[Illustration]
A SECOND BOOK OF CHARLIE STORIES
Charlie and His Puppy Bingo
[Illustration]
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
TORONTO
[Illustration: _Charlie_]
CHARLIE AND HIS
PUPPY BINGO
BY
HELEN HILL
AND
VIOLET MAXWELL
AUTHORS OF “CHARLIE AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY”
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHORS
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1923
_All rights reserved_
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
COPYRIGHT, 1923,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1923.
DEDICATED TO
A. T. M. M.
FOREWORD
The authors have made every effort to write these little stories in
language that will be intelligible to very little children.
They have observed that it is much easier to hold a small child’s
attention when _telling stories_, rather than when reading them aloud.
So they have tried to put these stories in informal English, using
frequent repetitions, with here and there an _interesting_ long word,
and italicizing words on which emphasis is to be laid, their object
being to write the stories as they would be told.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I BINGO COMES TO LIVE WITH CHARLIE 1
II CHARLIE LEARNS THE TRAFFIC LAWS 13
III HOW BINGO LOST HIS SPOTS 28
IV CHARLIE RIDES ON THE ENGINE OF A REAL TRAIN 41
V BINGO AND THE ANGRY ROOSTER 56
VI CHARLIE DELIVERS MAIL FOR THE STAGE DRIVER 67
VII CHARLIE MAKES A POOL AND SAILS HIS BOAT 87
VIII CHARLIE BUILDS A REAL HOUSE OUT OF BRICK 104
IX BINGO LEARNS TO COME WHEN HE IS CALLED 120
X WHAT CHARLIE DID ON A RAINY DAY 135
ILLUSTRATIONS
Charlie _Frontispiece_
PAGE
The puppy drank all the milk _Opposite_ 10
Bingo had to travel in the baggage car _Facing_ 43
The rooster kept Bingo a prisoner “ 63
Charlie blew a tremendous blast “ 77
Charlie and the stage driver talk together “ 81
The boat sailed beautifully “ 99
Charlie watched the builders _Opposite_ 107
One of the strange boys held Bingo _Facing_ 129
Charlie made three villages _Opposite_ 143
[Illustration]
Charlie and His Puppy Bingo
TO READ FIRST
Charlie was a little boy who lived with his Mother and his Daddy and
his Auntie in a house in the city. The house had a big yard all around
it, where Charlie liked to play.
A cat called Jane and her kitten Topsy also lived in the house. Topsy
and Charlie were great friends and they played together all day long.
Jane sometimes played with them too, but Jane was a cat who loved
little babies, both baby cats and baby humans, and she was sad because
Charlie was growing to be a big little boy, and Topsy was a big little
kitten--so big that he could wash himself and it would have been
_ab-surd_ for Jane to go on washing him when he was such a big little
kitten!
[Illustration]
BINGO COMES TO LIVE WITH CHARLIE
One morning Charlie woke up suddenly because his kitten Topsy had
jumped on his bed and was tickling him under the chin!
Charlie woke up, and somehow he felt different--he felt most _awfully
old_--and then he remembered why!
“I’m five years old!” he shouted and jumped out of bed. With Topsy on
his shoulder, he ran downstairs to the kitchen where his Mother and
his Auntie were getting breakfast ready.
“I’m five years old!” he shouted again, and jumped into his Mother’s
arms. “I’m a great big boy now.”
His Mother said, “Yes, indeed, you are a great big boy now, think of
it! It takes _all_ the fingers of one hand to tell how old you are!”
And his Mother hugged him hard and his Auntie hugged him hard too and
they both wished him “Many happy returns of the day.”
Then Charlie ran upstairs again and started to dress himself. He could
dress himself quite easily, but sometimes when he was lazy he would
pretend that he could not and call out for his Auntie to button him up.
But as he was five years old to-day Charlie was going to show everybody
what a big boy he was. So he brushed his hair and cleaned his teeth
and buttoned _all_ the buttons and came out of his room at the same
time as his Daddy came out of _his_.
“_Oh, what_ a big boy you are!” said his Daddy. “I can hardly lift
you.” But he did lift him all the same and carried him down the stairs
and into the dining room on top of his shoulder!
And when they got into the dining room Charlie scrambled all down
his Daddy without waiting to be put down--for there were the most
ex-cit-ing looking parcels on the table beside his plate, and one of
them was so e-nor-mous that it took up half the room on the table!
Charlie could not wait _one_ minute, he started right away to take the
wrapping paper off the great, e-nor-mous parcel.
It was tied with blue ribbons just like the other parcels, for all that
it was so e-nor-mous. Charlie pulled and he tugged and at last the
wrapping paper was all off. And what do you think it was? You never
can guess! _No one_ could ever guess that such a thing could be on the
breakfast table beside a little boy’s plate, even though it was the
little boy’s birthday and he was five years old. It was an automobile!
Yes, it was an automobile that Charlie could sit in and pedal with his
feet, and it would go just like a real automobile. Charlie’s Daddy
lifted it to the floor and Charlie ex-am-ined it all over. It had real
lights and a wind shield and a steering gear. It was the most beautiful
automobile that any little boy ever had!
There were a lot of other parcels beside his plate, and they were
_all_ interesting. There was a new suit for Charlie, and it was a
sailor suit, just like those that big boys wear. It had a lanyard and
a whistle, and it had a red stripe and an emblem on the sleeves. Then
there were two new cars for his electric train, and a pair of scissors
with blunt edges, so that Charlie could cut things out himself and not
always have to ask his Mother or his Auntie to do it for him. There was
an express wagon that he could haul stones and grass in, and there was
a new battery for his flashlight!
