PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN
THE TWINKLE TALES
Six Volumes
MR. WOODCHUCK
BANDIT JIM CROW
PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN
PRINCE MUD-TURTLE
SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAIN
TWINKLE'S ENCHANTMENT
THE TWINKLE TALES
BY
LAURA BANCROFT
PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN
[Illustration]
With illustrations by
Maginel Wright Enright
CHICAGO
The Reilly & Britton Co.
Publishers.
List of Chapters PAGE
I The Picnic 5
II Prairie-Dog Town 13
III Mr. Bowko, the Mayor 18
IV Presto Digi, the Magician 26
V The Home of the Puff-Pudgys 34
VI Teenty and Weenty 42
VII The Mayor Gives a Luncheon 49
VIII On Top of the Earth Again 57
Copyright, 1906, by The Reilly & Britton Co.
Chapter I
The Picnic
On the great western prairies of Dakota is a little town called
Edgeley, because it is on the edge of civilization--a very big word
which means some folks have found a better way to live than other
folks. The Edgeley people have a good way to live, for there are almost
seventeen wooden houses there, and among them is a school-house, a
church, a store and a blacksmith-shop. If people walked out their front
doors they were upon the little street; if they walked out the back
doors they were on the broad prairies. That was why Twinkle, who was a
farmer's little girl, lived so near the town that she could easily walk
to school.
She was a pretty, rosy-cheeked little thing, with long, fluffy hair,
and big round eyes that everybody smiled into when they saw them. It
was hard to keep that fluffy hair from getting tangled; so mamma used
to tie it in the back with a big, broad ribbon. And Twinkle wore calico
slips for school days and gingham dresses when she wanted to "dress
up" or look especially nice. And to keep the sun from spotting her
face with freckles, she wore sunbonnets made of the same goods as her
dresses.
Twinkle's best chum was a little boy called Chubbins, who was the
only child of the tired-faced school-teacher. Chubbins was about as old
as Twinkle; but he wasn't so tall and slender for his age as she was,
being short and rather fat. The hair on his little round head was cut
close, and he usually wore a shirt-waist and "knickers," with a wide
straw hat on the back of his head. Chubbins's face was very solemn. He
never said many words when grown folks were around, but he could talk
fast enough when he and Twinkle were playing together alone.
[Illustration: CHUBBINS]
Well, one Saturday the school had a picnic, and Twinkle and Chubbins
both went. On the Dakota prairies there are no shade-trees at all,
and very little water except what they get by boring deep holes in
the ground; so you may wonder where the people could possibly have a
picnic. But about three miles from the town a little stream of water
(which they called a "river," but we would call only a brook) ran slow
and muddy across the prairie; and where the road crossed it a flat
bridge had been built. If you climbed down the banks of the river you
would find a nice shady place under the wooden bridge; and so here it
was that the picnics were held.
All the village went to the picnic, and they started bright and early
in the morning, with horses and farm-wagons, and baskets full of good
things to eat, and soon arrived at the bridge.
There was room enough in its shade for all to be comfortable; so they
unhitched the horses and carried the baskets to the river bank, and
began to laugh and be as merry as they could.
Twinkle and Chubbins, however, didn't care much for the shade of the
bridge. This was a strange place to them, so they decided to explore
it and see if it was any different from any other part of the prairie.
Without telling anybody where they were going, they took hold of hands
and trotted across the bridge and away into the plains on the other
side.
The ground here wasn't flat, but had long rolls to it, like big waves
on the ocean, so that as soon as the little girl and boy had climbed
over the top of the first wave, or hill, those by the river lost sight
of them.
[Illustration: TWINKLE AND CHUBBINS START TO EXPLORE]
They saw nothing but grass in the first hollow, but there was another
hill just beyond, so they kept going, and climbed over that too. And
now they found, lying in the second hollow, one of the most curious
sights that the western prairies afford.
"What is it?" asked Chubbins, wonderingly.
"Why, it's a Prairie-Dog Town," said Twinkle.
[Illustration]