“beckie! beckie, where are you?” called neddie stubtail, the little boy bear, one morning after breakfast. “come along! you’ll be late for school. i’m not going to wait for you.”
“i’m coming,” answered beckie from inside the cave-house on the side of the hill. “i’m coming! wait a minute!”
“i’m not going to wait, and be late!” said neddie, and he was not quite as polite as he might have been.
“oh, neddie!” exclaimed aunt piffy, the fat old lady bear, puffing and blowing, for she had been down cellar after some potatoes, and when she came up stairs she always puffed and blew.
“why, neddie!” she went on, “you should (puff) wait for (puff) your little (puff) sister. she doesn’t very often (puff) ask you to (puff) do it. more times she has to (puff) wait for you!”
“oh, well, i’ll wait,” said neddie, and he felt 112the least little bit ashamed of himself for having talked that way to his sister. “but i don’t want to be late,” he added.
“you won’t be late—i’m coming!” called beckie. “i just wanted to find my needle and thread.”
“needle and thread!” cried neddie. “you don’t mean to tell me, do you beckie, that you’ve torn your dress and have to stop and sew it? and the last bell will ring in a few minutes! oh, i’m not going to wait at all any longer! i’m going!” and off the little bear boy started, holding out his little stubby tail as stiff and straight as he could. but at that it wasn’t much larger than your thumb, and you could hardly notice it.
“no, indeed, i haven’t torn my dress, and i don’t have to stop to sew it up,” said beckie, as she came running out of the cave-house. “wait a minute, won’t you please, neddie? i’m just taking my needle and thread and some pieces of silk to school with me so i can make my new doll, sarah janet picklefeather, a new dress.”
“what, make your doll a dress in school?” cried neddie, stopping and turning around. “teacher never will let you, beckie stubtail—never! and you know it!”
“oh, but i’m not going to sew in school,” said 113beckie, sweetly. “i’m taking my lunch with me, and i’m not coming home to dinner, and i’m going to sew on my doll’s dress during the noon recess. and i’ve got some honey cakes for my lunch, too!”
“oh, wow!” cried neddie. “so that’s how it is, eh? then i’m going to take my lunch, too, and stay at school and have some fun. may i have some honey cakes, mamma?”
“oh, yes, i guess so,” answered mrs. stubtail, who, with aunt piffy, had come to the door to see the children start for school.
then neddie ran back to get his lunch put up. and such a busy time as there was, for a few minutes. mrs. stubtail and aunt piffy both tried to put the lunch up, so neddie would not be late, and mrs. stubtail dropped the bread, butter side down, and aunt piffy lost her breath and could hardly find it again. then uncle wigwag, the bear gentleman, who was always playing tricks, sat down in the fly paper by mistake, and mr. whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, had to pull the sticky stuff off his friend, uncle wigwag.
and that wasn’t all. for mr. whitewash was shaving his whiskers, and when he wasn’t looking, mrs. stubtail knocked over the molasses pitcher into his cup, full of soap-suds lather, and 114when mr. whitewash went to lather his face again he was almost as badly stuck up as uncle wigwag was with the fly paper.
oh, my! such goings on!
but, finally, neddie’s lunch was put up and all this while beckie waited for him, and she never once said “hurry up!” or “i’m going on, we’ll be late!” not once did she say it, though she might well have done so, since the last bell had been ringing for some time.
but finally beckie and neddie got to school and they were only about one forty-’leventh part of a second late, and that didn’t count.
i wish i could tell you all that happened in school that day—how neddie went to the blackboard, and wrote a fine story of a poodle dog that could stand on its head. and how joie kat drew such a real-like picture of a mouse that tommie kat, joie’s brother, wanted to chase it, and it was all his sister kittie kat could do to stop him.
but i haven’t room to tell you any of those things now. i must tell you about beckie making her doll’s dress. now, hold on, boys, if you please. you might think this is a girl’s story, but it isn’t—that is not all of it, even if it is partly about a doll’s dress.
