“Ba-na-nas! Ba-na-nas!” called the banana man.
“Who is calling?” said Bobby.
“The banana man,” answered Betty.
“I see him,” said Bobby. “He is coming down the street with his pushcart.”
Again the banana man called out, “Ba-na-nas! Ba-na-nas!”
“Let’s ask Mother if we can buy some bananas,” said Bobby.
Bobby and Betty ran in to Mother.
“O Mother,” said Betty. “The banana man is coming. Please buy some
bananas.”
“Please, Mother,” said Bobby.
“You may buy a dozen for me,” said Mother. “Betty, it is your turn to buy
today.”
“Why can’t I do it?” asked Bobby.
“Not this time,” said Mother. “It is Betty’s turn today.”
Mother gave Betty thirty-five cents, and she bought a dozen bananas.
The banana man then went down the street calling, “Ba-na-nas! Ba-na-nas!
Ba-na-nas!”
Mother had bananas at dinner that night.
Betty told Father about the banana man, and Bobby told him about his
pushcart.
When the story hour came, Father said, “See if you can find the banana
man in your Mother Goose books.”
Bobby and Betty looked through their books.
“I can’t find the banana man,” said Bobby.
“Here’s a woman with a wheelbarrow,” said Betty. “Does she have fruit to
sell?”
“Yes,” answered Father. “That is the cherry woman.”
“Did she sell cherries?” asked Bobby.
“Yes,” answered Father. “She sold cherries and oranges and lemons.”
“She doesn’t come here,” said Betty.
“No, dear,” said Father. “Women don’t sell fruit from wheelbarrows on our
streets.”
“Why not?” asked Betty.
“Because that work is now done by men,” Father answered.
“The banana man has a pushcart,” said Bobby. “But the fruit and vegetable
man has a horse and wagon.”
_For study and play_:
Tippety, tippety, tippety, toe.
Give me a banana and I’ll go.
Cherries, cherries! Big as plums!
Who comes! Who comes!
_Riddles_:
Riddle me, riddle me, red coat,
A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,
Riddle me, riddle me, rotic, tot!
_A cherry_
Niddy, noddy,
Two heads and one body.
_A wheelbarrow_
[Illustration]
[Illustration]