enry ;/ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES IN MEMORY OF EDWIN CORLE PRESENTED BY JEAN CORLE letters to Beany and The 'Love- Letter M of Plupy Mhute By HENRY A. SHUTE Author of "The Real Diary of a Real Boy,' "Sequll," etc., etc. Published by The Everett Press Boston, Mass., Mcmv Copyright, 1905, by Henry A. Shute. Second Edition. I< B T T E R S TO B E A * V EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, wish you had been here last sater- Iday. me and Ed Tole got into a scrape, you know J. Albert Clark has got some white brama hens and a old rooster most as big as a baril. J. Albert thinks they are the best hens in town, so when J. Albert let them out and went up to his office me and Ed brougt up Eds rooster to lick J. Alberts but when we put him down he stuck up the fethers on the back of his head and put his wings up over his back and be- gun to sing like a hen does when she i Letters to Beany wants to lay a eg only his voise was squorkier. when a rooster does that he wont fite. i suppose a rooster whitch is scart wants to make the other rooster think he is a hen becaus a rooster wont fite a hen. sometimes a hen will drop down her wings and spred her tale and stick up the fethers on her neck and try to fite a rooster if she hasent seen him before, but the rooster only runs around her with 1 wing draging on the ground and says kitty-kitty-quor it is funny, when a rooster gets ready to fite he drops his wings down and sticks up the fethers on his neck, and when he is scart he holds his wings up and sticks up the fethers on the back of his head, and so does a hen two. Letters to Beany well when we knew Eds rooster woodent fite we chased him over Sam Dires fense and down through John Adams yard and cougt him behine Jo Greenleefs barn, then we went back and got a long bord and a rock and made a sesaw with 1 end on the ground and we put some corn on the bord and the hens climed up on the bord and then me and Ed gumped on the other end of the bord and the end where the hens was flew up and the hens went up in the air squorking terrible and they was so hevy that they coodent fly good and they come down whak ennyway. they was pretty scart, but bimeby some of them tride it agen and this time we sent them up so high that one s Letters to Beany come down on her back and dident get up agen. she is dead, nobody saw us and when J. Albert come home tonite he looked up in his hen book to see what she dide of and he said he had been feeding them two mutch and they had got two fat and she dide of apo- plecksy jest like a fat man. so he dont feed them mutch now and they have stoped laying, i bet he wood be mad if he knew what she dide of. i have got a young robin, it is tame and eats wirms out of my hand, i hav- ent seen Pewt for 2 days, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. L e t t e r to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIBE, , 186- Dear Beany, I got your letter all rite, i shood like to seen the fite between Frank Cleves and the other feller, i am glad Frank licked, you tell him i say so. i always like to have the feller i know lick in a fite. has your aunt ever found out that you hooked her frute cake, if Tom dont get mad with you and tell her you wont get found out. if i was you i wood tell Tom you will lick time out of him if he tells, you might get him to do something prety tuff and then tell him if he tells on you, you will tell on him. then he wont dass to tell, i saw Lizzie Tole last nite. she asked me if i heard ennything from you and i said you was 5 Letters to Beany having a pretty good time but i gessed you wanted to see somebody prety bad. Cele is mad with me and i have got to beg her pardon. I cant go out of the yard until i do. today Billy Swett come down to invite Cele to go boat ride and he staid in the garden till Cele she come out and they was talking out in the garden and i stuck my head out of the window and sung that tune we heard in Morris Brothers Minstrils o, where we met ile near forget twas love among the roses, and Cele timed as red as a beat and Billy he did two and when Cele come in she told mother and mother said i had got to beg her pardon before i cood go out of the yard, i had Letters to Beany ruther she wood lick me but mother she knew i coodent stand staying in the yard and not going in swiming. i told Cele i wood give her my new nife if she wood let me of but she was mad and woodent say ennything to me. Cele dont get mad very often but when she does she is madder than ennyone and stays mad longer, so i gess i will have to do it. i hate to do it. my robins tale is most an inch long, i have to keep diging wirms and it is prety hard to get them, i have dug up round the sink drane and they aint enny more there and now i tirn up bords that have been down on the ground and sometimes i get some big ones before they can crawl 7 Letters to Beany back in there holes, when are you com- ing back, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, did you know if you take a dead hor- net or bumble bee or wasp and put it down a fellers back and then lam him on the place where the hornet is it will sting him jest the same as if the hornet was alive, i found it out this way. i found a dead hornet and picked it up and squashed it in my hand and it stang me terrible, then i got another and put it down Medo Thirstens back and while Letters to Beany he was bending over trying to get it out i lammed him one and you had aught to hear him holler, he nearly timed himself rong side out trying to get that hornet out. after he got over it we put sum mud on the sting and i told him about it. we are going to try it on Pewt. why dont you try it on Frank Cleves. perhaps it wood be better to try it on Tom for Frank can lick you and Tom cant and when a feller has got stang by a hornet he wants to hit somebody rite of. if you want to try it on enny of the fellers you can go to some place where they is a hornets nest and take a shin- gle and you can most always kill some, you may get stang but it is wirth get- ing stang to see some feller hop and Letters to Beany holler and try to get a hornet out of his neck, i will tell you how we will play it on Pewt. i wish you was back, i saw your father today riding his horse, i tell you he set up strate and looked fine, wright soon and tell me if they is enny fites. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, I got your letter, it was buly. i thougt i shood die when i read how you put the hornet in your uncles chair, did he sware as bad as father did when he hit his nose agenst the door in the dark ? 10 Letters to Beany i shoodent ever thaugt of that, it was better than when we listed to put pens in Micky Goulds seat in school, only you will have to wate a while before you put one down Toms neck or you will get caugt. I went up to Whacks today. Boog and Poz is sick with chicking pocks. I have had it and so i cood go in and see them, i went up in there room and they was in bed, Boog in one side of the room and Poz in the other, ferst Boog said he had more speckles on him then Poz and was sicker than Poz and Poz said he bet he had the most, and they begun to count and Poz said Boog coodent count the bile on his neck and Boog said it wasent a bile 11 Letters to Beany but a chicking pocks speckle and Poz said it was a bile and Boog said it was- ent and Poz said he cood back it up and Boog said Poz dident dass to come half way and Poz gumped out of bed and Boog he did two and they saled rite in- to eech other in there shert tales and had the buliest fite you ever see til they heard their mother calling up stairs to know what they was doing, and they piled into bed and said they was rassling and they said they wood keep still if Plupy wood read to them, so i read Masterman Reddy. i never see such fellers in my life to fite. i told them about the hornet goke and they said when they got well they wood try it on Whack, i saw Lizzie Tole today. 12 Letters to Beany i asked her if she had heard from Beany and she timed prety red. i bet you are wrighting to her, Beany, aint you. my robin is all rite, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i have performed a operation on one of my hens, she had a hard crop, she had et so mutch that her crop was 2 times as big as a base ball and hard as one. J. Albert Clark looked in his hen book and said the only way to cure the hen was to cut open the crop and take out the corn and things she had et and is Letters to Beany then wash the crop out with warm water and then sow up the hole and the hen wood get well, he read me jest what the book said, so i got mothers sizzers and a needle and some black thred and i got the hen and put her on her back in the barn, then i put my gnee on eech of her wings so she cood- ent get away, then i cut a little hole in her crop and put my finger in and timed her over and squesed her crop til i got everything out. then i washed it out with warm water and sowed it up tite so it wood not leek, then i put a little lard on the cut place and let her go and she was all rite, i gess i will be a doctor when i am a man unless i can play in the band, when i fed my hens tonite 14 Letters to Beany she coodent eat very well but i gess her crop is sore. my robin dident seem very well to- day, i am going to get some black cher- rys for him tomorrow, i wish i cood come down to old orchard to see you but i aint got enny chink, when are you coming home. Pewt fell of a lad- der today, and hit on his head, it dident hurt him mutch, father says his head is solid way threw. this is all i can wright tonite. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. Letters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, Why in time havent you rote to me. i aint going to do all the wrighting. this is the last letter i shall wright you til you send me a letter, i only wright this to tell you what tuff luck i have had. wensday my hen whitch i cut open the crop of dide. i see she wasent well fer when i fed her she wood try to eat and wood swalow some corn down and then wood shake her head and shake it all out. so she set all humped up and dide. then me and J. Albert xamined her and gess what we found, i had sewed her crop up so she coodent get ennything into it and starfed to deth. I felt prety bad about it. then yester- 16 It e t t e r to Beany day my robin dide. i had went out every day for cherrys and i had dug the whole garden up for wirms and still he dide. it was prety tuff to see him try to eat, I did everthing for him. Mother says it is cruel to keep him but i aint never cruel to animals, or birds or hens, did you know that if 2 dogs is growling and walking round each other with their tales stiff that if you hit them with a sling shot they will fite every time, i have got a new sling shot jest for that, it is fun to see them gump for eech other when one gets hit with a sling shot, cats is diferent. yester- day they was 2 cats over in the school yard rite up in front of eech other with their ears lade back and yowling terri- 17 Letters to Beany ble and timing their heads round and round, i wached them for a long time to see them fite. bimeby i drew the sling shot back as far a i cood and let ding at them and hit one in the back, i wish you cood see him hiper. he did- ent stop to fite but he went over the school house fence, and down by old Heads shop, the other looked round with his eyes as big as his head and begun to crawl of slow and i let ding at him and he spit and yowled and tried to run in 2 or 3 diferent ways at once and then he went of like litening. remember to wright. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. Letters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i got your letter all rite jest as i went down to the post ofice to put in mine, did Tom holler good, i bet he wood be mad if he knew you did it on perpose. some day you had aught to tell him so he can play it on Frank and then he will git licked and you wont, i have never swam in salt water but i bet i can beat ennyone in fresh water, every day i go in i swim under water across the gravil and they aint none of the fellers can do it. we was all at Whacks today and we went in swiming at Sandy bottum and after we come out we set on the bank and voated to see whitch feller cood do things the best, they 10 JL e t t e r to Beany voated me the best swimer and Toin- tit the best runner and Billy Folsom the best trapeese performer, and you the best eater, you beat Fatty by 2 voats, and Prisiller the best organ player and Potter Gorum the best feller, when it came to voat whitch was the best fiter we all was going to voat for ourselfs but Whack said if it was a ti voat they wood have to fite it out to see whitch was the champeen and so we all voated for the Chadwicks and Whack had 4 and Boog 4 and Puzzy had 3 and then Whack and Boog squared of and jest paisted eech other til Whack beat him. Boog dident give up only he had been sick with the chicking pocks. Boog 20 Letters to Beany says when he gets well he will lick Whack. I dont know whitch I had ruther be the best fiter or the best feller, i gess i wood ruther be the best fiter be- caus if i cood lick all the fellers i wood go to eech one and say aint i the best feller and if he -said yes i wood be his frend and help him lick other fellers and if he said no i wood lam time out of him, woodent you. i have got a pat- rige, it has got a lame wing and cant fly. i went up to the Eddy woods and got a lots of moss and patrige berrys and have made a cage and fitted the bottum with moss and put in some lit- tle pine trees and made it seam jest 21 Letters to Beany like home to him. he et patrige berrys and drunk water jest like a hen. he wont eat wirms or corn, i shall have to go up to the eddy most every day to get things for him to eat. wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, my patrige dide last Sunday, it et well but i gess the wound in the wing killed it. ennyway even mother said i took good care of it. Luke Manix give me a young hen hork. it is most the same color of the patrige only it has Letters to Beany yellow eyes and yellow legs and black claws, i wish you cood see it gob down a minny. i have to go fishing most every day for it. it will eat mice and swalow them whole, it can fite and last nite father was holding out a minny to it and it stuck out its claw and grabed him by the finger, i gess i wont wright down what he said, ennyway he sent me to bed for laffing and said he wood kill the hork. after i went to bed father and mother set out on the steps talking and i cood hear them, mother said it dident hurt me enny to have pet ani- mals and father hadent aught to kill the hork, and father he said he never see such a boy, that he wasent going to keep a menaggery enny longer, he Letters to Beany said first it was snakes and then toads and eels and hen horks and owls and sick hens and he was geting sick of it. and mother she said as long as it kept me to home she was willing to let me have them and father he said wood you like to have him bring a dead fish home in his pocket the way he did that time I took down the plastering, and mother laffed and said they was wirse things than dead fish and aunt Sarah said fathers old pipe smelt wirse than that and father he said well i cood have my hork if they wanted him only if i come home with a snaping tirtle they mustent blame him and then he went over to see your father and he dident kill my hork. 24 Letters to Beany do you remember Beany the day i come home and found my rooster out and all bludy, i bet father let him out to fite John Adams rooster, i never dassed to tell him so for he wood give me a good bat. wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Eeany, i aint going to wright enny more if you send me enny more such stingy little letters, you aint got to wright to ennybody else xcept me, unless it is Lizzie Tole. You say you dont but i 25 Letters to Beany bet you do. ennyway you have got to wright better letters or you dont hear from Plupy. me and Pewt went fish- ing today, it wasent a good day for fishing and we dident get ennything. somebody has tore down the spring bord f*t the Oak. enny feller whitch will tear down a spring bord had aught to be skined alive, we got a bord of the fense in Gilmans field and made a new spring bord. so we are all rite. Pewt is a prety good diver but i can beat him becaus i can go into the water without hardley enny splash and Pewts legs duble up and it makes a big spat- ter, the way to dive is to go into the water jest like a stick that you throw in endways and it dont make enny 20 Letters to Beany noise, do you know Beany that if you plugged a pebble up in the air jest as high as you can it will come down in the water jest like this blub without enny splash at all. wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. X EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i never got a meener letter in my life than your last letter, i wood like to know who told you so many lies about me. what if i did go down to Ed Toles to supper. Ed he invited me and Eds mother she told me where to set at the table, i gess they wood have thaugt i 27 Letters to Beany was polite if i had up and said i dident want to set next