“I’LL just bet you a grape seed I’d have won that hurdle race from the
Turk, if I hadn’t had a toothache,” said the Dunce the day after the
field day.
“Why don’t you-all have it pulled?” asked Gogo.
“Ah say! Jimminie f-f-f-fishhooks!” exclaimed the Dunce. “That would
hurt and I’d rather have the t-t-t-toothache.”
The poor Dunce was afraid to mention his toothache to the General for
fear he would have the Doctor pull it out. He suffered for some time,
but at last he could stand it no longer and one day he decided to ask
advice.
“Oh, whillikers! Jimminie fishhooks, ouch!” he howled as he ran into the
sitting room of the shoe house.
“Now what’s the matter?” asked the General.
“I-I-I-I’ve got the t-t-t-toothache!” wailed the Dunce, holding his hand
over his jaw and dancing about on one foot.
“Well, find the Doctor and get attended to,” said the General.
The Dunce found the Doctor, and after he had carefully examined the
aching tooth he told the Dunce it would have to be pulled.
“What!” shouted the Dunce. “Jimminie Christmas! I-I-I-I’d rather have
the t-t-toothache.”
“All right, just as you like,” said the Doctor.
“Can’t you put something on it to make it quit aching?” asked the Dunce.
“That tooth is in bad condition,” said the Doctor, “and the only way to
stop it for once and all is to pull it.”
“All right, s-s-s-sir,” groaned the Dunce, “p-p-p-pull it out.”
The Doctor got out a tiny pair of forceps and a glass of water. He then
had the Dunce sit in one of the easy chairs and told him to open his
mouth.
“S-S-S-Say, Doc,” stuttered the frightened Dunce, “i-i-i-is it gonna
hurt m-m-m-much?”
“Yes, it will hurt a little.”
“S-S-S-Say, Doc, c-c-c-couldn’t I pull it myself?”
“I suppose you could,” answered the Doctor. “You could tie a thread to
it with the other end fixed to a stone and then get up on something high
and drop the stone. That would certainly pull it out.”
“That’s w-w-w-what I’m gonna do,” and the Dunce jumped out of the chair
and disappeared through the doorway.
The Dunce hunted up Gogo and asked that little fellow’s advice about
pulling the aching tooth.
“Dere’s a fine place over the hill just back of the house,” said the
little black Teenie Weenie. “Dere’s a berry basket and you can done
climb up on dat, tie on de stone, and out comes dat toof like a cork out
of a bottle.”
The two little fellows secured a piece of strong silk thread and,
followed by a number of the Teenie Weenies, they hurried to the basket
back of the house.
[‡Illustration: Peach seed]
The Dunce and Gogo chose a peach seed for the weight to tie to the end
of the thread and after boosting it up onto the basket they climbed up
themselves. The thread was fixed tightly to the peach seed and the other
end was tied to the offending tooth.
“Now all you got to do is to give dat peach seed a kick and out comes
dat toof,” said Gogo.
“C-C-C-Crickets!” moaned the Dunce, “I-I-I-I got a kind of sick feelin’
in my s-s-s-stomach. I think I’ll wait awhile.”
For full half an hour the Dunce stood trembling on the edge of the
basket while Gogo and the Doctor argued with the foolish fellow to kick
off the seed and have it all over.
While the Dunce was talking to the Doctor, Gogo suddenly kicked the seed
off the basket and the tooth was jerked out of the Dunce’s mouth before
he really knew what happened.
“Oh, whillikers! Jimminie crickets! Hallelujah!” shouted the Dunce,
dancing up and down with joy, when he realized that the tooth was out.
“It’s out, it’s out! Hallelujah, hallelujah!”
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