Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the
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[Illustration: FLOSSIE AND FREDDIE RAISED THE HOOP JUST IN TIME.]
The Bobbsey Twins at School
By LAURA LEE HOPE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. A CIRCUS TRAIN
II. SNOOP Is GONE
III. A QUEER DOG
IV. HOME IN AN AUTO
V. SNAP DOES TRICKS
VI. DANNY RUGG IS MEAN
VII. AT SCHOOL
VIII. BERT SEES SOMETHING
IX. OFF TO THE WOODS
X. A SCARE
XI. DANNY'S TRICK
XII. THE CHILDREN'S PARTY
XIII. AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE
XIV. A COAT BUTTON
XV. THANKSGIVING
XVI. MR TETLOW ASKS QUESTIONS
XVII. THE FIRST SNOW
XVIII. A NIGHT ALARM
XIX. WHO WAS SMOKING?
XX. A CONFESSION
XXI. THE FAT LADY'S LETTER
XXII. SNAP AND SNOOP
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
CHAPTER I
A CIRCUS TRAIN
"Mamma, how much longer have we got to ride?" asked Nan Bobbsey,
turning in her seat in the railroad car, to look at her parents,
who sat behind her.
"Are you getting tired?" asked Nan's brother Bert. "If you are I'll
sit next to the window, and watch the telegraph poles and trees
go by. Maybe that's what tires you, Nan," he added, and his father
smiled, for he saw that Bert had two thoughts for himself, and one
for his sister.
"No, I'm not tired of the scenery," answered the brown-haired and
brown-eyed girl, "but you may sit next the window, Bert, if you
like."
"Thanks!" he exclaimed as he scrambled over to the place his sister
gave up.
"Are you tired, dearie?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, leaning forward and
smoothing out her daughter's hair with her hand. "If you would like
to sit with me and put your head in my lap, papa can go to another
seat and--"
"Oh, no, mamma, I'm not as tired as that," and Nan laughed. "I was
just wondering how soon we'd be home."
"I'd rather be back at the seashore," said Bert, not turning his
gaze from the window, for the train was passing along some fields
just then, and in one a boy was driving home some cows to be
milked, as evening was coming on Bert was wondering if one of the
cows might not chase the boy. Bert didn't really want to see the
boy hurt by a cow, of course, but he thought that if the cow was
going to take after the boy, anyhow, he might just as well see it.
But the cows were very well-behaved, and went along slowly.
"Yes, the seashore was nice," murmured Nan, as she leaned her head
back on the cushioned seat, "but I'm glad to be going home again.
I want to see some of the girls, and--"
"Yes, and I'll be looking for some of the boys, too," put in Bert.
"But school will soon begin, and that's no fun!"
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey smiled at each other, and Mr. Bobbsey, taking
out a time-table, looked to see how much longer they would be on
the train.
"It's about an hour yet," he said to Nan, and she sighed. Really
she was more tired than she cared to let her mother know.
Just ahead of the two Bobbsey children were another set of them.
I say "set" for the Bobbsey children came "in sets."
There were two pairs of twins, Bert and Nan, nearly nine years of
age, and Flossie and Freddie, almost five. And, whereas the two
older children were rather tall and slim, with dark brown hair and
eyes, the littler twins were short and fat, and had light hair and
blue eyes. The two pairs of twins were quite a contrast, and many
persons stopped to look at them as they passed along the street
together.
"No, sir," went on Bert musingly, "school's no fun, and it starts
about a week after we get home. No chance to have a good time!"
"We've had fun all summer," replied his sister. "I rather like
school."
"Mamma, are we going to school this year?" asked Flossie, as she
looked back with a quick turning of her head that set her yellow
curls to dancing.
"If we are, I'm going to sit with Flossie--can't I?" asked Freddie,
kneeling in the seat so that he could face back to his father and
mother.
Indeed his request was not strange, since the two younger twins
were always together, even more so than their brother and sister.
"Yes, I think you and Freddie will start school regularly this
term," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and, if it can be arranged, you may sit
together. We'll see about that. Be careful Freddie, don't put your
head out of the window," she cautioned quickly, for the little
chap had turned in his seat again, and was leaning forward to see
a horse galloping about a field, kicking up its heels at the sound
of the puffing engine.
"It's my turn to sit by the window, anyhow," said Flossie.
"It is not! We haven't passed a station yet," disputed Freddie.
"Oh, we have so!" cried his little sister. "Freddie Bobbsey!" and
she pointed her finger at him.
"Children--children," said Mrs. Bobbsey reprovingly.
"Are you two taking turns?" asked Bert, smiling with an older
brother's superior wisdom.
