one day, when neddie and beckie stubtail, the little boy and girl bear, came home from school, where they had said their lessons, each one getting a good mark for not whispering—one day, as they ran in the house to get a honey cake, they saw two little white envelopes lying on the dining-room table.
“hello!” exclaimed neddie, looking at them. “here’s some post-office mail mamma has forgotten to open.”
“i’ll take it to her,” spoke beckie, as she put her school books on the sideboard; “i think she’s in the kitchen. and while i’m out there i’ll get the honey cakes.”
“good!” cried neddie, as he wiggled his little tail. “and while you are about it, get as many honey cakes as you can, beckie.”
“i will,” answered the little bear girl. bears are very fond of sweet cakes, you know, especially if they have honey in them.
but when beckie took up the tiny envelopes 192she gave a little squeal of surprise, just like a baby piggie under a gate, and she said:
“why, neddie! these are for us—they are letters, with our names on!”
“are they?” asked neddie. “sure enough!” he cried as he looked. “i wonder who can be writing to us?”
“the best way would be to open them and find out,” suggested aunt piffy, the fat old lady bear, as she came up from down cellar, where she had gone to keep the apples from getting lonesome. oh, aunt piffy was the kindest old lady bear you ever heard of. she was even kind to the apples and potatoes, and all things like that.
“open your letters,” she said to neddie and beckie, “and then you can tell whom they’re from.”
beckie began to tear open her envelope, but neddie, after looking at his for a moment, said:
“oh, ho! i know. this is a joke of uncle wigwag’s! i’m not going to let him fool us!”
uncle wigwag, you know, was an old gentleman bear who was always playing tricks, or jokes, on neddie and beckie, and sometimes on aunt piffy, too.
just then in came mr. whitewash, the polar bear gentleman.
193“has anybody seen my cake of ice?” he cried. “i can’t find it. some one must have my cake of ice!”
you see, being a white polar bear, from the north pole, mr. whitewash always used to sit on a cake of ice to keep cool, and he often mislaid it, or couldn’t find it, just as grandma cluckcluck, the old lady hen, used to lose her glasses.
“where is my cake of ice?” asked mr. whitewash, as he looked all around the bear cave-house.
“oh, my goodness me sakes alive and some horseradish-mustard!” cried aunt piffy. “i think i put your cake of ice under the stove, to have it out of the way while i swept, and by this time——”
“yes, by this time it must be all melted!” cried mr. whitewash, as he rushed out to the kitchen. and, as luck would have it, just then, through the door, came mrs. stubtail, the mamma bear, and in her hand she had a plate of honey cakes, that she had just baked. of course mr. whitewash rushed right into her, but he didn’t mean to. down went mrs. stubtail, down went the honey cakes—down went mr. whitewash, and such a mix-up you never saw in all your life!
but no one was hurt, i’m glad to say, though 194some of the honey cakes were broken. but that did not hurt them, and neddie and beckie picked them up and their mamma let them eat the pieces.
then mr. whitewash managed to find his cake of ice under the stove. it was not quite all melted, but nearly. however, there was enough left for him to sit on and keep cool, until the ice man came with another cake.
then when everything was quiet neddie took up his envelope again, and said:
“look, mr. whitewash, uncle wigwag is trying to play another joke on us.”
“no, i do not think so,” answered the white polar bear gentleman. “he has not been in the house in some time. he and uncle wiggily longears, the rabbit gentleman, are playing a game of hop butterscotch on the duck pond. i think your letters are no joke.”
“then i’m going to open mine!” exclaimed beckie, and when she had done so and had read the writing inside, she called out:
“oh, neddie! it’s an invitation to a party! kittie kat, the little pussy girl, is giving a party and she’s asked me to come to it. is yours an invitation, too?”
“why, yes, it is,” said neddie slowly. “i guess i’ll go.”
195“go? of course we’ll go!” cried beckie. “i wonder what dress i’ll wear?”
