Tommy Tucker had lived on the farm with Grandma and Grandpa Hall a long
time.
He and Rags were very happy in their new home.
Rags was getting fat now, and every Saturday he had a fine bath.
At least Tommy said it was a fine bath, but Rags did not seem to agree
with him.
"Bow-wow," he would say, when he saw the big tub full of water, "I must
run and hide."
But Tommy always found him, and Rags always had his bath.
When school began in September, Grandma Hall took Tommy to school.
He had a new suit of clothes, a new pair of boots, and a pretty cap to
match his suit.
The school was two miles from the farm, so that the first morning he
rode in the carriage with Grandma Hall because she could not walk so
far.
Every day after that Tommy walked to school in the morning and home
again at night.
He carried his dinner in a new pail, and he always found something very
good in that pail when he opened it at noon.
All the rest of the children brought their dinner, too, and if I should
tell you all the things those children did at noon, it would fill a
book.
When the nuts were ripe, they went into the woods and gathered big
baskets full.
They found pretty flowers and autumn leaves and made their school-room
bright with them.
They played ball, and hide and seek.
Oh, there were such beautiful places to hide,--behind the wood-pile, in
the wood-box, behind trees and fences, and in the woods!
Tommy had never had such a good time in his life.
He did not play all the time, because he was working very hard to catch
up with the other boys.
Before the winter was over he was in the class with Jack and Jill, and
Grandma said she was very proud of him.
But I must tell you of the Jack-o'-lanterns the children made for
Hallowe'en.
Tommy did not know much about Hallowe'en, for he had always lived in
the city.
He had seen boys make Jack-o'-lanterns out of paper boxes.
But he had never seen a real pumpkin Jack-o'-lantern in his life.
One day, near the last of October, the children were all talking about
Hallowe'en and the fun they would have with their lanterns.
"You'll make one, won't you, Tommy?" said Jack.
Of course Tommy wanted to make one if the boys would show him how.
"I know what would be fun," said
Jill. "Let's bring our pumpkins to school and make our lanterns at
noon."
"Yes, yes, that is just the thing!" they shouted.
"Then when they are finished we can ask Miss Phillips which is the
prettiest."
As if a Jack-o'-lantern could ever be pretty!
The next morning there was a funny sight in the dressing-room.
Under each hook was a pumpkin.
There were big ones, little ones, fat ones, long ones, short ones,
yellow ones, and green ones.
In fact, no two pumpkins were alike, except of course, Jack's and
Jill's.
"It will never do for us to have ours different," said Jill.
So they hunted a long time to find two that were just alike.
Tommy tried very hard to think of his arithmetic and geography and
spelling that morning.
But he couldn't help thinking of his pumpkin, which was waiting to be
made into a Jack-o'-lantern.
At last it was noon.
I am afraid the children did not care what they had for dinner that
noon, and they ate very fast.
They needed all the time they could get for their Jack-o'-lanterns.
First, they cut off the top of the pumpkin, and cut out all the seeds.
Then came the fun of making the lantern's face.
He must have two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears.
Jack cut two round holes for eyes.
A long cut in the middle was the nose.
The mouth curved up at both ends, and the holes at the sides were ears.
Some of the lanterns had two very good rows of teeth.
Tom's pumpkin was long and narrow. He said it looked so much like a big
egg that he was going to name it "Humpty Dumpty."
"Oh, let's all name our lanterns!" said the children.
"Mine is so round I shall call it 'Tubby'," said Jack.