 
 " Chopped feed ! what on earth was 
 that?" asked Uncle Jim, glancing tri 
 umphantly at mamma. 
 
 " Why, turnuts and oats, shopped in 
 a pail, and water mixed in," said Tommy, 
 with the pride of an inventor. 
 
 " Raw turnips and oats ! there's a 
 delightful mixture for you," exclaimed 
 Uncle Jim; "and you ate that stuff, did 
 you, Tommy?" 
 
42 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " Y-e-e-s," said Tommy, faintly, as if it 
 were not quite pleasant to remember ; " I 
 used to like turnuisT 
 
 Mamma looked perfectly horrified, 
 Ellen pulled the corner of her apron 
 and giggled as loud as she dared ; but 
 Uncle Jim leaned back in his chair and 
 laughed a great, hearty, ringing laugh, 
 until you would have thought the win 
 dows rattled. 
 
 " Anything more, Tommy?" he said, at 
 last ; "did you take condition powders?" 
 
 " No," said Tommy, " but Billy rubbed 
 my neck with gogling oil, 'cause I had 
 the the marrow bones? 
 
 " Gargling oil ! That accounts for the 
 measles," said Uncle Jim, laughing again; 
 and then he wiped his eyes, and told 
 Ellen to bring him a glass of warm water, 
 with a teaspoonful of mustard in it 
 
TOMMY AND THE DOCTOR. 43 
 
 " Now, Tommy," said he, " I want you 
 to drink this all down ; every drop." 
 
 "Is it good?" wailed Tommy. 
 
 " Not very," said Uncle Jim, taking a 
 little sip; " it isn't very bad, either; and 
 if you will drink it all before I count 
 ten, I'll buy you a jack knife." 
 
 Tommy drank very fast, and Uncle Jim 
 had only counted eight, when the last drop 
 was swallowed, and Tommy asked with 
 a shudder when he should have the knife. 
 
 "To-night," said Uncle Jim, watching 
 Tommy curiously. 
 
 Perhaps you have taken warm water, 
 with mustard in it. If you have, you 
 know just what happened, and why 
 Tommy lay upon his pillow about ten 
 minutes afterward, looking red about the 
 eyes, and white about the mouth, but 
 feeling a great deal better. 
 
44 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 "Now, youngster," said Uncle Jim, 
 " I'm going straight after that knife, but 
 I shall not get back till tea time, so if 
 you go to sleep the time will pass be 
 fore you know it." 
 
 Tommy did go to sleep, and slept so 
 long his mother began to worry again, 
 but by the time Uncle Jim came home, 
 a sturdy little voice shouted from the 
 bedroom, 
 
 "Uncle Jim! where's my knife?" 
 
 "Ah!" said Uncle Jim, "I believe I 
 have mistaken my profession. I should 
 have been a doctor." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 " APERIL FOOL ! " 
 
 'OMMY was mending his hobby 
 horse. He always mended it 
 ^ whenever he got any nails, but it 
 y didn't seem to improve it very much. 
 The trouble was in the head and legs. 
 First the head split off just at the arch of 
 the neck. Hobby-horse's heads always 
 do break off there. Uncle Jim put it on 
 with glue and fastened a red leather col 
 lar over the seam. It was very fine, and 
 the horse looked better than ever ; but, 
 bless you, it didn't last any time at all. 
 So Tommy mended it, and, because it 
 
46 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 would keep tumbling off, he turned it 
 around and nailed it that way, which 
 was just as well. Why shouldn't a horse 
 look over his own shoulders if he chose ? 
 The fore legs gave out next, and after a 
 good many experiments Tommy nailed 
 them on the sides of the body, with some 
 nails he picked up by Mr. Hardware's 
 scrap pile. They were large nails and 
 took a good deal of pounding, but they 
 held well, only of course the fore legs 
 spread a trifle too much. Then the 
 hind legs broke off, and nobody could 
 make them stay on, not even Uncle 
 Jim, and at last Bridget burned them 
 up for kindling. After that the horse 
 always looked as if one end of him 
 had sat down to rest, and the other 
 end was looking around to see what 
 was the matter ; but Tommy liked him 
 
AFTER THAT THE HORSE LOOKED AS IF ONE END OF 
 
 HIM HAD SAT DOWN TO REST. 
 
 Page 46. 
 
APERIL FOOL. 47 
 
 just as well. He played the horse was 
 not sitting down behind, but rearing 
 up in front, and he would saw at the 
 reins, and hold him in, and say, "Hey, 
 there, two-forty / " just like the men at 
 Billy's stable. I forgot to say that 
 Tommy had sheared off the horse's mane 
 and tail and put them into the water- 
 trough to make hair snakes. Billy's 
 mother said they'd turn into snakes, 
 but they never did. Well, Tommy 
 was mending his horse. This time it 
 was the stirrup. The strap was old, 
 and he had just found a splendid new 
 one. It was a part of Uncle Jim's 
 shawl strap. Just as he had the right 
 measure Billy came to the alley gate 
 and called "H'llo!" 
 
 Tommy laid the strap on the piazza 
 and went to see what Billy wanted. 
 
48 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " Say, Tommy, did ye know it's April 
 Fool to-morrow?" whispered Billy, mys 
 teriously. 
 
 "No. What for?" asked Tommy, 
 greatly puzzled. 
 
 " O, to fool fellers," said Billy. " You 
 put things around for greenies to 
 pick up, and pin strips of newspa 
 pers on their coat-tails ; but I'll tell 
 ye the best go. You tie a string to 
 a pocket-book, and put it on the side 
 walk, and hide behind the fence, and 
 when fellers go to pick it up you yank 
 it back and holler ' April Fool ! ' at 'em." 
 
 Tommy saw the joke and laughed a 
 little. 
 
 " You c'mover an' we'll try it," said 
 Billy. 
 
 " No," said Tommy, suddenly grow 
 ing virtuous, " I musn't 'sociate wid 
 
APERIL FOOL. 49 
 
 you," and he walked away from the 
 crestfallen Billy. 
 
 All that day Tommy was meditating 
 on the mystery of " Aperil Fool." He 
 quite forgot it at bed-time, but next 
 morning, as Uncle Jim was looking 
 from the window Tommy heard him 
 laugh heartily, and squeezing in before 
 him, saw a very pompous young gen 
 tleman strutting down the street with 
 a long strip of white cloth dangling from 
 his coat, while a couple of ragged news 
 boys danced and capered in delight. 
 
 u He's tored himself," said Tommy, 
 but just then the cry of "April Fool!" 
 rang out, and Tommy understood. 
 
 While Uncle Jim was adjusting his 
 gloves, Tommy made a hurried search 
 in his mother's work-basket, and find 
 ing a whole piece of magic ruffling, 
 4 
 
5O WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 managed to secure the end to a but 
 ton behind his uncle's coat, and had 
 the satisfaction of seeing the long white 
 ribbon yards and yards of it flut 
 tering down town in the rear of Uncle 
 Jim's new spring suit. He was so de 
 lighted with his first success that he 
 forgot to say " Aperil Fool ! " until it was 
 altogether too late, so he turned his 
 attention to another trick. He had no 
 pocket-book, but there was his pretty 
 red savings bank, that would do as 
 well, or better ; and while mamma was 
 searching for her ruffling to finish baby's 
 aprons, and wondering what had become 
 of Tommy, that young gentleman was 
 in the middle of a tangle of lilac, syr- 
 inga and arbor-vitae, holding fast to 
 one end of his red and white lines, and 
 wondering why somebody didn't pick 
 
APERIL FOOL. 51 
 
 up the bank. The lines lay like a gay 
 little path across the sidewalk, leading 
 through the fence to the clump of bushes, 
 where Tommy's eager face was plainly 
 visible, and the sell was so transparent 
 that people passed it with a laugh. At 
 last a big boy came along. He had 
 his hands in his pockets and was whis 
 tling " Shoo Fly," but when he saw the 
 bank he stopped, set his ragged boot 
 firmly on the line, picked up the red 
 bank, with all its jingling contents, and 
 walked rapidly away. 
 
 Tommy was so intent upon getting 
 ready to say " Aperil Fool ! " that he 
 did not comprehend what had hap 
 pened until the boy disappeared, bank 
 and all, around the corner, and then 
 he ran to the gate screaming, 
 
 " Bring it back ! I want my bank ! " 
 
52 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 "April Fool! April Fool!" shouted 
 some boy across the street, and Tommy 
 ran sobbing to mamma to tell her the 
 sorrowful story. 
 
 " Well," said mamma, " I'm sorry 
 about the bank, but if it teaches you 
 not to play silly tricks again, I shall 
 be willing to have you lose it. See 
 here, Tommy," and mamma lifted her 
 hair and showed him an ugly scar 
 just above her temple. 
 
 " Oh ! " said Tommy, in a horrified 
 tone, " did a Injun scallup it wid his 
 choppenhawk ?" 
 
 "No," said mamma, "a boy did that; 
 a boy not much bigger than you, who 
 wanted to play a trick on April fool 
 day." 
 
 " I'd a shutted him in jail, if I'd 
 been there," said Tommy, fiercely. 
 
. APERIL FOOL. 53 
 
 " He tied a string across the walk in 
 such a way that it lay on the ground, 
 but could be tightened by pulling one 
 end, and then he hid behind the fence 
 and waited for some one to come 
 along. Two little girls came by, chat 
 tering and skipping, and never looking 
 at the ground until, quick as a flash, 
 their feet struck the string. One of 
 them rolled over in a funny little heap 
 and jumped up laughing, but the other 
 lay with her poor little head on the 
 curb stone and her blue eyes shut fast, 
 as if she had been asleep. She wasn't 
 asleep, though, and when they lifted 
 her up, there was blood on her yellow 
 curls, and running down her white face. 
 Somebody carried her home, and the 
 little boy, who had done all the mis 
 chief, followed after, crying all the way. 
 
54 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 The doctor came and shaved off the 
 pretty curls, and looked very grave, 
 and there were days and days when 
 nobody could tell what would be the 
 end of it all." 
 
 Mamma saw the tears in Tommy's 
 eyes, so she said gayly, " But, after all, 
 the little girl did get well, and the 
 yellow curls grew out again, and here 
 she is, this very minute, but you may 
 be sure she never wants her little Tom 
 my to try any April fool tricks." 
 
 Tommy drew a long breath and 
 hugged his mamma, saying, 
 
 " Oh, you dear mamma, I'm so glad 
 you came here." Then he thought a 
 little and added, "Where was you, 
 mamma, 'fore you came, was you up 
 in heaven?" 
 
 Mamma was having one more hunt 
 
APERIL FOOL. 55 
 
 for the lost ruffling, and did not an 
 swer, so Tommy asked again, 
 
 " What do peoples sit on in heaven, 
 so 'em won't fall frew? Do 'em have 
 'tones?" 
 
 No answer, and Tommy walked away, 
 saying, 
 
 " Guess I'll go and look frew my 
 mikerscofe." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PANTS ! 
 
 OMETHING mysterious was go 
 ing on. When Tommy came 
 into the sitting-room mamma and 
 Uncle Jim were looking at some 
 thing by the window, and he dis 
 tinctly heard Uncle Jim say, 
 
 " Very nice, especially the buttons ; 
 don't you think now you could have 
 squeezed in a couple of dozen more ; 
 a row down the back for instance ? " 
 Then mamma laughed, and made be 
 lieve box Uncle Jim's ears, but when 
 
PANTS 57 
 
 Tommy came nearer her he could not 
 see a thing to put buttons on. 
 
 That night, when he climbed into his 
 crib, mamma told him that when he 
 waked in the morning he would find 
 something very nice in the chair beside 
 it. He thought it would be very hard 
 to wait so long, but it only seemed a 
 minute or so before he waked up and 
 heard the robins singing with all their 
 might out in the cherry trees. Mam 
 ma was brushing her hair, moving 
 about very softly, so as not to wake 
 baby, and Tommy sat right up and 
 looked about him, rubbing his eyes 
 with his fat fists. Sure enough, there 
 was "something" on the chair where 
 he had left his plaid dress 'and rufHed 
 panties. A new dress? No, not a 
 dress at all, but the prettiest little suit 
 
58 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 jacket and pants of soft, gray cloth, 
 buttoned with shining pearl buttons, 
 and trimmed with braid. Tommy could 
 hardly believe his eyes, but he was 
 on the floor in a twinkle, laughing and 
 chuckling, and trying to put his pants 
 right on over his long nightgown. 
 Mamma was almost as much pleased 
 as Tommy was, and she helped the 
 little fellow to dress, and swung the 
 mirror back, that he might see him 
 self from head to foot. 
 
 "Just like a man," giggled Tommy, 
 thrusting his hands into his pockets ; 
 and baby lifted her precious little head 
 from the pillow, and stared at him 
 with her great, blue eyes, as if she 
 wondered who that boy was. 
 
