own the path, with Laddie at
his heels.

"I won't go to the store!" he grumbled.

"Wil-lie!" called Jennie from the house.

"Won't, won't, won't!" Willie screamed.

The next-door pussy was sunning herself in the Wrights' yard.

"Sic 'em, Laddie!" cried Willie.

"Wow-wow!" barked Laddie joyously.

"S-s-s-t!" spit pussy, scurrying to the top of the pump.

"Wil-lie-e-e!"

Willie dropped down beside the fence, out of Jennie's sight. "She c'n go
herself," he said.

Laddie cuddled down beside him. It was warm in the sun, and the locusts
were droning drowsily in the grass.

"Oo-ff! Oo-ff! Oo-ff!" snored Laddie.

Willie nodded--and nodded--and nodded.

"Ho-ho!" came a voice over the fence. "Willie Won't! That's a funny
name!"

"Funny!" retorted another voice. "It's ugly. Willie Will would be far
nicer."

"Nobody named Willie Will would ever set a dog on a cat," came a third
voice.

"No," said a fourth, "nor run off and hide when there are errands to
do."

And then the four began to sing--

"Willie Won't's a horrid boy!
No one will like him till
He helps when people want him to
And turns to Willie Will."

Willie jumped to his feet and looked around. The neighbors' sunflowers
nodded solemnly over the fence.

"Willie Will," they seemed to urge.

Willie started for the house. "Willie Will," he echoed, as he went up
the path.

[Illustration: She sat on the couch and sulked because she could not
go out to play with Little Sister]

MOLLIE AND THE POUTS

Until the Pouts got to work on Mollie she was a very pretty little girl.
But when she sat on the couch and sulked, and sulked, and sulked because
she could not go out to play with Little Sister, the Pouts turned her
into a very ugly little girl indeed.

"Ouch! You hurt!" cried a little voice, just as a Pout drew Mollie's
mouth down at the corners.

Mollie started. She had forgotten that she was holding Dear Doll Dainty
by the arm, and she let go of her in her surprise.

"Well!" cried Dear Doll Dainty. "It's a wonder that fall didn't break my
head. Why didn't you lay me nicely on the couch? My, what a sour face!"

With that, Dear Doll Dainty stepped up to her own special trunk, which
stood open in the center of the floor, and put on her hat and slipped
into her coat.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" asked Mollie, staring.

"Going away, of course. I don't care to belong to a little girl with the
Pouts."

Dear Dol