THE HOOP'S ROUND OF ADVENTURES.
When the Ball had concluded his story, and had modestly taken a leap
backwards out of the way, he was eagerly accorded the warm thanks of the
party, and desired in his turn to call upon some one else.
"I am sure I feel deeply honoured that you should be amused with my poor
story, and hope sincerely that my successors will have something more
interesting to relate. I will now call upon our merry friend the Hoop,
to give us his experiences in life."
"O dear me," cried the Hoop, rolling slowly out of his corner, but
contriving in his course to scatter the Marbles to all the corners of
the room, and to knock down the Doll also. "My dear Doll, how sorry I
am, alas! alas! I am so very unlucky in always doing awkward things."
"Oh," sighed the Doll, "I can't bear much more! I am almost gone now!"
"Come and sit on my roof," said the Noah's Ark, very compassionately,
"it is not at all rickety, I can assure you, for _your_ light weight;
and I will keep you out of all harm." And so he carefully consoled and
took care of the poor old Doll.
"I don't think awkwardness goes by luck," snapped the Shuttlecock;
"people need not be clumsy unless they choose. It is carelessness, and
giddiness, that cause all these mishaps!"
"I daresay you are right," said the Hoop, candidly, "I always was a
giddy young thing. But where are all the Marbles gone! poor little
fellows; I must go and help them back!"
"You had much better stay where you are!" whispered the Ball, "you'll
only get into fresh scrapes; there's the Kite just in your way, and if
you poke a hole in his head, you won't hear the last of it in a hurry,
I'll promise you!"
So the Hoop edged himself into a corner, where he stood safely propped
against the door, for although he was a careless, awkward fellow, he was
really very good-natured, and would not vex any one on purpose.
"I have really no story to tell you," said he; "for, as you see, I am
simply a large iron ring, and could not have been very difficult to
make. And as to any relation of my round of adventures, they are, I am
sorry to say, only one long list of accidents and mishaps. But as our
good friend the Ball has set us all a noble example by so readily
obliging the company, I will also do my best. My first step in life was
to be hung with several of my companions at the door of a toy shop at
Sydenham. Here, however, I did not stay long, for I was selected by a
little boy, called Edward Moore, who had saved up his pocket money for
many weeks in order to purchase me. My first unfortunate beginning
occurred almost at the shop door, for Master Teddy, in all the rapture
of first calling me "his very own," gave me such an energetic tap with
the new stick, that I went over the smooth pavement as if I had been
oiled; ran sharply over an old gentleman's gouty foot, and only checked
myself in my mad career by slipping through some railings, and tumbling
down a strange area.
"I could see nothing at first, but heard the old gentleman bawling
angrily for the police; but, very luckily, as usual, none happened to be
about, and after a little while the hubbub subsided, and the old
gentleman, after abusing and threatening my poor Teddy well, limped off,
and my disconsolate owner had time to peep down the areas, and try to
recover his lost property. I had no idea of remaining buried in that
dismal den, so I managed to roll off the flower pot I had fallen on, and
by the jangle attracted his attention. He rang the bell, and coaxed the
maid-servant to let him go down and fetch me.
"'Get along with you, yer impedent monkey, a-ringing at people's bells,
and a-calling one up in the middle of cooking! I shan't let you in! _I_
don't care for your hoop, nor you neither!'
"'Oh, do Mary! there's a kind girl,' coaxed Teddy; 'I know you're
good-natured, because you've got such a laughish mouth! _Do_ give me my
hoop, it's just new, and I've saved up for it ever so long, you can't
think!'
"'Bless the boy's imperence,' said she, half laughing, 'who told you my
name was Mary, which it isn't, for it's Jane! You're very saucy, and
have no call to make rude remarks about my mouth. Go along with with ye,
there's your precious hoop!'
"And so saying, she gave me a toss which sent me spinning up into
daylight again, and nearly knocked off a grand young lady's smart hat,
who walked grumbling off, looking daggers at Teddy, and muttering
something about "pests of children!"