"Yes," answered Flossie, "he was to have the seat next to the window
until we came to a station, and then it's to be my turn until we
pass another station, and we have passed one, but he won't change
over."
"Well, it was only a little station, anyhow," asserted Freddie,
"and it come awful quick after the last one. It isn't fair!"
"There's a seat up ahead for you, Bert," suggested Mr. Bobbsey, as
a gentleman got up, when the train approached a station. "You can
sit there, and let Flossie or Freddie take your place."
"All right," answered Bert good-naturedly, as he got up.
The train rolled on, the two younger twins each having a window
now, and Nan occupying the seat with her little brother. For a
time there was quietness, until Mrs. Bobbsey said to her husband:
"Hadn't you better get some of the satchels together, Richard, and
tell Dinah what she is to carry?"
"I think I will," he answered, as he went up the car aisle a
little way to where a very fat colored woman sat. She was Dinah,
the Bobbsey cook, and they took her with them always when going away
for the summer. Now they were on their way to their city house,
and of course Dinah came back, too.
"Mamma, I'm thirsty," said Flossie, after a bit. "Please may I get
a drink?"
"I want one, too," said Freddie quickly, "Come on, Flossie, we'll
both go down to the end of the car where the water cooler is."
"There's no cup," Nan said. "I went a little while ago, but a lady
let me take her glass."
"And if there was a cup, I would rather they didn't use it," said
Mrs. Bobbsey. "One never knows who has last handled a public cup."
"But I want a drink," insisted Flossie, a bit fretfully, for she
was tired from the long journey.
"I know it, dear," said her mamma gently, "and I'm getting out the
silver cup for you. Only you must be very careful of it, and not
drop it, for it is solid silver and will dent, or mar, easily." She
was searching in her bags and presently took out a very valuable
drinking cup, gold lined and with much engraving on it. The cup
had been presented to Flossie and Freddie on their first birthday,
and bore each of their names. They were very proud of it.
"Now be careful," warned Mrs. Bobbsey, as she held out the cup.
"Hold on to the seats as you walk along."
"I'll carry the cup," said Freddie. "I'm the biggest."
"You are not!" declared his sister quickly. "I'm just as big."
"Well, anyhow, I'm a boy," went on Freddie, and Flossie could not
deny this. "And boys always carries things," her brother went on.
"I'll carry the cup."
"Very well, but be careful of it," said his mother with a smile,
as she handed it to him. The two children went down the aisle of
the car. They stopped for a moment at the seat where Dinah was.
"Is Snoop all right?" asked Freddie, peering into a box that was
made of slats, with spaces between them for air.
"'Deed an' he am, honey," said Dinah with a smile, laughing so that
she shook all over her big, fleshy body.
"I 'spect he's lonesome; aren't you, Snoop?" asked Flossie, poking
her finger in one of the cracks, to caress, as well as she could,
a fat, black cat. The cat, like Dinah the cook, went with the
Bobbseys on all their summer outings.
"Well, maybe he am lonesome," admitted Dinah, with another laugh,
"but he's been real good. He hain't yowled once--not once!"
"He'll soon be out of his cage; won't you, snoop?" said Freddie,
and then he and his sister went on to the water cooler Near by they
saw something else to look at This was the sight of a very, very
fat lady who occupied nearly all of one seat in the end of the car.
She was so large that only a very little baby could have found room
beside her.
"Look--look at her." whispered Flossie to Freddie, as they paused.
The fat woman's back was toward them, and she seemed to be much
interested in looking out of the window.
"She is fat," admitted Freddie. "Did you ever see one so big before?"
"Only in a circus," said Flossie "She'd make--make two of Dinah,"
went on her brother.
"She would not," contradicted Flossie quickly. "Cause Dinah's black,
and this lady is white."
"That's so," admitted Freddie, with a smile. "I didn't think of
that."
A sway of the train nearly made Flossie fall, and she caught quickly
at her brother.
"Look out!" he cried. "You 'most knocked the cup down."
"I didn't mean to," spoke Flossie. "Oh, there goes my hat! Get it,
Freddie, before someone steps on it!"
Her brother managed to get the hat just as it was sliding under
the seat where the fat lady sat.
After some confusion the hat was placed on Flossie's head, and once
more she and her brother moved on toward the water cooler. It was
getting dusk now, and some of the lamps in the car had been lighted.
Freddie, carrying the cup, filled it with water at the little faucet,
and, very politely, offered it to his sister first. Freddie was no
better than most boys of his age, but he did not forget some of the
little polite ways his mamma was continually teaching him. One of
these was "ladies first," though Freddie did not always carry it
out, especially when he was in a hurry.
