by Oliver Optic
"Well, don't wish that," advised Louise. "Goodness knows you'll betired of it soon enough! Sister, what are you dragging out here?"
"My blackboard," answered Sister, almost falling over the doorsill asshe pulled her blackboard--a gift from Grandmother Hastings--out ontothe porch.
"Come on, Grace, we'll go in," proposed Louise, hastily gathering upher work. "If these children are going to play school there won't beany place for us! We'll go up to my room."
"I thought maybe you would be the scholars," said Brother,disappointed. "We never have enough scholars."
Louise was halfway up the stairs.
"You can play the dolls are scholars," she called back.
Mother Morrison had gone over to Grandmother Hastings to help her makeblackberry jam, and Louise and Grace had been left in charge of thehouse.
"Let me be the teacher," begged Sister, when her blackboard wasarranged to her liking. "I know how, Roddy."
"Well, all right, you can be teacher first," agreed Brother. "But afteryou play, then it's my turn."
Sister picked up a book and pointed to the blackboard.
"'Rithmetic class, go to the board," she commanded.
Both she and Brother knew a good deal about what went on in classrooms,because they had listened to the older children recite.
"How much is sixty-eight times ninety-two?" asked Teacher-Sisterimportantly.
Brother made several marks on the blackboard with the crayon.
"Nine hundred," he answered doubtfully.
"Correct," said the teacher kindly. "Now I'll hear the class inspellin'."
"I wish we had more scholars," complained Brother. "It's no fun withjust one; I have to be everything."
"There's that little boy again--maybe he'd play," suggested Sister,pointing to the red-haired, barefooted little boy who stood staring onthe walk that led up to the porch.
He could not see through the screens very clearly, but he had heard thevoices of the children and, stopping to listen, had drawn nearer andnearer.
"That's Mickey Gaffney," whispered Brother. "Hello, Mickey," he calledmore loudly. "Want to come play school with us?"
Mickey came up on the steps, and flattened his nose against the screendoor.
"I dunno," he said doubtfully. "How do you play?"
Sister pushed open the door for him, and Mickey rather shyly lookedabout him.
"It's nice and shady in here," he said appreciatively. "You got ablackboard, ain't you?"
"You should say 'have' a blackboard and 'ain't' is dreadful," correctedSister, blissfully unaware that "dreadful" was not a good word to use."You can use the chalk if you'll be a scholar, Mickey."
Mickey was anxious to draw on the blackboard and he consented to play"just for a little."
As Brother had said, two scholars were ever so much better than one andthey had a beautiful time playing together. Mickey, in spite of hisragged clothes, and bad grammar, knew how to play, and he suggestedseveral new things that Sister and Brother had never done.
"I been to school," boasted Mickey.
The children were anxious to have him stay to lunch with them andLouise, who had heard his voice and who came downstairs to see him,also invited him to stay. But he was too shy, and shuffled off just asNellie Yarrow bounded up the front steps.
"Wasn't that Mickey Gaffney?" she asked curiously. "I shouldn't thinkyou'd want to play with him. His folks are awful poor, and, besides,his father was arrested last year."
"Mickey isn't to blame for that," retorted Grace quickly. "Don't be asnob, Nellie; Brother and Sister had a good time playing with thatlittle red-headed boy."
"But hardly any of the children play with him," persisted Nellie, whoof course went to the public school. "You see last term Mickey was inmy room, and he only came till about the middle of October--maybe itwas November. Anyway, soon as it got cold he stopped coming.
"The teacher thought he was playing hooky, and she told Mr. Alexander,the principal. And he found out that the reason Mickey didn't come toschool was 'cause his father didn't send him."
"Why didn't his father send him?" asked Sister.
"He wouldn't work, and Mickey didn't have any shoes to wear," explainedNellie. "Mr. Alexander got somebody to give Mickey a pair of shoes, buthe wouldn't pay any attention to his lessons, and I know he wasn'tpromoted. I suppose he'll be in the first grade again this year."
Brother and Sister thought a good deal about Mickey after Nellie hadgone home. They wondered if he wanted to go to school and whether hewished the summer would hurry so the new term might open.