Charlie was still looking at all his beautiful presents, when there
came a ring at the door and a loud whistle. It was the postman! Charlie
ran to the front door and opened it. And he said to the postman, “I
am five years old, and I’ve got an automobile and a whistle just like
yours, and a lot of other things.”
And the postman said, “I _thought_ that you had grown a lot taller
since I saw you yesterday. It’s fine that you have got a whistle like
mine. There is nothing to prevent you from being a postman yourself
now, is there? Then you can carry your own mail. Look what a lot of
letters I have brought this morning--and they are all for you!”
Yes, indeed, the postman was right, _all_ the letters were for Charlie,
and every letter had a beautiful card in it wishing him “Many happy
returns of the day.” And there was a letter from Uncle Jim; it had a
whole dollar bill in it, and the dollar bill was for Charlie! Yes, the
dollar bill was all for Charlie, and his Mother said that she would
take him down to the stores and he might buy whatever he liked with it.
Then his Daddy said, “What are you going to buy with the dollar?”
And Charlie said, “I am going to buy a present for Mother and a present
for Auntie and a present for _you_, then we will all have presents on
my birthday!”
Well, it took such a long time opening all his presents and looking at
all his birthday cards that it seemed as if Charlie would not get any
breakfast at all that day. But at last he had all his presents spread
out on the table in front of him, so that he could look at them while
he was eating his breakfast; that is, all except the automobile, and
that was on the floor beside his chair.
At last he finished his breakfast and he went into the kitchen to give
Jane and Topsy _their_ breakfast, when--what do you think? Jane wasn’t
there! No, Jane was not in the kitchen at all, or in the dining room,
or upstairs in any of the bedrooms, nor was she in the yard. Jane had
ab-so-lute-ly disappeared!
Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie called, “Jane, Jane, Kitty,
Kitty, Kitty!” all over the house and all over the yard, but no Jane
came.
Never before had Jane been late for breakfast, but now that she did not
come Topsy had to have breakfast all by himself.
Charlie felt very sad that Jane had disappeared on his birthday. He
loved Jane very much, nearly as much as he loved Topsy. He sat down on
the floor and began to play with his new toys, but every few minutes
he got up and went to the window to see if Jane was coming back. Yes,
Charlie went to the window three, four, _five_ times, and there was no
Jane. The _sixth_ time that Charlie looked out of the window, what do
you think he saw? He saw Jane coming down the garden path, and she was
carrying something in her mouth. It was something big and heavy, four
times as big as a mouse! It was so big and heavy that Jane had to drag
it along the ground.
Charlie rushed to the door and called out, “Mother! Auntie! Come quick!
Jane has come back and she has something e-nor-mous in her mouth AND
IT’S ALIVE!”
Then he opened the front door just as Jane reached it, and Jane dropped
the thing that she was carrying in her mouth. What do you think it was?
You never can guess. IT WAS A LITTLE, TINY PUPPY! Yes, a little baby
puppy, so little that it could hardly walk!
Jane had been so sad at not having any baby kitten to play with any
more, now that Topsy had grown to be such a big kitten, that she had
found a baby puppy instead, and she had brought it home on Charlie’s
birthday so that it could be Charlie’s puppy too.
Oh, but Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie were excited! They picked
up the baby puppy and they stroked Jane and told her what a good cat
she was.
Then Charlie’s Auntie took the puppy into the kitchen and tried to feed
him with some warm milk, but he was _so_ little that he had not learned
how to drink yet!
So Charlie’s Mother said, “I will go to the toy shop, and I will buy
a doll’s baby bottle. Perhaps the puppy will be able to drink out of
that.”
And she did. Yes, Charlie’s Mother put on her hat and coat and she went
to the toy shop. She was not gone five minutes. She hurried so fast,
because she was afraid that the puppy might be hungry.
When Charlie’s mother came back with the doll’s baby bottle his Auntie
heated some nice warm milk and put it in the bottle, and the puppy
sucked and sucked just like a baby. Yes, he sucked and sucked until he
had drunk all the milk that was in the bottle!
Then Charlie’s Mother put the puppy into Jane’s basket and Jane got in
also and the puppy snuggled up close to her and went to sleep.
Topsy was so interested in the baby puppy that he tried to get into
the basket also, but there was no room for him. So he sat outside the
basket and every now and then he patted the puppy with his paw, but
very gently so as not to wake him.
[Illustration: _The Puppy Drank All the Milk_]
When Charlie’s Daddy came home in the evening, he was most interested
and most excited to hear that Jane had brought a puppy home to live
with them.
He said to Charlie, “What are you going to call the puppy? Of course,
he is really Jane’s puppy, but I think Jane means him to be partly
yours, as she brought him home to you on your birthday. Anyway, Jane
cannot choose a name for him that _we_ would understand.”
So Charlie thought for a minute. Then he said, “I think I will call the
puppy Bingo. The iceman has a dog and _his_ name is Bingo. I think he
is such a nice man, and Bingo is a _beautiful_ name.”
Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie and his Daddy thought it a beautiful
name too, so the puppy was called Bingo. He slept in a basket with Jane
and Topsy, for Charlie’s Auntie got another basket that was big enough
for the three of them. And he took his meals out of the doll’s baby
bottle. Jane washed him all day long and she was as happy, as happy
could be, now that she had a darling little baby of her own again. In
fact she was as happy as if it was _her_ birthday instead of Charlie’s.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHARLIE LEARNS THE TRAFFIC LAWS
Now that Charlie had an automobile, you may be sure that he drove in it
every single day--that is every day that the sun was shining, for, of
course, he could not drive in the automobile when it was raining!
In the mornings, when his Mother and his Auntie were busy in the
house, Charlie used to drive up and down the garden path; but in the
afternoons, when his Mother and his Auntie went for a walk, he drove
beside them in his automobile, and Bingo always came too.
Bingo was growing to be a big little puppy--he no longer drank his milk
out of a bottle. Oh, dear, no! Bingo could lap up his milk as well as
any grown-up dog. He had a saucer to himself just like Topsy and Jane,
and Charlie gave him his breakfast every morning and his dinner and his
supper at the same time that he gave Jane and Topsy theirs.
You may be sure that Charlie enjoyed driving in his automobile with
Bingo prancing beside him. But though Charlie drove his automobile
every morning and every afternoon, he did not really know how to
drive it at all! No indeed! Charlie always wanted to pedal so fast
that he paid no attention to his steering, and the automobile went
_wiggly, wiggly_ all over the place. When he was driving in the garden
Charlie never could keep to the path, he would pedal so fast that the
automobile would run up on the grass and into the flower beds. And
when he was out on the sidewalk with his Mother and his Auntie, the
automobile would zigzag from left to right and from right to left in a
most _pe-cul-iar_ way.
His Mother and his Auntie said to him again and again, “Don’t pedal so
fast, Charlie. Go slower and try to steer properly, some day you will
crash into a lamppost and maybe break your automobile all to pieces.”
But Charlie did not listen. He just went on pedaling as fast as ever he
could and paid no attention to his steering at all.
One day his Mother and his Auntie were walking along the sidewalk and
Charlie was driving in front in his automobile, while Bingo pranced
along, sometimes beside Charlie, and sometimes running back to see what
Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie were doing. Charlie was pedaling away
as fast as ever he could and his automobile was going _wiggly, wiggly_
all over the sidewalk.
[Illustration]
Quite a little way in front, an old gentleman was walking, and he
was on the outer edge of the sidewalk, as was right and proper for
him to be. He was looking at his newspaper and he did not know that
Charlie was driving toward him, paying no attention to his steering
and zigzagging from left to right and from right to left again--when
suddenly, Charlie’s automobile went crash! Bang! straight into the old
gentleman! That was dreadful!
The old gentleman stopped short, and, when he had got his breath, he
said, “Don’t you know that automobiles should keep to the right? Or
is it possible that you are driving an automobile and don’t know the
traffic laws?”
Of course Charlie apologized very politely to the old gentleman for
bumping into him, and then he had to say that he knew nothing about the
traffic laws at all. This made Charlie feel very much ashamed.
“Dear me!” said the old gentleman. “That is the most extraordinary
thing I ever heard! To own an automobile, and not to know the traffic
laws!”
By this time Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie had come up and it was
very surprising--the old gentleman seemed to know them both very well.
He shook hands with them both and said, “This young man has just been
telling me that he does not know the traffic laws, though I have often
watched him out of my window driving his automobile, and the way he
zigzags up and down the pavement would be enough for him to have his
license taken away if a policeman were to see him!”
Charlie felt very sad when he heard this. He had a beautiful license
number on the back of his automobile and he thought it would be a
dreadful thing if a policeman were to take it away because he did not
know the traffic laws.
Then the old gentleman said, “I have an automobile of my own, and it
is a big one that runs with gasoline. I would be very glad to take you
for a drive this afternoon and teach you every traffic law there is, if
your Mother will let you come with me. I live quite near here, so we
could start right away.”
Of course Charlie’s Mother said at once that she would be delighted if
the old gentleman, whose name was Mr. Armstrong, would take Charlie for
a drive in his automobile.
Suddenly Bingo, who had been jumping around as usual, went straight up
to Mr. Armstrong and stood up on his hind legs as if begging to go too.
Then Mr. Armstrong said, “Is that your puppy?” And Charlie said, “NO,
that is my _dog_. His name is Bingo! He does not like to be called a
puppy. May he come with us too?”
Mr. Armstrong looked doubtful. He said, “Bingo looks very much like a
puppy to me, and puppies are apt to get into mischief; but if you are
careful to keep him on his leash and hold on tightly to him, you may
take him with us.”
You may be sure that Charlie felt very much excited at the thought of
driving in a real automobile and learning the traffic laws just like a
grown-up person.
He and his Mother and his Auntie went home and put Charlie’s automobile
in the back hall while Mr. Armstrong went round to his garage to get
his automobile. Soon he drove up in it and Charlie climbed in, holding
Bingo firmly by the leash so that he should not get into mischief.
Mr. Armstrong said that they had better drive downtown as there was
such a lot of traffic there and Charlie would be able to watch the
policeman handle the traffic. On the way Mr. Armstrong told Charlie all
about the traffic laws and the reason for every one. He told him how an
automobile must _never_ pass a street car when it has stopped to let
off passengers, and how an automobile driver must _always_ hold his
arm out when he is going round a corner, so that people crossing the
street can see in which direction he is going.
