Miss Snell was not quite sure that she understood Freddie Bobbsey. She
looked at the little twin, smiled to make him understand that she was
not cross, and said:
"What did you do to Nick, Freddie?"
"I locked him up," Freddie answered. "In the tool shed. I have the key,
too," and, marching up to Miss Snell's desk he laid on it a large key.
"You locked Nick in the tool shed!" repeated the surprised teacher.
"Why, Freddie Bobbsey! what a strange thing to do. Why did you do it?"
"He pulled my hair," Flossie explained. "I mean Nick did. He pulled it
yesterday, too, and I told Freddie and Freddie said he would make Nick
stop."
"Yes, go on, please," urged Miss Snell, as Flossie grew silent.
"Well, when he pulled it again to-day," resumed the little girl, "I
hollered for Freddie and we hit Nick and he hit us and we pushed him
into the shed and--and----"
"I locked the door!" finished Freddie. "You can hear him hollerin' to
get out," he added. "Listen!"
The windows had been opened to freshen the air in the classroom, and as
silence followed Freddie's last remark Miss Snell and the children could
plainly hear, coming from the shed, the voice of someone calling:
"Let me out! Let me out!"
"That's Nick," calmly explained Freddie. "But I'm not going to let him
out 'cause he pulled Flossie's hair."
"Well, of course, he shouldn't do that," said Miss Snell. "But you
should not have locked him in, Freddie. I shall have to tell the
principal and get him to let Nick out."
The eyes of Flossie and Freddie grew big as the teacher said this. The
eyes of the other children opened wide also. To have to tell "the
principal" anything meant that it was very serious.
"But I am sure you did not mean to do wrong," Miss Snell added, as she
saw that Freddie and Flossie looked rather frightened. "It will be all
right, I'll have the principal let Nick out. You may look over your
geography lesson while I am gone. I want you to tell me, when I come
back, what is a river, a lake, and an island."
"We know about a island," said Flossie in a loud whisper. "Once we
camped on Blueberry Island, didn't we, Freddie?"
"Yep!" he answered. "An' I fell in!"
"Well, you may tell us about that later," and Miss Snell tried not to
laugh. "But don't talk any more in school; and study your lesson while I
go to Mr. Nixon's office."
While Miss Snell was out of the room I do not believe much studying was
done by Flossie, Freddie or any of their classmates. They all listened
as, through the open window, came the cries of Nick Malone calling:
"Let me out! Let me out!"
"I locked him in--'cause he pulled Flossie's hair!" declared Freddie,
and Freddie was looked upon as quite a hero by the boys and girls in his
room.
By standing up, Flossie, Freddie and the others in their class could see
the tool shed. And the children stood up and looked out as Miss Snell
and the principal went to release the locked-up boy. He came out crying,
and seemed frightened. But he soon quieted down, and promised never
again to pull Flossie's hair, while Freddie was made to promise never
again to lock anyone in the tool shed.
"Tell your teacher, or tell me, when anyone plagues your sister,
Freddie," the principal said.
"Yes'm--I mean yes, sir," Freddie answered.
Neither he nor Flossie had any more trouble with the "bad" boy, about
whose teasing they had talked on their way to school that morning. I
think, after being locked up, that Nick was afraid of Freddie. At any
rate, Flossie's hair was not again pulled.
"Our smaller twins are growing up," said Mr. Bobbsey to his wife at home
that night, when the story of what had happened in school had been told
at the supper table.
"Yes," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Our little 'fireman' and our 'fat fairy'
will soon be almost as big as Bert and Nan." Fireman and fairy were the
pet names for the smaller Bobbsey twins. But they were getting almost
too old for pet names now.
The weeks passed, and the weather grew colder, though, as yet, no snow
had appeared. Freddie and Flossie, who had gotten out their sleds soon
after coming home from the West, looked at the sky anxiously each day.
"Do you think it will ever snow?" asked Flossie of her mother. "I want
to go coasting."
"So do I, and skating, too," Freddie added.
"Oh, there is still plenty of time for it to snow this winter," said
their mother. "Why, it isn't Thanksgiving yet."
"Oh, that's so!" exclaimed Freddie. "Thanksgiving is coming, an' we'll
have cranberry sauce an' turkey!"
"An' pie an' cake!" cried Flossie.