to Lizzie, i had a good supper and had a good time and you aint got enny business to be mad. i like to go down to the Toles but you know me and Ed is more interested in hens than in girls, i woodent be such a fool if i was you Beany, i thaugt me and you was better friends than that, enny- way if you want to be mad you can for all i care only i shall go jest where i want to. i like you Beany more than enny fel- ler i know but if you get mad every time i look or speek to your girl they aint much use in us trying to be f rends, now Beany what is the use of being mad. we have had two mutch fun to be mad over a little thing like that, they Letters to Beany is one thing certain if you want to get mad i will jest tell all the fellers jest what you was mad at and they will plage the life out of you when you get back, aint it about time for you to come back ennyway. i bet we are hav- ing jest as much fun here as in old orchard, every friday the band plays in the band room and we play red lion and corn-storks and corum and all the games, this is the last letter i shall wright until you wright a desent one to me and say you aint mad. you can be mad if you want to but you hadent better, i dont care whether you wright or not. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. 29 betters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i got your letter, it was all rite, i thaugt you woodent keep mad very long, the star fish was prety dry and one point was broak of. i have naled it up on the wall, i hope you wont for- get the horseshue crab you promised me. do you know what i did when i got your letter, well i got in a auful scrape, i was down to Eds and Lizzie and Mary Straton were going through the yard and me and Ed put birs in there hair, you know they is lots of last years birs back of Eds barn, the girls was auful mad and tride to get them out and cood- ent and they went into the house ball- ing, in a minit Missis Tole come out 30 Li e t t e r to Beany and hollered Eddie Tole you come strate into the house, i cood see she was mad and i put for home, well that nite father went down town after sup- per and come home mad as time and asked for me and i cood tell by his voise he was mad and i hid, and i heard him tell mother that i had put birs in the Tole girls hair and the Straton girls hair and they coodent get them out and they was afrade they wood have to cut of their hair and he wood lern me a les- son, i knew what that meant and i staid hid til nearly 9 oh. clock hoping father wood go to bed but he dident and when i heard him say he wood give me 2 lick- ings 1 for puting birs in her hair and 1 for staying out late i thaugt i had better 31 Letters to Beany go in. so i did and i got the aufullest whaling i ever got and he told me i must go down to Toles and beg their pardon. Aunt Sarah was mad when father begun to lick me and went into her room and slamed the door, she never gets mad xcept when father or somebody else licks me. the next day i had to go down and beg their pardon. Lizzie was mad and woodent say a word to me and held her nose rite up in the air. i tell you i was ashamd enuf . ennyway Ed had to go up to Stratons and beg Mary's pardon but he dident get licked the way i did because he waited till old Straton was down to the gas house. Ed always has good luck, now Beany i hope you are satisfied, you Letter to Beany have got me mad with all the Toles and i cant ever go down there agen. now i hope you wont wright me enny more such letters as the last one. you wood- ent do half as much for me. i think i aught to have 2 horseshue crabes. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, you are the darndest feller i ever see. first you are mad becaus i am polite to your girl and then you are mad becaus i sass her and put birs in her hair and you say you will meller my nose the next time you see me. well now i jest 33 Letters to Beany want you to know that you aint man enuf to do it. my father can lick your father and my mother can lick your mother and i can lick you. so now what are you going to do about it, old Beany. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, - , 186- Dear Beany, you talk now as if you had got some sense so i wont say enny more about it. ennyway i cant go down to Eds enny more so i go up to Fattys or Whacks or Potters or Billy Folsoms. Billy has got a horisondal bar up in his barn on the 34 JLetters to Beany hay mow. when you try to skin the cat and fall of and lite on your head it dont hurt very much. Billy can skin the cat and do the mussle grind, i wish i cood. i can hang by my heels from a trapeese but i cant get down unless i fall down on my head so i have to take a soft place or brake my neck, yesterday afternoon i went up to Whacks and pluged green apples, last nite when i went to bed i was all over lumps and blew spots where i had got hit. rotten apples dont hurt much but they squash up on your best cloths. Porter Robin- son let me drive his black horse today and old Head said i cood ride his some day. do you remember the time we took both his horses and raced them 35 Letters to Beany all the afternoon when he wanted to take Missis Head to ride, ennyway he coodent catch us and we was all rite, i gess he has forgot that, have you plaid the hornet goke on Frank yet. my hork can fly now and today he got up in a tree and 2 king birds fit with him until he had to fly into the barn, he has got so he can eat horn powt. he gumps on them and holds them down with his claw and tears them up with his beak, i havent seen a fite for ever so long, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. Letters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, lots of things has happened sence i wrote you last, you know that all the