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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17064-h.zip b/17064-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..541f33d --- /dev/null +++ b/17064-h.zip diff --git a/17064-h/17064-h.htm b/17064-h/17064-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2cc0a63 --- /dev/null +++ b/17064-h/17064-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2998 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Story of a Plush Bear, by Laura Lee Hope</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + .right {text-align: right;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {text-indent: 22em; text-align: center;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of a Plush Bear, by Laura Lee Hope, +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Story of a Plush Bear</p> +<p>Author: Laura Lee Hope</p> +<p>Release Date: November 14, 2005 [eBook #17064]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class='center'><i>MAKE BELIEVE STORIES</i><br /><br /> + +(Trademark Registered)</div> + +<h1>THE STORY OF A</h1> +<h1>PLUSH BEAR</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>LAURA LEE HOPE</h2> + +<div class="center"><span class="smcap">Author of "The Story of a Sawdust Doll," <br />"The +Story of a Nodding Donkey," "The Story of a China<br /> +Cat," "Bobbsey Twins Series," "Bunny Brown Series,"<br /> +"Six Little Bunkers Series," etc.</span> +<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center">ILLUSTRATED BY</div> +<h3>HARRY L. SMITH</h3> + +<div class="center">NEW YORK<br /> +GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> +PUBLISHERS<br /></div> + +<div class="center">Made in the United States of America +</div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<h3>BOOKS</h3> + +<h3>By LAURA LEE HOPE</h3> + +<div class='center'>Durably Bound. Illustrated.</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>MAKE BELIEVE STORIES</h3> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Make-Believe Stories"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A NODDING DONKEY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES</h3> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Bobbsey Twins"> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES</h3> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES</h3> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES</h3> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='center'><span class="smcap">Grosset & Dunlap</span>, Publishers, New York<br /> +<br /> +Copyright, 1921, by GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<div class='center'>The Story of a Plush Bear</div> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/front.jpg" alt="Front Facing" title="Front Facing" /></div> + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'>CHAPTER</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td align='left'>PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>I</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Snowball Fight</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>II</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Little Eskimo</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_14'>14</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>III</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Out All Night</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_26'>26</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>IV</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Toy Shop</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_41'>41</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>V</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Fat Boy</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_55'>55</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VI</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Out of the Window</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_68'>68</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VII</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">On the Boardwalk</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_78'>78</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>VIII</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Sand</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'XI'">IX</ins></td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Out To Sea</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'>X</td> +<td align='left'><span class="smcap">Saved at Last</span></td> +<td align='right'><a href='#Page_110'>110</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE STORY OF A</h2> +<h2>PLUSH BEAR</h2> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>A SNOWBALL FIGHT</h3> + + +<p>Down swirled the white flakes, blowing this way and that. It was snowing +furiously in North Pole Land, and even the immense workshop of Santa +Claus was almost buried in white. How the wind howled! It whistled down +the chimneys, and blew the sparks about.</p> + +<p>"Whew, how cold it is!" cried a Wax Doll, who did not have any shoes on, +for she was not yet quite finished. "What makes such a breeze in here?" +and she shivered as she pulled up over her legs a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>blanket of plush +cloth from which Santa Claus and his men made Teddy Bears.