"Teddy, however, was too rejoiced to regain me to care for anything
else, and shouting his thanks to Jane, he set off home at a good pace,
taking me on his arm till he got out of the paved street into the green
lanes. And here for many a day we ran races, and one of us at least was
mightily tired. At last, one unlucky day Teddy's mother sent him on an
errand to a shop in the middle of the most frequented street, and he had
now become so used to his indispensable companion, that he took me with
him, of course. We went, on very merrily, till we came to the corner of
a crossing, when, thinking he could send me over before a great coal
waggon came too near, Teddy gave me such a tap that I bounded over the
street in no time. But the curb stone tripped me up first, and in
hopping over that I took an unfortunate slide, and rolled into the open
door of a china shop. Before I could stop myself I had knocked down two
jugs, run over a pile of plates, and fallen into the middle of an array
of wineglasses, just newly unpacked from a great crate close by.
"I am used to misfortunes now, and am of a very buoyant disposition, but
never shall I forget the crash and smash of that early calamity. Teddy
stood aghast for one brief instant, and then turned to run away, even
forgetting _me_ in the catastrophe. But that short moment had been
enough to satisfy the horrified china merchant as to the author of the
damage, and making a rapid spring across the road, he seized Teddy by
the collar, and sternly hauled him into the shop. The poor boy was
bewildered by the sudden accident, and half deafened by the shrill
scolding of Mrs. Delf, who, having heard the crash, had rushed into the
fray, and was now picking up the pieces.
"'Two of the best Parian jugs!--I thought the police seized all the
hoops as was seen,--nine willow cheeseplates,--and oh my! what a sight
of glasses! You've done it now, and no mistake, you little vagabond!'
"Her husband, however, seeing that Teddy was evidently a gentleman's
son, after a few threats of fetching the police, decided upon
accompanying him home, with a bill of the damages. Teddy begged and
implored to be let off with many tears, but the man was determined, and
taking me in one hand, he laid the other on Teddy's shoulder, and
marched off in the direction of Willow Lodge, with the bill in his
pocket. I must really draw a veil over the dreadful picture of the scene
there, as my feelings will not allow me to do justice to the anger of
Teddy's father, and the horror of his mother, at the money they had to
pay for _that_ accident. Let it suffice that poor Teddy had a whipping
that cured his roving propensities for some time, and I was confiscated,
and placed in ignominious imprisonment in the stable.
"Some months must have elapsed in the meanwhile, for when I was first
shut up it was the end of the late summer, and when I saw daylight again
it was spring-time, for the lilacs and laburnums were in full flower.
How glad I was to rub off a little of the rust I had acquired from lying
so long in that damp place, and how delighted was Teddy once more to get
hold of me.
"'I tell you what it is, old fellow,' said Teddy, rubbing me
industriously with his pocket handkerchief; 'you must not let me into
any more scrapes, for I could only get you again by promising Ma to be
very careful, and only take you in the lanes. So we must mind what we
are about!'
"And so we did; and were as sober and steady as possible; perhaps, now
that I was a little rusty from want of exercise, I was not as nimble as
I used to be, but we got on very well, very comfortably indeed, and I
began to think our troubles were over, and that we were getting older
and more sedate. We had a few minor mishaps, but these were not of a
serious order; for instance, when I just happened to run against little
Polly Stubbs, a small toddling body of two years old; and upset her.
But, then, after all, she was a very waddley sort of duck on her feet,
and was very good tempered, so after the first shriek, she scrambled up
with her little fat roley-poley body, and began to laugh. And Teddy was
so delighted with her good temper, that he patted her dirty cheeks, and
gave her such a big lump of gingerbread out of his pocket (where it had
been rubbed all crumbling with his marbles), that her cheeks stuck out
on each side as if she had a swelled face, she had stuffed her mouth so
full.
"Then another day we found a charming shady lane with no house in sight,
and not a sound of a carriage to be heard, and so off we went
helter-skelter,--I gliding swiftly on in advance, like a slender snake,
and Teddy tearing along behind with his short, stumpy legs, and his face
as red as a full blown peony,--puffing like a pair of bellows. He had
reached me after a long chase, and gave me a good bowl on, when we
turned round a slight winding, and came right into the middle of a brood
of young ducklings, with their fat majestic mother waddling after them.
Oh there was a scatter, as I rushed into the middle of them like a
steam-engine coming, express into a flock of sheep! Some tumbled
headlong into the pond hard by, others scrambled off out of the way as
they best could, while old mother duck quacked and waddled like one
possessed. But one poor little lame duckling, the last of the troop, was
just in my way. I could not stop myself, so the only thing I could do to
prevent myself from killing or hurting her, was to fall, which I did,
flat round her in the dusty road, to her infinite fright. But she was
not hurt, and, after crouching down for a moment, she recovered, and
scrambling weakly over my prostrate circle, she limped off to the pond,
and then sailed off into deep water with a delighted quackle that amply
repaid me.
