Betsy and Billy Read online

  At last the day came. Betsy woke up with a happy, "special-day feeling." She knew that this was going to be a day full of fun. She was going to be the Queen of Hearts. Mother had made a long blue dress for Betsy. It was very stiff and there were big red hearts fastened all over it. There was a crown for Betsy to wear on her head. It was made of cardboard and painted with gold paint. When it was time for Betsy to leave for school, Mother folded the dress very carefully and put it in Betsy's schoolbag.

  Betsy trotted off with her schoolbag over her shoulder and her crown hanging on her arm. When she reached the corner, she turned around and ran home. "Mother," she shouted, "I forgot the pillow that goes under my dress to make me look fat."

  Mother gave Betsy an old sofa pillow and Betsy started off again. This time her arms were full. On her way to school she met some of the other children. They were all carrying brightly colored clothes in their arms or packages done up in brown paper. Some of the children were wearing their false-faces. They laughed and shouted. Suddenly it began to rain. The children ran as fast as their legs could carry them. They didn't want their Halloween costumes to get wet. When they reached the school, Kenny Roberts stopped at the drinking fountain to get a drink of water, but everyone else ran right into the classroom.

  "Now, children," said Miss Grey, "I want you to put all of the costumes and the false-faces under the desks. We will keep them there until lunchtime."

  After a while Kenny came in. He had his false-face in his hand and he was crying.

  "What's the matter, Kenny?" asked Miss Grey.

  "I lost my Halloween suit," said Kenny.

  "But how did you lose it?" said Miss Grey.

  "I don't know," sobbed Kenny. "I had it when I left the house and now I haven't got it."

  "You must have dropped it," said Miss Grey. "Go look in the schoolyard."

  Kenny went out in the yard. It was pouring now. Soon he returned carrying a very wet suit. "I guess I dropped it when I stopped to get a drink," he said.

  Miss Grey took the suit from Kenny and hung it over the radiator to dry. Betsy thought it looked just like her winter night-drawers only it was dark gray and there was a long tail hanging from the seat of the trousers.

  "I know what that is," said Ellen. "It's a pussycat suit."

  Soon steam began to rise from the pussycat suit.

  "Miss Grey," said Kenny, "do you think it will be dry in time for the party?"

  "Yes, Kenny," replied Miss Grey, "we'll leave it there all morning and it will be dry and warm when you put it on."

  When the lunch bell rang, Miss Grey told the children to take out their costumes and put them

  on. In a moment the room was buzzing. The children were busy putting on skirts and jackets, trousers and boots, hats and scarves. The false-faces were on in a jiffy.

  Kenny took his suit off the radiator. What was his surprise when he found that it was so tiny he couldn't begin to put it on. "What is the matter with my suit?" cried Kenny. "I can't get it on.

  "Oh, Kenny!" said Miss Grey. "It must have shrunk. Isn't that too bad!"

  All of the children stopped dressing to look at Kenny's suit.

  "That isn't a pussycat suit," said Billy. "It's a kitten suit."

  Kenny began to cry for now he had no Halloween suit.

  "Don't cry, Kenny," said Miss Grey. "I'll find something for you to wear."

  Miss Grey went out of the room while the children finished putting on their costumes. When they were through, the room was full of cowboys and pirates, policemen and firemen. There were Gypsies and dancers, Dutch girls and boys in wooden shoes, fairies and elves. Ellen was a Spanish dancer and she had a tambourine that

  jingled. Betty Jane was Red Riding Hood and Christopher was a soldier with a sword in his belt.

  When Miss Grey returned, she was carrying a brown blanket with bright red stripes. "Here, Kenny," she said. "You can be an Indian."

  Kenny stopped crying when he saw the blanket. He looked much happier. Miss Grey wrapped the blanket around him and fastened it with a big safety pin. Then she found some old feathers in her desk drawer. These she fastened to Kenny's head with a rubber band.

  When the children were all dressed, they came up to the front of the room, one by one. Each child told the others what he was supposed to be. The children clapped for every one. When Betsy said that she was the Queen of Hearts, they clapped very hard. Finally, it was Kenny's turn. He walked to the front of the room in his Indian blanket. When he turned round, he was wearing his pussycat false-face. The children laughed and laughed when they saw how funny Kenny looked.