[Illustration]
It was all very interesting and Charlie kept a strict lookout to see if
all the automobiles they passed were observing the traffic laws.
At last they reached the business section of the city, where there
are so many automobiles and street cars and carts that a policeman
has always to stand in the middle of the road to direct the traffic;
otherwise people would never be able to cross the street in safety at
all.
Charlie thought that the policeman looked very grand standing all by
himself in the middle of the road. And whenever he blew his whistle,
either the crosstown traffic or the uptown and downtown traffic in turn
was stopped, as if by magic, to let the other have the right of way.
Then the people on the sidewalk all crossed together in a crowd, for
they knew that the automobiles and street cars would not go on again
until the policeman blew his whistle.
When Mr. Armstrong wanted to stop outside a shop and it was on the
left side of the street, he drove all the way to the next corner and
he waited there until the policeman could let him turn his car around
and drive back so that the shop was on his right and he could stop
his car close to the sidewalk just in front of the shop. It was a
confectioner’s shop and they both went in and Mr. Armstrong ordered
chocolate and sponge cake for them both. It was delicious! While they
were in the confectioner’s Bingo was left tied up in the automobile. He
did not like it at all and he called out “Yap, yap, yap!” at the top of
his lungs until Charlie and Mr. Armstrong came back.
At last it was time to go home. When they had driven into the main
street again and Charlie was turning his head this way and that, so
as not to miss a single thing that was going on, he was so interested
that he forgot all about Bingo. Indeed, he almost let go of his leash,
he was holding it so loosely--when, suddenly, what do you think? Bingo
gave one yank at the leash and jumped right out of the automobile! Yes,
he did!
All the automobiles were slowing up for the crossing, and the
policeman was standing quite close, but at any moment he might signal
for them to go on again.
It was _dreadfully_ dangerous for Bingo to be all by himself in the
middle of that crowded street with automobiles and street cars, and
carts and trucks all moving along. Charlie was so frightened that he
called out, “Mr. Policeman, Mr. Policeman!” and the policeman looked at
him, and he saw Bingo at the same moment and guessed what had happened.
He blew his whistle three times, and all the automobiles stopped, those
going uptown and downtown, and those going crosstown, they all stopped
_immediately_. Then the policeman tried to catch Bingo, but he was so
frightened that he crawled right under an automobile, and he would not
come out when the policeman called him.
So the policeman came up to Charlie and said, “You had better come
along with me. If you call your dog, he will know your voice and come
out when you call him.”
Charlie took the policeman’s hand and they went in and out among the
automobiles and carts and trucks and busses, which were all standing
perfectly still, till they came to the automobile under which Bingo was
hiding. When Bingo saw Charlie and heard him call “Bingo, Bingo!” he
came crawling out and he was so glad to see Charlie that he jumped high
in the air, wagging his tail and barking, “Yap, yap, yap!”
As soon as Charlie and Bingo were safe in Mr. Armstrong’s automobile,
the policeman blew his whistle and all the traffic, which had been
held up to rescue Bingo, started again. And Charlie held Bingo as
tight as ever he could, so that he should not jump out again. But I
don’t think that Bingo would have done so, even if he could have, he
had been so frightened when he was hiding under the automobile, with
so many trucks and carts and cars around him. And he was right to be
frightened, for he would have been in great danger if the policeman had
not blown his whistle just at the right moment.
And now Charlie knew for himself how _very_ important the traffic laws
are, for if one single automobile had disobeyed the policeman when he
blew three blasts on his whistle and had not stopped _immediately_,
Bingo might have been run over!
So, ever after that, when Charlie was in his automobile he was _always_
careful to follow every one of the traffic laws that he had learned.
He _never_ pedaled faster than he could steer, and he _always_ kept
on the right side of the pavement so as not to run into people by
accident. When he came to a corner, he _always_ stretched out his arm
to show the direction he was going in. And, when a street car stopped
in the middle of the road to let off passengers, Charlie always
stopped too, until it had gone on again.
Yes, Charlie followed the traffic laws so carefully that the policeman,
who always stood at the Park gate, noticed it; and he said to him one
day, “As soon as you are sixteen years old, you can come to me, and
I will see that you get a license to drive a _real_ automobile. If
everybody obeyed the traffic laws as well as you do, there would never
be any accidents at all.”
[Illustration]
HOW BINGO LOST HIS SPOTS
Bingo was a nice little puppy and a dear little puppy. He played with
Charlie and Topsy all day long. He frisked around and barked “Yap,
yap,” for though he was getting to be a big little puppy, he could not
yet say “Bow-wow,” though you may be sure he tried to over and over
again.
Charlie and Topsy and Bingo had lots of fun playing together and, when
Charlie was playing with them, Topsy and Bingo were always good; but
sometimes, when Topsy and Bingo played alone together, they were as bad
as bad could be and got into all kinds of mischief--especially Bingo.
Yes, Bingo could think up the _naughtiest_ things to do! He liked to
dig in the flower beds and bury bits of sticks that he pretended were
bones. That was lots of fun for Bingo but very bad for the flowers! And
he liked to go into people’s bedrooms and hide their bedroom slippers
so that they could not find them anywhere.
But most of all he liked to eat up the carpet in the dining room. Oh,
my goodness! What fun Bingo did have with that carpet! He would hold
one corner in his mouth and he would waggle his tail and scrabble with
his paws and he would growl and growl and he would chew at that carpet
till the wonder was he did not chew it all up.
