HOME AGAIN
Many of the toys, which had been mended since having been brought to
the hospital, stood up and looked at the White Rocking Horse as he
called to them, and they wondered what had surprised him so.
"My goodness, that Horse is making a great deal of noise," said a
large Wooden Soldier, one of whose legs was in splints. It had been
broken in three places when the little boy, who owned the Soldier, had
struck him with a drumstick.
"I should say that Horse was making a great deal of noise," agreed a
Tin Poodle Dog, whose tail needed straightening. "What's it all about,
Mr. Horse?" he barked.
"Excuse me, my toy friends, I did not mean to disturb you," said the
White Rocking Horse kindly. "But I was so surprised to see an old
friend of mine here that I just couldn't help calling out."
"Who is your friend?" asked a Double Humped Camel from a Noah's Ark.
"There he is," said the Horse, and he waved his tail toward the animal
which had come out from under the big piece of white paper on the work
bench of the toy hospital doctor.
All the other toys looked, and saw an Elephant. But the White Rocking
Horse did more than look. He cried out:
"To think of seeing you here, my Elephant friend! Why, the last time
we were together was in the toy store!"
"Yes, and I was trying to race with you on roller skates," said the
Elephant, with a laugh. "Wasn't it funny when my skate came off?"
The other toys stared in interest.
"Very funny," agreed the Horse. "We must tell our friends here about
it. But I am sorry to see what has happened to you, Mr. Elephant!"
went on the Horse. "Did you get broken this way when you fell off the
roller skates, or anything like that? You certainly do look queer--not
at all like yourself!"
"And I don't feel like myself," said the Elephant.
Well might he say that, for his trunk was broken off short, and you
know, as well as I do, that an elephant without a trunk doesn't look
at all like himself. He might just as well, or even better, have no
tail, as far as looks go.
"What happened to you?" asked the Horse.
"Oh, I have had many adventures," replied the Elephant. "After you
were taken away by the man in the automobile, I was sold to a lady and
a little boy and taken to their home."
"Was it a nice place?" the Horse wanted to know.
"The place was all right," the Elephant answered. "But that little
boy! Dear me! I don't just know what to say about him, he certainly
did not treat me very nicely. Why, do you know," he went on, speaking
in rather a funny voice on account of his trunk being broken off, "he
never gave me a single peanut all the while I was with him!"
"No! Really? Was he as unkind as that?" asked the broken Jack in the
Box.
"But that wasn't the worst," continued the Elephant. "After the boy
had dropped some bread and jam on me, he thought he'd wash me off in
the bath room. He took me up to carry me there, but he dropped me on
the hard, tile floor and--well, you see what happened to me. My trunk
was broken off--broken off short!"
"What a sad accident!" exclaimed the Horse.
"You may well say so," returned the Elephant. "The little boy was
sorry for me, I'll say that of him. He called his mother and she tried
to fix me. She glued my trunk on, but she got it crooked and when I
saw myself in the glass I was ashamed! I was glad none of the other
toy animals could see me."
"What happened next?" asked the Horse, as the Elephant stopped to
catch his breath. It rather made him out of breath to talk without his
trunk.
"Well, after the boy's mother glued my trunk on he played with me for
a while, but he dropped me again, and my trunk broke off again in the
same place. After that the boy's father said I had better come to the
hospital. So here I am."
"But where is your trunk?" asked the Horse.
"Back under that piece of paper where I was sleeping," the big animal
answered. "It is to be fastened on me properly tomorrow. The toy
hospital doctor first washed the jam off me. I was made clean again,
and I was glad of that. Then, to keep the dust off me, he put me under
that paper. But when I heard you speaking, White Rocking Horse, I just
had to come out, trunk or no trunk."
"I'm glad you did," said the White Rocking Horse. "Really, when I look
at you again, I get rather used to seeing you without your trunk,
though at first I hardly knew you. Do you suffer much now?"
"Not as much as I did," was the answer. "But I shall be all right
after to-morrow, when my trunk is to be put back on. Then I suppose
I'll go back to that boy's house."
"I hope he treats you better," said the White Horse.
"I think he will," replied the Elephant. "When his father took me away
he said the boy could not have me back after I was mended until he
knew how to handle his toys. So I have hopes of being better off with
my mended trunk than before."