"Our next misfortune was worse; but it did not cause any serious
consequences to us, although for a long time, warned by his previous
experience, poor Teddy walked about with a grave face, and trembled at
every ring of the bell. We were out as usual, and _had_, perhaps, put
more steam on than was quite necessary, for it was one of those lovely
fresh mornings in early June, that are as bracing as a glass of cold
water, or a breath of pure air. Teddy was capering and dancing along,
and had dealt me one of what he called his "left handers" which were
awkward, uncertain strokes, that _I_ privately christened "wobblers!"
Well, he had just given me a wobbler, when a horrid pebble came in my
way; and what business pebbles have in the way in the middle of a foot
path _I_ never could discover. They are quite out of their own track,
and very much in the way of elderly ladies and gentlemen who have pet
"callosities." Why, every toddling child tumbles over them, and as for
_my_ family, we abhor them! Let them be kept to their beaches, and
brooks, and not interfere with our few suburban enjoyments! Well, as I
was saying, when indignation got the better of me, I was turned _out_ of
my course by one of those hateful round, slippery pebbles, and _into_ a
strange garden, and a very smart one too! I slipped over the smooth,
dewy grass like lightning, and right through a clump of hyacinths,
ending my career by falling in a scrambling, all-four sort of fashion
all over a bed of choice tulips. How many I beheaded I do not know, for
Teddy, after peeping with a horrified face over the hedge, and seeing no
one about, made a rush in to rescue me, and carrying me off, never
stopped running till we were safe at home in the old stable.
"As I said before, we were not found out in that instance, and, after a
little seclusion, we came again into active life, when the crowning
misery happened that parted me from my poor little master. We were going
out quietly enough, and in a solitary lane too, turning as steadily as a
rusty old windmill, so that I felt half asleep; when suddenly I was
twirled about, whisked here and there, and then dropped in the dust,
amidst such a confusion of shouting and screaming as beggars
description. And this time it was owing to a donkey! This perverse
animal, after having never been known from his youth to do more than
walk or jog-trot under any treatment whatever, had at this unlucky time
taken it into his long-eared head to run away full gallop with his
owner, a deaf old woman, hanging on to the front of the little cart,
with all her market produce jumbled together as it had never been
before. Down he came thundering upon us, and before poor Teddy could
catch me up, while he had but scant time to get into the hedge himself,
I got entangled in the wretched little brute's rough legs, and down we
all came, old woman, donkey, cart, and all, with a perfect set of
fireworks of onions, cabbages and potatoes, flying in the air all round
us. The first thing I noticed after the general crash was Teddy, who sat
in the hedge shrieking with laughter, and a funny appearance I daresay
we all presented. The cart, with one wheel off, was dragged and knocked
about by the wretched little donkey's struggles to regain his legs. But
the old woman had been shot down on the top of him, and as she was very
fat and heavy she lay there like a sack of beans, only uttering fearful
moans and shouts, with her face covered with bruised strawberries, and a
shower of green peas all over her.
"Teddy scrambled out of the hedge and very kindly helped up the old
woman and her donkey, and collected all her stray vegetables as well as
he could, for he was a very good-hearted boy, in spite of his
carelessness. But the crabbed old woman laid all the blame on him, and
following him slily home, beset the house, and made such a fuss, that
Teddy got in the wars again worse than ever. His mother believed his
account of the mischief, because, with all his faults, he was very
truthful; but his father was very angry, and though he only paid the old
woman half her outrageous demand, he punished Teddy severely, and wound
up by depriving him of me altogether.
"'Well Ma!' said poor Teddy, almost tearfully, 'if I must not have my
hoop myself, I know no one I'd sooner give it to than Frank Spenser, my
old schoolfellow. Pa's so angry with me about it, I don't like to ask
him; but if _you_ would, I daresay he'd let Frank have it.'
"His mother, who was really sorry for him, did so very readily, and
Teddy had the only satisfaction left him, in giving me to his friend.
Frank was almost too old to care for a hoop, but he did not like to hurt
the poor boy by refusing, so he took me with a very good grace, and
promised to take great care of me; which he certainly has done by
shutting me up here like this; and so now my friends I think I have
related my whole round of adventures to you, as far as I can myself
remember."
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