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Make Believe Stories
(Trademark Registered)
THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR
by
LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Story of a Sawdust Doll," "The
Story of a Nodding Donkey," "The Story of a China
Cat," "Bobbsey Twins Series," "Bunny Brown
Series," "Six Little Bunkers Series," Etc.
Illustrated by Harry L. Smith
New York
Grosset & Dunlap Publishers
Made in the United States of America
Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
Copyright, 1921, by Grosset & Dunlap
BOOKS
By LAURA LEE HOPE
Durably Bound. Illustrated.
MAKE BELIEVE STORIES
THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL
THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE
THE STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS
THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER
THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT
THE STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK
THE STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN
THE STORY OF A NODDING DONKEY
THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT
THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR
* * * * *
THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP
* * * * *
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
* * * * *
THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
* * * * *
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
* * * * *
The Story of a Plush Bear
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I A SNOWBALL FIGHT 1
II THE LITTLE ESKIMO 14
III OUT ALL NIGHT 26
IV IN THE TOY SHOP 41
V THE FAT BOY 55
VI OUT OF THE WINDOW 68
VII ON THE BOARDWALK 78
VIII IN THE SAND 89
IX OUT TO SEA 100
X SAVED AT LAST 110
THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR
CHAPTER I
A SNOWBALL FIGHT
Down swirled the white flakes, blowing this way and that. It was snowing
furiously in North Pole Land, and even the immense workshop of Santa
Claus was almost buried in white. How the wind howled! It whistled down
the chimneys, and blew the sparks about.
"Whew, how cold it is!" cried a Wax Doll, who did not have any shoes on,
for she was not yet quite finished. "What makes such a breeze in here?"
and she shivered as she pulled up over her legs a blanket of plush
cloth from which Santa Claus and his men made Teddy Bears.
"It is cold," said a Celluloid Doll, who was lying on the work bench
next to the wax toy. "Some one must have left a window open."
"Left a window open? There are three or four windows open!" gleefully
shouted a fuzzy, Woolen Boy Doll. "Look at the snow blowing in! Hurray!
Now we can have a snowball fight without going outside. Come on!" cried
the Woolen Boy Doll to a little Flannel Pig who had just been stuffed
with cotton. "Come on, have a snowball fight!"
"All right!" squealed the Flannel Pig. "I'll wash your face!"
"Oh, how cold it is! How cold it is!" sighed the Wax Doll. "Give me more
covers, please, somebody! My feet are freezing! Who left the windows
open?"
"Here, take this," called a big Plush Bear, tossing toward the Wax Doll
a quilt he took from a bed in a playhouse that stood next to him on the
work table. "This will keep you warm. I guess some of the men who work
for Santa Claus must have gone off and forgotten to close the windows."
This is just what had happened. There had been a busy time in the North
Pole workshop of Santa Claus that day, for it was getting near to
Christmas. The little men, like elves, who built the Noah's Arks, the
toy animals, the dolls, and the other playthings, had been as busy as
bees.
Then, in the afternoon, just before dark, jolly old Santa Claus himself
entered his shop, the windows of which were made from crystal-clear
sheets of ice.
"What ho, my merry men!" cried Santa Claus, "you have been working very
hard. Stop now, and have lunch, for we must work overtime to-night so
that we may finish a lot of toys to be taken down to Earth. But now I
will give you a little rest, though it is not five o'clock, when we
usually stop."
"Hurray!" cried the merry little men.
They gladly laid down their tools and put aside the half-finished toys
on which they had been working. Half-finished Dolls, Jumping Jacks that
could not yet leap, Jacks in Boxes that could not yet spring out, trains
of cars that could not yet run--all these were laid aside, together with
toys completely made, so that the little men might rest themselves.
"Come to the lunch room and get some hot chocolate and some frosted
cake," said Santa Claus, and away trooped the jolly little men. Just who
had left some of the windows open no one knew. But they were open, and
when the big storm came, in blew the snowflakes.
"I call this real jolly," said the big Plush Bear, who had given the Wax
Doll the bed quilt to keep her feet warm. "I'd like to be out in this
storm. But this is the next best thing. Hi there!" he called to the
Flannel Pig, "look out where you're throwing snowballs! You nearly hit
the Wax Doll."
"Oh, if he did that my complexion would be spoiled!" cried the beautiful
toy, who was not, as yet, quite finished.
"I'll be careful," promised the Flannel Pig. "Don't you want to have fun
in the snowball fight, Mr. Teddy Bear?"
"I am not a Teddy Bear!" roared the big plush creature. "Many people
take me for one; but I am not, though I do look like a Teddy. But I am a
real Plush Bear, and when I am wound up I can move my head and my paws
and I can growl. Listen! I am wound up now!"
There was a whirring sound inside the Plush Bear as the clock work
wheels began to turn, and soon his head moved slowly from side to side,
he raised his paws and lowered them, and out of his red mouth came a
growling voice saying:
"To be sure, I'll join the snowball fight!"
"Hurray!" cried the Woolen Boy Doll. "Now for some fun!" For though the
Plush Bear had spoken with a growl he was not at all cross. That was
just his way. He was really most jolly, though he had a very wise look
on his plush face, as though always thinking of hard examples to solve
and hard words to spell. But though he was wise, and growled when he
talked, the Plush Bear was most delightful.