old men said father was a feerful fiter when he was young, well he can fite now i tell you. last Sunday we was all setting in the yard and we heard feer- ful swaring out in the road and we run to the fense and looked and they was Lamp Flood and Bill Hartnet and some other fellers had grabed uncle Charles who was a old man and said they was going to put him under Mager B lakes pump, well while we was looking and they was draging him along swaring father come out of the frunt door with his coat tales flying and he saled into 87 Letters to Beany that crowd jest like Heenan. he hit Lamp Flood in the ear and nocked him rite through the school house fense and he nocked Bill Hartnet fluking in the gutter and he grabed a feller i did- ent know by the coller and threw him way down South street and they did- ent want any more of him you bet and uncle Charles was waiving his cane and dasting them to come back and fite and swaring terrible and father grabed him by the arm and was getting him into the house and mother and aunt Sarah and Missis Head and aunt Clark come out and asked him what was the mat- ter and uncle Charles he said they in- sulted him, and they kept asking what they said to him and o Beany i wish Letters to Beany you had been here, you wood have dide laffing. i woodent dass to wright down what they said but i will tell you when you get home, and father he said now ladies if you have satisfide your curosity i will take this old man home and you bet they all hipered into the house prety lively and father he went of with uncle Charles laffing his head of and uncle Charles swaring terrible and waiving his cane, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. 89 Letters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i got a letter yesterday from you and when i opened it i thougt it was wrote better than most of your letters and i nearly bust when it begun Dear Lizzie, and when i read the rest of the letter i nearly dide. o Beany i gess i have got one on you. you sent her letter to me. you said you dident wright enny letters to her or enny girl and i bet you have been wrighting to her rite along, you told a feerful old whacker of a lie. enny- way you wrote mity meen things about me. you told her that i had been tell- ing lies about her and that i said Nell Dunlap was pretier than she was and that was a lie Beany and you know it. 40 Letters to Beany and i never told enny lies about her eether. it was the meenest thing i ever knew you to do and after all i have done for you. i bet you woodent have put enny birs in a girls hair and got her folks mad with you and got a licking for me like i did for you Beany, then agen you said you cood lick me easy and that you wood lick me jest as soon as you got home for telling stories about her. you aint man enuf to do it Beany, and i am going to tell her so two. you thaugt you was prety smart to wright meen things about me to your girl be- caus you wanted her to be mad with me and you dident think i wood ever know it. i gess i cood tell enuf things about you if i was meen enuf. I bet 41 Letters to Beany Pewt wood laff and so wood Ed Tole and Whack and Boog and Fatty and Nipper and all the other fellers if i give them your letter, spesialy at the silly parts. you know you said one time that you liked May Rundlett better than enny girl in town and i wood tell her what you said if i was meen enuf only i aint so meen as you are Beany, now Beany i tell you jest what i am going to do about it. you have got to give me that riding whip that Dan Gilman give you. that one with the broken handel and your sling shot and 2 horse shue crabs, you promised me the crabs before, and some more star fish, if you dont i will tell her about the letter 42 ^Letters to Beany and will show the letter to Pewt and the other fellers, that will lern you not to wright meen things about a feller. Wright rite of. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i got your last letter all rite, now you needent get mad for i dont care if you do. and you needent come beging round for me to send back the letter for i am going to hold the letter till i get them things, and i aint meen about it eether. do you remember the time that me and you was pardners in a store in 43 Letters to Beany my shed and jest becaus i woodent let you drink up the sweatened water and smoke up the sweet firn segars you got mad and went pardners with Pewt and tride to get all my trade, do you remem- ber that Beany, and then you and Pewt got mad and you both said the other cheeted eech one. i shood think that wood lern you not to be meen. enny- way i aint meen about it. if i had been i wood have made you give me all your marbles and your bow gun. you can bring the horse shue crabs home when you come home, and i dont want your old riding whip ennyway. only i am going to hang on to that letter and if you give me enny sass i will show it to the fellers, i bet if you had a letter of 44 [Letters to Beany mine like that you wood show it to every feller in town and rase time with me. say Beany i was telling Tady Fen- ton about the hornet goke and he said if you got a hornets nest in the winter and put it in a warm room the hornets will come out mad and sting time out of everybody, he said once he put one hi old Francis school and the hornets come out and all the scholars piled out of school and old Francis two and they stang old Francis 2 times in the leg and he piled out two. and they had to wate till the fire was all out and they opened the windows and when the hornets was all num with cold they scraped them up and put them in the stove, the next day old Francis found out that Tady 45 Letters to Beany brougt in the nest and he whaled him feerful. Tady said it was the wirst licking he ever