</p> + +<p>"It is cold," said a Celluloid Doll, who was lying on the work bench +next to the wax toy. "Some one must have left a window open."</p> + +<p>"Left a window open? There are three or four windows open!" gleefully +shouted a fuzzy, Woolen Boy Doll. "Look at the snow blowing in! Hurray! +Now we can have a snowball fight without going outside. Come on!" cried +the Woolen Boy Doll to a little Flannel Pig who had just been stuffed +with cotton. "Come on, have a snowball fight!"</p> + +<p>"All right!" squealed the Flannel Pig. "I'll wash your face!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how cold it is! How cold it is!" sighed the Wax Doll. "Give me more +covers, please, somebody! My feet are freezing! Who left the windows +open?"</p> + +<p>"Here, take this," called a big Plush Bear, tossing toward the Wax Doll +a quilt he took from a bed in a playhouse that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>stood next to him on the +work table. "This will keep you warm. I guess some of the men who work +for Santa Claus must have gone off and forgotten to close the windows."</p> + +<p>This is just what had happened. There had been a busy time in the North +Pole workshop of Santa Claus that day, for it was getting near to +Christmas. The little men, like elves, who built the Noah's Arks, the +toy animals, the dolls, and the other playthings, had been as busy as +bees.</p> + +<p>Then, in the afternoon, just before dark, jolly old Santa Claus himself +entered his shop, the windows of which were made from crystal-clear +sheets of ice.</p> + +<p>"What ho, my merry men!" cried Santa Claus, "you have been working very +hard. Stop now, and have lunch, for we must work overtime to-night so +that we may finish a lot of toys to be taken down to Earth. But now I +will give you a little rest, though it is not five o'clock, when we +usually stop."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hurray!" cried the merry little men.</p> + +<p>They gladly laid down their tools and put aside the half-finished toys +on which they had been working. Half-finished Dolls, Jumping Jacks that +could not yet leap, Jacks in Boxes that could not yet spring out, trains +of cars that could not yet run—all these were laid aside, together with +toys completely made, so that the little men might rest themselves.</p> + +<p>"Come to the lunch room and get some hot chocolate and some frosted +cake," said Santa Claus, and away trooped the jolly little men. Just who +had left some of the windows open no one knew. But they were open, and +when the big storm came, in blew the snowflakes.</p> + +<p>"I call this real jolly," said the big Plush Bear, who had given the Wax +Doll the bed quilt to keep her feet warm. "I'd like to be out in this +storm. But this is the next best thing. Hi there!" he called to the +Flannel Pig, "look out where you're <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>throwing snowballs! You nearly hit +the Wax Doll."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if he did that my complexion would be spoiled!" cried the beautiful +toy, who was not, as yet, quite finished.</p> + +<p>"I'll be careful," promised the Flannel Pig. "Don't you want to have fun +in the snowball fight, Mr. Teddy Bear?"</p> + +<p>"I am not a Teddy Bear!" roared the big plush creature. "Many people +take me for one; but I am not, though I do look like a Teddy. But I am a +real Plush Bear, and when I am wound up I can move my head and my paws +and I can growl. Listen! I am wound up now!"</p> + +<p>There was a whirring sound inside the Plush Bear as the clock work +wheels began to turn, and soon his head moved slowly from side to side, +he raised his paws and lowered them, and out of his red mouth came a +growling voice saying:</p> + +<p>"To be sure, I'll join the snowball fight!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hurray!" cried the Woolen Boy Doll. "Now for some fun!" For though the +Plush Bear had spoken with a growl he was not at all cross. That was +just his way. He was really most jolly, though he had a very wise look +on his plush face, as though always thinking of hard examples to solve +and hard words to spell. But though he was wise, and growled when he +talked, the Plush Bear was most delightful.</p> + +<p>"Come on! We'll move over to one side where we shall not get any snow on +the toys who don't like it," said the Plush Bear. With his warm coat, +almost like fur, he loved to roll in the snow. So did the Flannel Pig +and the Woolen Boy Doll. But the Wax Doll, who, as yet, had no shoes, +the Celluloid Doll, who was only partly dressed, and some of the others +did not like the cold.</p> + +<p>Faster and faster the snow came down, and more and more white flakes +blew in through the open windows of the shop of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> Santa Claus at the +North Pole. The Plush Bear caught up a paw full of the white crystals +from the bench, made them into a ball, and tossed them at the Flannel +Pig. The Flannel Pig turned quickly and chased after the Woolen Boy +Doll, crying:</p> + +<p>"I'll wash your face! I'll wash your face!"</p> + +<p>Then such fun as there was! The Wax Doll, covered up now so that her +feet were no longer cold, and in a safe corner where no balls could hit +her, watched the sport.