"Thanksgiving is not meant only for feasting," said their mother. "It is
a time for being thankful for all your blessings. It is a time, also, to
think of the poor, and to try to help them."
"I wish we could help some poor," said Flossie. "Is it fun, Mother?"
"Well, I don't know that you would call it fun," her mother replied,
with a smile, "though it gives more pleasure than many things that you
do call 'fun'. Just try it and see."
Rather thoughtful, Flossie and Freddie went out together. It was the
Saturday before Thanksgiving and they did not have to go to school. They
each had two cents to spend, and it was while going down the street to
the nearest candy store that they passed the home of Miss Alicia
Pompret.
"Hello, Bobbsey twins!" called Miss Pompret to Flossie and Freddie.
"Hello!" answered the blue-eyed little boy and girl. They knew Miss
Pompret quite well, since Bert and Nan had, on their trip to Washington,
discovered some of the elderly lady's missing valuable china. Miss
Pompret was what some people would call "rich," and she had offered a
reward for the finding of her rare sugar-bowl and milk-pitcher. It was
these pieces that Nan had, by chance, seen in a secondhand store window,
and Miss Pompret paid the older Bobbsey twins the reward, which they
turned in to charity.
"Are you going to the store for your mother?" asked Miss Pompret of
Flossie and Freddie, as they paused at her door.
"We're going to the store for ourselves," Freddie answered.
"We have two cents apiece," added his sister.
"Oh, I see!" laughed the elderly, maiden lady. "Well, on your way would
you mind stopping at the grocer's and telling him he hasn't yet sent the
barrel of flour, the barrel of potatoes, and the ten hams I ordered.
Tell him I expect them to-day."
"My! you're gettin' a lot of stuff, Miss Pompret," said Flossie.
"Well, you see, I am going to give a large dinner to a number of poor
people for Thanksgiving," said Miss Pompret, "and I want some things for
them to take home with them. That's why I'm ordering so much."
"For the poor!" murmured Freddie.
"Yes, dear," went on the lady. "You know Thanksgiving is not meant to
see how much we can eat, but to think of our blessings and help other
persons to have blessings that they may be thankful for."
"That's what mother said," remarked Flossie. "Yes'm, we'll stop at the
grocery for you."
"Thank you," called Miss Pompret.
Then, as she and Freddie walked on, Flossie turned to her brother and
said:
"Freddie, didn't we ought to do something for the poor?"
"Maybe we ought," he agreed. "But who is poor?"
"Anybody that has ragged clothes is poor," observed Flossie. "We could
give 'em some of our clothes, 'cause I've got so many my closet is
full."
"I've two pair of pants," observed Freddie. "I don't need but one, I
guess. But you can't eat clothes, Flossie."
"I know it, but you have to have clothes when it's cold. And it maybe
will snow for Thanksgiving. Oh, Freddie! we could give our two cents to
somebody poor for Thanksgiving!" Flossie's eyes were shining with
delight.
"Yes, we could do that," said Freddie, slowly. "But you can't get much
clothes for two cents and not much to eat, I don't guess."
Flossie thought this over for a moment, and then her face lighted up.
"I know what we can do!" she said. "We can look for some poor ragged
people, and take them to our house for Thanksgiving. Mother or father
could give them some clothes and they could have some of our turkey.
Daddy and mother have some dressings, too, like Miss Pompret said."
"She didn't say '_dressings_,'" objected Freddie. "It's '_blessings_,'
like you get in Sunday-school."
"Oh," said Flossie. "Well, we could get some for the poor. Let's do it,
Freddie."
"All right," agreed the little fellow.
They were just going into the candy store, having stopped at the
grocer's with the message from Miss Pompret, when Flossie and Freddie
caught sight of a ragged boy and girl, about their own age, standing
with their faces close against the glass of the show window of the toy
and candy shop.
"Freddie, look!" whispered Flossie.
"They're poor!" whispered Freddie. "Let's take them!"
Flossie nodded in agreement, and then they went up to the ragged
children who were eagerly gazing in the window, which was partly filled
with Christmas toys.
"Come on with us," said Freddie, tapping the other boy on the shoulder.
Quickly the boy turned, doubled up his fist, and, thrusting the ragged
girl behind him, he exclaimed:
"Now you let us alone! We wasn't doin' nothin'! We was just lookin' in
the winder, an' that's what it's for! You let us alone!"