Betsy and Billy Read online

  "Oh, boy!" said Billy, with his mouth full of cookie; "I thought I was going to bust if I didn't get a taste of those cookies."

  "Burst, Billy," said Miss Grey, "not bust."

  Miss Grey took a big tin can out of the cupboard. "Now," she said, "we will put them in this big can to keep overnight. Tomorrow we will divide them and wrap them up in red tissue paper. Then you can take them home for mother's Valentine."

  The next day the children were terribly excited. When Miss Grey opened the postbox, there were Valentines for every child in the room. Betsy received ten and she was delighted with every one.

  At recess time Miss Grey sent Kenny up to the kitchen to get the can of cookies. In about five minutes Kenny returned. "I can't find any can, Miss Grey," said Kenny.

  "Oh, Kenny!" said Miss Grey; "I left it on the table, right by the door. Betsy, you go with Kenny. Perhaps you can help him to find the can."

  Betsy and Kenny climbed up to the third floor. They went into the kitchen. There was no can in sight. The children opened the lower doors of the cupboard. There was nothing there but tin pans.

  "Maybe it is up top," said Kenny. Betsy climbed on a chair and opened the closet doors but there was no can there. They looked under the table and back of the stove. The can of cookies was gone.

  Betsy and Kenny went downstairs. When they told Miss Grey that the cookies were gone, she couldn't believe it. But when Miss Grey looked everywhere in the kitchen, she knew that the children were right.

  Miss Grey asked the janitor, Mr. Windrim, if he had seen the can of cookies, but he didn't know anything about them. She asked the principal of the school and all of the teachers, but no one knew anything about the cookies.

  When Miss Grey told the children that their cookies were lost they almost cried. Their lovely cookies that they had baked especially for their mothers' Valentines! They were gone and no one knew where.

  Miss Grey tried to have a singing lesson but the children sang very badly. They were all thinking about the lost cookies.

  After a while, Billy raised his hand.

  "What is it, Billy?" asked Miss Grey.

  "May I get a drink?" asked Billy.

  "Do you have to have a drink of water now, Billy?" asked Miss Grey. "You know you have just had your recess."

  "I'm awful thirsty," said Billy.

  "Very well," said Miss Grey, "but hurry back."

  Billy ran out to the drinking fountain in the yard. The ash-men were collecting the big cans of rubbish that were standing on the school pavement. They were throwing the cans up into the wagon. Just as Billy was about to get a drink, he saw one of the men pick up a can with a lid on it.

  "Hey! Hey!" cried Billy, rushing toward the man. "Hey! Wait a minute."

  The man put the can down on the pavement and looked at Billy. "What's the matter with you?" he said.

  "Hey!" said Billy, "that's our cookies."

  Billy picked up the can and ran into school. When he rushed into the room carrying the cookie can, the children shouted, "Look what Billy's got!"

  "I found the cookies, Miss Grey. I found 'em!" cried Billy. "Somebody must have put them out on the pavement with the rubbish. The man was just going to take them away."

  Billy was all out of breath but the children were delighted to have the cookies back again.

  Just then Mr. Windrim came into the room. "Miss Grey," he said, "I am terribly sorry about those cookies. The boy who helps me with the cleaning made a mistake and put your can out with the rubbish. Now I am afraid it is gone."

  "No, Mr. Windrim, Billy rescued the can of cookies just as the men were about to take it."

  "Gee, Miss Grey!" said Billy, "aren't you glad I had to get a drink of water?"

  "Indeed I am," said Miss Grey.

  "Oh, Miss Grey!" cried Billy, "I forgot to get it. Now what do you think of that!"

  8. Thumpy Goes for a Ride

  Thumpy was Betsy's little dog. He was a black cocker spaniel and Betsy had raised him from a tiny puppy. He was a loving little fellow and a good watchdog but he had one very bad habit. He stole everything he could find to eat and he didn't seem to be one bit ashamed of himself.

  Once he climbed on a chair and knocked a box of chocolates off of the living room table. When the chocolates rolled out of the box, Thumpy gobbled them all up. Betsy walked into the room just as Thumpy was tearing the box to pieces. He didn't want to miss any crumbs.