got but it was wirth it to see old Francis dance and make up faces when the hornets stang him in the leg. we will try it next winter, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, \ was auful sorry you was sick, did- ent you know cucumbers and milk was bad for you. i shood have thaugt you wood know that, the Chadwicks is the only fellers whitch can eat cucumbers 46 Letters to Beany and milk, one day last week i was up to Chadwicks and they et green apples and currents and green goozberrys and black cherrys and drank milk and they wasent sick a bit. none of the rest of us whitch had et the green apples and currents and goozberrys and black cher- rys dassed to drink the milk but Nipper was sick and Pewt he was two and i was kind of sick but mother gave me some caster oil whitch made me a good deal wirse and father he said if i had drank the milk two i wood have climed the golden stairs, and mother she said George i wish you woodent talk like that and Aunt Sarah she said so two. father pretended he dident care when i was gaging but he kep asking me if i 47 Letters to Beany was better and mother she said he was scarter than she was. he said i hadent aught to eat more than 14 kinds of fruit with milk and that if i wanted to see how mutch of that stuff i cood eat i had better try some tacks and some broken glass, that was after i was better that he said that, old Si Smiths dog dide from eating broken glass in some meat, so i gess i wont eat enny. old Si said he wood give 50 dolars if he cood find out who did it. he thaugt Squawboo Bowley did it becaus old Sis dog had bit Squawboo most every time he went by Sis store and Squawboo said he was getting sick of being norred by a dog every day. ennyway old Si coodent find out and all he cood do was to sit 48 L e t t e r to Beany on his steps and sware about it. i am glad the old dog is dead becaus he come out at me one day. i wish somebody wood give old man Dows dog some two for he is crosser than old Sis dog was. he is a brother of old Sis dog. Ed Tole come up for me to go down and see his new rooster, he is a bolton gray, i did- ent dass to go. Wright soon. yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i am glad you are all well agen. i hope you dident wurry about that let- 49 Letters to Beany ter. i havent showed it to ennybody. i woodent be so meen as to do that when a feller is sick and may die. i was sorry i plaged you about the letter and i did- ent know but it mite have made you sick, i was glad when you wrote me what the matter was. if peeple wasent meen they woodent be much truble in this world wood they Beany, if peeple only knew how mutch fellers hated them for being meen they wood try not to be meen. but i supose they dont know, do you remember how mad Bill Morril was when he made us stop play- ing 3 old cat in the high school yard be- caus we broak his windows, we dident meen to do it and we only broak 5. and Nippers father got mad when we run 50 Letters to Beany down thru his garden one nite when we was playing red lion, when we grow up Beany less have things diferent and say to the fellers, fellers if you want to play ball in front of our house play all you want to and if you brake a window all rite as long as you dont try to do it on perpose, and if a feller tries to hang on behind when we are driving a horse we wont whip behind or hit them a larup but we will say get in feller and have a ride, do you remember how mad those Hamton Falls men was when we pluged the geese eggs at there cows and how i had to pay out all my cornet money to them, well father he told me that one of those men sold a horse that had fits to a man and the horse run 51 Letters to Beany away and threw the man out and broak his leg. and the other man cheeted his mother and sister out of the most of there money and that is the way it goes, ennyway Beany things will be diferent when we are groan up. most of the fellers will be that way two. Whack says he will and Boog and Poz and most of the fellers. Tady Fenton he says he will and Skinny Bruce he says if he ever teeches school he wont ever lick a feller for missing and he wont have enny arithmetic or grammer in school, only speling and geografy. ennybody can spell but arithmetic and grammer is hard and that is why we have had to study them so hard. I have been thru the grammer 2 times and en- 52 Letters to Beany nybody whitch has done that had aught to know grammer prety well. Wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. EXETER, NEW II AMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, \ wish i cood come down and see you. it is prety tirsome here now and they aint mutch to do xcept to go in swim- ing and going up to Pewts and then up to Whacks and Pattys and doing the same old things. Alf Kilhum is up to Whacks, he is a city feller but he is a prety good feller for all that, i tell you Beany a city feller dont have mutch 53 Letters to Beany chance to know mutch, i gess he dont live in a very big city becaus he is a prety good butterfly hunter and birds- egger. today i coodent find enuf fellers to go in swiming. Fatty and parson Otis was to the beach and Billy Swett was there two and all the Chadwicks had went away somewhere and Ed Tole never goes in swiming and if he did i coodent go down there ennyway and Mister Purington Pewts father wont let Pewt go with me now becaus he says i get Pewt into scrapes, jest think of it Beany, i gess he dont know Pewt as well as we do. ever sence Mis- ter Head licked Pewt when me and you rung his doorbell they have thaugt me and you was tuff nuts and Pewt was all 54 Letters to Beany rite, i gess if i was to tell some things i know about Pewt they woodent think i cood hurt him mutch, so i had to go in swiming alone, i read a