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KERNEL COB AND LITTLE MISS SWEETCLOVER
Written by
GEORGE MITCHEL
Illustrated by Tony Sarg
1918
_To_ Ursula, Dordie, Hutch and Bob
And children the wide world over,
I dedicate brave Kernel Cob
And dear Little Miss Sweetclover.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
Jackie was a little boy and he had a little sister named Peggs, and
they lived with their Aunt who was very old, maybe thirty-two.
And it was so very long since she had been a little girl, that she
quite forgot that children need toys to play with and all that.
So poor little Jackie and Peggs had no soldiers or dolls but could
only play at make-believe all day long.
They lived in a little white house nearly all covered with
honeysuckle, and a little white fence with a little white gate in it
ran all about and at the back of the little white house was a little
garden with beautiful flowers growing in it.
And once, when they were making pies in the garden, Peggs began to cry
and Jackie ran and put his arms about her, for he loved his little
Peggs very dearly; and he said to her:
"What's the matter, Peggsie? Did a spider bite you?"
"No," says Peggs, "it didn't."
"Was it a naughty worm?"
"No," says Peggs, "it wasn't."
"Well, what was it?" says Jackie.
"It weren't anything that bit me, only I want a doll," and away she
cried again.
"Huh!" says Jackie, "that's nothing. You don't want a doll any mor'n I
want a soldier," and he sat down beside her and began to cry, too.
And after they had cried for a long time, maybe four hours or two,
they stopped.
"I tell you what!" says Jackie.
"What?" says Peggs, drying her eyes on her pinafore.
"If no one will give us a soldier"...
"But I don't want a soldier," says Peggs. "I want a doll."
"Let's make one," says Jackie.
"That's a good way," says Peggs.
"You bet," says Jackie, and he slapped one of his legs the way sailors
do in tales of the sea.
"What'll we make it of?" asked Peggs.
"Things," says Jackie. "Goodie!" says Peggs.
And they went in search of the things they would make the dolls of.
And pretty soon, Peggs made the most wonderful doll of flowers that
ever a child could see.
The head was of Sweetclover, the dress was a purple morning-glory
turned upside-down so it looked like a bodice and a skirt, and it was
tied to the head so that they wouldn't come apart. And perched on the
top of the head was a little bonnet, only it wasn't really a bonnet,
you know, but a little four o'clock.
And she called it Little Miss Sweetclover and it was the dearest
little doll and as fresh as the morning dew.
In the meantime, Jackie had been busy, you may be sure; but he
couldn't find anything to make a soldier of except sticks of wood, but
he had no jack-knife, much as he had always wanted one.
"Whatever shall I do?" thought Jackie, as he looked about the garden,
and just then he saw an ear of corn and he picked it up.
"Maybe this will do," and he picked all the kernels off except two for
the eyes, one for the nose, two more for the ears and a row for the
teeth.
And he ran to Peggs to have her sew some clothes for his soldier.
"What do you think of Little Miss Sweetclover?" says Peggs, holding it
up for Jackie to see.
"I think she's very pretty," says Jackie, "only she needs legs." And
while Peggs cut out and sewed a uniform for the soldier, Jackie went
in search of legs for Sweetclover.
And these he made of two stems of a flower, bent at the ends to look
like feet. And he ran back to Peggs with them.
"Here are the legs for Sweetclover with green shoes and stockings on."
And he tied them to the rest of Sweetclover so that when she walked,
they wouldn't come off.
By this time Peggs had finished the uniform for Jackie's soldier and a
hat of newspaper with a great plume of cornsilk and a lot of medals
which were cut from the gold leaf that comes on a card of buttons. And
when they were all sewed on the jacket, he cut out a sword from the
gold leaf and made hands and feet from the corn husk. And he colored
the eyes with black ink and the lips with red, and, much before you
could say "Crickety," the soldier was all finished.
"What'll we call him?" asked Jackie.
And they thought, and thought, and thought.
"I have it!" said Jackie.
"What?" asked Peggs.
"We'll call him Kernel Cob," says Jackie.
"Goodie!" says Peggs, clapping her hands with glee.
And you will see what wonderful dolls they were, and what wonderful
things they did, and how they helped Jackie and Peggs to find ... but
never mind.
You will see.
[Illustration]