BUNNY GOES FISHING
"Are you hungry, Mr. Man?" asked Bunny, standing, with his sister Sue,
behind the ragged man. "Are you hungry?"
The man turned quickly, and seeing it was only two little children, he
smiled.
"Yes, I am hungry," he said. "I guess you'd be hungry, too, if you
hadn't had any breakfast, or dinner or supper, except what you picked
out of the ashes."
"My Aunt Lu will give you something to eat," said Sue. "You're going to
walk up stairs with Bunny, so Henry, the elevator boy, won't see you.
You don't mind walking, do you?"
"Not if I get something to eat," and the man chewed on a piece of the
dried bread.
"Oh, Aunt Lu will give you lots!" promised Sue. "She's got plenty of
meat left over from dinner, I heard her say so. But you can't go in the
elevator. Henry wouldn't let us take up a dog we found."
"Course you're not a dog," Bunny explained quickly, "but they don't let
dogs or cats or parrots, or I guess monkeys, up in this place, so maybe
they wouldn't let you. But I don't know about that. Only I'll walk up
stairs with you, and get you something to eat."
"And I'll go on ahead and tell Aunt Lu you're coming," said Sue. "Then
Henry won't see you in his elevator. Go on, Bunny."
"Come along," said the little fellow, holding out his hand to the ragged
man. Even though he was ragged he seemed clean.
"Oh, I guess I'd better not go up with you, little ones," the man said.
"I'm not dressed nice enough to go in there," and he looked up at the
fine, big apartment house in which lived Aunt Lu. "If there was a back
door I'd go round to that," he said, "but they don't have back doors to
city houses. I'm not used to being a tramp, and begging, either," he
said. "But I've been sick, and I can't get any work, and I don't want to
beg."
"Aunt Lu likes to help people," said Bunny, "and so does my mother. You
come on up stairs with me and I'll get you something to eat. Sue, you go
in first, and get Henry to take you up in the elevator. Then Henry won't
see me and this man come in, and he can't stop us."
"All right," agreed Sue. So, while Bunny stayed outside, with the ragged
man, Sue went into the hall, and rang the elevator bell.
"Hello!" exclaimed Henry, as he opened the sliding door for Sue.
"Where's Bunny?"
"Oh, he's coming," Sue said.
"Then I'll wait for him," said Henry.
"Oh, no! You needn't!" Sue exclaimed. "Maybe he won't be in for a long
time. I want to go up right away, to tell Aunt Lu she's going to have
company."
"Company!" cried Henry. "If company is comin', I'll wait and take 'em
up."
"No, please don't!" begged Sue. "Take me up right away, and then you can
come down again." She did not want Henry to wait there in the lower
hall, with his elevator, and see Bunny going up the stairs with the
ragged man. Sue wanted to get Henry safely out of the way.
"All right. I'll take you up," promised Henry, and, a second later, Sue
was shooting upward in the elevator car.
"Come on now. We can get in without Henry's seeing us!" called Bunny to
the ragged man. "It's a long walk, but Sue and I did it once."
"Say, I'm much obliged to you," said the tramp, for that's what he was.
"But maybe I'd better not go in. They might arrest me."
"No they won't--not while I'm with you," Bunny said. "I'll tell a
policeman you're going up to my Aunt Lu's. She's got lots to eat."
And so Bunny and the ragged man began the long climb up the stairs,
while Sue rode in the elevator. She, of course, was the first to reach
her aunt's rooms. Wopsie let Sue in.
"Oh, Aunt Lu!" cried Sue. "The hungry, ragged man's coming. He ate bread
out of the ash can, and he hasn't had any breakfast, dinner or supper.
Bunny's walking up stairs with him, so Henry won't see him, 'cause
Henry, maybe, wouldn't let him ride in the elevator. But he's awful
hungry, so please give him some of that meat!"
For a moment Aunt Lu stared at Sue, and so did Mrs. Brown.
"Bless my stars!" cried Aunt Lu, after a bit. "What does the child
mean?"