  "Well, Kenny," said Miss Grey, "tell us what you are."

  "I'm an Indian pussycat," said Kenny.

  The children clapped louder than ever and Miss Grey laughed very hard.

  "Now," said Miss Grey, "let's have a parade around the room before we eat our lunch." The children formed a line around the room. Betsy's pillow was slipping down so she shoved it up around her middle. Christopher was right behind her rattling his sword. Miss Grey sat down at the piano and began to play a march. The children marched around the room. Betsy was having a hard time with her pillow. It kept slipping down and she kept pushing it up. Suddenly it dropped on the floor. Betsy stepped over it but the soldier with the tin sword tripped and fell on the pillow. Christopher scrambled to his feet and Betsy picked up her pillow. Out flew the feathers all over the room. Christopher's tin sword had cut the pillow cover.

  "Oh! Oh!" shouted the children.

  The music stopped and Miss Grey turned round. "Gracious goodness!" she cried; "where did this snowstorm come from?"

  Just then a boy from the sixth grade opened the door. As he did so, the draught from the open door sent the feathers flying higher than ever. How the children shouted!

  When the feathers dropped, they settled all over the room. The children had to gather them up very carefully and put them in a big paper bag.

  At last they were all caught and the children settled down to eat their lunch. Miss Grey had a brick of ice cream for each little boy and girl. The children's eyes danced as she put the ice cream in front of them.

  "Oh, boy!" cried Billy. "This is a real party all right!"

  Just as the children were beginning to eat their ice cream, Kenny said, "Guess what, Miss Grey!"

  "I couldn't guess, Kenny," said Miss Grey. "You will have to tell me."

  "There's a feather sticking right up out of my ice cream," said Kenny.

  4. Bread and Molasses

  On Saturday mornings Betsy played with her little friends. Sometimes she went to Ellen's house and sometimes to Billy Porter's. Sometimes Ellen or Billy came to play at Betsy's.

  Billy had a new puppy dog. The dog had been named Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail because her tail stuck up so straight. Most of the time she was called Mopsie for short because nobody could go out front and call, "Here, Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail! Here, Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail!" Billy had a lot of different ways of calling her. Sometimes he shouted, "Here, Mopsie-Upsie-Opsie" and sometimes he would call, "Here, Upsie-Opsie-Mopsie" and sometimes, "Here, Opsie-Mopsie-Upsie," so that Miss Mopsie-Upsie Tail soon learned to run home whenever she heard anything shouted with a lot of p's in it.

  One Saturday morning Mother drove into the city. She dropped Betsy off at Billy's house. Billy's mother had invited Betsy to spend the whole day with Billy. Betsy had her paintbox with her, for she and Billy had decided to color pictures in a new painting book. They both liked to paint, and whenever they painted pictures that pleased them very much they would climb up three flights of stairs to the top floor of Billy's house to show their work to Billy's father. Billy's father was an artist and he worked all day painting pictures in his studio away up on the top floor.

  About ten o'clock Billy's mother looked into the living room. The two children were lying on the floor painting. Mopsie was lying as close to the children as she could. She was almost on top of the painting book.

  "I am going to the store now," s
aid Billy's mother. "Don't disturb Daddy because he is very busy this morning."

  "Can we have something to eat?" asked Billy.

  "Yes," replied his mother. "I left some crackers for you on the kitchen table."

  Mrs. Porter went off and the two children ran out to the kitchen. They finished off the crackers in no time.

  "Say!" said Billy, "we have some dandy molasses. Do you like bread and molasses, Betsy?"

  "You bet!" said Betsy.

  "Well, I'll see if I can find it," said Billy.

  Billy looked in the refrigerator but the molasses was not there. Finally up on a high shelf he spied a jar filled with golden molasses. Billy climbed up on a chair and reached for the jar. He couldn't quite reach it. Betsy and Mopsie

  stood by, looking up at Billy. Billy stood on his toes and stretched up as high as he could. Now he could touch the jar. He moved it with his finger to the edge of the shelf. Now he could get his hand around it. Very carefully he lifted the jar down.