 " She don't know me," said Tommy, 
 in still greater delight. " She won't 
 
PANTS. 59 
 
 never have pants, will she ? " he add 
 ed, in a tone that was partly pity 
 and partly triumph. 
 
 When he went out to breakfast, 
 Uncle Jim pretended not to know him, 
 and said, " Good morning, sir ! Very 
 fine weather we are having." 
 
 And then he asked mamma if she 
 expected Tommy home pretty ^oon. 
 
 " Why, Uncle Jim," said Tommy, 
 showing two great dimples in his hard, 
 red cheeks, "fm Tommy ! Don't you 
 see I'm got pants ? " 
 
 " You Tommy ? " said Uncle Jim, look 
 ing very much astonished ; " I should 
 think not ; you're a young gentleman ; 
 Tommy's a little girl, and wears dresses." 
 
 " I ain't never goin' to be a girl any 
 more," said Tommy; "pretty soon I'll 
 have boots, and long sleeves to my shirt." 
 
6O WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 Tommy was quite indignant because 
 his mamma pinned a napkin around his 
 neck at the table, but Uncle Jim begged 
 her to pin his napkin around his neck, 
 and informed Tommy that gentlemen 
 often did so at the restaurants. So 
 Tommy was consoled. 
 
 " I suppose you won't care about eat 
 ing peanuts and candy, any more," said 
 Uncle Jim, as he went away. 
 
 Tommy was walking about with his 
 hands behind him, trying to make his 
 shoes squeak. He stopped and looked 
 at Uncle Jim, to see if he was in ear 
 nest. There was a twinkle in his eye 
 that reassured Tommy, so he went on 
 squeaking his shoes, and wondering 
 what Billy would say to him. He 
 determined to go over immediately and 
 see, but mamma spoiled that plan by 
 
PANTS. 6 1 
 
 telling him not to go outside the gate 
 on any account, or do anything to soil 
 his new clothes, because his papa was 
 coming home that very morning, and 
 Tommy must look his best. Tommy 
 forgot Billy, and jumped around on one 
 foot for joy, and wondered if his papa 
 would know him in his pants and 
 jacket. 
 
 "Maybe he'll think it's Uncle Jim," 
 said Tommy to himself; and then he 
 put on his uncle's rainy-day hat, and 
 marched up and down the porch. When 
 he got tired of this, he went into the 
 kitchen to see Bridget, and discovered, 
 to his great delight, that it was baking 
 day, and all manner of nice-looking and 
 nice-smelling things were being made. 
 Generally, Bridget sent him out of the 
 kitchen quick as a wink, but to-day 
 
62 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 she was pleased with his new clothes, 
 and she was going to ride with her 
 cousin in the afternoon, so she said, 
 
 " La sakes ! just to look at the fine 
 young gentleman ! An' would you be 
 plazed to take a sate, sir?" 
 
 Tommy giggled, and sat down in the 
 chair by the end of Bridget's table. 
 He sat very still for a few minutes, 
 watching Bridget's bare, red arms, as 
 she beat the eggs for a plum pudding. 
 
 "O Bridget!" he said, suddenly, "you're 
 got holes in your elabows." Then 
 Bridget laughed till she got two more 
 holes right in the middle of her round, 
 fat cheeks. 
 
 After a while Tommy forgot about 
 being a gentleman, and began to tease 
 Bridget for raisins, and currants, and 
 bits of citron, and tastes of jelly, and 
 
PANTS. 63 
 
 lumps of sugar. He put the nutmeg 
 grater in his pocket, and at last, in lean 
 ing upon the table to see just how 
 Bridget made the scallops on the pies, 
 he managed to plant his elbow right 
 in the middle of a cranberry pie all 
 ready for the oven. Tommy screamed 
 and so did Bridget Tommy in dismay, 
 and Bridget in anger, which only made 
 matters worse, as anger always does ; 
 for when Bridget jerked Tommy up 
 from the table with a shake that landed 
 him on his feet in the chair, he staggered 
 and tottered, and fell over backward, 
 plump into the great bread pan, which 
 stood there full to the brim with a 
 mountain of white, puffy dough. O dear ! 
 but that was a fix to be in ! and by 
 the time Bridget had pulled Tommy out 
 with her floury hands, rubbed his elbow 
 
64 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 with a towel, and scraped his pants 
 with a big knife, you may be sure the 
 new clothes were a sight to see. 
 
 Mamma thought she should cry, at 
 first, it was such a disappointment, you 
 see ; but one look at Tommy's miserable 
 face made her so sorry for her poor, 
 little man, that she comforted him very 
 bravely, washed his sticky hands, and 
 let him keep on his pants, though they 
 did look funny behind, especially when 
 they came to dry, as if Tommy had 
 been pasted up somewhere, and just 
 broken loose. 
 
 Tommy went out into the yard again, 
 and Lion, the big dog, got up from his 
 rug by the door and came smelling 
 around him, as if he suspected a strange 
 boy had come into the yard. He didn't 
 seem to approve of the new clothes at 
 
PANTS. 65 
 
 all, for he went back to his rug with a 
 growl of disgust, which amused Tommy 
 very much. He followed Lion and 
 curled himself up beside him, and laid 
 his head on his shaggy side. 
 
 " Are you tired, Tommy ? " asked his 
 mamma, looking out at the window. 
 
 " O no," said Tommy ; " I'm just a 
 finkin." 
 
 It was very warm and sunny, so Tom 
 my's mamma let him keep on " fin kin" 
 and when his papa came home he found 
 him there fast asleep. 
 
 Perhaps you think that was enough 
 for one week, but it wasn't, for Tommy's 
 papa brought him a music box that 
 would play three tunes, and a set of 
 toy horsemen that rode up and down to 
 the tune of " Captain Jinks," when you 
 turned the handle of the box they stood 
 
 5 
 
66 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 upon, so of course he had to go over 
 after dinner to show his treasures and 
 his new clothes to Billy. The result was 
 dreadfully disappointing, so far as the 
 new clothes were concerned, for that 
 young gentleman sniffed up his nose at 
 them in decided disapproval. 
 
 "Ho!" said Billy, "they're most like 
 a girl ; only come to your knees, and no 
 galluses. I don't have my clothes that 
 way." 
 
 Tommy stared with his big eyes, and 
 wondered what "galluses" might be, but 
 had not a doubt that there was but one 
 proper way to make clothes, and that 
 was just like Billy's. Now Billy's mam 
 ma never troubled herself about the 
 spring fashions, or any other fashions. 
 She had half a dozen boys, and when 
 the older ones out-grew their clothes, 
 
PANTS. 67 
 
 she just cut off the legs a little, patched 
 the knees and elbows, and passed them 
 on down the row. Billy's present pants 
 happened to be a little long, and a little 
 baggy, but that was a fault time would 
 remedy ; so after inspecting them a 
 moment, Tommy unbuckled his little 
 trousers at the knee, and stretched and 
 smoothed them down over his scarlet 
 stockings. It was no use ; at the very 
 best they would not reach his ankles. 
 
 " Tell ye what," said Billy, " if ye had 
 some galluses them pants would reach 
 down." 
 
 " Y-e-s," said Tommy, in bewilderment. 
 
 The inventive Billy went directly to 
 work, and manufactured a pair of sus 
 penders out of some old red reins. The 
 short trousers were unbuttoned from 
 the jacket and let down to a desirable 
 
68 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 length, the " galluses " fastened on with 
 pins and twine, and then Billy surveyed 
 his work with triumph. 
 
 To be sure, there was a noticeable 
 gap between the top of the trousers 
 and the bottom of the jacket, but the 
 red suspenders bridged it over, and Billy 
 remembered to have seen the same lack 
 upon Jake, the hostler, so both boys 
 were satisfied. 
 
 " There, now," said Billy ; " now you 
 look something like." 
 
 He didn't say like what, and Tommy 
 didn't ask ; but they played with the 
 soldiers till Ellen rung the bell for tea. 
 Then papa and mamma, looking out at 
 the parlor window, saw a funny little 
 figure coming across the yard, with gray 
 trousers dragging over its feet, red sus 
 penders stretching down in front across 
 
FIXING THE GALLUSES. 
 
 Page 68. 
 
 

PANTS. 69 
 
 a puff of plaid flannel shirt, and a gay 
 little plaid banner streaming bravely out 
 in the rear. Tommy's papa laughed and 
 shouted, and felt like rolling on the 
 floor, and he called Uncle Jim and he 
 laughed, too ; but though Tommy went 
 to the window the minute he got in. to 
 
 o 
 
 see what the fun was, he couldn't see 
 anything at all. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TOMMY AT SCHOOL. 
 
 iOMMY'S mamma was feeding her 
 canary. In one hand she held a 
 bunch of fresh, green chickweed, 
 just gathered from the corner of the 
 garden, and with the other hand she 
 was pushing the little tender sprigs 
 through the bars of the cage. The 
 canary sat in his ring, turning his pretty 
 yellow head from side to side, and now 
 and then picking daintily at the tiny 
 buds and leaves. Tommy was standing 
 by the door, dressed in a clean suit of 
 
TOMMY AT SCHOOL. Jl 
 
 buff linen, and he looked a good deal 
 like a canary bird himself, with his 
 bright, round eyes, and his yellow curls 
 all smooth and glossy. Somebody came 
 in at the gate. It was Callie Trumbull, 
 on her way to school. Callie looked 
 very nice, too, in her pink gingham frock 
 and white apron, with fluted ruffles ; and 
 the minute she saw Tommy she ex 
 claimed, 
 
 " O Tommy Bancroft ! you do look 
 too lovely in that suit. I just wish I 
 could take you to school." 
 
 Tommy's mamma looked around and 
 smiled at Callie, and Callie looked at 
 her so beseechingly, that when she 
 said, " Do, please, let me take him," 
 mamma hesitated a minute and then 
 said, 
 
 u Well, I don't know as I care, if you 
 
72 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 will be very careful about the crossings, 
 and lead him all the way home." 
 
 Callie promised very eagerly, and 
 Tommy was too much delighted with 
 the prospect of going to school to care 
 much about the conditions. So his 
 mamma got out his straw cap, with its 
 band of green velvet, put a clean hand 
 kerchief and a scalloped cooky in his 
 pocket, and then kissed him on both 
 cheeks, for goodbye. 
 
 " Be a good boy, Tommy," she said ; 
 "sit still in your seat, and don't talk 
 out loud." 
 
 " O, I know," said Tommy ; " we've 
 played school lots of times, me and 
 Billy ; it's most like goin' to church, 
 'cept that the minister whips 'em if 
 they don't say their Sunday-school les 
 
 son." 
 
TOMMY AT SCHOOL. 73 
 
 "O, Mrs. Bancroft," laughed Gallic, 
 "isn't he too funny?" 
 
 Baby toddled to the door, and reached 
 her fat, little hands after Tommy, and 
 Tommy felt very grand, as he walked 
 away just like a man, and left mamma 
 and little Tot behind. 
 
 Gallic and he got along very nicely 
 until they reached the schoolhouse yard, 
 when a whole troop of girls rushed out 
 and swarmed around them like so many 
 bees. 
 
 " O, what pretty curls ! O, isn't he 
 sweet ? Is he going in your room, 
 Gallic ? O, let me have him till recess, 
 and I'll give you half a stick of gum." 
 So they chattered, and exclaimed, and 
 kissed poor Tommy, and pulled him 
 about, till he wished in his heart that 
 he was safe home again. 
 
74 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " He's going with me," said Callie, 
 decidedly ; "I'm to take care of him 
 every blessed minute, because I promised 
 his mamma. Come, Tommy ; " and 
 Callie led him bravely through the 
 crowd toward the steps. Four boys 
 were playing marbles close by the steps, 
 and one of them looked up at Tommy 
 and said, 
 
 " Hullo ! here's a new girl come to 
 school. How de do, sis?" 
 
 " What cunning little shoes ; and what 
 pretty curls she has got," said another 
 boy, teasingly. 
 
 Tommy's heart was full of indigna 
 tion, and, for the first time, he felt 
 ashamed of his buttoned gaiters, and 
 wished he could change his glossy curls 
 for the stubby black hair of the boy 
 who laughed at him. Callie gave the 
 
TOMMY AT SCHOOL. 75 
 
 boy a glance of contempt. She didn't 
 care a bit what Doc. Flynn said a 
 great, big fellow, ten years old, that 
 read in the first reader, and couldn't 
 spell "biscuit? 
 
 The bell rang just as they were going 
 up, and Tommy was nearly crushed in 
 the rush for the door ; but Callie held 
 him up and jerked him along, and, 
 though a boy twitched one of his curls, 
 he shut his lips bravely, and didn't cry. 
 In a minute more they were in the 
 schoolroom, and Callie gave Tommy a 
 seat beside her, where he began at 
 once to look around and feel more com 
 fortable. 
 