"Do you want any more?" he asked, before he would get himself a
drink.
"Just a little," said Flossie. "The silver cup doesn't hold much."
"No, I guess it's 'cause there's so much silver in it," replied
her brother. "It's worth a lot of money, mamma said."
"Yes, and it's all ours. When I grow up I'm going to have my half
made into a bracelet."
"You are?" said Freddie slowly. "If you do there won't be enough
left for me to drink out of."
"Well, you can have your share of it made into a watch, and drink
out of a glass."
"That's so," agreed Freddie, his face brightening. He gave his sister
more water, and then took some himself. As he drank his eyes were
constantly looking at the very fat lady who filled so much of her
seat. She turned from the window and looked at the two children,
smiling broadly. Freddie was somewhat confused, and looked down
quickly. Just then the train gave another lurch and Freddie suddenly
spilled some of the water on his coat.
"Oh, look what you did!" cried Flossie "And that's your best coat!"
"I--I couldn't help it," stammered Freddie.
"Never mind, little boy," said the fat lady. "It's only clean water.
Come here and I'll wipe it off with my handkerchief. I'd come to
you, only I'm so stout it's hard enough for me to walk anyhow, and
when the train is moving I simply can't do it."
Freddie and Flossie went to her seat, and with a handkerchief, that
Flossie said afterward was almost as big as a table cloth, the fat
lady wiped the water off Freddie's coat.
The little boy held the silver cup in his hand, and feeling, somehow,
that he ought to repay the fat lady's kindness in some way after
thanking her, he asked:
"Would you like a drink of water? I can bring it to you if you
would."
"Thank you," she answered. "What a kind little boy you are! I saw
you give your sister a drink first, too. Yes, I would like a drink.
I've been wanting one some time, but I didn't dare get up to go
after it."
"I'll get it!" cried Freddie, eager to show what a little man
he was. He made his way to the cooler without accident, and then,
moving slowly, taking hold of the seat on the way back, so as not
to spill the water, he brought the silver cup brimful to the fat
lady.
"Oh, what a beautiful cup," she said, as she took it.
"And it cost a lot of money, too," said Flossie. "It's ours--our
birthday cup, and when I grow up I'm going to have a bracelet made
from my half."
"That will be nice," said the fat lady, as she prepared to drink.
But she never got more than a sip of the water Freddie had so kindly
brought her, for, no sooner did her lips touch the cup than there
was a grinding, shrieking sound, a jar to the railway coach, and the
train came to such a sudden stop that many passengers were thrown
from their seats.
Flossie and Freddie sat down suddenly in the aisle, but they were
so fat that they did not mind it in the least. As surprised as he
was, Freddie noticed that the fat lady was so large that she could
not be thrown out of her seat no matter how suddenly the train
stopped The little Bobbsey boy saw the water from the cup spill
all over the fat lady, and she held the silver vessel in her big,
pudgy hand, looking curiously at it, as though wondering what had
so quickly become of the water.
"It's a wreck--the train's off the track!" a man exclaimed.
"We've hit something!" cried another.
"It's an accident, anyhow," said still a third, and then every one
seemed to be talking at once.
Mr. Bobbsey came running down the aisle to where Flossie and Freddie
still sat, dazed.
"Are you hurt?" he cried, picking them both up together, which was
rather hard to do.
"No--no," said Freddie slowly.
"Oh, papa, what is it?" asked Flossie, wondering whether she was
going to cry.
"I don't know, my dear. Nothing serious, I guess. The engineer must
have put the brakes on too quickly. I'll look out and see."
Knowing that his children were safe, Mr. Bobbsey put them down
and led them back to where his wife was anxiously waiting.
"They're all right," he called. "No one seems to be hurt."
Bert Bobbsey looked out of the window. Though darkness had fallen
there seemed to be many lights up ahead of the stopped train. And
in the light Bert could see some camels, an elephant or two, a
number of horses, and cages containing lions and tigers strung out
along the track.
"Why--why, what's this--a circus?" he asked. "Look, Nan! See those
monkeys!"
"Why, it is a circus--and the train must have been wrecked!"
exclaimed his sister. "Oh mamma, what can it be?"
A brakeman came into the car where the Bobbseys were.
"There's no danger," he said. "Please keep your seats. A circus
train that was running ahead of us got off the track, and some of
the animals are loose. Our train nearly ran into an elephant, and
that's why the engineer had to stop so suddenly. We will go on
soon."
"A circus; eh?" said Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, well! This is an adventure,
children. We've run into a circus train! Let's watch them catch
the animals."