"Let us all hope so," sighed the Tin Poodle Dog. "It's queer how cruel
some children are to us. They think, because we are toys, we have no
feelings."
"Yes, that is so," said the White Horse. "But Dick, the boy who owns
me, is very kind. It was an accident that my leg was broken. Carlo, a
poodle dog something like you, my tin friend, only real, ran too close
to me and knocked me down the steps," said the Horse to the Tin Poodle
Dog.
"Oh, so you are injured, too, are you?" asked the Elephant. "I have
been talking so much about myself, Mr. Horse, that I never thought to
ask what your trouble was. Will you kindly pardon me?"
"Certainly," neighed the Horse, politely. "And now, as we are here by
ourselves, and no one can see us, suppose we have a little fun-that
is, as much fun as we can, broken and twisted as we are."
"Hurray! That's it! Let's have some fun!" cried the Tin Poodle Dog,
with a funny little bark.
So the Elephant with the broken trunk told about his queer race on
roller skates, the Horse spoke of the Christmas tree, and the other
animals related their adventures. They had a good time together until
morning came. Then, when it was time for the toy hospital doctor to
come to his shop, the Elephant got back under the paper that was to
keep him clean until he was mended, the Horse slowly hobbled back to
his place, the Tin Poodle Dog leaned up against the broken Jack in the
Box, and all the toys became as quiet as though they had never spoken
or moved about.
"Hum, lots of work for me to-day!" said the toy hospital doctor, as he
put on his apron and his square, paper cap. "I must mend the broken
leg of that Rocking Horse as soon as I fix the Elephant's trunk."
Then the toy doctor took the Elephant from under the paper and, after
blowing off a little dust, began work. He made a new piece of trunk
out of wood and cloth, and painted it until it looked just like part
of the Elephant. Then the two pieces were fastened together with
wooden pins, and also some glue.
"There! Now you are stronger than you were before," said the toy
hospital doctor, putting the Elephant on a shelf. "And now for the
broken leg of the Rocking Horse. Dear me, that is quite a bad break,"
said the toy doctor. "I think I shall have to make him a whole new
wooden leg."
The White Rocking Horse felt glad when he heard this. For he was
rather a proud chap, and when he had seen part of the Elephant's old
trunk put back on that animal, the Horse thought of how he would look
with part of his old broken leg glued fast.
"I had much rather have a whole new leg," he said to himself.
And that is exactly what he had. Out of a piece of wood the toy doctor
made a new leg for the Rocking Horse. He took off the old, splintered
one, that had been broken in the fall off the porch. Then the new leg
was put in place.
"There! When it's painted no one will ever know one of his legs was
broken," said the toy doctor.
The new leg was smoothed with sandpaper, and then painted just the
color of the other legs.
"I'm glad he painted my new leg," thought the Horse. "I would look
very funny with three white legs and one brown or red one. Yes, this
toy doctor is a very smart man. I feel quite myself now."
The toy hospital doctor was busy in his shop all day, mending things
that children break in their play, and toward evening Dick's father
came in.
"Is my boy's White Rocking Horse mended?" the man asked.
"Yes, all ready for you," answered the toy doctor. "I finished him
sooner than I expected to. The paint is hardly dry, but it will be by
morning. I made him a new leg."
"That's good!" exclaimed the man. "My little boy wants to ride his
Rocking Horse. He misses him very much."
Back home went the White Rocking Horse. And when Dick saw him he
clapped his hands and cried:
"Oh, how glad I am! May I take a ride?"
"If you are careful of the newly-painted leg," his father answered.
"I'll lift you up into the saddle."
And when Dick sat in the red leather seat and pulled on the red reins
and shouted to his Horse he was a very happy boy, and the White
Rocking Horse felt glad also.
"Gid-dap!" called Dick. "Gid-dap, my Rocking Horse!" And the Horse
galloped across the room.
All of a sudden Dorothy came running into the playroom where Dick sat
on his Horse.
"Oh, Dick! Dick!" cried the little girl. "Come on down to the kitchen,
quick! Carlo has something under a chair! Maybe it's a big mouse! Come
and see!"