"Come on! We'll move over to one side where we shall not get any snow on
the toys who don't like it," said the Plush Bear. With his warm coat,
almost like fur, he loved to roll in the snow. So did the Flannel Pig
and the Woolen Boy Doll. But the Wax Doll, who, as yet, had no shoes,
the Celluloid Doll, who was only partly dressed, and some of the others
did not like the cold.
Faster and faster the snow came down, and more and more white flakes
blew in through the open windows of the shop of Santa Claus at the
North Pole. The Plush Bear caught up a paw full of the white crystals
from the bench, made them into a ball, and tossed them at the Flannel
Pig. The Flannel Pig turned quickly and chased after the Woolen Boy
Doll, crying:
"I'll wash your face! I'll wash your face!"
Then such fun as there was! The Wax Doll, covered up now so that her
feet were no longer cold, and in a safe corner where no balls could hit
her, watched the sport.
"I'm glad Santa Claus and his men took a little resting spell," said the
Plush Bear, as he quickly stooped down to get out of the way of a
snowball thrown by a Teddy Bear, almost like himself.
"Yes, if they were here we could have no fun," said the Flannel Pig.
And this was very true.
As I shall explain to you in this book, and as I have told you in other
books of these "Make Believe Stories," the toys could pretend to come to
life, move about, and have fun when no one was looking at them. They
could talk, tell jokes and stories, as well as riddles, play games, have
races and even snowball fights, as they were having one now. But the
moment any one looked at them, or came into the room where they were
playing, the toys settled back straight and stiff and still. They could
listen to what was said, but they dared not speak, and they could take
no part in life.
So it was that the toys were glad Santa Claus and his men had, for a
little while, gone out of the big workshop. It was a wonderful
place--this workshop of Santa Claus. There many of the toys in the world
were made for the boys and girls of the Earth. And as fast as he had
several boxes of toys ready, Santa Claus would hitch his eight reindeer
to his sleigh, and down to Earth he would go. He would leave boxes and
bags of toys at the different shops and warehouses, whence they were
sent to other places where boys and girls could see them, and tell
their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts or cousins what
they wanted for Christmas.
Biff! a big snowball went sailing across the room.
Bang! it struck the Plush Bear on his nose.
"Wuff! Wuff!" growled the Plush Bear, but he was not at all cross, and,
an instant later, he sent another ball sailing toward the Flannel Pig.
"Oh, I didn't throw that! I didn't hit you!" squealed the Flannel Pig,
as he tried to dodge out of the way of the mass of snow tossed by the
Plush Bear.
"Never mind," growled Mr. Bruin, as the Bear was sometimes called. "It's
all in fun!"
And fun it was! At other times, when they were left alone, the toys in
the workshop of Santa Claus had fun, but never before, at least in a
long while, had windows been left open so that the snow blew in.
"It's almost as much fun as being out doors," said the Plush Bear again,
as he moved his paws and shook his head from side to side. "I only wish
the Nodding Donkey could be here to enjoy it," he went on.
"Who is the Nodding Donkey?" asked the Wax Doll, as the Flannel Pig and
the others stopped snowballing for a moment.
"He was a toy who was born here, and who lived here for some time,
before he was taken down to Earth," answered the Plush Bear. "He could
nod his head, and he did not have to be wound up with a key as I have to
be. I liked the Nodding Donkey very much. But he and the China Cat have
both gone away.
"However, I suppose that is the way of things up here. We are made to
give happiness to boys and girls, and the only way in which we can do
that is to allow ourselves to be taken to Earth by Santa Claus. Yes, I
suppose I shall be taken down some day," and once more he moved his
head from side to side, and looked very wise indeed, did the Plush Bear.
As I have said, he was not a Teddy Bear, though sometimes he looked like
one. He was made entirely of soft, brown, silky plush. This plush
covered from view the clock wheels and springs inside the Bear, which
when wound up, caused him to move and growl. But the wheels did not give
the Bear his wise look. That was put on his face by one of the workmen
of Santa Claus.
"Oh, I know what we can do!" suddenly cried a Polar Bear, who had just
shuffled along to join the fun. The Polar Bear was like the Plush Bear
only a different color, the Plush Bear being brown, and the Polar Bear
white.
"What shall we do?" asked the Flannel Pig, as he wiped some snow water
out of one of his eyes.
"Let's build a big snow house, such as the Eskimos all about the North
Pole build," went on the Polar Bear. "There is enough snow being blown
in through the open windows to make a lot of houses. And we can make a
hill, and slide down that, too!"
"Yes, let's do it," said the Woolen Doll Boy. But just then the Plush
Bear shook his head and growled out:
"Be careful, everybody! I think some one is coming! We must not be seen
in motion, or be heard talking. Keep quiet, every one!"
Each of the toys became as still as a little chocolate mouse.
Then one of the open windows was darkened as a strange creature looked
in. It seemed to be a boy, but he was covered with skins and fur, almost
like an animal. Only his face could be seen. His hands, as he rested
them on the sill of the window, were covered with big, fur mittens.
"Oh, ho! Nobody is here! I can take one of the toys!" said the
fur-dressed Eskimo boy, for such he was. "Now is my chance! I'll take
that big bear!"
The Eskimo boy, one of a strange, unknown race that live at the North
Pole, was just climbing in through the open window, when suddenly, at
the far end of the shop, a voice cried:
"Oh, my goodness! Look what has happened! Some one left the windows open
and a lot of snow has blown in! Quick, my merry men! Close the windows
and start work to finish the toys! I hope none is spoiled!"
And with that Santa Claus himself hurried into the shop.