o in the
circus?" asked Nellie.

"Oh, we never thought to try that," said Freddie. "I'm going to make
one," and, filled with this new idea, he hurried into the house.

"Dinah," he said, "I want some paper and paste."

"Land sakes, chile! what yo' gwine t' do now?" asked the colored cook.

"Make a kite, an' take Snoop up in de air laik yo' brother Bert done
once?"

"No, we're not going to do that," answered the little boy. "We're
going to cover a hoop with paper, and make Snap jump through it, like
in a circus."

"Mah goodness mustard pot!" cried Dinah. "What will yo' all be up to
next?"

"I don't know," answered Freddie. "But will you make me some paste,
Dinah? And you know we haven't got Snoop, anyhow, so we couldn't send
him up on a kite tail," added Freddie.

"Deah me! Yo' chilluns done make me do de mostest wuk!" complained
Dinah, but she laughed, which showed that she did not really mean it,
and set at mixing some flour and water for the paste.

Flossie and Freddie insisted on making the paper covered hoop
themselves. They started, but they got so much of the sticky stuff on
their hands and faces that Nan feared they would soil their clothes, so
she insisted on being allowed to do the pasting for them.

"But we can help, can't we?" asked Freddie.

"Yes," said Nan.

Even for Nan covering a hoop with paper was not as easy as she thought
it would be. Grace and Nellie helped, but sometimes the wind would
blow the paper away just as they were ready to fold it around the rim
of the hoop. Then the paste would get on the girls' hands.

"What are you doing?" asked Bert, as he and Charley came from the barn.
They had to stop work on their job, as they could not find a long
enough plank. They decided to get one from Mr. Bobbsey's lumber
yard, later.

"We're going to have Snap do the circus trick of jumping through a
paper hoop," explained Nan. "Only we can't seem to get the hoop made."

"I'll do it," offered Bert, and as he and Charley had often pasted
paper on their kite frames they had better luck, and soon the hoop was
ready.

"Come, Snap!" called Freddie, it having been settled that he and
Flossie were to hold the hoop for the dog to leap through. Snap,
always ready for fun, jumped up from the grass where he had been
sleeping, and frisked about, barking loudly.

"Now you hold him there, Charley," directed Bert, pointing to a spot
back of where Freddie and Flossie stood. "Then I'll go o