 He liked the looks of the schoolroom 
 pretty well. There were bright-colored 
 maps on the walls, and a long black 
 board at one end, with some queer 
 
76 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 marks on it. The teacher was a very 
 pleasant young lady, with a funny kind 
 of spectacles fastened to a ribbon at 
 her belt, which she perched occasion 
 ally on her nose in a way that looked 
 to Tommy decidedly uncomfortable. He 
 could not see what made them stay on, 
 and began to get quite nervous about 
 it, when, all at once, a little bell tin 
 kled, and Callie's class was called up to 
 read. 
 
 " You sit still," she whispered to 
 Tommy; and Tommy said "Yes," right 
 out loud, which made Callie blush as 
 red as a rose. 
 
 When the class stood up they quite 
 hid Tommy, and a boy right opposite 
 him leaned across the passage way and 
 whispered slyly, 
 
 "Settin' with the girls!" 
 
TOMMY AT SCHOOL. 77 
 
 The taunt was thrown away, for it 
 never had entered into Tommy's inno 
 cent little head that it was not nice, 
 to sit with the girls. So the boy tried 
 another line. He began to make funny 
 pictures on his slate, and show them 
 to Tommy. There was a pig smoking 
 a pipe, and a goose with a hat on ; 
 and when Tommy saw them he laughed 
 out quite heartily. The boy looked very 
 sober, and the teacher came and patted 
 Tommy's head, and said, 
 
 " Keep still, little boy." 
 
 As soon as she was away, the boy 
 took a handful of marbles from his 
 pocket and showed them to Tommy, 
 and Tommy got right up and walked 
 over to his seat. The teacher put on 
 her spectacles and looked at them a 
 minute, and then went on hearing the 
 
78 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 class. When Gallic went back to her 
 seat she was greatly distressed, and tried 
 to get Tommy back, but the young 
 gentleman was very well contented, and 
 the teacher bade her let him alone. 
 The boy gave Tommy a piece of red 
 crayon, and let him paint the pictures in 
 his reader, and when his class was called 
 he seized Tommy by the hand and 
 marched him along. Now Tommy could 
 n't read the least bit, any more than 
 his mother's canary, but Billy always 
 told him that it was because he had 
 never been to school, so Tommy stood 
 up in the class, and took hold of the 
 corner of Bubby Steele's reader, fully 
 expecting that now he was going to 
 read. There was a picture of a boy 
 riding on a pony, and Tommy looked 
 at the pictures very hard while the 
 
TOMMY AT SCHOOL. 79 
 
 boys read. When it came Bubby 
 Steele's turn he spoke up very loud, 
 and said, 
 
 "One fine day George got on his 
 pony to ride a few miles into the country, 
 to visit his Cousin Charles. His cousin 
 lived in a large farmhouse " 
 
 "Next!" said the teacher, and Tommy 
 began to read as loud and as fast as 
 he could, and this was what he said, 
 
 " It wasn't his Cousin Charles, it was 
 his gramma, and she has sticks to her 
 spetacles to stick over her ears ; and 
 she gave me two red apples and a 
 doughnut, and the pony runned away 
 'cause a turkey gobbler gobbled at him, 
 and the boy wasn't 'fraid 'tall ; and that's 
 the end of it." 
 
 You see, Tommy thought the boys 
 were just making up stories about the 
 
8O WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 picture, as he sometimes did with his 
 rhyme book. The boys all laughed, 
 and so did the teacher, and she told 
 Tommy that would do very well for 
 the first time. Then they went on read 
 ing, and Tommy watched the teacher's 
 spectacles until, all at once, he said, 
 suddenly, 
 
 " I sh'd think they'd pinch your nose 
 that way ; try 'em on me, will you ? " 
 
 Then they laughed again, and, after 
 that Tommy went back to the seat with 
 Bubby Steele, and traded his cooky for 
 half of a pair of broken scissors, and 
 tried to chew rosin until his little white 
 teeth were all gummed up ; and insisted 
 on going out to play with the boys 
 at recess, and came in with grass stains 
 
 on both knees, and the ruffle torn half 
 
 
 
 off from his collar. Poor Callie was 
 
TOMMY AT SCHOOL. 8 1 
 
 as miserable as she could be, at the 
 thought of taking him home in such a 
 plight, and actually planned to take 
 him to the gate, and then run away. 
 
 After recess he sat with another boy, 
 who wanted Tommy's little handker 
 chief for the sail of a ship which he 
 had smuggled away in his desk, and 
 Tommy sold it to him for a bottle of 
 red ink, made out of pokeberry juice. 
 He put the bottle in his breast pocket, 
 and, as it was only corked with paper, 
 of course the ink leaked out, and 
 made him look as if he had been 
 shot through the heart. 
 
 Half an hour before school was out, 
 he shut up a great, clumsy jack knife 
 on one of his soft, little fingers, and 
 frightened the teacher so that she 
 
 dropped her spectacles, and poor Callie 
 6 
 
82 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 stood by, crying louder than Tommy 
 did while the unlucky finger was bound 
 up. Then the teacher said Callie had 
 better take Tommy home ; and a very 
 forlorn couple they were, when they 
 presented themselves to Mrs. Bancroft. 
 
 " O, my poor child!" screamed mam 
 ma, " what has happened to him ? " 
 
 At this both the children began cry 
 ing louder than ever. 
 
 " O, dear, dear ! " said mamma, half 
 distracted at the red stains, and the torn 
 clothes, and the bandaged hand ; " O, 
 Tommy, what is it ? are you killed ? " 
 
 " Course I ain't killed," said Tommy, 
 " nelse I couldn't scream. I cutted my 
 finger wid a boy's knife, and that ain't 
 bleed on my jacket, only but red ink, 
 and I've got a whole bottleful." 
 
 By this time Tommy was in pretty 
 
TOMMY AT SCHOOL. 83 
 
 good spirits. Gallic managed to tell 
 her story, and mamma was so much 
 relieved, she told her not to feel badly 
 about it, but she guessed Tommy was 
 too little to go to school. 
 
 When Tommy was sitting at dinner, 
 all sweet and clean again, his papa 
 asked him how he liked school. 
 
 Tommy looked very thoughtful, as he 
 said, 
 
 " I didn't like it pretty much, 'cause 
 my red ink didn't have any stopper, 
 and it made me too tired to study." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MORE MISCHIEF. 
 
 HE day began beautifully. When 
 mamma and Aunt Louise peeped 
 in at the sitting-room door, they 
 saw Tommy and his cousin Lu, just 
 as sweet and clean as two pinks, with 
 their heads close together over the ele 
 phant book, while Robert was telling 
 them the stories. I'm afraid Robert 
 was not quite particular to tell them 
 according to the book, but they were 
 very funny, at any rate, and mamma 
 said, 
 
MORE MISCHIEF. 85 
 
 " That's right, Robert ; you look after 
 the children a little, and tell Ellen to 
 see that they keep their clothes clean. 
 We shall be back by lunch time." 
 
 It seems strange, but it is perfectly 
 true, that the moment Robert was set 
 to amusing the children, he began to 
 find it hard work, and remembered at 
 least six different things that he was 
 anxious to finish. So first he went to 
 the window and whistled, then he took 
 all the things out of his pocket and 
 looked them over, and finally he went 
 out doors, telling the children to stay 
 there till he came back, and that was 
 the last he remembered about them 
 until noon. They got on very well at 
 first. Lu told the stories. This is the 
 way she told them, 
 
 " That's a corkadiul ; he's swimmin' 
 
86 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 in de mud. Corkadiuls is a-w-ful ; they 
 eat up little heevun babies 'at won't 
 say dey prayers, an' de chillen to my 
 Sunday school we buy some mishnaries 
 wid our pennies to shoot 'em wid." 
 
 " Le's punch that old corkadiul," said 
 Tommy ; and so they punched him till 
 they made a hole through his head. 
 Then they turned over the leaf. 
 
 " That's a lelliphant's nest, I b'lieve 
 so, and that's a norstrige ; he's a goin' 
 to eat up de eggs, an' de men is chasin' 
 *' him to fly him away from 'em. Dose 
 kind of horses is to catch Herns wid; 
 dere backs hump up so people can hold 
 on better." 
 
 " Le's punch de -old horstige," said 
 Tommy; and so they punched him until 
 there was nothing left but the tail and 
 one leg. 
 
THAT'S A LELLIPHANT'S NEST, I' B'LIEVE SO." 
 
 Page '86. 
 
MORE MISCHIEF. 87 
 
 After that they put the book away 
 and played hunt lions. Lu was the 
 lion ; she carried off Captain Jinks 
 between her teeth, and shook him un 
 til his head rolled off, growling fear 
 fully all the time. And Tommy rode 
 after her upon the poker, and rescued 
 Captain Jinks, and screwed his head on 
 again. 
 
 " Le's go up in my Uncle Jim's room," 
 said Tommy, " he's got a truly sword 
 and a knappersack, and he don't care if 
 I take 'em, I maybe." 
 
 " Well," said Lu, and up they went. 
 They couldn't reach the sword, which 
 was fortunate, but the " knappersack," 
 which happened to be a haversack, was 
 put on, and the canteen filled with bay- 
 rum and hair oil. 
 
 " Here's a sword," said Lu, pouncing 
 
88 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 upon Uncle Jim's precious razor strop, 
 " if you only had a belt." 
 
 " Here's Uncle Jim's bellit," said Tom 
 my, dragging an elegant sash from a 
 drawer. 
 
 "I want that," said Lu, "it's most like 
 mamma's ; play I was a lady * goin' to 
 a party." 
 
 " No," said Tommy, " I want it ; it's 
 my bellit." Lu gave it up, for just then 
 she spied a box full of neck ties, and 
 sat down to try them on her doll. The 
 long ones made lovely sashes, and Lu 
 tied and untied them with great satis 
 faction, while Tommy paraded up and 
 down, the ends of the long crimson sash 
 trailing magnificently behind him. Pres 
 ently the razor strop suggested a new idea. 
 
 " Goin' to shave," said Tommy, push 
 ing a chair to the bureau. 
 
MORE MISCHIEF. 89 
 
 Lu was at the wash-stand by that 
 time turning on the hot water to give 
 her dolly a " bath-ing." Tommy found 
 the cup of creamy soap, and the soft 
 brush with -its ivory handle. 
 
 " Uncle Jim let's me take 'em," he 
 said complacently, and Uncle Jim really 
 did sometimes ; and then with a little 
 tremor of his hands, he took the keen 
 razor from its box and laid it down. 
 
 " Coin' to shave me some whiskers, 
 like Uncle Jim," he said, rubbing the 
 soap to a white froth, and climbing with 
 dripping hands upon the bureau to 
 bring his face close to the glass. Then 
 he brushed the lather over his cheeks 
 and chin; how funny he looked! Across 
 his nose and his upper lip ; Tommy had 
 to stop to laugh ; then a little more on 
 his cheeks, and some on his forehead. 
 
90 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 He nearly forgot the razor, but by and 
 by he picked it up very cautiously, 
 grasped his slippery nose between his 
 slippery thumb and finger, and looked 
 quizzically into the glass. 
 
 Just about this time it occurred to 
 Ellen that the children were unusually 
 quiet. 
 
 " They're dead sure to be in mischief," 
 she said, putting down the baby and hur 
 rying up stairs. No one in the sitting- 
 room, but she could hear Lu singing 
 her last Sunday-school song : 
 
 "Oh, I'll be a good child, as ever I can be, 
 I'll mind what my teacher says to me." 
 
 Following the voice she came in just 
 as Lu had champooed the last hair 
 from dolly^s head with Uncle Jim's 
 tooth brush, and Tommy was preparing 
 for the first sweep of his razor. His 
 
COIN' TO SHAVE ME SOME WHISKERS, LIKE UNCLE 
 
 JIM." 
 
 Page 90. 
 
MORE MISCHIEF. 9 1 
 
 back was towards the door, but he saw 
 Ellen's horrified face in the glass, and 
 the razor dropped from his hand. It 
 might have sliced his poor little nose 
 off, but it only grazed his fat cheek, 
 so that the white lather was stained with 
 blood. Tommy and Ellen shrieked to 
 gether, and Lu added her voice to the 
 chorus. But when Ellen found there 
 was no serious harm done, her fright 
 gave way to anger, and she shut both 
 the children into the closet, while she 
 did her best to repair the mischief by 
 putting the wet razor into a glove box, 
 'and "rinsing off the illegant sash" in 
 the wash bowl. 
 
 When mamma came home she was 
 dreadfully distressed about it all. 
 