  "Oh, boy!" said Billy, as he placed the jar on the table; "I was afraid I was going to drop it."

  "I was holding my breath," said Betsy.

  Billy took the lid off of the jar. "Now we'll get some bread," said Billy, opening the bread box.

  Mopsie had her two front paws against the edge of the table. She didn't want to miss anything, especially not anything to eat.

  "Here's the bread," said Billy, handing the loaf to Betsy.

  As Betsy reached for the loaf of bread, her elbow knocked against the jar of molasses. Over it went, pouring the golden syrup over the edge of the table right onto Mopsie. In a moment the molasses was all over Mopsie's back.

  "Now look what you did," shouted Billy. "What will my mother say!"

  Betsy stood the jar up and looked at the sticky mess. Then she looked at Mopsie. The molasses that had fallen on Mopsie's head was now running down over her face. The rest was settling into Mopsie's fur coat.

  "Have you got a rag?" asked Betsy. "I'll wipe it up.

  Billy gave Betsy the dishcloth and Betsy wiped the molasses off of the table. Then she wiped up all that had gotten on the floor.

  "Now you will have to wipe Mopsie," said Billy.

  Betsy reached for the little dog, but Mopsie thought Betsy wanted to play so she turned and ran. Through the kitchen door she flew. Round and round the dining room table she dashed. The children ran after her shouting, "Here, Mopsie! Come here!"

  Mopsie was having a good time. This was more fun than watching the children color picture books. She flew out into the hall and up the stairs. The children raced after her. Mopsie dashed into Mrs. Porter's bedroom and jumped right into the center of the bed. To Betsy's horror, Mopsie rolled all over the clean white bedspread. Before Billy could pick the little dog up, the bedspread was ruined. There were sticky yellow spots all over it.

  Billy clutched Mopsie tightly in his arms. "We'll have to give her a bath," said Billy. "She's sticky all over.

  Billy carried the dog into the bathroom. "Turn on the water," he said.

  Betsy put the stopper in the tub and turned on the water. She let it run until the tub was half full. Then Billy put Mopsie into the water and the two children set to work. Betsy held Mopsie while Billy washed her. He rubbed soapflakes all over Mopsie until she was covered with lather. Then he rinsed the soap suds off with clear water. As he lifted the dog out of the tub, Billy knocked against the towel rack. Down went the guest towels into the water.

  "Gee!" said Billy; "now look what I did!"

  Billy set Mopsie down on the floor and leaned over to pick up the wet towels. Like a flash, Mopsie was off again. Back to the bedroom she scampered leaving wet tracks behind her. The children ran shrieking after her, but before they could catch her she was up on Mrs. Porter's bed again, rolling on the molasses-spotted bedspread. Billy caught her and carried her back to the bathroom. Once again he put Mopsie in the tub and rinsed her off. "Now you hold her," he said to Betsy when he lifted Mopsie out.

  Betsy held her while Billy rubbed Mopsie with his own towel. Then he carried her down to the kitchen and put her in her bed. "Now you stay there," he said, "and behave yourself."

  When Billy came upstairs again, Betsy said, "What will your mother say about the bedspread?"

  Billy looked at the bedspread. It was certainly a sorry sight. "Maybe we better wash it," said Billy.

  "Maybe we better," said Betsy.

  The children took the bedspread off of the bed and carried it into the bathroom. They put it in the tub and added more soapflakes. They both rubbed it as hard as they could. When they

  thought that it was clean, they tried to lift it out of the water but the water made it so heavy they couldn't lift the bedspread.

  By this time Billy and Betsy were soaking wet. Betsy's dress was sticking to her and water was dropping off the bottom of Billy's shorts. Betsy's braids had gone into the water so many times that her whole head felt wet. Once more they tried to lift the spread but it was no use. They were not strong enough.

  "Perhaps we could lift it if we got into the tub," said Betsy.

  "All right," said Billy. The children took off their shoes and stockings and stepped into the tub. Again they tried to lift the heavy spread. They found that they could each lift one end; but no matter how hard they pulled, they couldn't lift the spread out of the tub.