"It's the ragged man," Sue explained. "Bunny's bringing him up the
stairs," and then the little girl told her aunt and mother all about it.
"But, Sue, dear! You musn't bring strange men in the house," said her
mother.
"Oh, he was so hungry and ragged!" cried the little girl.
"She meant all right," remarked Aunt Lu. "I dare say it is some poor
tramp. There are many of them in New York. I'll give him something to
eat. Is Bunny bringing him here?"
"Yes, Aunt Lu. Bunny's walking up the stairs with him, so Henry won't
see him, and put him out, like he did our dog that we found."
Aunt Lu and Mother Brown laughed at this, but Sue did not mind. Soon
there came a ring at Aunt Lu's hall bell. She opened the door herself,
and saw, standing there, Bunny and the ragged man.
"Here he is!" Bunny cried. "I got him up stairs all right, but he
slipped on one step. I didn't let him fall, though, and Henry didn't see
us. He's hungry, Aunt Lu."
The ragged man took off his ragged cap.
"I'm sorry about this, lady," he said to Aunt Lu. "But the little boy
would have it that I come up with him. He said you'd give me a meal, but
I don't like to trouble you--"
"Oh, I'm glad to help you," said Aunt Lu. "Wait a minute and I'll hand
you out something to eat."
"Come on in!" said Bunny, who did not see why the ragged man should be
left standing in the hall.
"No, little chap, I'll wait here," said the man. A few minutes later he
was drinking a bowl of coffee Mary, the colored cook, brought him, and
he was given a bag of bread and meat, with a piece of cake.
"It's mighty good of you, lady," said the ragged man, as he started to
walk down the stairs again.
"You can thank the children," said Aunt Lu with a smile, as she gave the
man some money. "And you needn't walk down. I'll ring for the elevator
for you."
"Oh, no'm, I'd rather walk. I'm stronger now I've had that coffee. I'll
walk down. The elevator boy wouldn't want me in his car. I'll walk."
Down he started, not so hungry now, though as ragged as ever. And, too,
Aunt Lu had given him money enough to last him for a few days, until he
could find work to earn money for himself.
"But, Bunny and Sue, please don't ask any more ragged men up without
first coming to tell me," said Aunt Lu with a smile. "I like to be kind
to all poor persons, but you see I live in a house with many other
families, and some of them might not like to have tramps come up here.
However, you meant all right, only come and tell me or your mother
first, after this."
"I will," promised Bunny. "But he was awful hungry; wasn't he?"
"I guess he was, and I'm glad we could help him. But now Wopsie is ready
to take you to the moving pictures. Run along."
Bunny and Sue had another good time at the pictures. They saw the play
of Cinderella, and liked it very much. After they came out they went to
a drug store, and had ice-cream.
One day Aunt Lu said to Bunny and Sue:
"How would you like to go to the aquarium?"
"What's that?" asked Bunny. "Is it like a moving picture show?"
"Well, it is moving, and it is a show," answered Aunt Lu, with a smile.
"But it is not exactly pictures. It is a big building down at the end of
New York City, in a place called Battery Park, and in the building are
tanks and pools, where live fish are swimming around. There are also
seals, alligators and turtles. Would you like to go to see that?"
Bunny and Sue thought they would, very much, and a little later, with
their mother and Aunt Lu, they were in the aquarium. All around the
building, which was in the shape of a circle, were glass tanks, in which
big and little fish could be seen swimming about. In white tile-lined
pools, in the middle of the floor, were larger fish, alligators, turtles
and other things. Bunny was delighted.
"Oh, if I could only catch some of these big fish," he said to Sue.
"But you can't!"
"Maybe I can," he said to her in a whisper. "I brought some pins with
me, and some string. I'm going to try and catch a fish. Come on over
here."
From his pocket Bunny took a string and a pin. His mother and his aunt
were looking down in the pool where some seals were swimming about.
Bunny, holding Sue's hand, led her over to the other side of the
aquarium where there was a pool containing some large fish, and some big
turtles.
"I'm going to fish here," said Bunny Brown.