buly story in a book one day about a feller living amung the indians and the little indians wood go in swiming and play they was mushrats and beevers and dive down and get roots and clams and things, so i tride it and it was fun. i div down to the bottom and got some blew clay and some lily roots and fresh water clams and then i wood swim to the bank with them and squat down in the sun like a mushrat and then i wood swim out dog paddle as eesy as i cood like a mushrat and then turn up and dive down for some more, and it was buly. bimeby 55 It e t t e r to Beany when i was down to the bottum diging up some clay i hapened to think what if i shood got cougt in a steel trap down there and how feerful it wood be to pull and yank and goggle and i tell you i come up lively and swum to the bank as if a snaping tirtle was after me. aint it funny how scart a feller can get some- times about something he knows aint there, when are you coming home, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. ^ EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, Dear Beany, I havent seen Pewt for most a week and i dont know why he hasent wrote 56 L, e t t e r to Beany you. Pewt was mad becaus Fatty did- ent ask him to join the nigger minstrel show, we are going to have it in Fat- tys barn and we are pracktising hard. Fatty is going to be interlocationer the feller whitch sets in the middle and asks the questions and Nibby Hartwell is the end man on one end and Billy Swett the other and Pop Clark makes a speach and i have got to sing a song. i shall sing shue fly or the feller that looked like me. it is going to be a big show, i havent got enny time to wright enny more. Wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. 57 Letters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, the fellers treeted me prety meen. they have put me out of the show. Nibby Hartwell wanted to sing the feller that looks like me and i had learned it and cood sing it better than Nibby cood. Nibby cant sing enny more than a cow but Fatty said he was the interlocationer and it was his to say whitch shood sing and i said that if Nibby sung i woodent and so Fatty he said i cood get out for it was his barn and he got up the show and so i got out. i went and saw Tady Finton and Skinny Bruce and Jack Melvin and Mike Connell and Bob Bruce and told them Fatty and Nibby Hartwell said 58 Letters to Beany they was one show whitch dident have enny padclys in it and they was mad and said they wood paist time out of them, and o Beany Nibby got 3 lick- ings that afternoon, and Fatty got 2 yesterday. Tady licked him ferst and then Skinny and Mike Connell both licked him together, so i gess i am even with them, i dont care for there old show ennyway. i had ruther ride horseback, i rode Mister Heads horse yesterday all the afternoon, i made him gallop good i tell you. Wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. Letters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, they had there old show but it did- ent amount to ennything. hardly enny of the fellers went or the girls eether. the fellers knew Nibby coodent sing and they was mad becaus they thaugt Fatty and Nibby said those things about the paddys. i went fishing today with Potter Gorham. Potter is the best feller i know, i never knew him to have a fite with ennyone and he knows more about fishing and birds and eggs and butter- flys and stuffing things than enny feller i ever see. i wish i was like Potter i bet he has as mutch fun as enny feller in town and yet he always stops fites and wont hook apples or trip up peeple with 60 Letters to Beany strings or ring door bells or play tit tat on peeples windows or stick pins in fel- lers seats in school, and yet he isent a sissy feller eether. i never see such a feller but all the fellers like him bet- ter than enny feller. Fatty is going to have a party, most of the fellers are invited xcept me and the girls two. Fatty is mad with me becaus i told Tady that he said things about the paddy and got him a licking. Fatty will be sorry he dident invite me to his party, i woodent have went if he had invited me. i dont care for his party ennyway. did you ever catch a bull frog with a peace of split bamboo, if you havent you dont know what fun is. i wood ruther do that than go to a party. 61 Letters to Beany i dont care for Fattys old party enny- way. i woodent go if i was invited. When are you coming home, wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. X EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, brite and lair, i forgot when i wrote that, i gess i was thinking of some- thing else, this is the last sheet of paper i have got and Cele says she wont give me enny more of hers, she says i have had most half of it already, well Beany i have had a great time sence i wrote my last letter, you know i told you Fatty was going to have a party, well 68 Letters to Beany he had it last Thursday in his yard. Keene and Cele went all dressed up and Genny Morrison and all the girls and all the fellers two but me and Pewt and Skinny and Tady and Diddley Colket and Chitter Robinson and some of the other fellers whitch had ruther fite and rase time and ring doorbells than to go to partys and talk to the girls, well i got Mister Head to let me ride his horse and when the party was all out in Fattys yard playing crokay i rode by jest galoping lickety and i cood see them all looking at me. then i went round by Maple street and Elm street and licked the horse and then held him in and he dansed up the street jest like your fathers horse and the fel- 63 Letters to Beany lers in the party all hollered at me and i cood see that they was mad with me becaus i cood ride so good and then i leened over the horses neck and