  Another time the refrigerator door was left open on a crack. When Thumpy found himself alone in the kitchen he poked his nose in the crack and the door swung open. Thumpy sniffed here and he sniffed there. Then he poked the lid off of a dish filled with stewed chicken. When Betsy's mother came into the kitchen, Thumpy was curled up on a chair, sound asleep. When Mother looked into the refrigerator there wasn't even a chicken bone left in the dish.

  Of course Thumpy was punished each time but it didn't seem to do any good. He just went right on gobbling down everything he could find and he didn't seem to mind being sick at his tummy.

  Father said that Thumpy's motto was, "Eats! Eats! and more Eats!"

  One afternoon Mother came home with some chopped meat for dinner. She laid the package in the center of the kitchen table and went upstairs to see if the baby was awake. In a few minutes she hurried down to prepare dinner. It was late and Father would soon be home. When she pushed open the kitchen door, what did she find but Thumpy standing in the center of the table. He was just finishing off the last bit of meat. "Thumpy!" cried Mother. "You naughty, naughty boy!"

  Betsy came running from the playroom. "What did he do?" she cried.

  "He has eaten all of the meat for dinner," said Mother.

  "Oh, Thumpy!" cried Betsy. "Shame on you! Stealing Mother's meat!"

  Thumpy put on a long face and his ears seemed to hang down longer than ever.

  "Are you going to whip him, Mother?" asked Betsy.

  "Indeed I am," replied Mother. Mother whipped Thumpy with a newspaper and put him outside.

  Just then Father came home. Betsy ran to meet him. "Father!" she called. "Thumpy just ate up our dinner."

  "He did?" said Father. "Well, let us eat Thumpy's."

  "We can't eat Thumpy's," said Betsy. "Thumpy's dinner comes in a can with ground bones in it."

  "Where is he now?" asked Father.

  "Oh, Mother whipped him and put him out of doors," said Betsy.

  "Well, he better not get outside of the gate," said Father. "The dogcatchers are around."

  "It would just serve Thumpy right if the dogcatchers got him," said Betsy. "He's a very naughty boy."

  "I don't suppose you would go after Thumpy if the dogcatchers caught him, would you?" asked Father.

  "No, I wouldn't," said Betsy, tossing her braids. "He's a naughty boy and it would serve him right."

  That evening Betsy and Father and Mother ate vegetables for their dinner.

  The next day was Saturday and Betsy spent the morning making paper dolls. After lunch she started off for Ellen's house. She was going to spend the rest of the day playing with Ellen. As Betsy closed the front door she thought of Thumpy. She hadn't seen anything of him for a long time. Betsy knew that he wasn't in the house so she looked in his kennel. Thumpy wasn't there. Betsy called, "Here, Thumpy! Here, Thump!" but Thumpy didn't appear. Then Betsy looked at the gate. It was wide open. Betsy knew at once that Thumpy was gone. Then she thought of the dogcatchers. Her little heart seemed to stand still, she was so frightened.

  Like a flash she was off. "Here, Thumpy! Here, Thumpy!" she called. As she neared the corner she could hear a great deal of barking. Around the corner she flew. Sure enough, there was the dogcatcher's wagon. A man with a big net was chasing a little black cocker spaniel across the street. "Swish!" went the big net right over Thumpy, and Betsy saw her little dog scooped up like a fish.

  Betsy ran toward the man with the net, but before she could reach him Thumpy had been tossed into the wire cage on the wagon. The cage was packed with wriggling, squ
ealing, barking dogs.

  "Stop! Stop! Stop!" shrieked Betsy. "Don't take Thumpy away!"

  The man paid no attention to Betsy. He jumped on the back of the wagon and away it went with all of the dogs.

  Betsy ran after the wagon as fast as her legs could carry her. She could see Thumpy looking out of the wire cage. Tears ran down her cheeks and her legs grew very tired but on and on she ran. The wagon was getting farther and farther away. Thumpy looked like a black spot now. Betsy tried to run faster but her breath was giving out. She had to keep running. She couldn't stop now. They were taking her little Thumpy away. Her precious Thumpy!

  Just then the dogcatcher's wagon disappeared over a hill. Betsy sat down on a step and put her head down on her arm. She cried and cried and cried. She was so tired from running and she had lost Thumpy after all. Betsy was still sobbing when a bright red automobile stopped beside her. "I say, Little Red Ribbons!" shouted the man in the automobile. "What's the trouble?"