“oh, that’s just the way with girls!” cried neddie. “as soon as they hear of a party they begin thinking of dress.”
“pooh! i guess you boys are just as fussy about wearing a new necktie!” said beckie, as she waggled her little stubby tail.
well, to make a long story short, neddie and beckie got ready to go to the party kittie kat was to give. it took place three nights after the invitations came out, and neddie and beckie, the little bear children, each one dressed very nicely, went on and on through the woods and over the fields to the kat home. it was not very far, and there was a bright moon shining in the sky, so they were not afraid.
and i just wish you could have been to the party, which kittie kat gave for all her animal children friends. no, on second thought, perhaps, it is just as well you were not there. the animal children wouldn’t know you, and they might have been frightened. but some day i’ll take you around myself to call on them, and after that they won’t mind you.
anyhow, everybody whom beckie and neddie knew seemed to be at kittie’s party. her brothers, tommy and joie kat, waited on the 196door and let in the guests as they came. sammie and susie littletail, the rabbit children, were there, and peetie and jackie bow wow, the puppy dog boys, and lulu and alice and jimmie wibblewobble, the ducks, and oh! everybody.
and such fun as they had! they played all sorts of games, such as little bear in the corner, hide the potato, lose the piano and find the molasses. and whoever found the molasses could have some of the sweet stuff on a spoon. neddie and beckie liked this game the best of all.
then there was another game. kittie kat brought in an empty barrel, and in the bottom she put a box of candy.
“now,” said kittie, “whoever can reach over in and down and get that box of candy may have it. but, mind you, you’ve got to get it with your paws, you can’t use a stick or a hook to pull it up.”
now the barrel was quite a deep one, and though all the animal boys and girls tried, they could not reach down and get the box of candy.
“oh, dear!” sighed beckie, “this is just the kind of a trick uncle wigwag would play!”
“well, it’s only in fun,” said kittie kat, with a laugh, “and when you’ve all tried and can’t do 197it, i’ll turn the barrel upside down, the candy will drop out and we’ll all have some.”
“wait! i haven’t finished yet!” called neddie stubtail. “i think i can claw up that candy!”
so he leaned over the edge of the barrel and stretched his paw down in for the candy. at first he could not get hold of the box. farther and farther he leaned over the edge, and his hind paws came up off the floor.
“look out, neddie! you’ll fall in!” cried beckie.
and that is just what neddie did. all of a sudden into the barrel he went, head over paws and everything. “ker-bunko!” went neddie.
everybody laughed when he went down inside the barrel, and when he bobbed up again, holding the candy in his paws, the animal children laughed more than ever. for neddie was all covered over with white. he looked just like mr. whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, only smaller.
“oh, neddie, what happened to you,” asked beckie, in surprise.
“i know!” exclaimed kittie kat. “that barrel had flour in it, and i didn’t dust it all out. the white flour is all over neddie’s fur.”
and so it was, but no one minded.
“i don’t care. i got the candy anyhow,” said neddie as he jumped out of the barrel. then 198he gave all the animal children some of the sweet stuff, and when a few more games were played it was time to go home.
neddie and beckie went through the forest, and when they were almost at the bear cave, beckie said:
“some one is following us through the woods. maybe it’s a bad lion.”
“bur-r-r-r-r! i hope not!” cried neddie. he turned around to look, and there it was, a bad circus lion. but an instant later the lion roared out:
“oh, excuse me, mr. whitewash, i didn’t know it was you!” and then the lion ran away. you see he looked at the white flour still on neddie’s fur, and the bad lion thought he saw the big, strong polar bear gentleman, while it was really only little neddie. then the bear children ran safely home.
so you see it was a good thing neddie fell into the flour barrel and got all white after all, as it scared away the bad lion. and next, if the horsie doesn’t jump out of his picture frame on the wall, and run over my typewriter with the pony cart, i’ll tell you about neddie in the snowbank.