 " O dear, Tommy," she said, " what 
 does make you so naughty ? " 
 
Q2 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " God do," said Tommy, gravely ; 
 " makes everyfinV 
 
 " No," said mamma, " it is naughty lit 
 tle Tommy himself, and he makes his 
 mamma's heart ache." 
 
 Tommy looked very sad, and promised 
 heartily to do better. 
 
 When papa came home he took him 
 on his lap, and asked, just as he al 
 ways did, 
 
 " Has my little boy been good to-day?" 
 
 And Tommy said, very honestly, 
 
 " No, papa, I was awful much naugh 
 ty, and made my mamma's stomach 
 ache." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LITTLE RUNAWAY. 
 
 OMMY was in the country. The 
 regular country, with up hill and 
 
 down, where there are pastures with 
 wild strawberries, and orchards with 
 robins' nests in the trees. 
 
 Papa was there, too, and mamma, and 
 Aunt Louise, and little Lu ; and Lu 
 had her dog Pedro, that knew almost 
 as much as a boy. 
 
 " Such a safe place for Tommy," said 
 mamma, rocking contentedly, and fold 
 ing the tenth tuck in baby's new dress. 
 41 I don't worry a mite about him ; no 
 
94 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 lake to drown him, no cars or carriages 
 to run over him, no bad company for 
 him to get into. I am just taking solid 
 comfort." 
 
 All the time Tommy and Lu were 
 chasing the lame turkey around the barn 
 yard, penning up a toad in the pump 
 spout, painting stripes on the kitten 
 with some green paint they found in 
 the cellar, and having a good time gen 
 erally. Then they got some cookies 
 and swung on the gate, eating them. 
 
 " Wish my papa would come," said 
 Lu. " My papa's going to bring me a 
 new dolly." 
 
 " Wish my papa'd come," echoed Tom 
 my. " Le's go way up top tip of the 
 house, and look wa-ay off, ever so miles, 
 
 an' see 'em come." 
 
 Patter, patter went the little feet, 
 
LITTLE RUNAWAY. 95 
 
 through the hall and up stairs, and pat, 
 pat came Pedro, running after. 
 
 Up in the garret was a queer, spicy 
 smell from the catnip, and spearmint, 
 and boneset, drying on papers under 
 the eaves. A wasp that had found his 
 way in at some chink was buzzing spite 
 fully at the window, and a few great, 
 stupid flies crawled slowly up the slip 
 pery panes and tumbled down again. 
 Lu wouldn't go to the window ; she was 
 afraid of wasps ; so they looked for 
 something to play with. First Tommy 
 was a 'spressman, and drove away with 
 a mountain of trunks, and a little old 
 Testament in his pocket for a "member- 
 andel book." Then he was a doctor, 
 and brewed some famous tea for Lu, 
 mixing the herbs all together in a red 
 bandbox. When they were tired of this 
 
96 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 they went down again, and looked out 
 at the window by the landing of the 
 stairs. That was a pleasant window. 
 The cool, sweet wind came in from away 
 over the hills, and they could see the 
 crooked road along which Tommy's papa 
 and Lu's papa came riding every night, 
 with such pockets for little fingers to 
 explore. Tommy and Lu looked out, 
 and Pedro put his paws up on the broad 
 sill and looked out too, with a wise little 
 wrinkle on his black nose, and one ear 
 cocked up. 
 
 " I see 'em," said Lu, eagerly, " way, 
 way off!" * 
 
 il Where ? " said Tommy, crowding 
 close. " O, I see ; one is my papa and 
 another lady." 
 
 " It's my papa, and a lady," said Lu, 
 slowly but positively, as she decided 
 
LITTLE RUNAWAY. 97 
 
 that one of the travelers in the distance 
 was not a man. A little later she saw 
 with disgust, that the one man was fat 
 old Deacon Giles, who took off his hat 
 to wipe his bald head as he drove by. 
 
 " Tain't my papa," said Lu, provok- 
 ingly. 
 
 tl 'Ain't my papa," said Tommy, prompt 
 ly ; " my papa's got a top on his head." 
 
 No one else came along the crooked 
 road, and the children grew tired of 
 waiting. 
 
 " Mean to go and meet my papa," 
 said Tommy ; " I'm awful lonstum, stayin' 
 here so much." 
 
 Lu didn't say anything. She had 
 been expressly forbidden to go beyond 
 the yard with her blue shoes on ; but 
 Tommy ran. up and down the road at 
 pleasure, and she felt as if it would 
 7 
 
98 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 somehow hasten matters if Tommy went 
 to meet papa and the dolly. 
 
 "Papa '11 be glad," said Tommy. 
 " He'll tight up the lines, and say, 
 " Where did yoit, been ? " 
 
 " Well," said Lu, " I'll stay here and 
 watch." 
 
 " My papa'll be glad," said Tommy, 
 holding a little argument with his con 
 science. "He'll say, 'where did you 
 been?' and I'll put my arms around his 
 neck, and hug him dest as tight, and 
 I'll say, "oh my per-cscioits papa, has 
 you got any peanuts in your pocket ? r 
 An' papa'll say, 'Feel in my pocket? An' 
 what ye s'pose'll be in the paper? You 
 s'pose peanuts ? " 
 
 By this time Tommy was trotting 
 down stairs. Pedro ran after him a few 
 steps, then stopped and sniffed in a 
 
LITTLE RUNAWAY. 99 
 
 puzzled way, but finally went back to 
 Lu at the window. Mamma glanced up 
 from her sewing to see a little bare 
 headed figure go past the door. Ellen 
 stopped in the middle of a story she 
 was telling Nora about her ride with 
 the grocer's young man, to see the 
 same little figure march out at the back 
 gate, and then mamma and Ellen forgot 
 all about it. Lu at her window watched 
 and watched. She saw the bare head 
 go bobbing down the first hill, then 
 disappear for a while and go creeping up 
 the next one, looking less like a bare 
 head and more like a gray speck. Then 
 it disappeared again, and though Lu 
 watched and watched, it did not come 
 in sight So she curled herself up in 
 one corner and shut her eyes. Pedro, 
 seated on his curly tail, tried his best 
 
IOO WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 to keep up the post of observation, but 
 by and by he gave it up and went to 
 sleep too. 
 
 " How dark it is growing," said mam 
 ma suddenly, and looked out to see a 
 great storm cloud rolling rapidly up 
 from the west. "Poof!" came the first 
 gust of wind, shutting the hall door 
 with a slam, right in mamma's face, and 
 sending the long white curtains flut 
 tering out at the windows. 
 
 " The rain is right upon us," said 
 Aunt Louise, running up to shut the 
 windows, while mamma went to the 
 kitchen to ask Ellen where the children 
 were. 
 
 " Sure ma'am, they're playin' in the 
 garret, I'm thinkin'," said Ellen, but even 
 as she spoke, she remembered the bare 
 headed figure. 
 
LITTLE RUNAWAY. IOI 
 
 " Lu is here, fast asleep," called Aunt 
 Louise, leaning out among the plash 
 ing drops to fasten the blinds. 
 
 Lu, wide awake, could only tell that 
 Tommy had gone to meet his papa, and 
 she had watched him go over the sec 
 ond hill ; all which made mamma de 
 termine in her frantic heart to go 
 straight after him through the storm. 
 
 "You'll never be so foolish," said 
 Aunt Louise. " Tommy is safe enough. 
 It's a straight way, without a turn or 
 a cross-road from here to the station, 
 and the most he can get is a wetting 
 and a good scare; it won't hurt him 
 in the least." 
 
 Which was very well for Aunt Lou 
 ise to say, as long as she had her 
 own chick safe, but not what mamma 
 felt, with her poor little naughty dar- 
 
l62 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 ling shivering and shrinking at the 
 white blinding flashes, and the awful 
 rattle and crash of the thunder, while 
 the pouring sheets of rain fairly wet 
 him to his bones. So mamma thought, 
 but in fact it was not so. 
 
 Runaway Tommy trudged on very 
 comfortably for a much longer way up 
 the crooked road than his feet had 
 ever gone before. He found a good 
 deal to amuse him besides watching 
 for papa, and when the rain began to 
 fall had just discovered a great red 
 farm cart, taken off from its wheels 
 and set upon four blocks by the road 
 side. He climbed in and played that 
 he had a hack of his own, and was 
 so delighted with the discovery that 
 he did not mind the rain until it came 
 pretty fast, and the thunder began to 
 
LITTLE RUNAWAY. IO3 
 
 scold and say, " Where's naughty Tom- 
 my ? " Then he looked around and 
 cried a little, but thought better of it, 
 and crept under the cart. 
 
 Not a drop of the rain came through. 
 It was just high enough to let him 
 sit up, and when the rain poured the 
 fastest only a few spatters drove in. 
 But Tommy was thoroughly frightened; 
 he was sure the thunder scolded him, 
 and he locked his fingers tightly to 
 gether and never took his eyes from 
 the road until between the peals of 
 thunder he heard the rattle of wheels 
 over the stones. 
 
 " Papa ! " he screamed, but his voice 
 was drowned completely, and all at 
 once he thought of the chance of being 
 left there alone. So he crawled bravely 
 out and stood in the drenching rain, 
 
IO4 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 shouting at the top of his sturdy lit 
 tle voice, " Papa ! Papa ! " 
 
 The wagon came nearer. Somebody 
 heard the call. Somebody else said it 
 wasn't anything, but papa knew better. 
 Clear down at the bottom of his heart 
 was something, I cannot tell you what, 
 that answered the voice and made papa 
 draw up the reins and say, "Hark!" 
 
 '* Papa ! Papa ! " it called again, and 
 a dripping figure ran from the weeds 
 toward the wagon. " Papa, it's me ; I 
 came to meet you." 
 
 Not a word about peanuts, and not 
 a word did papa say. He only held 
 the little soaking, slippery fellow close 
 in his arms, and never minded how 
 the water ran. from him in streams and 
 puddles, until they drove under the 
 shed and he sprang out, ran into the 
 
LITTLE RUNAWAY. 105 
 
 house and set the runaway down among 
 the frightened people. 
 
 Mamma hugged him and forgave him 
 that instant, but Aunt Louise wiped her 
 eyes and scolded him soundly, until he 
 was carried away to be dried. The warm 
 rain did not hurt him a mite, and he came 
 out to supper rosy and triumphant. 
 
 " You ought to punish him," said 
 Aunt Louise, severely. 
 
 " He's punished enough, poor lamb," 
 said mamma, tenderly. 
 
 " He doesn't care a bit," said Aunt 
 Louise, " and next time he may not 
 come off so well." 
 
 " Tommy," said papa, taking the lit 
 tle culprit on his knee, " don't you 
 think you were naughty to run away ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Tommy, " I'm got my new 
 shoes on, papa." 
 
IO6 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " Mamma was so frightened I'm afraid 
 she'll be sick," said papa. 
 
 " Oh, too bad," said Tommy, ruefully, 
 giving mamma a sudden squeeze about 
 the head as she knelt by him, " Docker 
 must give her some nux." 
 
 " Tommy might have been lost if 
 God hadn't taken care of him, and 
 made papa stop " 
 
 " That was me a callin'," interrupted 
 Tommy, looking up from the new shoes 
 he was admiring, " and I hurt me some- 
 wheres crawlin' frew ; right here, on the 
 elbone to my leg ; did you know I'm 
 got elbones to my legs ? That's so 
 they'll limber up." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 TOMMY'S FORF 'N JULY. 
 
 ILLY knew all about it. Billy 
 had three big brothers, and his 
 father kept a livery stable ; so of 
 course he knew most things. It 
 was Billy that told Tommy, for the 
 blessed little heathen couldn't remem 
 ber that he had ever heard of Fourth 
 of July. To be sure, there had only 
 been four of them in Tommy's calen 
 dar, and the last two of those he had 
 spent, with mamma, out at Grandma 
 Bancroft's ; and grandma hated torpe- 
 
108 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 does and fire crackers as heartily as 
 she loved Tommy, so there were plenty 
 of nuts, and candies, and frosted cakes, 
 but not a spark of gunpowder. 
 
 "Ho!" said Billy, "I've been to 
 more'n fifty Fourth o' Julys, and they 
 always have fire crackers and torpedoes ; 
 that's what it's for, and to drink lemon 
 ade and sody." 
 
 " I don't like sody," said Tommy, 
 doubtfully ; " once I ate some out of a 
 little box, and it wasn't sugar." And 
 Tommy made a wry face. 
 
 "Taint that kind," said Billy; "they 
 squirt it out of a machine, and it all 
 goes up into a pile, like shavin' soap, 
 and you wink your eyes shut and just 
 swaller, without stoppin' to taste. I tell 
 you it's bully." 
 
 " Y-e-e-s," said Tommy, winking very 
 
TOMMY'S FORF 'N JULY. 109 
 
 fast, and trying to imagine the opera 
 tion. 
 