"He liked to play school, so I guess he likes to go, really," arguedSister. "Playing is different," said Brother wisely. "He didn't haveany shoes on this morning, did he?"
"No, that's so," Sister recalled. "And his clothes were all torn anddirty; maybe he hasn't any new suit to wear the first day."
All the Morrison children had always started school in new suits ordresses, and Mother Morrison had promised Brother a new sailor suit andSister a gingham frock when they started off in September.
"Miss Putnam would say he 'scuffled,'" giggled Sister, remembering thatwas what Miss Putnam thought all children did with their feet.
"I wonder who really did put the tar on her porch?" murmured Brother."She'll always think we did it, unless someone tells her somethingelse."
CHAPTER XIX
A VERY SICK DOLL
"Madam," declared Brother seriously, "your child is very ill, I fear!"
He was the "doctor" and had been called to attend Muriel Elsie,Sister's best and largest doll. The children had started this new gameone day.
"Oh, Doctor!" fluttered Sister, much worried. "Can't you give hersomething?"
The doctor sat down on the window-seat and considered.
"You ate all the peppermints up," he told Muriel Elsie's "mother." Thenhe went on: "And Louise hid the box of chocolates. No, I don't believeI can give her any medicines."
"Yes, you can," urged the little mother, hurriedly. "Go to the drugstore; that's where Doctor Yarrow gets all his pills and things."
"Where--where is the drugstore?" stammered the doctor.
He was used to having Sister tell him. She usually planned their games.
"Why, it's--it's--" Sister looked about her desperately. Where shouldshe say the drugstore was? "I know," she cried. "Over toGrandma's--hurry!"
Grandmother Hastings glanced up from her sewing in surprise as Brotherand Sister tumbled up the steps of the side porch where she sat.
"Oh, Grandma!" and Sister fell over the Boston fern in her eagerness toexplain the play. "Grandma, Muriel Elsie is ever so sick, and Roddy isthe doctor; and we have to go to the drugstore to get medicine for her.Have you any? You have, haven't you, Grandma?"
"Dear me," said Grandmother Hastings, adjusting her glasses. "MurielElsie is very ill, is she? Well, now, what kind of medicine do youthink she needs?"
"Muriel Elsie likes medicine that tastes good," explained Sister.
"Well, I must put on my thinking-cap," said dear Grandmother Hastings."I didn't know I was keeping a 'drug store' till this minute, you see."
The children were as quiet as two little mice, so that Grandmothermight think better.
"I know!" she cried in a moment. "I think I have the very thing! Comeon out in the kitchen with me."
They pattered after her and watched while she lifted down a largepasteboard box from a cupboard. From this box she took several tinyround boxes, such as druggists use for pills.
"I think Muriel Elsie needs two kinds of medicine," said Grandmothergravely. "Now if you want to watch me put it up, there's nothing tohinder you."
Grandmother Hastings could play "pretend" beautifully, as Brother andSister often said. Now she opened her shining white bread box and tookout a loaf of white bread and one of brown. She washed her handscarefully at the sink, tied on a big white apron and brought the sugarand cinnamon from the pantry.
"Oh, Grandma!" squeaked Brother in joyful excit
ement. "What are yougoing to do?"
"Why, get some medicine ready for Muriel Elsie," answered hisgrandmother, making believe to be surprised. "Didn't you want me to?"
"Of course--don't mind him, Grandma," said Sister scornfully. "I'd liketo keep a drug store when I grow up."
Grandmother cut a slice of bread from the white loaf and buttered itlightly. Then she sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, broke off alittle piece and rolled that into several tiny round balls. They lookedfor all the world like real pills.
Then she cut a slice of brown bread and rolled that into little pills,too. She filled four of the small boxes.
"There!" she said, giving the boxes to Brother. "See that your patienttakes a white pill and a brown one every two minutes and she will soonbe well."
"Thank you very much, Grandma," said Brother, standing up to go. "Don'tyou want us to eat the trimmings?"