  Betsy looked up. There was Mr. Kilpatrick sitting at the wheel of the automobile.

  "Oh, Mr. Kilpatrick!" cried Betsy, "the dogcatchers have taken Thumpy. They went over that hill with Thumpy and now I'll never see him again."

  "Get in," said Mr. Kilpatrick, opening the door of the car.

  Betsy got in. "Now stop crying," said the policeman; "we'll get Thumpy all right."

  "Can you make them give Thumpy back to me, Mr. Kilpatrick?" asked Betsy.

  "Now there's no use in chasing the wagon," said Mr. Kilpatrick. "The thing to do is to go to the dog pound where they dump them out. We'll wait for them there. It will cost you fifty cents to get Thumpy back. Is he worth fifty cents?"

  "Oh, yes, Mr. Kilpatrick," cried Betsy. "I have fifty cents in my bank. I would give all of the money in my bank to get Thumpy back."

  "That settles it!" said Mr. Kilpatrick, as he turned the car around. "We'll stop at your house and you can get your money."

  When they reached Betsy's house, Betsy jumped out. In a second she was back again. She had her little bank in her hand. "I've got the money," she cried as she climbed into the car.

  While Mr. Kilpatrick drove to the dog pound,

  Betsy opened her bank with the little key that hung on a chain around her neck. She took out ten nickels.

  "You're sure they will give Thumpy back to me for fifty cents, aren't you, Mr. Kilpatrick?" said Betsy.

  "Sure as your name is Betsy!" said Mr. Kilpatrick.

  The red automobile drove up to the gates of the dog pound just as the dogcatcher's wagon drove through the gates.

  "There he is!" cried Betsy. "There's Thumpy!"

  Thumpy was still looking out through the wire cage. He looked surprised and very sad. When he saw Betsy, he gave a little bark and wagged his stubby tail.

  Mr. Kilpatrick and Betsy got out of the car. They went into a little office. Mr. Kilpatrick told the man in the office that they had come for Betsy's dog.

  "Very well," said the man, "come pick him out."

  Betsy went out to the wagon and pointed to Thumpy. The man lifted him out of the wire cage and put him on the ground. Thumpy rushed to Betsy. He jumped up and down barking little happy barks. Betsy picked up her little dog and hugged him tight. "Oh, Thumpy!" she cried, "I'm so glad to see you."

  "Now you keep him off the street," said the man.

  "Oh, I will," replied Betsy, handing over her fifty cents.

  Betsy climbed back into Mr. Kilpatrick's car and he drove Betsy and Thumpy home.

  "Oh, Mr. Kilpatrick, I don't know what I would do without you."

  "Sure," said Mr. Kilpatrick, "I don't know myself what you would do. It was a good thing I came along, just in the nick of time."

  "Oh, yes," said Betsy. "Thank you so much."

  When Betsy reached home, she told Mother and Father all about Thumpy and the dogcatchers.

  "I thought you said that you wouldn't go after Thumpy if the dogcatchers got him," said Father.

  Betsy pressed her cheek against Thumpy's silky head. She looked up into Father's eyes. Then Betsy and Father laughed very hard.

  "Perhaps Thumpy will be good now," said Betsy.

  "Perhaps," said Father, "but I wouldn't trust him with a beefsteak."

  9. May Day and Mother Goose

  One rainy day in April the children were so wiggly that Miss Grey felt like the "Old Woman That Lived in a Shoe."

  "She had so many children, she didn't know what to do."

  Christopher had tied Betsy's braids together in a knot twice. Kenny had dropped a marble down the neck of Ellen's dress. Betty Jane cried because Billy untied her sash every time she went to the front of the room to write on the blackboard. Miss Grey tried very hard to teach her second grade how to tell time by the clock. Nobody seemed to care what time it was. They just watched the rain run down the windows in rivers.

  At last Miss Grey said, "Let's talk about our May Day. It won't be long until May Day."

  The children all sat up and their faces brightened.

  "Are we going to have a May Queen?" asked Betsy.

  "Yes, indeed," said Miss Grey. "It wouldn't be May Day without a May Queen."

  "And a maypole?" asked Mary Lou.