Yes, Bingo thought up all these naughty things to do when he was
playing by himself and he also tried to imitate the things that Topsy
did.
Topsy was very fond of climbing, and he could climb beautifully. He
hardly ever knocked anything down. No indeed! Topsy could jump straight
on to the mantelpiece and walk among the ornaments and not knock a
single one down!
Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie did not like Topsy to do this. They
were afraid that some day he might throw something down--but he never
did. Bingo thought that he would love to be able to climb like that.
He looked at Topsy with admiring eyes and this made Topsy all the more
anxious to show off.
Sometimes Topsy would climb up the dining room curtains all the way
to the top, and that made Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie very angry,
because his little sharp claws made scratches on the curtains. Then
they would shake them hard so that Topsy would have to climb down. He
_would not_ learn that he must not do it again.
For Topsy loved to show off. He knew that he could climb better than
anybody in the house and so he wanted to do it all the time, and the
more he did it the more Bingo wanted to show Topsy that he could climb
as well. But of course he could not.
One reason was that Bingo could not _jump_ as high as Topsy. A little
dog never _can_ jump as high as a kitten. They are not made that way.
So when Bingo wanted to climb he had to scramble up with his paws and
he always knocked against something or other which would come down with
a crash and a bang and somebody would say, “Oh, you bad Bingo, you have
broken something again!” It was very discouraging.
One day Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie had gone out. They had
gone downtown to do some shopping so they had decided to leave Bingo at
home, as one cannot very well take a little dog into a department store.
[Illustration]
So Topsy and Bingo were left all alone with nobody to look after them
but Jane, and she was not much good, as she was feeling very sleepy and
had gone up to the attic to sleep undisturbed.
Topsy and Bingo decided that they would have a glorious time with
nobody to interfere with them, no matter what mischief they might be up
to.
First they went into the dining room and they had a grand time playing
with the rug. This, as you know, was one of Bingo’s favorite games and
he showed Topsy ex-act-ly how to play it--how you pretend that the
rug is a wild animal, and how you grab the end in your mouth and kick
and scrabble with your paws and growl in a low and dreadful voice.
Topsy thought that this was a grand game. He liked the growling part
especially. You should have heard the ferocious growls that Topsy made.
Bingo felt quite frightened, although he knew it was only in fun.
When they got tired of that game, they went into the kitchen to see
what interesting things they could find to do there. And, of course,
Topsy began to climb--yes, he climbed up on everything in the kitchen
except on the kitchen stove. He was too wise a kitten to do that. He
climbed up on to the window sill and on to the table and on to the
sink. Then he jumped up on to the kitchen dresser and climbed to the
very top shelf, where he walked in and out among the plates, and yet he
did not knock a single one down! Every now and then Topsy looked down
at Bingo and tossed his head, as if to say, “Don’t you wish _you_ could
do it, too?” Bingo was wild with excitement. He jumped up on his hind
legs and barked, “Yap, yap, yap!” in his funny, hoarse little voice.
At last he _determined_ that he would climb up on the kitchen dresser,
too. Yes, he would climb up to the very top shelf and show Topsy that
he could climb, too!
There was a chair close to the kitchen dresser and Bingo first managed
to climb up on that, then he scrambled up on to the dresser. He felt
very proud when he looked down to the floor and saw what a height he
had climbed to. Topsy was still up on the top shelf looking down at
him with his head on one side.
[Illustration]
Bingo then stood up on his hind legs and he put his paws up on the next
shelf--but, oh, dear! Bingo was unlucky again! He knocked against a
big, round, white tin that had FLOUR written on it in gold letters. And
it toppled right over!--yes, it toppled right over and banged Bingo on
the head, and a lot of white, powdery stuff fell all over him and got
in his eyes. It was awful!
Poor Bingo did not want to climb any more. He jumped straight off the
kitchen dresser on to the floor, and he ran out of the kitchen with his
little short tail hanging down. He went into the living room and hid
under the sofa--poor Bingo was feeling very unhappy and he wanted to be
alone.
Soon he heard the front door open and he heard Charlie’s voice in the
hall. Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie had come home.
Charlie said, “Oh, Mother, look at those funny white tracks all along
the floor. What do you think they can be?”
His Mother and his Auntie looked, and they said, “How extraordinary!
They look like Bingo’s footprints. I wonder what he can have been up
to.”
Then Bingo himself came running out into the hall to meet Charlie. He
had forgotten his troubles and he jumped up in the air and barked,
“Yap, yap, yap,” he was so glad that Charlie had come home again. But
when Charlie saw Bingo, he called out in amazement, “Mother, Auntie,
_look_! What has happened to Bingo! He has lost his spots!”
And it was true. Bingo had lost all his spots! He had lost the black
spot on his head, and the ones on his ears, and the big black spot on
his back, and the little black spot on the end of his stumpy tail! Yes,
Bingo was now white all over without a particle of black anywhere.
“What have you done to yourself?” said Charlie as he picked him up.
Bingo tried to tell him all about it, as he wriggled and barked and
tried to lick Charlie’s face. And--lo and behold! the black spots began
to show again, first the one on Bingo’s head, then the ones on his
ears, then the big one on his back, and last of all the little one on
his tail. But now it was Charlie who was white--yes, he was white all
down the front of his coat!