 "You get your Uncle Jim to buy 
 you some fire crackers," counseled Billy, 
 " and we'll fire 'em off, to-morrer." 
 
 Tommy was a little uncertain about 
 the result, for he had a general impres 
 sion that his mamma didn't approve of 
 fire or gunpowder ; but that evening, as 
 they sat at tea, he opened the subject. 
 
 "Uncle Jim," said he, gravely, "did 
 you know to-morrow was a Forf 'n 
 July?" 
 
 "Is it?" said Uncle Jim. "Are they 
 going to have one this year?" 
 
 " An' Billy likes sody 'n water ; you 
 mix it up wid shavin's, and shut your 
 eyes, and its its bully," said Tommy, 
 innocently. 
 
 " Tommy Bancroft," said mamma, with 
 
IIO WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 a look of horror, " where do you learn 
 such words ? " 
 
 " Billy told me that," said Tommy, 
 complacently. " Billy knows lots of fun 
 ny words." 
 
 " Evil communications corrupt good 
 manners," said Uncle Jim, sipping his 
 tea. 
 
 " An' Billy says you'd ought to buy 
 me some fire crackers," said Tommy ; 
 "will you, Uncle Jim?" 
 
 "Ask mamma," said Uncle Jim, with 
 a funny twinkle in his eye. 
 
 " O, Tommy, I'm afraid," said mamma. 
 
 "Ho!" said Tommy, "I ain't 'fraid 
 'tall. I da'st to fire a gun." 
 
 " Well, we'll see about it when papa 
 comes home," said mamma, and that 
 was just as good to Tommy as a 
 promise. 
 
TOMMYS FORF N JULY. Ill 
 
 The fact was, that mamma, and papa, 
 and Uncle Jim, had discussed this ques 
 tion of fire-works, and the two gentle 
 men had stoutly maintained that Tom 
 my was old enough to be trusted with 
 the delights of celebrating the Fourth 
 in regular boy fashion, and, after a 
 good deal of protesting, mamma had 
 yielded the point. And the reason papa 
 was not at tea at that very moment 
 was, that he had stopped on his way 
 home to lay in a bountiful supply of 
 crackers, torpedoes, grasshoppers, and 
 other delightful things, which all boys 
 know the names of better than I do. 
 When Tommy went to bed, they were 
 safely reposing in a big, square box on 
 the shelf of the hall closet, and behind 
 the door was a queer, long bundle, that 
 mamma herself did not know about, 
 
112 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 containing splendid rockets and Roman 
 candles. 
 
 " It is only once a year," said papa, 
 "and I mean to make it a glorious day 
 to him." But privately I don't mind 
 telling you that papa liked torpedoes 
 and sky rockets as well as a boy, and 
 so did Uncle Jim. 
 
 The racket began right after mid 
 night, with all sorts of banging, and 
 cracking, and popping, and fizzing, but 
 Tommy slept the sleep of the blessed, 
 and only waked at sunrise, with a whole 
 broadside of crackers from the alley, 
 sent off as a salute by his friend Billy. 
 
 " Somebody's a shootin' " said Tommy, 
 opening his eyes in an instant. " Oh ! 
 it's Forf 'n July." 
 
 It was hard dressing a boy in such 
 a tremor of excitement, and he wanted 
 
TOMMY'S FORF 'N JULY. 
 
 to set fire to his whole assortment, and 
 send them off at a crash ; but he was 
 finally obliged to content himself, until 
 after breakfast, with a package of tor 
 pedoes, with which he strewed the piazza 
 and the front steps, and kept up a 
 constant snapping and cracking. 
 
 " Now, Tommy," said papa, after break 
 fast, "I'll show you how to fire your 
 crackers." 
 
 So papa showed Tommy, and then 
 Uncle Jim showed him, and then papa 
 showed him again, and then Uncle Jim 
 did ; and so they kept showing him, 
 until mamma was half distracted, and the 
 whole house smelled like a battlefield. 
 
 All the time Billy had been squeezing 
 his face through the alley gate, longing 
 to come in, but not quite daring to 
 venture, for the last time he had put 
 
 8 
 
114 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 in an appearance at the house, Bridget 
 had promptly seized him by a conven 
 ient superfluity of his garments, and 
 landed him in a puddle on his own 
 side of the fence. But Uncle Jim's 
 heart grew warm with patriotism, and 
 presently he spied Billy, and called him 
 in, enriching him with two packages of 
 crackers, and a splendid piece of punk. 
 
 Mamma frowned, but papa said, " Non 
 sense ; we're all brothers to-day. Let 
 the little wretch have a good time." 
 And he let Tommy shoot crackers in 
 the alley, under Billy's direction, until 
 the young gentleman was brought up 
 to a tremendous pitch of enthusiasm, 
 and you would have thought there were 
 at least ten boys out there, instead of 
 two very small ones. 
 
 Then Uncle Jim opened his heart 
 

 TOMMYS FORF N JULY. 115 
 
 still more, and volunteered to take both 
 the boys down to the fruit stand at the 
 corner and treat them; and that elegant 
 gentleman actually walked out of the 
 front gate, with the children following 
 him, and paid at the fruit stand for 
 two glasses of soda water, a pine apple, 
 a bunch of bananas, and two immense 
 oranges. Then he walked away, smil 
 ing and happy, and the children carried 
 the fruit home, ate it on the sidewalk, 
 and were cross and miserable all the 
 rest of the day. They quarreled over 
 the remnant of the torpedoes, and came 
 to blows about the last bunch of crack 
 ers, because Billy accidentally dropped 
 a match and exploded them all at 
 once. The end of it all was, that mam 
 ma sent Billy home, tearful and indig 
 nant, washed Tommy's grimy hands 
 
Il6 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 and face, and put him to bed, to sleep 
 off his excitement and fatigue. 
 
 When he awoke, it was almost dark, 
 and he heard a great deal of talking 
 and laughing, and a jingle of glass and 
 silver. And Ellen came in and dressed 
 Tommy in his best Marseilles suit, and 
 the baby had on her tucked muslin, 
 with puffs and pink ribbons, and her 
 hair curled in little, shining rings ; and 
 when mamma came and led Tommy 
 into the parlor, there was a large com 
 pany of people, eating ice cream and 
 raspberries and cake. They made a 
 great fuss about Tommy and the baby, 
 as if they meant to eat them up ; and 
 they really did look sweet enough to 
 eat. And then Tommy sat on his papa's 
 knee, and ate raspberries and cream, too. 
 
 When it grew a little darker, Uncle 
 
TOMMYS FORF N JULY. Ii; 
 
 Jim disappeared, and all at once a splen 
 did rocket shot up from the front yard, 
 with a loud " whiz" and after that a Ro 
 man candle, and then some more rockets. 
 And Tommy stood by the bay window, 
 and fairly held his breath with delight. 
 They kept it up for an hour, and the fire 
 works were a wonderful success ; besides, 
 they could see, in every direction, how 
 the rockets and Roman candles shot up 
 from other people's front yards, making 
 a splendid show against the dark sky. 
 
 And afterward the gas was lighted 
 in the parlor, and mamma played on 
 the piano, and Uncle Jim sang some 
 songs with a lovely lady in white tarla 
 tan ; and by and by they all went away. 
 But I don't think Tommy will ever, 
 ever forget that " Forf 'n July," not for 
 five years,, at le-ast 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 TOMMY'S MENAGERIE. 
 
 T was all Uncle Jim's fault, every 
 bit of it, because, if he hadn't 
 taken Tommy to the museum, to 
 see the wild beasts, and snakes, and 
 curious animals, Tommy never would 
 have thought of such a thing as a men 
 agerie. And Uncle Jim wasn't very much 
 to blame, either, for Tommy's papa and 
 mamma went away for a whole week, and 
 took the baby, and left him and Uncle 
 Jim with only Bridget, and so, of course, 
 they would get into some mischief. 
 
 \ 
 
TOMMYS MENAGERIE. IIQ 
 
 Well, as I said, Uncle Jim took 
 Tommy to the museum, and I couldn't 
 begin to tell you how many wonder 
 ful things he saw a canary bird that 
 could dance on a tight rope and fire 
 a gun ; and a rooster without any 
 head, that walked about and crowed ; 
 a lot of monkeys in a cage ; and, 
 strangest of all, what they called " The 
 Happy Family," which was a great 
 cage where a couple of cats, a dog, 
 some white mice, a long-tailed rat, a lot 
 of birds, and several other animals, all 
 lived together. They didn't look very 
 happy, but then they didn't eat each 
 other up, and that is all you can say 
 of some other " happy families." 
 
 Tommy talked a great deal about the 
 museum, and thought about it a great 
 deal more. He asked his Uncle Jim all 
 
120 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 manner of questions, as they sat at 
 breakfast the next morning. Uncle Jim 
 was sipping his coffee and reading his 
 paper and trying to make up his mind 
 whether there would be a war in Europe 
 or not, so he only listened occasionally 
 to Tommy's questions, although he ans 
 wered them just the same. 
 
 " Uncle Jim," said Tommy, " how you 
 s'pose they caught that big snake ? " 
 
 " Um, yes ; I presume so," said Uncle 
 Jim. 
 
 Tommy looked hard at Uncle Jim, 
 and ate three mouthfuls of toast. Then 
 he ventured again. 
 
 " Uncle Jim, what you s'pose they 
 stuff up those birds wid ? The ones in 
 the big cage, wid their wings all flut 
 tered out so?" 
 
 "Yes; most likely," said Uncle Jim. 
 
TOMMYS MENAGERIE. 121 
 
 Tommy didn't see the point, so he 
 thought about it a little while, till Uncle 
 Jim laid down his paper to butter a 
 muffin. 
 
 "Uncle Jim," he began, " why don't 
 that cat eat up the birds and rings ? " 
 
 " O," said Uncle Jim, quite rationally, 
 " they're used to living together. I dare 
 say they didn't like it very well at first. 
 Have a muffin, Tommy?" 
 
 Tommy decided to have a muffin, 
 and while he was eating it, Uncle Jim 
 went away, and Bridget came in and 
 told him to finish his breakfast quick, 
 for she was in a hurry. Tommy was 
 never in a hurry, but he finished his 
 breakfast, and went and sat on the back 
 steps to feed his pigeons and watch for 
 Billy. There were two white pigeons, 
 with great, spreading fan tails, and 
 
122 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 one beautiful slate-colored pigeon, with 
 glossy feathers that shaded into green 
 and purple and red, in the sun. They 
 ran about on the clean gravel walk, 
 with their pretty, red feet, cooing and 
 chattering, as they picked up the corn 
 Tommy threw them. 
 
 The great Maltese cat came up to 
 Tommy, rubbing her sleek fur against 
 his feet, and trying her best to say " good 
 morning" to him. The pigeons were 
 not at all afraid of the cat, and all at 
 once it occurred to Tommy that he 
 might have a happy family, if he only 
 had a cage to put it in. 
 
 Just at this unlucky moment Billy 
 came sauntering up the alley, eating a 
 thick slice of bread and molasses. Tom 
 my hailed him directly, and the two boys 
 went out and sat in the door of the 
 
TOMMY'S MENAGERIE. 123 
 
 woodhouse, while all the marvels of the 
 museum were talked over. 
 
 It was a great triumph to Tommy, 
 to be able to tell Billy anything he did 
 not know, and his eyes grew bigger and 
 bluer every moment with excitement. 
 
 " An' more'n a million birds, Billy, 
 wid all their fedders and wings fluttered 
 out, only but they couldn't fly ; an' lots 
 of awful big snakes, all stuffed full of 
 fings they swallowed, an' little bits of 
 snakes, all pickled up in preserve bottles, 
 an' monkeys in a cage, but they was 
 alive, and they don't never feed 'em 
 'cause it said you musn't on a card that 
 Uncle Jim read,; and I liked the mon 
 keys best, 'cause they can just stand up 
 in the air and hold on wid their tails." 
 
 " I've seen a monkey, myself," said 
 Billy ; " two on ' 
 
124 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " O my, Billy, you'd ought to see the 
 'Happy Family!' exclaimed Tommy, 
 frisking off from the step in his excite 
 ment, and then coming back again. 
 " You see they don't like it at first, 
 Uncle Jim s'poses, but they get used 
 to it, and they all live together in a big 
 cage. There's a cat wid a rat on her 
 backhand some white mice running over 
 a little dog, and some birds, and a 
 monkey, and lots of rings." 
 
 " Tommy," interrupted Billy, " you go 
 and ask Bridget for a cooky, and get 
 one for me." 
 
 1 Well," said Tommy, and away he 
 went. 
 
 Bridget was just tying on her hat. 
 She told Tommy she was going to. mar 
 ket, and if he would be a good boy she 
 would bring him two balls of pop-corn. 
 