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad Santa Claus and his men took a little resting spell," said the +Plush Bear, as he quickly stooped down to get out of the way of a +snowball thrown by a Teddy Bear, almost like himself.</p> + +<p>"Yes, if they were here we could have no fun," said the Flannel Pig.</p> + +<p>And this was very true.</p> + +<p>As I shall explain to you in this book, and as I have told you in other +books of these "Make Believe Stories," the toys could pretend to come to +life, move about, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>and have fun when no one was looking at them. They +could talk, tell jokes and stories, as well as riddles, play games, have +races and even snowball fights, as they were having one now. But the +moment any one looked at them, or came into the room where they were +playing, the toys settled back straight and stiff and still. They could +listen to what was said, but they dared not speak, and they could take +no part in life.</p> + +<p>So it was that the toys were glad Santa Claus and his men had, for a +little while, gone out of the big workshop. It was a wonderful +place—this workshop of Santa Claus. There many of the toys in the world +were made for the boys and girls of the Earth. And as fast as he had +several boxes of toys ready, Santa Claus would hitch his eight reindeer +to his sleigh, and down to Earth he would go. He would leave boxes and +bags of toys at the different shops and warehouses, whence they were +sent to other places where boys and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>girls could see them, and tell +their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts or cousins what +they wanted for Christmas.</p> + +<p>Biff! a big snowball went sailing across the room.</p> + +<p>Bang! it struck the Plush Bear on his nose.</p> + +<p>"Wuff! Wuff!" growled the Plush Bear, but he was not at all cross, and, +an instant later, he sent another ball sailing toward the Flannel Pig.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't throw that! I didn't hit you!" squealed the Flannel Pig, +as he tried to dodge out of the way of the mass of snow tossed by the +Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," growled Mr. Bruin, as the Bear was sometimes called. "It's +all in fun!"</p> + +<p>And fun it was! At other times, when they were left alone, the toys in +the workshop of Santa Claus had fun, but never before, at least in a +long while, had windows been left open so that the snow blew in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's almost as much fun as being out doors," said the Plush Bear again, +as he moved his paws and shook his head from side to side. "I only wish +the Nodding Donkey could be here to enjoy it," he went on.</p> + +<p>"Who is the Nodding Donkey?" asked the Wax Doll, as the Flannel Pig and +the others stopped snowballing for a moment.</p> + +<p>"He was a toy who was born here, and who lived here for some time, +before he was taken down to Earth," answered the Plush Bear. "He could +nod his head, and he did not have to be wound up with a key as I have to +be. I liked the Nodding Donkey very much. But he and the China Cat have +both gone away.</p> + +<p>"However, I suppose that is the way of things up here. We are made to +give happiness to boys and girls, and the only way in which we can do +that is to allow ourselves to be taken to Earth by Santa Claus. Yes, I +suppose I shall be taken down some day," and once more he moved <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>his +head from side to side, and looked very wise indeed, did the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>As I have said, he was not a Teddy Bear, though sometimes he looked like +one. He was made entirely of soft, brown, silky plush. This plush +covered from view the clock wheels and springs inside the Bear, which +when wound up, caused him to move and growl. But the wheels did not give +the Bear his wise look. That was put on his face by one of the workmen +of Santa Claus.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know what we can do!" suddenly cried a Polar Bear, who had just +shuffled along to join the fun. The Polar Bear was like the Plush Bear +only a different color, the Plush Bear being brown, and the Polar Bear +white.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked the Flannel Pig, as he wiped some snow water +out of one of his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Let's build a big snow house, such as the Eskimos all about the North +Pole build," went on the Polar Bear. "There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>is enough snow being blown +in through the open windows to make a lot of houses. And we can make a +hill, and slide down that, too!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, let's do it," said the Woolen Doll Boy. But just then the Plush +Bear shook his head and growled out:</p> + +<p>"Be careful, everybody! I think some one is coming! We must not be seen +in motion, or be heard talking. Keep quiet, every one!"</p> + +<p>Each of the toys became as still as a little chocolate mouse.</p> + +<p>Then one of the open windows was darkened as a strange creature looked +in. It seemed to be a boy, but he was covered with skins and fur, almost +like an animal. Only his face could be seen. His hands, as he rested +them on the sill of the window, were covered with big, fur mittens.