Then Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie followed Bingo’s little
white tracks to where they came from. They wanted to discover what in
the world Bingo had been doing to get himself white all over. Yes, they
followed the tracks all the way to the kitchen, and there they found
the tin of flour lying on the floor near the dresser--and _then_ they
knew what Bingo had been doing while they were out.
Oh, how Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie did laugh at the idea of
poor, fat, little Bingo trying to climb up on the kitchen dresser, and
knocking the tin of flour all over himself! But they were sorry for
Bingo, too, because they knew how it must have frightened him.
So Charlie’s Auntie found Bingo’s brush, and she took him out into
the back yard and brushed all the rest of the flour off him--all that
wasn’t on the carpet or the kitchen floor or on Charlie’s coat! And
Charlie’s Mother swept up the flour in the kitchen, and swept the
tracks on the living-room carpet, and she gave Charlie a whisk broom to
brush off the front of his coat. And then she went to the ice box and
got a little bone, and she gave it to Bingo to comfort him.
So Bingo was happy again after all his troubles--but never again did he
try to climb up on high pieces of furniture, no matter how perky Topsy
looked at him and tried to egg him on. No, Bingo was a wise little
dog now, and when Topsy climbed up on the mantelpiece and looked down
at him, tossing his head as much as to say, “Don’t you wish you could
climb like me?” Bingo would jump in the air and bark, “Yap, yap!” Then
he would stand up on his hind legs and beg--and that was _one_ thing
that Topsy did not know how to do!
[Illustration]
CHARLIE RIDES IN THE ENGINE OF A REAL TRAIN
One day Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie and Topsy and Bingo and
Jane went to stay in the country.
It was a very interesting place where they were going to stay in the
country. What do you think? It was the place where Charlie’s Daddy had
lived when he was a little boy!
Yes, that is where they were going, and, as it was a Saturday,
Charlie’s Daddy was going with them, too. He was not going to live with
them in the country, because on weekdays he had to go to the office
every day. But he said that he would come down _every_ Saturday and
stay in the country till Sunday night.
So they all went to the railway station in a taxicab. Jane traveled in
a cat basket and Charlie’s Auntie carried her. Topsy also traveled in
a cat basket and Charlie’s Mother carried him, but Bingo had to travel
in the baggage car and he had a ticket all to himself because he was a
dog. Charlie thought that he ought to feel very proud.
When they got to the station they all went straight through the gate
to the platform, and there the train was waiting for them. It was a
great e-nor-mous train with ever so many coaches. First, Charlie and
his Daddy took Bingo to the baggage car, and the baggage man fastened
Bingo’s leash to the end of a trunk and promised Charlie to be good to
Bingo.
Then they all got into the day car, and the train gave a loud whistle
and steamed out of the station. My goodness! how fast it went!
Everything just seemed to go flying past.
[Illustration: _Bingo had to travel in the baggage car_]
Soon the conductor came walking down the aisle and he took everybody’s
ticket. He was a very grand-looking man; he was tall, and stout, and
he had a beautiful blue uniform on. He soon came to the seat where
Charlie and his Daddy were sitting, and he took the tickets. Yes, the
conductor took all the tickets and he stuck Charlie’s Daddy’s ticket in
his hatband, but as his Mother and his Auntie had no hatbands, he stuck
_their_ tickets into the top of the seat in front of them. Then he took
Charlie’s ticket, and he stuck it in Charlie’s hatband. Charlie felt
very proud, and he would not take his hat off. No, he kept his hat on
all the time because he wanted everybody to see that _he_ had a ticket
in his hatband just like all the other men.
Then Charlie said to his Daddy, “Daddy, what _ex-act-ly_ makes the
train go?”
And his Daddy said, “It’s the steam that makes the engine work, and
it is the engineer and the fireman who look after the steam and the
engine.” Then Charlie said, “What I want to know is _ex-act-ly_ what
the fireman and the engineer do when they are making the engine go.”
But what do you think? His Daddy did not know _ex-act-ly_ what they
did--he said that he had never ridden on an engine in his life, so how
could he know what they did? And Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie did
not know either. That was very surprising.
Well, after they had been in the big train for about a whole hour, they
came to a station where there were a lot of tracks. This station was
called a junction, because there were so many tracks.
Some of the tracks went to the North and some to the South and some to
the East and some to the West. The train that Charlie and his Daddy and
his Auntie and his Mother were on was going toward the West; but now
they wanted to go to the North, so they had to change trains and go on
a train that was going toward the _North_.
The train was already waiting on its own track. It was a very little
train, it had only two coaches!
Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie and Jane and Topsy got into the train,
and they took Bingo with them, because, as it was such a little
unimportant train, the conductor said that Bingo could travel in the
day coach instead of being tied up in the baggage car, and Bingo was
very glad. But Charlie and his Daddy waited on the platform till it was
time for the train to start, and they looked at all the interesting
things about them.
Then a man came up. He wore overalls and a peaked cap. And--you
_never_ can guess who it was? It was the _fireman_ who helped work
the engine of the train they were going to take. And what _do_ you
think? The fireman knew Charlie’s Daddy! Yes, the fireman came up to
them, and said to his Daddy, “Hello, Bob!” Bob was his Daddy’s name
that his Mother and his Auntie always called him! And his Daddy said,
“Why--Hello, Bill,” and they shook hands.
