[Illustration: _“I did not call you over to give me a bath,” cried
Squeaky_]
SNYTHERGEN
BY
HAL GARROTT
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
DUGALD WALKER
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY
1923
Copyright, 1923, by
ROBERT M. MCBRIDE & CO.
First Published, 1923
_Printed in the United States of America._
TO HAL AND JEAN
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I SLENDER FOODS AND ROUND FOODS 1
II A TICKLISH TREE 11
III PLAYED ON A MUSICAL SKIRT 21
IV A BIRD AND A TREE PLAY AT HIDE AND SEEK 29
V HOW A PIG LEARNED TO TALK 37
VI THE HOUSE AT THE END OF A ROPE 45
VII BEAR ON ICE 53
VIII A RUNAWAY TREE 65
IX THE DOCTOR DISCOVERS A TREE WITH ST. VITUS’ DANCE 71
X THE BEAR SEES THE “GRASSHOPPER PIG,” HEARS THE
“HUNTSMEN,” AND IS PRESENT AT THE “ESCAPE” 87
XI THE JOURNEY TO THE WREATH—A SPIN IN A HUMMING-TOP—AN
UNKNOWN FRIEND 99
XII ABOARD A FLOATING BEARD 113
XIII THE PIE ROOM—BEAR AGAIN!—SANCHO WING SCOLDS 123
XIV SNYTHERGEN’S TROUBLES 135
XV TOY FOODS 147
XVI HOME 155
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOR
“I did not call you over to give me a bath,” cried Squeaky _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
It was inspiring to hear this chorus accompanied by full orchestra 24
The house was left dangling above ground to receive an airing out 46
“Bears should not talk when their mouths are full of food,” said
Santa Claus kindly 128
IN BLACK AND WHITE
PAGE
His father would stand on one hand and his mother on the other 5
Like mothers the world over she knew how to sacrifice herself 13
His feet projected out of the window in the butler’s pantry 19
Snythergen cried, “Don’t do that!” 33
To die in her arms would have been a happier lot than leaving her 41
“At least I can relieve his headache” 59
“Stick out your tongue!” 75
He would strike a tree-like pose 83
Then went around again to see if he had overlooked any crumbs 91
“Some unusual weight behind” 101
“The only kind of humming-top to have” 105
“Stop the top, stop the top!” bellowed Squeaky 109
“Squeaky, who is a voice with a pig’s body” 117
The door-man, turning his head sideways, wiggled his left ear 125
A traffic butler stood at hall intersections 141
And squeezed him almost as tightly as the farmer’s wife had done 151
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
SLENDER FOODS AND ROUND FOODS
Snythergen’s mother was poor—so poor that she did not feel able to
support her baby boy. So she put him in a basket—it had to be a large
one—and left it on the doorstep of a little old couple who had long
wished for a child.
The pair were very much surprised, not only at finding Snythergen, but at
his unusual appearance. He was thin as bones and very long—so long that
he appeared to be wearing stilts. His body was very ungainly and the
couple’s first feeling was one of disappointment—until they looked into
his eyes. These were bright and roguish and something else not easy to
name—something that made them know he was their child, and they loved him.
The new papa and mamma were very proud. First of all they wanted their
boy to fill out into a healthy well-fed child, so they stoked his
neglected stomach with the richest of farm foods. The effect was prompt.
It was amazing how Snythergen changed from day to day. His cheeks
rounded, his shoulders broadened, and the layers of flesh spread over
his lean trunk until he was as bulging as a rubber ball. He was getting
enormous and his parents were beginning to sense a new danger.
“He will burst if he keeps on getting fatter,” said his mother anxiously.
“I must study the question,” said his father, who was a philosopher.
One day the father came in much excited. “I know what it is that makes
baby so fat! He eats the wrong kind of food. His diet is too round. It
is all pumpkins, potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, oranges. Now to get thin he
should eat thin foods, like celery, asparagus, pie-plant, and macaroni.”
