IN THE FLOUR BARREL
Slowly the heavy green shades, which hid what was in the cleaned windows
from the sight of persons in the street, rolled up. Bunny Brown, his
sister Sue, and Charlie Star waited for what was to happen next. They
looked first at one of the windows in which they had made a display, and
then at the other.
In one was the pile of oatmeal packages built up like a small fort, with
holes here and there through which stuck round boxes, with black covers
so that they seemed to be small cannon.
In the other window--but I can best tell you what was in that by telling
you what happened.
The curtains had not been up very long, and the children were feeling
rather proud of what they had done, especially Sue in making the glass
so clean, when a boy who was passing along the street stopped to look in
one of the windows.
And the window he looked at was not the one where the oatmeal boxes were
piled. It was at the other. This boy was soon joined by a second. Then a
girl who had been running, as if in a hurry, came to a stop, and she
stood near the two boys, looking in.
"The crowd is beginning to come!" remarked Charlie Star.
"But they aren't buying any of the oatmeal," objected Sue.
"Never mind," Charlie went on. "These kids wouldn't buy anything anyhow;
they haven't any money. Wait till the big folks come." Charlie spoke of
the "kids" as if he were about twenty years old himself. He seemed to
have become much bigger and more important since helping Bunny and Sue
fix up Mrs. Golden's windows.
And, surely enough, a few minutes later men and women began to stop to
look at the windows of the little corner store. And the men and women
at first looked not at the oatmeal but at the other window.
"It's making a big hit!" said Bunny Brown. He had learned this saying at
the time when he and his sister Sue gave a show.
By this time quite a crowd had gathered in the street outside, and there
was some talk and laughter which was heard inside the store. It was even
heard in the back room where Mrs. Golden had gone to lie down, and it
aroused her from her doze.
"Well, children," she said, as she came slowly out, "have you got the
windows washed, and the special sale of oatmeal started?"
"Yes, everything is all ready," answered Bunny, with a sly look at his
sister and Charlie.
Then Mrs. Golden saw the crowd outside.
"My goodness!" she exclaimed. "I never knew oatmeal to be so popular. I
can sell it all, maybe!" Then she noticed that the crowd was mostly
looking at the other window.
"What have you in there, Bunny Brown?" she asked.
"Take a look and see," invited Sue.
Mrs. Golden peered over the wooden partition that fenced the show window
off from the remainder of the store. And in the window she saw--what do
you think? Well, I imagine you must have guessed by this time.
Yes, it was Splash, the big dog, and asleep on his back was Charlie
Star's little white kitten! It made the cutest picture you can imagine,
for Splash kept very still, as if he did not want to wake up the
sleeping puss, and the little cat was curled up just as if on a silken
cushion.
It was this that Bunny and Charlie had been planning in the barn for
several days. At first Splash would have nothing to do with the white
kitten, and the kitten fluffed up her tail and made funny noises at
Splash.
But finally the boys and Sue had trained the two to be friends, so that
Splash would lie down and allow the kitten to go to sleep on his back.
And it was this that Bunny and Sue, together with Charlie Star, had
planned to attract attention to Mrs. Golden's poor little store.
The children had succeeded better than they had dared dream. Outside
the crowd was getting larger and larger all the while, and men were
saying:
"That's a pretty good dog!"
The women said:
"What a pretty picture!"
Little girls said:
"I wish I had that pussy!"
The boys wished they owned Splash. Many of them knew him, for they had
often seen the dog with Bunny Brown. But the kitten was new, and few
knew that Charlie Star owned it.
And then happened just what Uncle Tad had told the children would take
place if they could draw a crowd outside the store. Some began to look
at the special display of oatmeal in the other window, and a few came in
to buy. Some bought not only oatmeal but other things as well, happening
to remember that they were needed at home.
Mrs. Golden, who felt much better after her sleep, was kept very busy
waiting on customers, and Bunny and Sue helped her, as did Charlie.
[Illustration: SPLASH AND THE KITTEN DID THEIR SHARE IN DRAWING TRADE.
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Keeping Store._ _Page_ 199]
Splash and the kitten did their share, too, in drawing trade. For soon
the kitten awakened and began playing with a spool which Charlie had
hung up on a string in the window. The little white cat struck at the
spool with her paws as she stood up on the back of the big dog. Splash
did not seem to mind it in the least. In fact, he looked as if he
enjoyed it, and this amused the crowd all the more.