yelled and went up Front street jest as fast as he cood go. then i timed round and come back slow and i dug my heels in- to the horses side and held in tite with the webbings and he curved his neck and fomed at the mouth jest like Johny Gibsons horse in the fair and when i got in frunt of Fattys yard i stoped and set on the horse and looked at the party sort of scornful and they pretended not to see me and kep on playing crokay but i cood see them looking at me side- ways and they coodent hit a ball or go thru a wicket, and then i was jest leen- 64 Letters to Beany ing over the horses neck agen and was starting to go of galoping when some- body, i think it was Boog, let ding at me with a slingshot and hit my horse and he give a feerful giimp and kicked up and throwed me rite over his head down whak on the ground, well you had aught to heard them holler and laff. i was so ashamed that i never wanted to get up agen and i thaugt if they thaugt i was dead they woodent laff so mutch, so i laid still for a minit and i heard Whack say i gess that nocked some of the sence out of him and then Fatty said i dident never have enny sence, and Keene she said i had more than Fatty ever had and Cele she said so two and then i kind of tride to get up 65 Letters to Beany and fell back and groned and they all come piling over the fense to see if i was dead and o Beany you had augt to see those girls shinning over the fense. well they got hold of me and lifted me up and i groned agen and said where am i and they said you have fell from your horse and i said i havent been on enny horse and our side wood have beat if Chitter Robinson hadent plaid peanuts and kicked the ball over the gool and Keene said he dont know what he is talking about and thinks he is playing football and she and Cele begun to ball and then Genny Morri- son said to take me into the house and the fellers lifted me and begun to lug me along and i sed i remember now 66 Letters to Beany and i asked where they was taking me and they said they was taking me into Fattys and i said dont take me there, i aint good enuf to go into Fattys house and i tride to walk and groned agen. well they lugged me in and laid me on the sofa and Fattys mother come in and got some cold water and put it on my head and i was ashamed enuf to play it on her but i had to then, well then i said i felt better and gessed i cood walk home and i triJe to and limped a good deal and held on to the side of the door and Fatty said dont go Plupy, you jest come out in the yard and have some refreshments and i said i dont want to go where i aint invited and Fatty he said i was invited, and then i 67 Letters to Beany said i dident want to spoil ennybodys good time and they all said they wood all have a good deal better time if i staid and so at last i said i wood stay if Billy Swett wood go down to my house and tell mother i was all rite so she wood- ent wurry and Aunt Sarah two, and see if the horse got back all rite and Tom- tit said he wood go but i knew he wood tell so big a story that they wood be scart to deth and woodent let me stay to the party, well Beany i went out in the garden and set in a arm chair and i had sanwiches and cake and ice creem 3 helps and lemonaid and all the girls wated on me and i was the biggest man there, and when i saw the fellers was getting mad becaus the girls kep com- JL e t t e r s to Beany ing to ask me if i wanted enny more, i wood tell some good story about them, if i see Fatty was mad i wood tell how he lifted me up as eesy as if i dident way ennything, and if it was Boog i wood tell them how Boog stood rite up and fit John Robinson who was 2 times as big as Boog. so the fellers thaugt i was bully and the girls two. Fatty he said he dident know i was such a good feller and he aint going to have enny more partys unless he invites me. 2 or 3 times i forgot and most gumped out of my chair but i thaugt in time and groned and set down agen and gritted my teeth and everybody wood ask if it hurt me very bad and i said o no i gess i can stand it and then i gritted my teeth Letters to Beany some more and breethed hard, and they wanted to get me some water and i said no dont go into the house to truble about water give me some lemonaid and they give me some more, bimeby when the party was over Fatty wanted to take me home in his wagon but i said no i cood walk and i limped home, i tell you Beany i had the best time in my life only i had to limp 2 or 3 days more so peeple woodent know i plaid it on them. Wright soon. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. 70 Letters to Beany EXETER, NEW HAMSHIRE, , 186- Dear Beany, i never was so sirprised in my life as i was when i read your letter, i dident think you wood be meen enuf to say you wood coppy my letter and show it to Fatty unless i sent back that letter whitch you sent me by mistake, now i sent you my letter honest and i thaugt you was man enuf to keep it to yourself, if you are mad becaus i got invited up to Fattys and had a good time all rite, that aint enny reason why you shood make a fool of me. enny way i bet you woodent like to get throwed of a horse and land whak on the ground rite in frunt of all the fellers and girls and have to limp round and not go in swiming 71 Letters to Beany for 3 days when you aint lame like i did. and if you are mad becaus the girls wated on me ennyway it wasent your girl and you aint got ennything to get mad for. now i have been spend- ing 3 cents for postage stamps 2 or 3 times every week to wright you about things and i aint going to do it enny more, i gess if i had a uncle whitch owned a hotel and let me come to the beach and spend all summer i wood be desent to a frend whitch had to stay at home. Yours very respectively, PLUPY. 72 L