Grandmother laughed and said yes, they might eat the crusts, and shegave them each a slice of the brown bread spread with nice, sweetbutter, too.
Brother and Sister hurried home and on the way over they changed to theDoctor and Muriel Elsie's worried mamma. They had been so interested inwatching Grandmother Hastings make the pills that they had almostforgotten that they were playing.
They had left the patient in the porch swing--Sister said it wasimportant to keep her in the fresh air--but when they went to take herup and give her a pill, she wasn't to be found.
"Perhaps Louise did something to her," decided Sister.
But Louise, questioned, declared she had not seen the doll.
"Is it Muriel Elsie you're looking for?" asked Molly, her head tied upin a sweep cap and a broom on her shoulder as she prepared to sweep theupstairs hall. "Why, I found her half an hour ago on the porch floor,her face all cracked into little chips."
"Muriel Elsie all chipped?" repeated Sister in wonder. "Why, she's myvery best doll!"
"'Twas that imp of a Brownie did it," related Molly. "I was coming outto sweep the porch off, and he raced on ahead and went to jerking thecushions out of the hammock. First thing I knew there was a crash, andthe doll was smashed on the floor. I saved you the pieces, Sister."
Brownie had a trick, the children knew, of snatching the sofa and swingcushions and flinging them on the floor whenever he thought anyone wasready to sleep. They had always considered this rather a clever trickfor a little dog, and Sister could not find it in her heart to scoldhim even now.
"I suppose he didn't know Muriel Elsie was there," she saidsorrowfully. "I had a cushion over her so she couldn't take cold. Wheredid you put her, Molly?"
Molly brought out the box with the unfortunate Muriel Elsie in it. Onlyher pretty face was damaged and that was badly chipped. Besides herwhole head wobbled on her body.
Sister began to cry.
"Maybe Ralph can mend her," she sobbed. "My poor little Muriel Elsie!And we were playing she was sick, too."
"Yes, I guess Ralph can mend her," said Brother bravely. "He can mendlots of things. And you have all the pieces."
Sister took the box under her arm and went down to the gate to wait forRalph, who was expected home on an early train.
"Well, I s'pose we might as well eat the pills," suggested Brother."Muriel Elsie's certainly too sick for pills--she needs--operating on!"
So they ate the pills while they were waiting for Ralph, and they gaveBrownie some, too. As Sister said he didn't mean to break the doll andhe probably felt the way she did when she found she had knocked overJimmie's case of butterflies.
CHAPTER XX
PLANS FOR MICKEY
The last pill had disappeared down little red lane, when Ralph was seento turn the corner.
"Well, Chicks, why so solemn?" he asked cheerfully. "Sister, have youbeen crying?"
Sister held out the broken doll silently.
"Why, that's too bad!" exclaimed Ralph, sitting down on the step besidehis little sister. "What happened to Muriel Elsie?"
"Brownie jerked her out of the hammock and she fell on her head,"Brother explained. "Can you mend her, Ralph?"
"I'm afraid not," said Ralph regretfully. "Mending faces is ticklishwork; I might manage an arm or leg, but not a FACE. I tell you,Sister--you take Muriel Elsie down to the Exchange and see if MissArline can't mend her. Leave her there, ask how much it will cost andwhen she will be ready, and I'll give you the money."
"I'll go with you, Betty," Brother offered. "Let's go now,"
Molly tied the box up with paper and string and hand in hand Brotherand Sister started.
"Certainly I can mend the dollie," announced Miss Arline when theyreached her house and had shown her Muriel Elsie and explained theaccident. "I think I'll take her into the city with me tomorrow to adoll's hospital. You come for her a week from today and she will beready for you. I can't tell how much it will cost, you tell yourbrother, until I find out what the hospital will charge me."
On their way home, Brother and Sister met Mickey Gaffney. They had notseen him since he played school with them, and the sight of him at oncesuggested something to Brother.
"Say, Nellie Yarrow says you're going to be in the first grade atschool this term," he said to Mickey. "I'm going to be in first grade,too. We'll be in the same room."
"Don't know as I'm going to school," declared Mickey perversely. "Ididn't go much last year."