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho! Nobody is here! I can take one of the toys!" said the +fur-dressed Eskimo boy, for such he was. "Now is my chance! I'll take +that big bear!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Eskimo boy, one of a strange, unknown race that live at the North +Pole, was just climbing in through the open window, when suddenly, at +the far end of the shop, a voice cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, my goodness! Look what has happened! Some one left the windows open +and a lot of snow has blown in! Quick, my merry men! Close the windows +and start work to finish the toys! I hope none is spoiled!"</p> + +<p>And with that Santa Claus himself hurried into the shop.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE LITTLE ESKIMO</h3> + + +<p>Following Santa Claus, his little men hurried into the North Pole shop. +They were dancing and capering about, for they felt very lively after +their rest, and they were ready to start again making toys, or finishing +those half completed.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! Oh! Such a lot of trouble!" cried Santa Claus, but even this +trouble could not keep the laughter out of his jolly voice. "Snow! Snow! +Snow all over everything!" went on Saint Nicholas. "Who left the windows +open so that all the flakes blew in?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I—I guess I did, Santa Claus," replied one of the little men who wore +a red cap. "I wanted some fresh air, for I was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>working over the paint +pots, putting blue eyes in wax dolls, and the paint smell almost choked +me. So I opened some windows."</p> + +<p>"I guess no great harm is done," said Santa Claus, looking about. "It is +so cold the snow hasn't melted, and it is only melted snow that spoils +toys. But I don't see how the snow got all over the floor, as well as on +the benches," he added.</p> + +<p>Ah, if Santa Claus had only seen the toys at play, throwing snowballs +all about, and washing the faces of one another, he would have known how +it happened. But even Santa Claus was not allowed to see the toys come +to life and play.</p> + +<p>"Get brooms, sweep up the snow, and close the windows," called Saint +Nicholas. "Get the shop ready to work in again, for we are going to be +very busy. The Earth children want many toys this year, and we have not +made nearly enough. Clean out the snow!"</p> + +<p>With brooms, shovels, and brushes, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>merry little men fell to work, +and soon the shop of Santa Claus was as it should be, and as it had been +before the storm. The windows, made of sheets of ice, were pulled down, +and soon there was the hum of songs all through the shop, for the men of +Santa Claus sang as they worked.</p> + +<p>One of the men, as he pulled down the window near his bench, where he +was making a lot of little animals for a Noah's Ark, looked out through +the pane of ice glass.</p> + +<p>"What do you see?" asked the workman next him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, one of those odd Eskimo children, all dressed in fur, was right +under this window," answered the other little man. "He must have been +here when the windows were open. Maybe he wanted to see us making toys. +Well, he won't see any better toy than the Plush Bear I just finished," +said the little man proudly.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" agreed the second little man. "But does Santa Claus know +about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>these little Eskimo children coming around his workshop?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they never bother us," was the answer. "Now we mustn't talk any +more, for we have many toys to make for the Earth children."</p> + +<p>So the little men became very busy—too busy to talk, though the Plush +Bear heard them singing as they made toy after toy. The Plush Bear and +the other playthings could hear what was said, though they could take no +part in the talk while Santa Claus, or any of his men, were in the shop. +And Santa Claus was there now, seeing that each one of his tiny elves +made as many toys as possible.</p> + +<p>"Well, we certainly had a good time for a while!" thought the Plush Bear +to himself. "What fun that snowball fight was! I'd like another. I +didn't feel a bit cold!"</p> + +<p>And no wonder. His coat of silk plush was as warm as the fur coat of a +real bear. The Plush toy was looking straight at the Polar Bear and the +big, white fellow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>seemed to be blinking his eyes at the other Bear.</p> + +<p>All through the great North Pole workshop of Santa Claus the little men +were busy, singing over their tasks. But they could not work all night +and all day as well, so at last there came an hour when Santa Claus rang +a bell and said:</p> + +<p>"Now, my merry men, it is time for you to go to bed. Be up early in the +morning to make more toys. Good-night, everybody!"</p> + +<p>With that he went out, buttoning his fur coat about him, and the +workmen, after putting away their tools, followed. Santa Claus and his +men slept in snow castles not far from the workshop.