  "Now heave," shouted Billy. Betsy heaved. Billy heaved so hard that he sat down in the tub. This upset Betsy and she went down with a splash.

  "Daddy!" cried Billy, at the top of his voice. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

  Mr. Porter came down the stairs three steps at a time. When he reached the bathroom door, the two children were standing up in the tub. They looked like drowned rats.

  "What's going on?" said Mr. Porter.

  "Come help us, Daddy," said Billy. "Come help us."

  Mr. Porter squeezed the water out of the children's clothes. Then he helped them out of the tub. Meanwhile Billy and Betsy told him what had happened.

  "Betsy, you will have to take off your clothes and put on some of Billy's dry clothes," said Mr. Porter.

  Billy trotted off to his own room to change his

  clothes and his father got some clothes for Betsy to put on. While the children were dressing, he wrung the water out of the bedspread, the guest towels, and the children's clothes. Then he washed out Billy's towel that Billy had used to dry Mopsie.

  When Billy's mother came home, Mr. Porter was hanging Billy's towel on the clothesline.

  Mrs. Porter looked at the clothesline. She opened her mouth in surprise. There were the bedspread, the guest towels, all of Billy's clothes, and all of Betsy's clothes. In the doorway stood Billy and Betsy dressed like little brothers.

  "What happened?" said Billy's mother.

  "I just wanted to give Betsy a piece of bread and molasses," said Billy.

  "Well, everything is on the line but the dog," said Billy's daddy.

  5. The Present That Betsy Wanted

  One day in December Mother took Betsy into the big city. Betsy loved to go to the city, especially when Mother took her on the train.

  On this particular day Betsy was delighted because Mother was taking her to see the Christmas toys and to buy her Christmas presents. Betsy had her own money in her little pocket-book.

  When they got off the train, Betsy and her mother walked along a wide street. The street was crowded with people. Betsy thought she had never seen so many people before. Everyone seemed to be in a great hurry.

  When they came to the corner, Betsy saw a man dressed as Santa Claus. He was ringing a bell and he had a little iron kettle on a stand beside him. Betsy saw a little boy stop and put something in the kettle.

  "Mother," said Betsy, "why is the Santa Claus man ringing a bell?"

  "He is collecting money to buy Christmas dinners for all of the poor children in the city," replied Mother.

  "Can I put some money in the little kettle?" asked Betsy.

  "Yes," answered Mother, as
she opened her pocketbook.

  "Oh, no!" said Betsy. "I want to put my own money in."

  "Very well!" replied Mother.

  Betsy opened her pocketbook and took out ten cents. When she dropped it in the kettle, the Santa Claus man said, "Thank you, little girl, and a Merry Christmas to you."

  Betsy said, "Merry Christmas to you, too," and hurried along with Mother.

  Soon they reached a great big department store. Inside of the store there were Christmas trees everywhere. They were all hung with stars that twinkled.

  Betsy and Mother walked into an elevator and it shot right up to the top floor. When they stepped out of the elevator, Betsy knew that she was in Toy-Land. She didn't know which way to look first. She could hear music, like the music of a merry-go-round.

  "Oh, Mother!" cried Betsy, "there are Jack and Jill and the Three Little Pigs!" Betsy pointed to the top of one of the big posts that held up the roof of the store. Sure enough, there they were, moving slowly around the post.

  "And there is Old Mother Hubbard and Tom, Tom the Piper's Son," said Betsy, pointing to another post. Betsy walked around, looking at all of the posts. All of the nursery rhyme people were there, going round and round.

  Betsy and Mother looked at all kinds of toys, at games and dollhouses, trains and tricycles, sleds and doll coaches. Betsy saw many toys that she told Mother she would love to have for Christmas. Each time Mother said, "Well, we'll see.

  At last they came to the big glass case that was filled with beautiful dolls. There were big dolls and little dolls, baby dolls and lady dolls. There were little boys and little girls. There were dolls with light yellow curls and dolls with soft brown hair. Betsy thought that all of the dolls in the world must be here. She wandered around and around the glass case. After a while Betsy said, "Mother, I don't want a make-believe baby for Christmas. Do you know what I want, Mother?"