So they fed him long slender foods, and he began changing at once. He
shot up almost as fast as Jack’s beanstalk, until they were alarmed for
fear he would never stop shooting up. He had grown until he could look
into the second story windows standing on the ground, and could place his
hand on the top of the chimney without getting on tiptoes. Again it was
time something was done, and they sat down to think the matter over.
[Illustration]
“I have it,” said the papa at last. “Son must not eat all round nor all
slender foods! The two must be mixed!”
So they mixed them just in time to save Snythergen from shooting up like
a skyrocket. But by the time his growth was arrested he was altogether
too big for a boy.
There was no room in the house large enough for him to sleep in and he
could not go upstairs; the passage was too small and the ceiling too low.
But they found a place by letting his legs and body curl around through
the hallways and connecting rooms of the ground floor. His head rested on
a pillow in the living room and his feet projected out of the window in
the butler’s pantry. Every night before he went to bed his mother tucked
him in carefully, unfurling a roll of sheets and quilts that had been
sewed together and were long enough to stretch from his feet to his neck.
[Illustration: His father would stand on one hand and his mother on the
other]
Before he left for school in the morning his parents always kissed him
good-by affectionately. The parting took place outdoors in front of
the house. Snythergen would bend over and place his broad hands on the
ground, palms up. His father would stand on one hand and his mother on
the other, holding tightly to their son’s coat sleeves. Then Snythergen
would raise his arms, lifting his parents until they were on a level with
his face.
“Now be a good boy, Snythergen,” said the little father, “or I shall
spank you severely!”
“Of course he will be a good boy,” said the mother, as she leaned over
and kissed him.
Then the papa would climb up his ear and place his hands on his son’s
head and give him his blessing. Snythergen would then lower both parents
gently to the ground and start for school.
Snythergen was nearly always late in starting for school. He seldom slept
well, for his bed was uncomfortable and he could not turn over or even
change his position, without injuring the house. Every night before going
to sleep he would resolve to be up early on the morrow, but regularly
failed. And one morning he arose so very late that it was necessary to
find a short cut if he were to arrive at school in time.
What could he do? He tried to think of a scheme while collecting his
books. Bending over to pick up his slate pencil, he placed his head
between his heels, just for the fun of it. And this gave him an idea!
With his head still in this position, he bent his body into a circle
making a hoop of himself. Then he began to roll down hill across the
fields, slowly at first, then faster and faster, then so fast he could
not stop. He bounded over fences and ditches, until, all out of breath
and very much flushed, he found himself at the school house door! This
short cut saved him at least a mile, and it was such fun rolling down
hill, he went that way every morning thereafter, rolling up to the door
just as the school-bell was ringing—to crawl into the passage on his
hands and knees.
There was not room enough for Snythergen to stand up in school, so the
janitor cut a trap door beside his desk so that his feet extended into
the basement. Even then he stood taller in the school room than the other
pupils. But he would have managed very well had the janitor not been
absent-minded and near-sighted. He seemed never able to remember that
those long shanks were legs—not pillars. Again and again he would tie
the clothes-line to them, and on wash days when Snythergen went out at
recess, usually he trailed a piece of clothes-line behind each leg, with
the washing hanging on. And the janitor got such a scolding from his wife
for this that he grew to dislike Snythergen almost as much as Snythergen
disliked him.
One morning the janitor painted the basement. And when Snythergen went
out at recess his legs were a brilliant yellow and pinned to each was a
sign: “Fresh Paint.” That day he had an easy time playing tag, for no one
wanted to get smeared with paint badly enough to touch him.
One day the janitor was so forgetful as to start to drive a nail into one
of Snythergen’s legs. This was too much! The poor boy jumped out of the
cellar, and in rising thrust his head through the roof. So angry was he,
he hardly knew what he was doing. He stepped over the walls carrying the
roof with him, then tossed it on the ground and hurried away. “I won’t,
won’t go back to school,” he kept saying to himself. Rather than go back
and face the ridicule of his schoolmates he decided to run away.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]