TOMMYS MENAGERIE. 125 
 
 Tommy consented reluctantly, for he 
 liked to go to market with Bridget ; 
 and then she gave him two cookies, 
 and called him a " nice little gintleman." 
 
 While he was sharing his cookies 
 with Billy, he ventured to tell him of 
 his plan of getting up a happy family. 
 
 " Tell ye what," said Billy, " we can 
 do it. Bob's got a big squirrel cage in 
 the barn, and we'll put in my puppy 
 and S'lena's white mice." 
 
 " An' I'll catch Muff and one of my 
 pigeons," said Tommy, in an ecstasy of 
 delight. 
 
 There was nothing at all to hinder, 
 so the cage was brought over, the fat 
 little puppy waddling after, as fast as 
 his short legs would allow. I am afraid 
 the white mice were smuggled away, for 
 S'lena was very choice of her pets ; but 
 
126 WHAT TOMMY DID.. 
 
 they were brought, in some fashion ; and 
 then Muff was bribed into Billy's arms 
 by a bit of cooky, and held fast ; while 
 Tommy expended all his skill in catch 
 ing the blue pigeon, which seemed from 
 the first to suspect something. There 
 was no trouble in getting the mice into 
 the cage it was only to open their 
 box and tip them in, and they hid 
 themselves in a wink under the straw 
 on the bottom. The blue pigeon went 
 in easily, too, when it was once caught ; 
 but old Muff was a tight squeeze, and 
 was only crowded through the door by 
 vigorous pushing, yowling dismally, and 
 leaving some bunches of fur by the way. 
 As for the puppy, it was clearly of no 
 use to try so that part of the family 
 was left outside. 
 
 But Muff smelt mice, instantly, and 
 
TOMMYS MENAGERIE. I 27 
 
 pounced upon them, seizing one little 
 unfortunate, while the other made his 
 escape through the bars of the cage, 
 and took refuge in the wood-pile. It was 
 all over in a flash, while Tommy and 
 Billy were consulting as to the possi 
 bility of taking off the bottom of the 
 cage and putting Fido in that way. And 
 in the meantime Fido waddled off and 
 had to be brought back, so neither of 
 them knew anything of the fate of the 
 mice, and puss sat wiping her whiskers, 
 and never gave a hint. 
 
 Yes, the bottom of the cage would 
 come off; it was only fastened on with 
 hooks ; and after infinite trouble, Fido 
 and Muff were squeezed in together 
 and fastened there. Neither of them 
 liked the situation. They had been per 
 fectly amiable to each other in the back 
 
128 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 yard and alley, but being shut up to 
 gether in a cage was a different affair. 
 So Muff began to spit and scold, and 
 Fido to bark angrily, greatly to Tom 
 my's surprise and Billy's delight. 
 
 " They'll get used to it, I guess," said 
 Tommy, doubtfully ; while Billy rolled 
 on the floor and laughed at every fresh 
 show of hostilities ; and the blue pigeon 
 perched in the top of the cage, and 
 looked anxious and uncomfortable. In 
 the midst of it all, Bridget came to the 
 back door calling Tommy, and holding 
 out two balls of pink pop-corn. Tom 
 my ran instantly. Billy followed at a 
 safe distance, and poor Fido gave a 
 yelp and a plunge of despair, as he saw 
 his master disappear. The bottom of 
 the cage rolled one way and the top 
 another. Muff made one bound and 
 
TOMMYS MENAGERIE. I2Q 
 
 disappeared under the woodhouse, Fido 
 came tumbling frantically after Billy, 
 and the blue pigeon sailed up to the 
 roof to dress his rumpled feathers. No 
 body ever heard from the white mice, 
 but the happy family was considered a 
 failure. 
 
 That night Tommy ate his supper 
 very soberly, and scarcely spoke at all. 
 Only once he asked, gravely, " Uncle 
 Jim, how long you s'pose it takes 'em 
 to get used to it ? " 
 
 And Uncle Jim didn't know. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TOMMYS BALLOON. 
 
 'HERE never was anything half 
 so wonderful. Tommy sat on 
 the parlor floor and held it fast 
 with his fat, dimpled hands, and drew 
 his fingers softly over the smooth, round 
 sides, and was almost afraid to breathe 
 lest it should float away from him. 
 Uncle Jim had just brought it from the 
 city. He bought it on Clark street 
 bridge, where a man stood with a dozen 
 of them fastened to strings, and tossing 
 up and down in the air, like beautiful, 
 
TOMMY'S BALLOON. 131 
 
 great, red soap bubbles. When Tommy 
 got tired of holding it in his arms, and 
 tried to lay it on the floor, up it went to 
 the white ceiling, and hung there, all 
 shiny and glistening in the lamp light. 
 Tommy pulled it softly down by the 
 string, and then for a long time he played 
 with it, until mamma came with the 
 white night-gown, and took him away 
 up stairs to bed. It was funny then that 
 he couldn't lay his balloon away any 
 where, but only let go of the string, and 
 let it go up to the ceiling, right over his 
 bed. He watched it as long as he could 
 see, while mamma carried the lamp away 
 down the long hall, and when she went 
 down stairs the very last bit of light that 
 came in over the top of the door shone 
 straight on the balloon. Tommy meant 
 to keep awake, so as to see it again when 
 
132 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 mamma came up to bed, but by and by 
 he shut his eyes a little, just to rest them, 
 and then he forgot all about the balloon 
 until morning, and there was the sun 
 peeping in at the balloon, and the bal 
 loon peeping out at the sun, and looking 
 more like a great, red soap bubble than 
 ever. 
 
 They had milk toast for breakfast, but 
 Tommy hadn't any appetite ; and before 
 the rest were half through eating he was 
 out on the gravel walk in the front yard, 
 looking up at his red balloon, with his 
 round face fairly solemn with excitement. 
 He only let it go a very little way at 
 first, but after a while he let out the 
 slender silk thread, and it floated about 
 just above the top of the silver maple by 
 the gate. Tommy sat down to watch it. 
 He played he was in the balloon himself, 
 
TOMMYS BALLOON. 133 
 
 going right up to see the man in the 
 moon. He couldn't see the moon any 
 where, but he felt sure it must be up 
 there somewhere. 
 
 Then he thought he would ask Uncle 
 Jim to put a longer string to the balloon ; 
 he wanted to see how it would look away 
 up among the lovely pink clouds that 
 were floating about the east. So he 
 pulled it down and held it fast in his 
 chubby arms and started for the house. 
 He started, but he didn't get there ; for 
 he stubbed his poor little foot against 
 the wheel to the baby's wagon, and down 
 went the bright face on the gravel walk, 
 and out went the fat arms in the air, and, 
 O dear ! it almost makes me cry to think 
 of it, away went the beautiful, round, red, 
 shining balloon, straight up toward the 
 pink and white clouds in the east. 
 
134 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 Tommy picked himself up quick 
 enough, and then looked around for the 
 balloon ; but of course that did not wait 
 to be picked up it was above the top 
 of the silver maple. Tommy screamed, 
 first for mamma ! then for Uncle Jim ! 
 and they both came running out. So did 
 Ellen, and so did Biddy the cook ; but if 
 all the Grand Army of the Republic had 
 been there, it wouldn't have done any 
 good. The longest ladder in the world 
 would not have reached half way to the 
 sky, and so the balloon floated airily 
 away, while Tommy wailed and sobbed, 
 and his mamma tried to comfort him, 
 and Uncle Jim promised to buy him an 
 other balloon. 
 
 They all went in at last, and Tommy 
 sat down on the grass, and watched his 
 balloon till it was only a tiny speck in 
 
THE LOST BALLOON. 
 
 Page 134. 
 
TOMMY'S BALLOON. 135 
 
 the distance, and then he went mourn 
 fully in to his mamma. He laid his head 
 on her lap, and asked her, in a sorrow 
 ful little voice, where she supposed his 
 dear, red balloon would go to ? Would 
 it go away up to heaven, and would 
 the little angels have it to play with? 
 and would he find it when he went 
 there to live ? 
 
 So his mamma laid down her work, 
 and took the little boy on her lap, and 
 told him this story and it might have 
 been true : 
 
 " Once there was a little boy that 
 lived all alone with his grandmother in 
 an old, dingy, brown house. The boy 
 was lame, so he never could run and 
 play, and he was poor, so he had no 
 nice things to amuse him ; but every 
 day, when his grandmother was at work, 
 
136 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 he limped out under the tree in the 
 narrow yard, and lay there looking up 
 to the sky. He liked to watch the 
 clouds sailing over, and fancy they were 
 ships and castles, and sometimes beau 
 tiful white angels. One day he saw, 
 away up in the sky, a little dark speck, 
 and as it came nearer and nearer, it 
 dropped lower and lower, till it shone 
 like a great, red star in the sunshine. 
 The little boy sat up and watched it ea 
 gerly. Nearer and nearer it came past 
 the steeple of the church, past the tall 
 chimney of the factory, right over the 
 roof of the academy, almost touching 
 it by this time. He stood up, leaning 
 on his crutch, and saw it coming, always 
 a little lower, right across the old, bare 
 common, and over his grandmother's 
 yard. He limped a step or two toward 
 
TOMMY'S BALLOON. 137 
 
 it, caught at the trailing thread of silk 
 that hung from it, and sat down, all 
 trembling with delight, with the strange, 
 beautiful thing in his hands. He did 
 not know that it was a balloon that a 
 little boy had lost, and that had come 
 down because the gas had slowly escaped 
 from it; he thought it was something 
 God had sent him straight out of heaven. 
 And he took a great deal of comfort 
 with it, and kept it till it slowly lost 
 its pretty round shape, and even then 
 he loved it." 
 
 " That was a nice story," said Tommy. 
 " I'm glad I know what 'came of my 
 b'loon." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TOMMYS ADVENTURE. 
 
 ILLY had a wonderful stock of 
 patience. To be sure he had 
 very little to try it, for as he nev 
 er had to go through with any wash 
 ing or brushing or curling to speak 
 of, he saved up all his stock to spend 
 on more important matters. This special 
 morning he had waited at the alley gate, 
 with his sticky face pressed close against 
 the bars, waiting ,and watching for 
 nearly an hour in the vain hope that 
 Tommy would make his appearance. 
 
TOMMYS ADVENTURE. 139 
 
 As for Tommy, he was in the house, 
 trying to harness his kitten to baby's 
 tin express wagon. The trouble was, 
 that whenever kitty heard the wagon 
 rattling behind her, she turned around 
 quick as a flash, to see what was com 
 ing ; and so Tommy had to begin all 
 over again. He gave it up at last, and 
 kitty crept away under the lounge to 
 lick her fur into respectable condition, 
 and Tommy sauntered out the door, 
 quite undecided what to do next. 
 Billy's patience then had its reward. 
 
 "C'mover here, Tommy," he called ; 
 " want t' show you something." 
 
 Tommy came down to the gate ; like 
 Parley the porter, he only meant to 
 look through ; but when he saw the 
 doors of the livery stable all splendid 
 with red and yellow posters, he marched 
 
140 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 straight across the alley before he stop 
 ped to think. 
 
 " It's the cirkis," said Billy. " It's over 
 by the soap fact'ry in a tent more'n a 
 mile big; an' there's elfunts, an' ranga- 
 tangs, an' camels higher'n a house, an' 
 monkeys, an' everything." 
 
 " I saw monkeys to the musement," 
 said Tommy, twisting his short neck to 
 get a good view of a picture that was 
 pasted on sideways. 
 
 " Ho, 'taint like them things," said 
 Billy, scornfully. " The elfunts dance on 
 one leg, and they have a horse that can 
 read the paper, and fly in the air with 
 a man standin' up on his back. My 
 brother Sam seen 'em." 
 
 " I'll ask my Uncle Jim to take me," 
 said Tommy, " or nelse papa." 
 
 And so he did ; but he found, to his 
 
TOMMYS ADVENTURE. 141 
 
 great disappointment, that neither of 
 them approved at all of the circus, so 
 he was forced to console himself by 
 admiring the pictures. 
 
 " I know the way," suggested Billy, 
 temptingly. " You jest come down to 
 the corner, an' I'll show ye." 
 
 Tommy did not mean to go any 
 farther, but when they reached the cor 
 ner there was a big store in the way, 
 and they had to cross the street to 
 see plainer. Then they walked along a 
 little farther to see some gold-fish in a 
 window, and then to see what a wooden 
 Indian was holding out in his hand, 
 and then to examine some red veloci 
 pedes, until at last they came to the 
 street cars. Right at the corner there 
 was one with a little flag on top, that 
 said, in big letters, "TO THE HIP- 
 
142 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 PODROME." Neither of the boys 
 could read it, and if they could have 
 done so, they never would have guessed 
 what it meant. But Billy knew that 
 the car with the flag went to the circus, 
 so he said, 
 
 " Let's get in." And foolish little 
 Tommy got right in. 
 