  "Yes," said Miss Grey, "but we must plan something more to entertain your mothers and fathers. Let's all put on our thinking caps and see if we can think of something nice to do."

  The children sat quietly and thought very hard. Billy thought so hard that his face was wrinkled up like a withered apple. Betsy stared straight ahead with her eyes glued on a picture of Little Bo-Peep. Then she looked at the rest of the Mother Goose pictures that hung above the blackboards. Suddenly Betsy had an idea. She raised her hand.

  "Yes, Betsy," said Miss Grey, "have you thought of something?"

  Betsy stood up. "I think it would be nice if we dressed up like the Mother Goose children and looked like those pictures over the blackboards."

  "Why, Betsy, that is a lovely idea," said Miss Grey. "How many children would like to be Mother Goose children?"

  All of the children raised their hands.

  "Well, Betsy," said Miss Grey, "it was your idea so you can choose what you would like to be."

  "I would like to be Mary Had a Little Lamb," replied Betsy, "because my grandfather has lambs on his farm and he might let me have one to bring to school on May Day."

  The rest of the afternoon went very fast indeed. No one looked out of the windows at the rain. No one thought of naughty things to do. Everyone was busy thinking about May Day.

  By the time the bell rang for the children to go home everything was settled. Ellen was to be the May Queen because she was the prettiest little girl in the class. Billy wanted to be Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son. Mary Lou wanted to be Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. Kenny and Sally were to be Jack and Jill. Betty Jane was delighted to be Little Miss Muffet. Richard was to be Little Jack Horner and Henry Little Tommy Tucker. There were enough Mother Goose children to give every child in the class a part. The children went home feeling very happy.

  Betsy and Billy walked home together.

  "Say, Betsy," said Billy, "do you really think your grandfather will let you have a real live lamb to bring to school?"

  "I think so," said Betsy. "I'm going to write him a letter and ask him tonight."

  "Gee," said Billy, "I wish I could have a real live pig. I have to say

  'Tom, Tom, the piper's son,

  Stole a pig and away he run.'

  What am I going to have under my arm if I don't have any pig?"

  "You could put the wastepaper basket under your arm," said Betsy.

  "Aw, say!" said Billy; "who wants a wastepaper basket! I have to have a pig, I tell you. A real live pig."

  "My granddaddy has pigs too," said Betsy.

  "He has?" said Billy. "Do you think he would let me have a pig?"

  "I don't think so," said Betsy.

  "Why not?" asked Billy.

  "Well, I never heard of anybody borrowing a pig," said Betsy.

>   "You're going to borrow a lamb, aren't you?" said Billy. "There isn't any difference between a lamb and a pig."

  "Oh, yes, there is," laughed Betsy.

  "I would take good care of it," said Billy, "and I would give it back to him."

  "Well, I'll ask him," said Betsy.

  That evening, Betsy wrote to her grandfather on the farm. This is what she wrote:

  Betsy could hardly wait to receive an answer to her letter. Every morning she ran to meet the mailman at the door. Billy waited at the corner for her every morning. "Did you get the letter?" he would say.

  After several days the letter came. Granddaddy's answer was "Yes." Betsy raced up the street to Billy. "Granddaddy says we can have the lamb and the pig," she cried.

  "Oh, boy!" shouted Billy. "That's fine! When do we get them?"

  "Granddaddy says he'll send them by express in plenty of time," said Betsy.

  Billy and Betsy trotted along to school feeling very happy. Soon they met some of the other children.

  "What do you think?" said Billy. "I'm going to have a real live pig."

  "And I'm going to have a real lamb," said Betsy. "My grandaddy is sending them."

  "Well, I could have a real live spider if I wanted one," said Betty Jane, who was to be Little Miss Muffet. "But I don't want a real live spider. My mother is going to make me a big one out of colored paper."

  "Aw, you're afraid of spiders," shouted Billy.

  "I am not," said Betty Jane.

  The children hurried along to school calling out, "Betty Jane's afraid of spiders! Betty Jane's afraid of spiders!"

  When they reached Mr. Kilpatrick, Billy shouted, "I'm going to have a pig for May Day, Mr. Kilpatrick."

  "Well, see that you hold on to it," said Mr. Kilpatrick. "We don't want any pigs running loose on the highway."