</p> + +<p>It was almost dark in the toy shop now. Outside the Northern Lights +glowed faintly, and inside only a little candle was left gleaming, its +beams reflected in some shiny gold stars that were to go on the tops of +Christmas trees later on.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/24.jpg" alt=""Be Careful, Everybody!" Said the Plush Bear." title=""Be Careful, Everybody!" Said the Plush Bear." /></div> +<div class='center'>"Be Careful, Everybody!" Said the Plush Bear.</div> +<div class='caption'><i>Page</i> <a href='#Page_12'>12</a></div> + +<p>"Hello, everybody!" softly called the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>voice of the Flannel Pig, as he +peered out from the roof of a toy dog house, where he had been put by +one of the workmen. "Now we can have some more fun!"</p> + +<p>"We must be sure every one is gone," said the Plush Bear, as he began to +swing his head from side to side. For he had been wound up, and now the +wheels and springs inside him were beginning to move.</p> + +<p>"Oh, every one is gone," said the Wax Doll. "And this time they will +stay away all night. Now we can have our usual fun."</p> + +<p>"Is there any snow left?" asked the Polar Bear. "I should like to wash +the face of the Plush Bear."</p> + +<p>"And I'd wash yours, too!" laughed the Plush Bear. "But the little men +swept out all the snow and closed the windows. There isn't so much as an +icicle left."</p> + +<p>"Too bad!" sighed the Polar Bear. "Well, we'll have fun some other way. +Let's see, what shall we do? Have any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>of you ever seen me turn +somersaults?" he asked, after a moment's pause.</p> + +<p>"No. Can you do it?" asked the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"You should see me!" boasted the big white Bear. "I don't believe +anywhere in North Pole Land you will find a better somersault turner +than I. Watch me!"</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear and the other toys leaned forward from the shelves and +tables where they sat or stood to see what would happen. If they had not +been so eager to see what the Polar Bear was going to do some of them +might have noticed a small, dark figure stealing up outside the workshop +of Santa Claus, and stopping beneath one of the ice windows.</p> + +<p>This little figure was that of an Eskimo boy—the same little chap, all +dressed in sealskin and fur, who had looked in and almost reached +through the window to take out the Plush Bear when he had interrupted +the toys in the midst of their snowball fight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, now is my chance!" murmured the little Eskimo boy, as he stepped +softly over the snow, coming nearer and nearer to the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'workship'">workshop</ins> of Santa +Claus. "If I can open a window I'll take out that Plush Bear, cart him +off to the igloo, and have a lot of fun."</p> + +<p>The Eskimo boy lived with his father and mother in a house made of +blocks of snow and ice. This house was called an "igloo," and it takes +its name from the house built by the seals in the far North. The Eskimos +build their houses the same shape as the houses made in the ice by the +seals. If you cut an orange or an apple in half, and put the flat side +down on a table, you will see exactly how an Eskimo igloo is shaped.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I can only get the Plush Bear!" thought the Eskimo boy, as he +stepped softly nearer and nearer to the workshop of Santa Claus.</p> + +<p>It was not very dark in North Pole Land just then. Though the sun had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>gone down, and the long winter had set in, still there were the +Northern Lights, which glowed and flickered in the sky and made enough +of a gleam for the Eskimo boy to see his way over the snow. The snow, +too, helped to make it less dark.</p> + +<p>Ever since he had seen the Plush Bear through the window of Santa Claus' +workshop that day, the Eskimo boy had wanted the plaything. So after his +supper of seal fat and blubber, with a piece of tallow candle, which was +to him what candy is to you, the boy, well wrapped in fur, started out +from his igloo.</p> + +<p>All this while, or at least after Santa Claus and his men had gone, the +Plush Bear and the other toys were having fun among themselves. As I +have told you, the Polar Bear was getting ready to turn somersaults to +amuse the other toys.</p> + +<p>"Watch me now!" cried the Polar Bear, as he leaned over and got ready to +stand on his head.</p> + +<p>"Say, why don't you turn some somer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>saults?" the Flannel Pig asked of +the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Maybe I will after he gets through," the Plush Bear answered.</p> + +<p>The Eskimo boy was now at one of the windows of the shop—a window which +had for a pane a clear sheet of ice. The Eskimo boy blew his warm breath +on this window pane, close to the place where, inside, there was a catch +to hold the window shut.</p> + +<p>"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" breathed the Eskimo boy on the glass. And his breath +was warm, just as yours is when you melt the frost on your window glass +at home. Very soon the fur-clad boy had melted a hole in the ice pane. +After that it was easy for him to slip his hand in and turn back the +window catch.