 There was nobody inside, but pres 
 ently the car began to fill up, and, soon 
 after they started, the conductor came 
 through for tickets. 
 
 "Who pays for you, bub?" he said 
 to Tommy. 
 
 " Papa, nelse Uncle Jim," said Tommy 
 promptly. 
 
 The conductor looked around inquir 
 ingly, and Tommy explained, 
 
 " They didn't come, too ; we're goin' 
 to see the cirkis, me'n Billy." 
 
TOMMY'S ADVENTURE. 143 
 
 "Have you got any money?" asked 
 the conductor, smiling a little. 
 
 " Course, I'sh fink so," said Tommy, 
 " in my tin savings bank ; and a dollar 
 besides of it, only it's lost down the 
 'frigerator hole to the parlor, where the 
 warm comes up." 
 
 " I've got more'n that," said Billy, "only 
 I borrowed it to Sam, and he don't never 
 pay me." 
 
 " They're running away, the little ras 
 cals," said a good-natured looking man 
 to the conductor. " The best thing you 
 can do is to put them off at the next 
 corner, and tell them to go home." 
 
 So the conductor put them off, and 
 told them to run straight home, or the 
 policeman would lock them up ; at which 
 Tommy began to cry, but Billy was not 
 in the least troubled. 
 
144 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " Come on, Tommy," said he, boldly, 
 "we're 'most there now." 
 
 " I want to go home," whined Tommy. 
 " My mother says you're a bad boy, and 
 I mustn't 'sociate wid you." 
 
 " You've got to come," said Billy, tri 
 umphantly; " 'cause you don't know the 
 way home. My mother says you ain't 
 nothing but a big baby, with yer curls 
 and yer white stockin's." 
 
 Tommy quailed at once before this 
 awful sarcasm, and walked meekly along 
 by Billy until they actually reached the 
 ground, and found, to their dismay, that 
 people were expected to pay for going 
 to a circus. Half suffocated by the 
 dust, trampled and jostled by the crowd, 
 and frightened out of their wits, they 
 finally made their way to a vacant lot 
 behind the tent, and sat down to rest, 
 
TOMMYS ADVENTURE. 145 
 
 and think what to do next. The fence 
 was covered with an awful picture of a 
 man in a cage of wild beasts, and Billy's 
 courage revived as he looked at it. 
 
 " Tell ye what," said Billy, " if I was 
 a top o' that fence, I could peek in." 
 
 Tommy looked up hopelessly at the 
 high fence, and made no remarks, but 
 Billy began at once to make search for 
 a board, and finally secured a short one, 
 which he managed to drag from under 
 a pile of rubbish, and leaned it against 
 the fence. The first attempt at mount 
 ing brought him down with a sprawl to 
 the ground. 
 
 "Jiggles too much," he explained, wip 
 ing his mouth on his jacket sleeve. 
 " You'll have to sit down and hold it 
 steady." 
 
 " I don't want to," said Tommy ; " I 
 
 10 
 
146 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 want to go home. My mamma wants 
 
 me." 
 
 " You hold it," said Billy, "and I'll tell 
 ye what I see, and then we'll go straight 
 home." 
 
 So Tommy sat down and braced his 
 back against the board, and Billy man 
 aged, after a good deal of jumping and 
 squirming, to reach the top of the fence, 
 where he hung suspended by his knees 
 and elbows. He could see a good deal, 
 much more than he expected ; but, un 
 fortunately a tall man on the inside of 
 the fence saw him, also. 
 
 " Here, you little rascal," he called, 
 " get down from there ; " and he reached 
 up and rapped Billy's fingers with the 
 end of his cane. 
 
 Billy would have been very glad to 
 get down, but his legs were too short 
 
TOMMY'S ADVENTURE. 147 
 
 to reach the board by which he had 
 mounted, so he dangled about for a 
 while, until another rap on his fingers 
 forced him to let go and drop to the 
 ground, where he lay crying with pain 
 and anger. Tommy cried, too, for com 
 pany, and the noise soon brought a 
 crowd about them. First, some idle 
 boys, who began to tease and torment 
 them, from the same spirit in which they 
 would have tied a tin pail to the tail of 
 an unfortunate dog ; then a man, who 
 advised them to go home ; and then 
 a fat old peanut woman, who had 
 sold out her stock, and who scattered 
 the rabble of boys with a few hearty 
 cuffs, and pouncing upon the two chil 
 dren, dragged them out to the sidewalk. 
 " Now," said she to Tommy, " tell me 
 where you live, my little man." 
 
148 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " I live in papa's house," sobbed Tom 
 my, " wid mamma and Uncle Jim." 
 
 " He lives on Oak street," said Billy, 
 beginning to recover his spirits. " I'm 
 a taking care of him, and I know the 
 way home I guess I do," he added, 
 looking around a little dubiously. 
 
 " You come along with me," said the 
 woman ; " I'm just going that way my 
 self." And she kept fast hold of Tom 
 my's hand, as she waddled along very 
 much in the style of a big rocking chair 
 out for a promenade. 
 
 When they reached the corner of the 
 alley, she released Tommy, and the 
 young gentleman went home without a 
 word to Billy, who crept into the livery 
 stable, feeling decidedly crest fallen. 
 
 il O, here he comes, ma'am," said Ellen, 
 rushing down the yard and seizing Tom- 
 
TOMMYS ADVENTURE. 149 
 
 my by the hand. " Yer a nice b'y, now, 
 to be scarin' yer ma into fits with yer 
 vagabone ways!" And as she talked 
 she dragged Tommy along and pre 
 sented him to his mother, saying, " Here 
 he is, ma'am, all safe and sound. I 
 knew he would turn up." 
 
 Tommy's heart smote him, when he 
 saw how pale his mother looked, and he 
 laid his head in her lap and began to cry, 
 penitently. 
 
 "Where have you been, Tommy?" 
 asked his mamma, laying her hand 
 gently on his head. 
 
 "To the cirkis, with Billy," sobbed 
 Tommy. 
 
 " And you ran away ! Oh, Tommy, 
 mamma thought she could trust her lit 
 tle boy," said his mamma, sadly ; and at 
 that Tommy cried harder than ever. 
 
I5O WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 They had a long talk about it, and 
 Tommy was very much disposed to lay 
 all the blame on Billy ; but his mamma 
 preached him quite a little sermon from 
 the text, " My son, if sinners entice thee, 
 consent thou not;" and after a while he 
 began to see that his part of the wrong 
 lay in the consenting. 
 
 " But Billy's a real naughty boy, 
 mamma," he added, " and I fink I'd bet 
 ter not play with him, 'cause he's always 
 ^ticing me, and I might consent." 
 
 His mamma thought so, too. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE STORY WITHOUT ANY END. 
 
 'OMMY had a sore thumb. The 
 fact is, Tommy burned his thumb, 
 burned it pretty badly, too, 
 while he was trying an experiment 
 with steam. It happened in this way : 
 
 Wally Roberts was what they call a 
 genius, which means he was always pok 
 ing and prying about, trying to find the 
 reason of everything ; once or twice he 
 had blown himself up with his experi 
 ments, but he kept on just the same. 
 Well, Wally happened to be at Mrs. 
 
152 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 Bancroft's when the tea-kettle was boil 
 ing furiously, sending a cloud of steam 
 and vapor curling away from the spout. 
 Tommy was playing that the kettle was 
 his engine, and he ran about the 
 kitchen tooting loud enough to deafen 
 you. 
 
 " I'm lodomokif," said he to Wally. 
 
 "Wha-a-t?" said Wally, squinting at 
 Tommy. 
 
 " Lodomokif; that's the man makes 
 the toot go to the engine," explained 
 Tommy. " See how the smoke comes 
 out when I toot." 
 
 " It isn't smoked said Wally, squinting 
 at Tommy and the tea-kettle together ; 
 " it's vapor, and it has to come out, be 
 cause the heat expands it. If you should 
 stop up the nose to the kettle, the lid 
 would fly off, and if you should fasten 
 
THE STORY WITHOUT ANY END. 153 
 
 down the lid, the kettle would burst like 
 
 a cannon ! " 
 
 i 
 
 Wally had a very emphatic way of 
 talking, and the italics made a great im 
 pression on Tommy. He stood* still all 
 through this long speech ; and when 
 Wally went away he kept on looking at 
 the tea-kettle, thinking how delightful it 
 would be to stop up the nose, and fasten 
 down the lid, and see it go off like a 
 cannon. He could not think of any 
 way to manage the grand result, but at 
 least he could stop up the nose and see 
 the lid fly off; and so he tried it with- 
 what do you think ? Why, his poor lit 
 tle tender thumb ! 
 
 The lid did not fly off, but Tommy 
 did, and he tooted louder than " lodo- 
 mokif" himself. Bridget ran, and so 
 did mamma, but nobody knew just 
 
154 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 what had happened, for all the unfor 
 tunate discoverer could say was, " Oh, 
 my fum ! my fum ! It's hurted mos' a 
 def!" 
 
 Of course it stopped aching after a 
 while nearly all hurts do stop aching 
 - but that was not the worst of it. The 
 thumb was done up in linen rags, wet 
 with some sort of disagreeable stuff, and 
 poor tired Tommy could not go to sleep 
 and forget his troubles, because he 
 coulddt put it in his mouth / You 
 need not laugh it was no laughing- 
 matter to him, I assure you, for he didn't 
 know how to go to sleep without suck 
 ing his thumb, any more than you would 
 without shutting your eyes. That was 
 how papa came to tell him the story. 
 Mamma had gone over every one she 
 knew, and at the end the big eyes were 
 
THE STORY WITHOUT ANY END. 155 
 
 as wide open as ever, and the dismal lit 
 tle voice wailed out, 
 
 " I can't go to sleep 'out my fum." 
 
 " Now, Tommy," said papa, " shut your 
 eyes and don't open them once, and I'll 
 tell you a story without any end." 
 
 " Cruly f " asked Tommy, popping up 
 his head. 
 
 " Yes, truly, of course. Nobody ever 
 lived long enough to hear the end. 
 Once there was a little boy ' 
 
 "'Bout as big as me?" put in Tom 
 my. 
 
 " No ; smaller than you with a little 
 red mouth that was always laughing, 
 and a little red tongue that was always 
 chattering, and two red cheeks with 
 dimples in the middle, and a whole cap 
 full of red curls " 
 
 " Usht you'd buy me some cap full 
 
156 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 red curls," said Tommy, longingly ; then 
 suddenly started up to say, " Oh, papa, 
 the bobber man bobbered all Siddie's 
 curls off didn't leave any bit of hair, 
 clear down to the seeds of it." 
 
 " Now, Tommy," said papa, when he 
 stopped laughing, " you mustn't talk. 
 This little boy with red cheeks and red 
 curls- -" 
 
 " Name Billy ? " 
 
 " No ; his name was Clarence, but 
 they called him Corporal Trot. This 
 little boy went down to the sea-shore 
 with his papa and his nurse " 
 
 " Not his mamma ? " 
 
 " No ; poor little Clarence had no 
 mamma. His dear mamma was dead," 
 said papa very impressively. 
 
 ''What deaded her?" asked Tommy. 
 
 " She was sick very sick indeed - 
 
THE STORY WITHOUT ANY END. 157 
 
 and the doctor couldn't make her any 
 better." 
 
 " Why didn't his papa buy Another 
 one ? " said unfeeling little Tommy ; 
 " they buyed a new mamma to Wally's 
 house." 
 
 Papa went on with his story. 
 
 " Every day the nurse used to take 
 Clarence and put a red flannel bathing 
 suit on him and take him with her to 
 bathe in the surf. They would stand 
 on the smooth sand, holding fast by a 
 rope, and the great waves would come 
 rolling up and splash all over them, and 
 almost lift them off their feet." 
 
 " Oh," said Tommy, sitting right up 
 in bed, his eyes shining with delight at 
 the thought, for Tommy was a regular 
 little fish, and liked nothing so much as 
 the water. 
 
158 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " It wasn't fun to Clarence," said pa 
 pa, laying Tommy back on his pillow ; 
 " he hated the water because he was 
 afraid of it ; and when he saw it com 
 ing he would scream, and the salt water 
 would get in his eyes and nose and 
 mouth, arid choke him- 
 
 "Oh, papa!" said Tommy, "I choked 
 me awful, day after to-morrow, wid a 
 bone to a peach, and Bridget shaked 
 me till I unswallowed it." 
 
 " Tommy," said papa, desperately, " if 
 you don't stop talking I shall have to 
 go away." 
 
 " Don't you care anyfing 'bout your 
 poor little Tommy got hurt?" demand 
 ed the ^ youngster, in a plaintive tone ; 
 and papa tried again. 
 