Charlie was _very_ much surprised that the fireman and his Daddy knew
each other, but it was not so very surprising after all. The fireman
lived in the village where Charlie’s Daddy had lived when he was a
little boy, and where Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie were going
to live for a whole month, and his Daddy and the fireman had gone to
the same school when they were little boys!
Well, the fireman then looked at Charlie, and he said, “And is this
your boy?”
Then Charlie’s Daddy said, “Yes, this is Charlie, and you are the
very man he wants to meet. Charlie wants to know _ex-act-ly_ what the
fireman and the engineer do to make the train go--and he can’t find
anybody who knows. So go ahead and tell him all about it.”
But the fireman said, “I can do better than that. Suppose you and
Charlie take a ride on the engine with me; then he can see everything
with his own eyes, and learn all there is to know in case he wants to
be a fireman himself.”
Yes, the fireman _ac-tu-al-ly_ said those words! And Charlie’s Daddy
said, “That will be fine. I’ll just go and tell Charlie’s Mother and
his Auntie what has become of us, so that they won’t worry.”
And he did so. Then the fireman, and Charlie and his Daddy all got
into the cab, which is back of the engine, where the engineer and the
fireman sit.
The engineer was already sitting in his place, which is on the right of
the cab. He was very pleased to meet Charlie and his Daddy, but he said
that after the train had started he would not be able to speak a word
to anybody, and nobody must speak to him. Yes, nobody must _ever_ speak
to the engineer when he is driving the engine, because if anybody spoke
to the engineer it might distract his attention and then the train
might be wrecked!
All the time that the train is going the engineer has to sit on his
seat with his hand on the throttle, which is the thing that makes the
train stop in a hurry, and all the time he has to look out of the
window to see what the signals say, and to see that there is nothing on
the track ahead of him.
If he sees a green signal on the signal post that means that the
engine can go straight ahead, but if the signal is red, then it means
“Stop”--and the engineer presses on the throttle, and the train stops.
The engineer told all this to Charlie while they were waiting for the
train to start. Then the engineer got the signal from the man on the
platform; he blew the whistle, and the train started, and he could not
say another word.
Well, the fireman’s place is on the left side of the cab, and Charlie’s
Daddy sat between him and the window, and Charlie sat on his Daddy’s
knee.
The fireman has to work very hard, but when he is not working he can
talk if he wants to. This fireman was very kind, and, when he was not
working, he explained everything to Charlie and his Daddy--but all the
time he was ex-plain-ing he had to keep looking out of the window, too,
in case he should see anything that the engineer did not see. There are
a great many windows in the cab of an engine--it has windows all round,
because it is so _very important_ that the engineer and the fireman
shall see all that there is to see.
Well, I will now tell you what the fireman was doing all the time that
Charlie and his Daddy were riding on the engine with him.
In front of the fireman was the steam gauge, which is a round thing
like a clock, and it has a hand like a clock hand, too, and the steam
makes the hand move--so that you can see how much steam is coming out
of the boiler. When the steam is getting low the hand drops, and when
the hand of the gauge drops to 150 the fireman knows it is time to put
more coal in the fire box.
Every time that the hand of the gauge dropped to 150 the fireman got
up and opened a little door in the back of the cab, which opened right
into the fire box, so that you could see the fire all red and glowing,
and the fireman scooped a great shovel full of coal into it. The
fireman told Charlie that it was _very_ important how one shovels the
coal into the fire box. It has to be shoveled very evenly, so that it
is not all black with coal in one place and all red hot with embers in
another place. Yes, the fireman told Charlie that it needs a lot of
practice before one can shovel the coal in just _ex-act-ly_ right.
Then the fireman also had to watch the water gauge, which shows how
much water there is in the boiler.
When he saw by the water gauge that the water was getting low in the
boiler, then the fireman had to turn a valve, which is a sort of handle
that starts a pump working, and the pump pumps water into the boiler.
Charlie very much wanted to turn the valve himself, but the fireman
said, “No,” that it needed a whole lot of practice before one could
pump water into the tank--as it was _very_ important just how much
water to pump. If too much cold water is pumped into the boiler it
might cool the water already in the boiler so that no more steam would
come out--and then the train would stop!
Do you think that the fireman on an engine is a busy man? Indeed he is!
But that is not all that the fireman has to do. Oh, dear, no! The
fireman has a lot more work to do.
When the train is coming to a steep place--and there were a lot of
steep places on the railroad that Charlie was traveling on--the fireman
has to make the fire _red hot_, so that lots and lots of steam can come
out of the boiler. He makes the fire get hotter and hotter until the
steam gets so strong that the “safety valve” pops off--and this shows
the engineer that there is enough steam to push the train up the steep
place. Yes, you can see that it would need a lot of extra steam to push
a train up a steep, high hill.
The fireman also has to blow a whistle, whenever the train comes to a
crossing or to the station. And when they got to the last stop--which
was the village where Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie and Bingo
and Topsy and Jane were going to live for a whole month--the fireman
let Charlie blow the whistle himself! Yes, he did, and you should have
heard what a loud whistle Charlie blew.
Well, at last they had come to the end of their journey, and Charlie
certainly had learned a whole lot about engines. Yes, Charlie had
learned a whole lot more than most people know. Of course he told his
Mother and his Auntie about everything, so that they, too, should know
all about what the fireman and the engineer do to make the train go.