</p> + +<p>The Eskimo boy did not know it was wrong thus to take a toy from the +workshop of Santa Claus. He only knew that he wanted the Plush Bear, and +that this was the easiest way to get it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<p>Softly he raised the window, after he had turned back the catch. There, +in front of him on one of the tables, stood the Plush Bear and many +other Christmas toys. But the Eskimo boy had eyes only for the Plush +Bear.</p> + +<p>"What fun I shall have with you!" whispered the Eskimo boy. He reached +forth his hand and took the wonderful plaything.</p> + +<p>Just at this time the Polar Bear was turning a somersault, and the eyes +of all the other toys were looking at him.</p> + +<p>If they had not been looking at the Polar Bear they would have seen the +Eskimo boy open the window. And had he once looked at the toys they +would have had to stop talking and moving. But, as it happened, none of +the toys saw him.</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear had just been going to clap his paws together to applaud +the Polar Bear's trick of turning a somersault, when the Plush Bear felt +himself lifted up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh!" he said faintly, and then he saw that he must not move or speak, +for the Eskimo boy was looking straight at him.</p> + +<p>"Ha, now I have you, Mr. Plush Bear," whispered the Eskimo boy, and he +quickly drew his arm back out of the open window, taking the wonderful +toy with him. He slipped the Plush Bear under his coat of fur, and away +he sped over the snow, sparkling in the Northern Lights. Over the snow +ran the Eskimo boy, taking to his igloo the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me," thought the Plush Bear, "this is a strange adventure, +indeed! I hoped I might go to Earth in the sleigh of Santa Claus, as the +Nodding Donkey did, but now, it seems, I must stay at the North Pole in +a snow and ice hut! Oh, dear! What is going to happen to me?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>OUT ALL NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>"There! What do you think of that for a somersault?" cried the Polar +Bear, as he flopped over on his back. "Can you do as well as that, Mr. +Plush Bear?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a wonderful fellow the Polar Bear is!" cried the Wax Doll, who +now had on her shoes so she could walk about on the broad workshop +bench. "Quite remarkable!"</p> + +<p>"The Plush Bear can do as well!" squealed the Flannel Pig, making his +nose wrinkle up in a funny way. "Come on, Plush Bear!" he cried. "Show +them how you turn somersaults!"</p> + +<p>This talk took place just after the Polar Bear had done his trick, and +right after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>the Eskimo boy had opened the window and taken away the toy +he so much wanted.</p> + +<p>None of the toys, except the Plush Bear, had seen the Eskimo boy, and +the boy had not looked at any of the other toys, so they did not have to +stop what they were doing. And as the Eskimo boy popped his hand out of +the window, almost as soon as he had popped it in, the toys kept right +on with what they were doing.</p> + +<p>"Come, let's see you turn a somersault, Plush Bear!" called the Polar +Bear to his friend.</p> + +<p>"Yes! Yes!" cried the other playthings! "Let's have a somersault race!"</p> + +<p>They turned toward that part of the work bench where they thought the +Plush Bear would be standing, but the Plush Bear was not there.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's gone!" squealed the Flannel Pig.</p> + +<p>"Maybe he got down on the floor to practice a somersault, so he can beat +me!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> But he'll have hard work!" growled the Polar Bear. But he was not +cross when he growled. It was just his way of speaking, as it was also +that of the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"No, he isn't on the floor!" said the Wax Doll, leaning over the edge of +the table to look down.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he has fallen out of the window!" suddenly cried the Flannel Pig. +"See, the window is open! The Plush Bear must have fallen into the snow +outside."</p> + +<p>"We must get him back!"</p> + +<p>"Throw him a piece of a doll's clothes-line and haul him up!"</p> + +<p>"Get a ladder from one of the toy fire engines!"</p> + +<p>"Let's all go down after him! Maybe he bumped his nose!"</p> + +<p>These were only a few of the shouts and cries that came when it was +discovered that the window was open and that the Plush Bear was gone.</p> + +<p>The Eskimo boy had not stopped to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>close the window after opening it to +take the toy he so much wanted. And now the toys, crowding on the sill, +which was close to the work bench, looked out in the snow under the +window. It was light enough for them to see quite well.</p> + +<p>"Come on back here, Plush Bear!" called the Flannel Pig, who was quite +friendly with the big toy. "I want to see you turn a somersault."</p> + +<p>"Yes, come on back, unless you're afraid that I can beat you!" growled +the Polar Bear.