it to me, Dandy,' he comes to me with the ear of corn
in his mouth. But when I try to take the corn, he shakes his head and
trots away again.
"One day I tried to play 'Hide-and-Go-Seek' with a handkerchief instead
of an ear of corn. Dandy did not like it this way. He looked at the
handkerchief. Then he sniffed at it. At last he shook his head and
turned away. He seemed to say, 'A game like that may be fun for a boy,
but it isn't fun for a pony. I am not going to play.'"
Everyone liked the story of Dandy. Some of the children asked to hear
some more about him. But Miss West said it was time for recess. So the
children went out into the school yard and played "Pony" and
"Hide-and-Go-Seek."
Another day someone drew Peggy's name on the slip of paper. And this is
what Peggy told:
"My pet is a big green and red parrot. She has a cage in the living
room. Mother calls her 'the General' because she likes to give orders.
When we sit down Polly calls out, 'Get busy! Get busy! Get busy!' If we
are too busy and do not notice Polly she rolls over on her back in the
bottom of the cage and cries, 'Come quick! Come quick! Polly's sick!
Polly's sick!' In the evening we put a cloth over Polly's cage to keep
her quiet. When the cloth is taken off in the morning she begins to
shout, 'Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!'
"One evening we forgot to put the cloth over Polly's cage. That night,
quite late, my big brother went down into the living room to find a book
he had been reading. When he turned on the light, Polly thought it was
day. She began to scream, 'Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!'
"Everyone _did_ wake up. At first we were frightened. But when we found
out what had happened we laughed and laughed. We laughed more when we
heard a voice croak, 'Come quick! Come quick! Polly's sick! Polly's
sick!'"
The girls and boys all laughed at the story of Polly. Paul wrote a poem
about her. This is what he wrote:
Upon my word,
Poll's a funny bird.
The children went around at recess saying this. They said some of
Polly's speeches too.
One day Miss West told the children a true story that was very, very
sad. It was about a blind man who sold papers. He had owned a little
dog that used to lead him to his work and watch him all day; but the
little dog had died. Now the poor man had no one to lead him. So he
could not sell his papers.
The children were very sorry for him. They wanted to do something to
help.
"Wouldn
|