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THE MERRYVALE BOYS
By ALICE HALE BURNETT
* * * * *
Six real stories for small boys, each complete in itself, telling about
the many interesting doings of "Toad" and "Chuck" Brown, and their
friends, "Fat," "Reddy" and others.
The books are written so the boy may read and understand them and the
action faithfully portrays boy life in a small town.
* * * * *
=CIRCUS DAY AT MERRYVALE=
"Toad" and "Reddy," by good fortune, each earn two tickets to the
circus, although they find watering elephants a harder task than it at
first seemed. A jolly party of boys visit the circus.
=FATHER BROWN'S INDIAN TALE=
Dad's story is followed by an unexpected visitor who at first startles
then interests all of the little party gathered around the fireside.
=THE PICNIC AT MERRYVALE=
Did you ever go to a picnic in a large farm wagon, filled with boys and
girls? Then did you catch a fine lot of trout and broil them before a
camp-fire? "Toad" and "Reddy" did these very things and had a day long
to be remembered.
=CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS IN MERRYVALE=
Daddy Williams' Toy Shop is the center of interest to "Toad" and his
friends long before Christmas arrives. They plan a surprise that brings
joy to a poor family. The boys erect snow forts and the two sides have a
battle royal.
=MERRYVALE BOYS ON THE FARM=
"Toad's" grandmother invites him and "Reddy" to spend a month in the
country. Their experiences at Sunnyside farm, with its horses, cows,
pigs and chickens, are most entertainingly told, and they have the time
of their lives boating, swimming and fishing in the creek.
=HALLOWE'EN AT MERRYVALE=
For many days the boys had been looking forward to the party to be held
at Toad Brown's house, but the evening finally arrived and a number of
new games were played, although a few things happened which were not on
the program.
_Illustrations in Color 12mo. Cloth 40c per Vol., Postpaid_
=THE NEW YORK BOOK CO., 201 E. 12th St., New York=
[Illustration: "Wish my dad would get me a new sled like that flyer,"
sighed Toad.]
_THE MERRYVALE BOYS_
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS AT MERRYVALE
BY
ALICE HALE BURNETT
AUTHOR OF "HALLOWE'EN AT MERRYVALE,"
"MERRYVALE BOYS ON THE
FARM," ETC.
PICTURES BY
CHARLES F. LESTER
THE NEW YORK BOOK CO.
201-213 EAST 12TH STREET NEW YORK
_Copyright_, 1916, BY
AMERICAN AUTHORS PUBLISHING CO.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. TOAD'S WISH 9
II. THE SNOW FIGHT 15
III. THE VICTORY 19
IV. CHUCK'S RUDE AWAKENING 26
V. THE ADVENTURE IN THE SNOW 33
VI. TOAD'S UNSELFISHNESS 40
VII. THE BOYS PLAN A SURPRISE 46
VIII. WHAT MIKE FOUND 52
IX. CHRISTMAS MORNING 59
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS AT MERRYVALE
CHAPTER I
TOAD'S WISH
"Hurrah!" shouted "Reddy." "School is out and no more lessons for two
weeks!" and he threw his cap into the air.
"Let's go home by the way of the village, so we can look into Daddy
Williams' toy shop," suggested his friend Thomas Brown, better known as
"Toad," who ran up to join him.
"All right," agreed Reddy, "and I'll show you what I want for
Christmas," and they started down the street.
"Looks as though it might snow by night," said Toad, "don't you wish
there would be a big one? Then we could get all the boys together and
have a battle."
"It's the best fun I know of, next to swimming in the creek," was the
answer.
"Here we are," he cried a few minutes later and both boys stopped in
front of a small shop window that looked very gay with a wonderful
display of Christmas toys.
"See those skates hanging up by that sled. That's the kind I want,"
pointed out Reddy. "You screw them right into the heels of your shoes
and you bet they can't ever come off."
"They're fine," agreed Toad, "but look at that engine and train. It
goes right through the tunnel and up over the bridge. I wonder how fast
it can run."
"That's a dandy mitt there," said the other, pointing to a baseball
outfit. "I wouldn't be afraid to stop any kind of a ball with that on."
"Wish my dad would get me a new sled like that flyer," sighed Toad. "I
finished mine last winter when I ran into that tree with you and Herbie
on board."
"You surely did," was the laughing answer. "I remember how we all went
flying head first into a snow drift."
"There's a nice pocket knife," was Toad's next remark. "I mean the one
with the pearl handle, just next to that doll with the pink dress on."
"Oh!" exclaimed Reddy, "here's what just suits me," catching sight, for
the first time, of a punching bag.
"How do you work it?"
"Why, you see there's an elastic rope on each end of it, and one of them
you tie to a ring in the floor and the other to something overhead. Then
when you give it a punch it comes back to you with a bang."
"Well, I'd rather have a football; then maybe we could get up a regular
team," remarked Toad.
"I'll bet all those reals would cost about ten dollars," ventured the
other, pointing to a box of marbles toward the front of the window. "If
I was rich I'd buy them."
"What for? You have plenty. You won nearly all mine away from me.
Look!" he added in a low voice, "there goes Herbie's mother into the
store. Let's see what she buys."
"Hello, Daddy," greeted both the boys, as old Mr. Williams, with his
white hair, red cheeks and dancing blue eyes, came to the doorway of the
shop and smiled at them.
"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!" he replied. "Have you been good
boys?"
"I should say we have," cried Toad. "Everybody's good before Christmas."
"Well, run along home then, and I'll tell your mas just what you want,"
promised Daddy. "Herbie's ma's in here now and she doesn't want you boys
to know what she buys."
"All right," answered Reddy. "Don't forget to say I want a punching bag
and a pair of skates."
"And I want a new sled," chimed in Toad, as they both started off.
"Shucks, I didn't see half the things, did you?" protested Reddy.
"Oh, well, we can come down again this afternoon," was the cheering
answer. "Come on over to my house, anyway," he called as they parted.