"Wouldn't--wouldn't your 'father let you?" suggested Sister timidly.
Mickey flushed a little.
"Aw, it wasn't so much his fault, leastways he said he didn't care if Iwent," he muttered, digging his bare foot into the gravel on one sideof the stone flagging. "After they had him arrested he said I had togo."
"Didn't you want to go?" urged Brother, round-eyed. "I think it's lotsof fun to go to school."
"Guess you wouldn't think so if you didn't have some shoes and a goodcoat," retorted Mickey. "I ain't going to school this year, either, ifI can't have things to wear. None of the boys go barefoot."
"But Nellie says Mr. Alexander got some shoes for you to wear," saidBrother quickly.
"How would you like to wear somebody else's shoes?" inquired Mickeywith scorn. "They belonged to Ted Scott and he was always looking at myfeet when I wore 'em. I want some shoes of my OWN!"
"Couldn't your father buy you just one pair?" Sister asked.
"No, he couldn't," Mickey answered desperately. "He doesn't like towork, and we had to sell Ted Scott's shoes this summer for fifty cents.When the old man does work it takes all he makes to buy grub. My mothertakes in washing to pay the rent."
Mickey told them this jerkily, as though against his will, andkind-hearted little Brother thought perhaps they had asked too manyquestions.
"Maybe you could earn money yourself," he said presently. "I'm going toask Daddy. You just wait, Mickey."
"I wouldn't mind earning SOME money," admitted Mickey cautiously. "Butit takes a LOT for new shoes. And they got to be new."
Brother and Sister hurried home, eager to see Daddy Morrison, and askhis advice. They found him reading on the porch and waiting for dinner.
"Oh, Daddy!" Sister rushed for him. "Daddy, how can Mickey Gaffney earnenough money to buy a whole pair of new shoes?"
"A whole pair of shoes?" repeated Daddy, laughing. "Why, Daughter, Isuppose a way can be found, if he must have them. Who is this MickeyGaffney?"
Sister told about Mickey, and Brother helped her, and when they hadfinished, Daddy Morrison knew all about Mickey and his school troubles.
"Being red-headed and Irish, I don't suppose he will let me GIVE himthe money," he mused. "Let's see, what can a chap that age do? He mustbe seven or eight years old--I've seen him hanging around the station,ready to carry suitcases. I wonder if he couldn't help the boys withthe garden?"
"I'll pay him if he can weed," grinned Jimmie, who had been listening."And Ralph was saying last week that he wasn't going to have time totake his turn at garden work--he wants to go in on an earlier train."
"All right, we'll tell Ralph tha
t Mickey is open for an engagement,"said Daddy Morrison. "We'll start him in the garden and then perhapsother odd jobs will turn up."
"Dinner is ready, folks," called Mother Morrison, and they all wentinto the dining-room.
"I want Mickey to earn a whole lot of money," declared Sister thatnight as they were getting ready for bed. "Pulling weeds is such slowwork. He'll have to pull an awful lot to work an hour."
After Mother had kissed them good-night and put out the light, a bigidea came to Sister.
"I know what we'll do!" she asserted, sitting up in bed. "Listen,Roddy, Ellis Carr said his father said Miss Putnam worked too hard.Well, why can't Mickey help her?"
"Maybe he can," murmured Brother sleepily. "Only she wont like him,'cause he's a boy."
CHAPTER XXI
BROTHER AND SISTER PAY A CALL
Sister's first thought in the morning was Mickey and Miss Putnam. "It'stoo bad he is a boy," she admitted, referring to Mickey, "because MissPutnam doesn't like children. But if Mickey was grown up he wouldn'thave to have shoes to wear to school, because he wouldn't go to school."
"Sister, your reasoning is all right," Ralph praised her. "Perhaps youwill grow up to be a lawyer like your father and brothers."
"Oh, no," said Sister positively and sweetly. "When I grow up I'm goingto be a farmer."
After breakfast, she helped Brother clear the table and brush thecrumbs, and then she dragged him out to the porch steps to consult withhim.