</p> + +<p>"Maybe he is afraid, and ran away," suggested the Wax Doll, who seemed +more friendly to the Polar Bear.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" squealed the Flannel Pig. "The Plush Bear is a brave +fellow, and he is very wise! He would not run away. The window must have +come open and he tumbled out."</p> + +<p>"But he isn't down there in the snow," said a toy Fireman, looking +carefully be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>low. "If he was down there I could fix a ladder for him so +he could climb up. But he isn't there."</p> + +<p>"Where can he be?" asked the Flannel Pig. "He was standing near me one +minute, saying how he was going to turn a somersault, and when next I +looked he was gone."</p> + +<p>"See! There are footprints in the snow under the window," said the Polar +Bear, who had come to the sill. "Maybe Santa Claus or some of his men +came along outside, and took the Plush Bear away."</p> + +<p>"They would not do that," declared the Wax Doll. "Santa Claus would not +take just one of us toys. When he takes any, he takes a whole +sleigh-load to Earth for the children. No, there is something strange +about this!"</p> + +<p>And indeed there was, as we know. The Eskimo boy had the Plush Bear, but +the toys knew nothing of this. However, there was nothing they could +do.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>After calling softly to the Plush Bear to come back, but receiving no +answer, about a dozen of the Jumping Jacks, by climbing up and all +pulling together on the window, managed to close it to keep out the +cold, night air.</p> + +<p>"Well, since there is no one else to turn somersaults with me, I'll do +it alone," said the Polar Bear. So he flipped and flopped over again, +and the other toys played games among themselves, but the nice Plush +Bear was not among them.</p> + +<p>He was under the fur coat of the Eskimo boy, being carried across the +snow to the ice hut, or igloo. The door to this igloo was not like the +door to your home. It was just a hole, with some pieces of fur and skin +hung over it to keep out the cold wind. Ski, which was the name of the +Eskimo boy, pushed aside this curtain of fur as he crawled into the +igloo, with the Plush Bear beneath his warm jacket. The doorway, or +hole, was made small to keep out as much cold as possible, and Ski had +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>to stoop down and crawl on his hands and knees to get in.</p> + +<p>Inside the igloo there were no tables and chairs, such as there are in +your house. There were just some slabs of ice set here and there, being +raised a little from the icy floor. On the floor were skins to make it +as warm as possible, and in the middle of the igloo was a sort of lamp, +or stove, made of stone, filled with oil in which floated a wick that +was burning. This lamp-stove was all the Eskimos had to heat and cook +with. But as they wore their fur clothes all winter long, never taking +them off, they did not catch cold.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said Ski, the Eskimo boy, as he pulled the Plush Bear out from +under his fur coat and set the toy down on a shelf of ice in the igloo, +where the rays from the oil lamp fell upon it. "See what I have!" and +his father and mother and his brothers and sisters leaned forward to +look at the strange object.</p> + +<p>There was not much room in the igloo, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>and the Eskimo family was rather +crowded. But they did not mind this, as it was much warmer than if they +had lived in a big room. In fact, except in the center, one could not +stand up in the igloo. The roof was too low.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get that?" asked Ski's father, as he looked at the Plush +Bear.</p> + +<p>"He was in the big igloo, far over the snow, near the big ice mountain," +answered the Eskimo boy. "I saw him through a window, and I wanted him. +When all in the igloo were asleep I breathed on the ice pane, opened the +window, and took this Bear. Now he is mine!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know that big igloo," said Ski's father. "There was none like it +where we came from. I do not know what it is."</p> + +<p>Ski's family had just moved to North Pole Land, and they had never heard +of Santa Claus, though the other Eskimos of this country were well +acquainted with Saint Nicholas. To Ski and his family <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>the workshop of +Santa Claus was just a big "igloo."</p> + +<p>"Is not this Bear nice?" asked Ski, of his brothers and sisters.</p> + +<p>"But he is not like the bears here," said Kiki, one of the Eskimo girls. +"He is brown, like the seals. The North Bears are white."</p> + +<p>"There was a white Bear in the big igloo, but I would rather have this +one," said Ski. "I will always keep him."</p> + +<p>During this time the Plush Bear, of course, had not dared to say a word +or move by himself. He was being watched too closely. But he could hear +what was said, and he wondered what was going to happen to him.</p> + +<p>"I shall be dreadfully lonesome if I have to stay here," thought the +Plush Bear. "There is not another toy in the whole place!"