e pond.

"Come on," said Lulu, "let's go over and see Mrs. Greenie, the frog. She
always has some candied sweet-flag root hidden away, and perhaps she will
give us some."

"I don't believe there's any left," spoke Jimmie, "for Bully, the boy
frog, is so fond of it that he eats all he can get."

"Well, we'll go, anyhow," went on Lulu. Just then she heard her mother
calling:

"Jimmie! Lulu! Where are you going?"

"We are going over to see Mrs. Greenie," replied Jimmie.

"Wait for Alice," called Mamma Wibblewobble. "She will go with you. She is
just putting a clean apron on."

"Oh, dear!" cried Lulu. "Why does Alice always make us wait while she
puts on something clean?"

"I suppose," answered Jimmie, and he scratched his bill with his left leg,
"I suppose it is because she wants to look nice."

"Yes," agreed Lulu, with a sort of quacking-sigh, "I suppose I ought to
want to look nice, too; but, somehow I don't--ever. I always seem to be in
such a hurry."

"Maybe you'll change, some day," suggested her brother.

"Maybe," spoke Lulu, and just then Alice came swimming along, looking just
as nice and pretty as do some ducks which are in a picture. They all went
over to see Mrs. Greenie, the old lady frog, who lived down on the bottom
of the pond, at the far edge, by a big willow tree.

And, honestly, though I don't like to mention it, for fear you'll think
Bully a greedy little boy, there wasn't a single bit of candied sweet-flag
root in the house. No, sir, not a tiny, weeny bit. So Mrs. Greenie gave
the Wibblewobble children some nice snails, which they liked very much,
and then they went on swimming around. Jimmie was looking for Bully, but
the little boy frog had hopped off to see his cousin. Now, in a few
minutes Jimmie is going to have an adventure, and, if you please, I want
you to listen very carefully, so as not to miss it.

Well, the three ducklings swam on, thinking how nice it was on the water,
with the warm sun on their backs, when they suddenly came to the end of
the pond. And who should be standing there but the man who owned the
little puddle. And, more than that, there was another man also standing
there in the road and beside him was a queer thing, with big fat wheels,
fatter than the fattest duck or goose you ever saw. It was puffing away,
and some smoke and a funny smell came from it. Of course, you've guessed
it! An automobile! Now, what do you think about that? The ducks listened
to what th