if you just listen you’ll see that beckie did a 115very brave thing, which shows you that girls can do things as well as boys can, and lots of times better. take, for instance, braiding hair—a boy couldn’t braid his hair to save him, but look how easily a girl can do it, and chew gum, and read a book and talk, all at the same time. well, i guess!
anyhow, pretty soon it was recess time, and all the animal children could come out of school. some went home to their dinner, and others, who had brought their lunch, found nice cozy places where they could eat it.
neddie went off with tommie and joie kat, and with jackie and peetie bow wow, the puppy dog boys. and as soon as beckie had finished her lunch she got out her needle and thread and thimble and the pieces of silk, and began to make a dress for her doll, sarah janet picklefeather.
first she sewed in some—tuckers, i think they’re called, or maybe it was puckers. anyhow, she sewed them in the dress, beckie did, to make it look nice.
then the little bear girl made a few frills around the neck and down the side she sewed in some rosettes. around the middle she gathered some insertions, and then on the bottom—let me see now, what did she put on the bottom? oh, i know, it was a ruffle. (you boys may skip 116this part if you like. i wouldn’t write it only i have to put in something about the dress, or the girls wouldn’t read the story.)
where were we? oh, i remember. we’d gotten to the bottom part of the dress. and that reminds me, if we’re at the bottom of the dress that’s all there is to it, and i can stop, and so i’m at the end of that part, and don’t have to write any more, thank goodness!
anyhow, beckie was sitting on the steps of the school, in the warm sunshine, sewing away on miss picklefeather’s dress, making her needle go in and out, when, all of a sudden, along came a bad old, big bear who didn’t like little bear girls, nor bear boys, either.
“ah, ha!” growled the bad bear. “this is the time i have caught you! i’ve been waiting a long time to get you! now i’m going to carry you off to my den, and make you wash dishes for ever and ever. bur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!”
beckie looked up quickly and started to run, but she had no chance. the bad bear was right in front of her, and the door, before which she was sitting, was one that was hardly ever used, so it had been locked. beckie couldn’t escape that way. she looked all around the school yard, but none of her friends was in sight. neither 117was neddie, who might have saved her, and as for the teacher, she had gone home to her dinner.
“oh, help! help!” cried poor little beckie. she didn’t want the bear to take her away, and, as for washing dishes, she just hated that work, though she didn’t mind doing them for her mamma.
“pooh! no one will help you!” cried the bad bear. “so don’t bother to call. come along!” and he reached out his paws to grab beckie. then he happened to notice the doll’s dress, and, being a very curious sort of bear, he asked: “what are you doing?”
“i am making a dress for my doll,” answered beckie, as politely as she could, with all her trembling. then she thought of a trick to play on that bear. “would you like to see me sew on the doll’s dress?” beckie asked, sweetly.
“well, you might show me one or two stitches,” said the bear, sort of careless-like. “but, mind you, i’ll carry you off just the same.”
“all right,” answered beckie. “look closely now. you see, i put the needle in this side of the silk and i push it through with my thimble.”
“yes,” said the bear, “i see.”
“now look closely,” said beckie, and the bear leaned forward and put his nose and eyes close 118down. “and then,” said beckie, “i pull my needle out this way, and—i stick it in your soft and tender nose—that way!” and with that she did it, jabbing the needle into the bear’s nose!
“oh, wow!” cried the bad bear, and he was so surprised that he turned a back somersault and then he ran away off in the woods to get some honey to put on his sore nose. so he didn’t take beckie away after all. which shows you that it’s a good thing to make a doll’s dress, sometimes.
then, soon the other children came back to school, and so did the teacher, and lessons went on and everybody said beckie was very brave. and i think so, too, and in the story after this, if the ashman doesn’t take our furnace out in the yard so that it catches cold and can’t go to the moving picture show, i’ll tell you about neddie’s joke on uncle wigwag.
