Once upon a time there was a little painted tin top that lay in a toy
shop window. It was a most beautiful tin top with a painted stripe of
red, and a painted stripe of yellow, and a painted stripe of green.
The tin of which it was made was as bright and shining as silver, and
it had one little pointed toe upon which it could dance most merrily
when its string was unwound.
But more wonderful than the colors of the tin top, or the shine of it,
or its one little tin toe, was its voice. The very moment that it
began to dance it began, too, to sing in a sweet, cheerful humming
kind of way. And it kept on singing as long as it kept on dancing, and
its voice was never less sweet or less cheerful.
One day Gerald came to the toy shop with his mother because it was his
birthday and he was to select a new toy. A boy who is to have a new
toy should smile, but Gerald frowned. He had so many toys at home
that he could not decide which new one to choose.
"Will you have a box of toy soldiers?" asked his mother.
"No, I'm tired of soldiers," Gerald said crossly.
"Will you have a new ball?" asked the toy man.
"I don't want any more balls," Gerald replied quite crossly.
"Oh, see this game!" said his mother.
"Games are stupid," Gerald answered most crossly.
"Then, listen!" said the toy man taking the little tin top from its
place, winding it up, pulling off the string and then setting it down
upon the floor. Away danced the bright little top upon its one little
tin toe and as it danced it sang its sweet, cheerful, humming song.
Gerald listened. Then the ugly frown left his face and in its place
there came a happy smile. He clapped his hands as the little tin top
circled, and whirled, and tripped, and hopped around his feet.
"May I buy the top that sings?" he asked and his mother said that he
might. So they paid a bright ten cent piece for it and the toy man put
the little tin top into Gerald's hands. As they left the toy shop,
Gerald still smiled and he hopped along beside his mother as he
remembered how the little tin top had hopped. And his mother made up
a song about it that they hummed softly together:
"To and fro, on its little tin toe,
Singing and dancing the top will go.
Spinning and singing it seems to say,
'Children should always be glad and gay.'"
So they went on until they came to a big building that was a hospital,
and at one of the front windows a sick-a-bed child was propped up on
pillows and looking out. Gerald looked in; then he motioned for the
nurse who stood near to open the window, and he wound the little tin
top and started it spinning on the sidewalk. It could spin and sing
indoors or outdoors. Round and round it danced and it seemed to be
saying:
"To and fro on my little tin toe,
Singing and spinning, oh, see me go!
This is the song that I sing to-day,
'Children should always be glad and gay.'"
The sick-a-bed child watched the little tin top, its whirling colors
looking like a rainbow in the sunlight. She listened to its sweet,
cheerful, humming song. Then her sick-a-bed, tired face changed to a
happy, smiling face, and she clapped her hands and laughed so loudly
that Gerald could hear her, for she had heard what the little tin top
sang.
Then they went on a little farther and they came to a boy who sold
newspapers on the street corner. He had just seen another boy who sold
newspapers coming and he had decided to have a fight with him, for he
did not want him to sell his papers on that corner. An ugly frown
covered his face, but suddenly he saw Gerald with his little top in
his hands.
"Can you spin it?" he asked of Gerald.
"Watch and see!" Gerald answered.
So Gerald wound the little tin top and started it spinning by the
newsboy's pile of papers. It could spin and sing anywhere, even on a
street curbing. Round and round it danced, and it seemed to be saying
again:
"To and fro on my little tin toe,
Singing and spinning, oh, see me go!
This is the song that I sing to-day,
'Children should always be glad and gay.'"
The newsboy listened to the sweet, cheerful humming song of the little
tin top. Then he, too, laughed and he motioned to the other newsboy to
come and see the top.
"Put your papers down here by mine," he said as Gerald picked up the
top and started on.
They were almost home now, and just as they reached their own street
he heard the voices of his two friends, Peter and Polly, and they were
very loud, cross voices indeed.
"It's my turn to ride in the cart," shouted Peter.
"No, it's my turn to ride in the cart!" shouted Polly.
"Peter and Polly, look; see what I have for my birthday," said Gerald.
Then Gerald wound the little tin top and started it spinning in front
of Peter and Polly. It could sing and spin anywhere, even in front of
a little quarreling brother and sister. Round and round it whirled,
and it seemed to be saying once again:
"To and fro on my little tin toe,
Singing and spinning, oh, see me go!
This is the song that I sing to-day,
'Children should always be glad and gay.'"
"Oh, the pretty top!" shouted Peter and Polly as they listened to its
sweet, cheerful, humming song. Then Peter said to Polly:
"It's your turn to ride in the cart, Polly."
But Polly said to Peter: "Oh, no, it's your turn to ride in the cart,
Peter."
And that was the wonderful secret of the little tin top; wherever it
took its spinning, singing way it made little children glad and gay.