"Well, I do declare! You children beat anything I ever saw!" exclaimed
Mrs. Golden, when she had time to look and see what was going on in the
special display window. "You've made my store into a regular circus!"
"But it's good for business, isn't it?" asked Bunny.
"Indeed it is!" said the old lady, with a smile. "I never was so busy.
That oatmeal is selling fine. I wish I'd had a special sale of it
before."
Besides the boxes in the window there were packages of oatmeal piled on
shelves ready to be sold. And as the price was lower than oatmeal could
be bought for at other stores, Mrs. Golden did a good trade.
After a while things became a little quieter in the store, after the
first surprise had worn off. But now people were constantly passing in
the street, and many of them stopped to look at the dog and cat, which
were now playing together, Splash gently pawing at the white kitten
which climbed all over him.
Bunny had just finished selling a man a package of oatmeal, and Sue was
getting out a paper of pins for a lady when Uncle Tad came into the
store.
"Hello, children!" he cried in his jolly way. "I see you took some of my
advice and advertised by your show windows," he added to Mrs. Golden.
"Bunny and Sue did it for me," she said, "with the help of Charlie Star.
It is wonderful."
"If you'll get me a white piece of cardboard and a pen and some ink I'll
make you a sign to put in that oatmeal window," offered the old soldier.
"Those signs are all right, Bunny," said Uncle Tad. "But for a special
sale you want a special sign. Let me see now," he went on, as Mrs.
Golden got him what he had asked for. "You have made those oatmeal boxes
into the shape of a fort with guns. Now I must make a sign to go with
it. Let me see. Ah, I have it!"
He was busy with the ink for several minutes, and then he held up a sign
which read:
FORT-IFY YOUR CONSTITUTION
WITH THIS OATMEAL
"There!" exclaimed Uncle Tad, "this ought to bring more customers!"
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Mrs. Golden. "That's a pretty good joke!"
Bunny, Sue, and Charlie could not see anything funny, or like a joke, in
the sign. But then it was not intended for children, so it did not
matter.
But men and women passing in the street and pausing to read what Uncle
Tad had printed, seemed to think it was odd, for they stopped, read it,
laughed or chuckled, and then either passed on or came in and bought
some oatmeal. And quite a few came in, so that by night Mrs. Golden had
sold nearly all of the cereal.
"My goodness!" she said, when it was time for Bunny, Sue, and Charlie to
go home. "This has been a wonderful day. Could you come over to-morrow?"
she asked. "I don't mean to work," she added quickly. "For I'm afraid
your mothers will think you're doing too much for me. But I mean could
you come over and bring your dog and cat to put in the window. They
certainly brought the crowd."
"Yes, we'll bring Splash," said Bunny.
"And I'll bring my kitten," offered Charlie.
"And we'll come and help you sell things!" laughed Sue. "We like it,
don't we?" she asked the boys, and of course they said they did.
The first attempt of Bunny and Sue to advertise Mrs. Golden's store had
been very successful. Of course Uncle Tad had told them how to do it,
and Charlie Star had helped by bringing his kitten and training her with
Bunny and Sue. So the special oatmeal sale made quite a bit of talk in
that section of Bellemere near the little corner store.
Of course Mrs. Golden did not make a great deal of money, for the profit
on each thing she sold, even the many boxes of oatmeal, was small. But
it brought new customers to her store, and she was well pleased with
what had happened.
"And if Philip can only get that legacy," she murmured to herself that
night, "things will be easier for me. But I owe a lot of money to Mr.
Flynt, and I don't know where I'm going to get it to pay--not even if
those dear children help me with a lot more special sales, bless their
hearts! Well, I'll do the best I can."
The next day Bunny, Sue, and Charlie again came to Mrs. Golden's store.
Charlie could not stay, however, as he had to rake up the leaves around
his home, but he brought his kitten, and again the dog and the white
pussy drew crowds to the store window.
Besides oatmeal Mrs. Golden also had a special sale on notions, and she
did a fairly good business in them, so that she and Sue were kept busy
behind the counter. Not that Sue could do as much as Mrs. Golden, but
she did all she could.
Bunny waited on some customers who came in to buy groceries, and when
one lady wanted some flour an accident happened. Bunny was leaning over
to scoop the white stuff out of the barrel, and as it was near the
bottom he had to stand up on a box to reach it.
Suddenly the lady on whom he was waiting, and who was watching him, gave
a startled cry.
"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Golden.
"That little boy has fallen into the flour barrel!" was the answer.