 " Clarence hated his bath so badly 
 that he used to puzzle " his simple 
 
: a ,,ii : 
 
 'OH," SAID TOMMY, SITTING RIGHT UP IN BED, HIS 
 
 EYES SHINING WITH DELIGHT. 
 
 Page 158, 
 
THE STORY WITHOUT ANY END. 159 
 
 little brain trying to contrive ways to 
 get rid of it. He used to hide, but 
 nurse always hunted him up and 
 dragged him out. One .day his papa 
 went to Boston, and when he came 
 back he brought Clarence a little red 
 wooden pail and a bright tin dipper, 
 and he told nurse to put on his bath- 
 suit, and let him go and play in the 
 surf. That was jolly fun, I can tell 
 you ! He was a little fearful at first, 
 but he soon got used to the spattering, 
 and a very brilliant idea occurred to 
 him. He saw how quickly the water 
 disappeared when he poured it upon 
 the sand ; and he determined that he 
 would dip up all the water in that great 
 roaring, tumbling ocean and throw it 
 away, so nurse would have no place to 
 torment him. He worked like a beaver 
 
I6O WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 all the morning, dipping up water and 
 pouring it away, dipping up water and 
 pouring it away, dipping up water and 
 pouring it away 
 
 Papa's face was very sober, and he 
 never once took his eyes from Tom 
 my's, but kept on saying over and over, 
 in a slow drawling tone, 
 
 " Dipping - up - water - and - pouring - it - 
 away." 
 
 Tommy waited and waited to hear 
 the rest of it ; but papa kept on and 
 on, and Tommy's eyelids began to drop 
 lower and lower. He lifted his thumb 
 once towards his half open mouth, and 
 dropped it again ; then he gave a sigh, 
 and his eyes shut quite up. 
 
 " Poor little kitten," said mamma, 
 softly, " his troubles are over for this 
 
 time." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. 
 
 [OMMY was taking tea with Lulu 
 Taylor on the back door step. 
 The dishes had seen their best days, 
 and the spread consisted principally 
 of currants and some peanuts that Tom 
 my found in his pocket. Lulu wanted 
 some cake, but her mamma was away, 
 and the girl was " scrosser'n two sticks," 
 as the little lady reported. However, 
 they made the best of it, and the cat 
 looked on hopefully, and sniffed now 
 and then at a peanut shell tossed to- 
 
1 62 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 ward her. But when the peanuts gave 
 out Tommy's interest gave out too. 
 
 " I don't fink this is any fun," he said. 
 
 " That's 'cause you're gettin' to be a 
 boy" said Lulu, sitting up very straight. 
 " I don't think you look nice at all ; your 
 curls cut off and horrid old boy's clothes 
 
 on." 
 
 " H'm. These clothes are most new ; 
 'sides they ain't my best ones too ; and 
 next week I'm five years old," said Tom 
 my, triumphantly. 
 
 " Oh, my sakes ! are you goin' to have 
 a party?" said Lulu, eagerly. 
 
 " I guess so ; if I want to," said 
 Tommy. 
 
 " You'd ought to, Tommy Bancroft ; 
 everybody has to have birthday parties ; 
 You go and ask your mamma, and then 
 I'll tell you just what we'll do 'bout it." 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. 163 
 
 Tommy wasn't sure about the party, 
 so he went in very leisurely, revolving 
 in his mind a remark he had heard 
 Uncle Jim make several times. " Par 
 ties were a bore" Uncle Jim declared, 
 and Tommy wasn't sure he wanted one 
 of those things, if Lulu did say so. But 
 when he opened the matter to mamma, 
 she approved of it very heartily, and 
 informed the young gentleman she in 
 tended he should have a party once in 
 five years, and as she was not very busy 
 they would talk over the invitations at 
 once. 
 
 " A regular party, you know, Tommy," 
 said mamma, dipping her gold pen, and 
 smoothing down the sheet of note pa 
 per before her. 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Tommy, who was 
 sliding down the arm of the lounge ; 
 
164 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " you have tickets like you do to the 
 musement to see the monkeys. 1 ' 
 
 " These are the tickets," said mamma, 
 showing Tommy a pile of dainty little 
 notes, on pale, rose-colored paper, with 
 a splendid great B at the top. " Now 
 you must tell me the names of the peo 
 ple you want to invite, and I'll put them 
 on the envelopes." 
 
 Tommy gave one last slide, and came 
 and stood by his mamma. 
 
 " May I sell the tickets ? " he asked. 
 
 " Oh, we don't sell them," said mamma, 
 " these are invitations, and you send 
 them to the people." 
 
 " I fink they'd ought to pay," said 
 Tommy. " Nobody can't come to my 
 party 'thout they pay." 
 
 " Well," said mamma, " never mind 
 that now; who shall I put down first?" 
 
THE BIRTHDAY TARTY. 165 
 
 " We-e-11," said Tommy, very deliber 
 ately, " le's ask grandma." 
 
 " Yes," said mamma, " I think she 
 would like to come." 
 
 " An' Mr. Mike, down to the grocery. 
 He gaved me a stick of candy oncet 
 for nothing." 
 
 " But, Tommy," said mamma, " this 
 is to be a children's party, and you 
 mustn't invite grown folks." 
 
 -Mustn't I?" said Tommy. "Well, 
 I wisht I knew that boy's name that 
 sold me that red ink; I wouldn't ask 
 him, would you, mamma ? " 
 
 " No, you must only invite people 
 of your acquaintance. There's Callie 
 Trumbull, and Gracie Dean, and Sid 
 ney Lush, and Charlie Howard ; you 
 want them, don't you ? " 
 
 "Yes, and, and, Billy ; I'm 'quainted 
 
1 66 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 of him. I guess I wouldn't ask Billy, 
 would you, mamma?" said Tommy, 
 watching his mamma's face like a wary 
 politician. 
 
 "No," said mamma, decidedly, "you 
 can't ask Billy ;" and then she made out 
 the list herself. 
 
 That very afternoon mamma and 
 Tommy went out in the carriage to 
 deliver the invitations, which to Tom 
 my was no small part of the pleasure. 
 John drove from house to house, and 
 while mamma sat in the carriage, Tom 
 my ran up the steps, rang the bell, and 
 left his invitations. He was very firm 
 in his conviction that he oucrht to ask 
 
 o 
 
 twenty-five cents for a "ticket," but 
 finally yielded the point when he found 
 he must. 
 
 It was to be a sensible party, for Tom- 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. 167 
 
 mamma was a great deal too wise 
 to rob the little children of their bright 
 eyes and rosy cheeks by keeping them 
 or.t of their beds and feasting them with 
 dainties, hours after they should have 
 been asleep. So the invitations were all 
 
 a for three o'clock; and as it 
 charming summer weather, the tables 
 were spread in the yard, under the shade 
 of the great oak trees, 
 
 en before three, some of the impa 
 tient little guests made their appear 
 ance, the first clang of the door bell 
 sending Tommy into an ecstasy of de 
 light. 
 
 u I don't want you to untertain my 
 company," he said to mamma, and forth 
 with took his position in the parlor, 
 with only Totty to help him receive 
 Totty wasn't much of a talker, and at 
 
l68 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 the very first arrival she hid behind a 
 big easy chair, from which her lovely 
 golden head peeped out like a wee birdie 
 from a nest. 
 
 Grandma was taking a nap after her 
 long ride from the farm ; and mamma 
 and Aunt Alice were busy with the 
 bouquets and wreaths for the table ; so 
 for a while the children were left to 
 themselves, and sat in state around the 
 room, looking shyly at each other, and 
 talking in solemn whispers. Little Joey 
 Webster made a sudden plunge from 
 his corner, and said " Boo ! " to Trotty, 
 which caused a small giggle in the com 
 pany, but his sister Nell held up her 
 finger and cried " Sh-sh, Joey," as if they 
 had been at a funeral. I don't know how 
 long this would have lasted if Robbie 
 Marsh had not brought his new jumping 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. 169 
 
 jack in his pocket, and pulled it out and 
 set it going. There was a rush for Rob 
 bie's corner, and in a moment the whole 
 company of prim little people were laugh 
 ing and talking merrily. Then more chil 
 dren came, and more and more, till they 
 swarmed all over the house, and out into 
 the yard, and you would have thought 
 a troop of fairies had taken possession. 
 And what do you suppose they played ? 
 Well, there were two swings with basket 
 chairs, so that nobody could fall out, and 
 there was a new croquet set, and then 
 Uncle Jim was perfectly splendid. Why, 
 he and Aunt Alice knew more games 
 than ever were heard of, and I do be 
 lieve they made some of them up on 
 purpose. So they romped and laughed 
 and had a real jolly time, all but two 
 or three poor little things whose mam- 
 
I7O WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 mas had dressed them up so very nicely 
 they did not dare to stir for fear of 
 spoiling their beautiful clothes or stain 
 ing their white satin slippers. 
 
 They were playing " King Charles' 
 Troops," when papa and mamma came 
 to say that supper was ready. Uncle 
 Jim began to marshal them two and 
 two, but Tommy stoutly objected to 
 taking the lead with little Totty. 
 
 " I want to go with my beau," said 
 Tommy. " Lulu Taylor said we must 
 go with our beaux ; mamma, mamma, 
 who is my beau ? " 
 
 Callie Trumbull volunteered to go 
 with Tommy, and as she was the big 
 gest girl there, he finally consented, and 
 soon the happy company was ranged on 
 either side of the long table, looking 
 with eager eyes at the wonderful pyra- 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. 17! 
 
 mids of pink and white ice cream, the 
 great, luscious strawberries, glowing in 
 their crystal dishes, the biscuits and the 
 sandwiches, the tarts and the cakes 
 without number, the nuts and candies 
 and raisins. The children behaved 
 grandly, every blessed little soul of 
 them, much better than I have seen 
 grown-up children behave on such occa 
 sions. 
 
 One tiny morsel of a girl, whom 
 Uncle Jim was helping to strawberries, 
 asked, in a quivering whisper, 
 
 "Mr. Bancroft, when docs it let out?" 
 
 "What?" asked Uncle Jim, not quite 
 understanding. 
 
 " Oh, the party ; when does it let out?" 
 said the midget. 
 
 " Oh, you can stay just as long as you 
 please," said Uncle Jim. 
 
172 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 " Goodey ! then I mean to stay most 
 all night," laughed the little girl. 
 
 When the children were eating their 
 nuts and candies, somebody put little 
 Dct Leonard up on the table, and she 
 stood up as straight and stiff as. a candy 
 image and said some funny little verses 
 about Tommy, and everybody laughed 
 and clapped their hands, and made a 
 great fuss over Dotty. 
 
 a You ought to make a speech, Tom 
 my," said Uncle Jim. 
 
 "What shall I say it about?" asked 
 Tommy, who liked the idea, " I know 
 Humpty Dumpty, and another verse." 
 
 " Oh, you must thank the children for 
 coming to your party, and say you hope 
 they have had a good time," suggested 
 Uncle Jim; and then he put Tommy on 
 the table very quickly, for fear mamma 
 
DOT LEONARD. 
 
 Page 172. 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. 173 
 
 would interfere, and Tommy looked 
 about him like a lord, and began, 
 
 " Fank you very much for coming to 
 my party, but you couldn't come 'thout 
 I sended you the tickets. I'm glad you 
 had a good time, and if there's any ice 
 cream left, my mamma's gotn' to send 
 some to Billy. My papa buyed the 
 birfday cake to the city, but mamma 
 and Aunt Alice made all the rest, and 
 squirted the crinkles round the edge 
 wid a squirter full of frostin'. That's 
 all. Take me down, Uncle Jim." 
 
 Mamma scolded Uncle Jim, but she 
 laughed, too, and I know she thought it 
 was funny. 
 
 By and by the carriages began to 
 come for the little folks, and a few of 
 the more independent went off alone. 
 
 " Don't you want some of the older 
 
174 WHAT TOMMY DID. 
 
 ones to go with you, Harry ? " asked papa, 
 as a little boy came up to take his leave. 
 
 U O, no," said Harry. "Why, I ain't 
 afraid when it's as dark as a pitch." 
 
 But presently the little hero came 
 back, saving, in a confidential whisper, 
 
 "Mr. Bancroft, I'm kinder 'fraid of 
 June bugs." So he waited for company. 
 
 When they were all gone, and Tommy 
 stood at the door watching the last car 
 riage whirling down the street, Uncle 
 Jim picked him up and asked, 
 
 " Well, Tommy Trotter, how do you 
 like birthday parties?" 
 
 " I fink it's nice," sighed Tommy, 
 w r earily laying his head on Uncle Jim's 
 shoulder. Presently he lifted it up to 
 say, with sudden animation, 
 
 "Uncle Jim, wouldn't I had lots of 
 money if they'd all paid ? " 
 
m 
 
 .-