the fence at her he said:

"Say, Dot, let's give your dolls a ride."

"Sam-my Pink-ney!" shrilled Dot vigorously. "If you ever try to ride my
Alice-doll or any of her sisters in that car up there I'll-- I'll never
speak to you again!"

And she was so much in earnest and seemed so near to tears that Sammy
hastily gave his word of honor--as a man and a pirate--never to treat
the dolls to such an aerial trip.

Mabel Creamer, who lived next door on Main Street, wheeled her little
brother over to Willow Street to view the wonder of the aerial tramway.
When she heard that Dot and Tess would not allow their dolls to be used
as passengers in the aerial car, she offered to put Bubby up there.

"Why, Mabel!" gasped Tess. "S'pose he should fall out?"

"Oh," Mabel replied coolly, "he wouldn't hurt himself. He rolled all the
way down the cellar stairs yesterday and didn't do a thing to
himself--only broke the cat's dish, 'cause he landed on it."

"That's some tough baby," pronounced Neale; but after Mabel had wheeled
Bubby away Tess confided to Neale that she knew why the Creamer's
youngest was so "tough."

"Why, you know," Tess said earnestly, "almost everything that could
happen to a baby has happened to him. Mabel hates to take care of him,
and she is always forgetting and leaving him to tumble out of the
carriage, or into something babies aren't supposed to get into."

"And 'member when he got carried away in the hamper by the laundryman?"
broke in Dot. "If it hadn't been for our Agnes following in Joe Eldred's
motor car, Bubby might have been washed and ironed and brought back to
Mrs. Creamer just as flat as a pancake!"

"That's the capsheaf," chuckled Neale O'Neil. "Bubby Creamer is
certainly a wonderful kid. What do you say, Aggie?" for the older girl
had just appeared, ready dressed for a shopping excursion.

"Silk-wool to mend my sweater; pins--two kinds; pearl buttons for Dot's
waists; a celluloid thimble for Linda; a pair of hose for Mrs.
Mac--extra tops; Aunt Sarah's peppermints for Sunday service; lace for
Ruthie's collar; hair ribbons for Tessie; a _love_ of a waist I saw at
Blackstein & Mape's! and----"

"Help! Help!" cried Neale, breaking in at last. "And you expect _me_ to
accompany you on a shopping trip, Aggie, when you've all those feminine
folderols to buy?"

"Why not?" demanded Agnes, making innocent eyes. "I want you to carry my
packages."

"All right. But you'll hitch me out in front of the s