And Charlie said, “Now, when I get home to the city I will be able to
play with my train in _just_ the right way. I will be able to play that
I am the fireman and the engineer, and I will know _ex-act-ly_ what
they do, and I will practice and practice being a fireman so that I can
be one when I grow up!”
[Illustration]
BINGO AND THE ANGRY ROOSTER
I told you in the last story how Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie
and his Daddy and Topsy and Bingo and Jane all went to the country
together. And how Charlie rode on the engine, which he liked very much,
but Topsy and Jane had to travel in baskets, which they did not like at
all, and Bingo had to travel all by himself in the baggage car, and he
did not like that either.
But when at last they arrived at the farm where they were going to
stay for a whole month, Charlie opened the baskets and let Jane and
Topsy out, and he unfastened Bingo’s leash, and they all went exploring
together. _Then_ Jane and Topsy and Bingo were delighted. They liked
the country _tre-men-dous-ly_, and the longer they stayed the more they
liked it.
There were so many delightful things for cats and dogs to do, which
they could not do in the city. Instead of long straight roads with
automobiles dashing past all the time, there were fields and meadows to
run around in. There were tall trees for Topsy to climb and nice muddy
puddles for Bingo to roll in, and Jane could go out for long walks by
herself without ever meeting anything dangerous.
Charlie always got up very early when he was in the country because he
liked to see the cows milked, and Topsy and Bingo and Jane liked to
see the cows milked also. Charlie always carried three little bowls
down to the barn, and the farmer filled them with milk straight from
the cow, so that Topsy and Bingo and Jane could have their breakfast
without waiting. This interested them all three very much, because they
knew that at home their milk always came out of a milk bottle which had
been left at the front door by the milkman.
All the time that Charlie was in the country he was allowed to run
around in the fields and meadows all by himself, and of course Topsy
and Bingo followed him wherever he went. It would take a whole book by
itself to tell you _all_ the delightful things that they did together.
Now, wouldn’t you think that Bingo, with all the big countryside to
play in, and ever so many interesting things to do all day long, would
have been able to keep out of mischief at least as long as he was in
the country? But no, he could not. You see, puppies nearly always
_are_ in mischief--they are made that way. So Bingo often went off by
himself and thought of nice, mischievous things to do.
One of the things that Bingo liked to do more than anything else was to
go and bark at the chickens. That was very naughty of him, and Charlie
always stopped him when he found him doing it. But often Bingo would
slip away from Charlie and dash down to the chicken house and bark,
“Yap, yap, yap!” He loved to see the hens running this way and that,
clucking loudly and calling all the little chickens who came running
to hide themselves under their Mother’s wings. Bingo enjoyed this
tremendously and never tired of the naughty game. Of course he never
hurt any of the chickens or the hens. Bingo was a dear, nice, little
puppy and he would never do a thing like that, but he _did_ like to
watch them running around and saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK!”
Yes, it amused Bingo very much.
One day Charlie was busy helping the lady at the farm to make the
butter. This is a very interesting thing to do. Bingo watched Charlie
for a while thumping away with the dasher, but soon he got tired of
watching and not doing anything himself, so he decided that he would go
and play with the chickens.
He began to bark before he got there, and the hens began to cluck,
cluck, cluck, and the chickens ran this way and that way and scrambled
under their Mother’s wings.
Bingo was so busy with his barking that he did not notice that there
was a newcomer among the hens. This was a big white rooster that the
farmer had brought home from the fair the night before.
He was an ENORMOUS rooster. He had won a prize at the fair because
he was so big. When Bingo jumped in among the hens, they were all
so scared that they ran around and said, “Cluck, cluck, cluck,
CLUCK.” But the rooster was not a bit scared--no, indeed, he was
most _indignant_. He opened his beak, and Bingo heard a TREMENDOUS
sound--“Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!
ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” And the rooster sprang up in the air, and
flapped his wings, and rushed at Bingo!
Bingo was so startled that he jumped backwards toward the chicken
house, and the rooster dashed after him. All the hens came hurrying
up and the chickens, too, saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck, CLUCK.” They
seemed to be on every side! Poor Bingo was terribly frightened, as well
he might be--because the rooster was really very much annoyed, and he
would have pecked Bingo if he had caught him.
But he did not catch him. Just in the nick of time, Bingo saw the
chicken house, and he just managed to scramble in at the door before
the rooster caught him--he was safe.
Yes, he was safe, but he had to stay there! The rooster did not
quite like to go in after Bingo (you see Bingo was really very
nearly as big as the rooster), but he determined to keep Bingo
a prisoner. He strutted solemnly up and down in front of the
chicken-house door, and every time that Bingo would try to come out
he would crow, “Ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo! ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!
ooka-ooka-ooka-ooooooooo!” and scare Bingo so that he decided to stay
where he was.
Poor Bingo! it seemed to him that he had been hours and hours in the
chicken house. He wondered if he would ever get out again. He was sure
that it was long past his dinner hour, he felt so _dreadfully_ hungry.
Poor Bingo was a very unhappy little dog.
[Illustration: _The rooster kept Bingo a prisoner_]
At last Charlie had finished helping the farm lady make the butter.
They had taken it out of the churn, and the farm lady had put it in a
big wooden bowl and beaten it with wooden butter paddles so that all
the butter milk was squeezed out. She had given Charlie some butter in
a smaller bowl so that he could finish making some of the butter all by
himself. The farm lady had promised him that they should have it on the
dinner table and surprise his Mother and his Auntie.