</p> + +<p>There was another toy, but the Plush Bear did not know it. This toy was +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>rudely carved Wooden Doll, owned by Kiki. She had wrapped this Wooden +Doll in a bit of sealskin and put it in her bed to keep it warm. For to +Kiki the piece of wood, which looked something like a Doll, was as much +alive as your Doll is to you girls.</p> + +<p>"That is a wonderful thing, Ski," said the Eskimo boy's father. "Never +have I seen such a thing in all my life!"</p> + +<p>Ski's father leaned forward and touched the Plush Bear. And he happened +to touch the very spring that set the toy animal in motion. For the +Plush Bear was all wound up when Ski reached through the window and took +him, and all that was needed was a touch to send him off.</p> + +<p>Immediately the Plush Bear began to move his head from side to side, +growls came out of his red mouth, and his paws waved to and fro. He +behaved almost like a small, live bear.</p> + +<p>"Wow!" cried Ski, leaping back when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>he saw the Plush Bear beginning to +move.</p> + +<p>"Wow!" cried Ski's father, mother and sisters and brothers, and they, +too, leaped back.</p> + +<p>"Gurr-r-r-r! Gurr-r-r-r!" growled the Plush Bear, and he moved his paws +and head faster than ever. He was not doing this himself, you +understand. He was not making believe come to life. He was only doing as +all the other spring toys do—moving when the wheels within him moved.</p> + +<p>"Wow!" cried Ski's father again. "This is magic! This bear is bewitched! +It will bring us bad luck! It must not stay in my igloo!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please let me keep it!" begged Ski, as his father caught up the +Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"No! No! It would be dangerous! It would bring us bad luck! There is a +witch in that bear!" murmured Ski's mother.</p> + +<p>"Never have I seen such a thing!" went on Ski's father in awe and +wonder. "We must not keep it! If we allowed it to stay <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>in this igloo we +should freeze, I should never catch any seals, and our blubber fat would +become so hard we could not eat it. I must take this magic bear that +moves back to the big igloo!"</p> + +<p>So, though Ski begged his father to be allowed to keep the toy, the +Eskimo man thrust the bear under his fur coat and crawled out of the +igloo into the glow of the Northern Lights.</p> + +<p>"I must take it back to the big igloo," murmured Ski's father. "Then +will the bad magic pass away."</p> + +<p>You see he did not know, never having seen such a toy before, and never +having heard of machinery—Ski's father did not know what a delightful +toy the Plush Bear was. All he thought of was bad luck and magic.</p> + +<p>Quickly Ski's father hitched his team of dogs to the long, low wooden +sled.</p> + +<p>Crack! went the long whip over their heads, but the Eskimo man did not +let the lash fall on the animals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>Over the snow and ice they drew the sled, on which Ski's father sat well +wrapped in fur blankets. Nearer they came to the workshop of Santa +Claus—the "big igloo" as Ski had called it.</p> + +<p>"I will leave the magic bear that moves beneath one of the windows," +murmured Ski's father. "Then will the bad luck pass from us."</p> + +<p>He guided his dog team up under the very window out of which Ski had +taken the bear, for the man could see Ski's footprints in the snow.</p> + +<p>"There! Now I am done with you!" whispered Ski's father, as he dropped +the Plush Bear in the snow and turned his dog team around to go back to +his igloo.</p> + +<p>As for the Plush Bear, his head moved, he growled, and his paws waved to +and fro as long as the spring was wound up. But when it ran down, as it +did in a little while, he was motionless. Except that now, as no one +could see him, he was allowed to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>make believe come to life and could do +as he pleased.</p> + +<p>"Well, this is certainly a fine state of affairs!" said the Plush Bear +to himself, speaking out loud, as there were no human ears to hear. +"Taken away to an ice house, scaring an Eskimo family half to death, and +then to be brought back here and dumped in a snow bank! It's a good +thing I have on a warm plush coat, or I'd surely freeze! I wonder if I +can get back into the shop?"</p> + +<p>But this the Bear could not do. The window had been pulled down and shut +by the Jumping Jacks, and the hole Ski had breathed in the icy pane was +too small for the Plush Bear to crawl through, even if he could have +reached it. He tried to call out, to make the toys inside hear him, so +they might rescue him, but they had gone to sleep after their evening of +fun.</p> + +<p>So the Plush Bear had to stay out in the snow bank near the workshop of +Santa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Claus all night. It was cold and dreary, but he made the best of +it.</p> + +<p>"When morning comes they will take me in," he thought. "The night can +not last forever."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>IN THE TOY SHOP</h3> + + +<p>Slowly the night passed. Well it was for the Plush Bear that he was +warmly clad in such a warm coat, or he might have been frozen stiff. As +it was, his wheels and springs had to be oiled several times after his +long night spent in a snowdrift.</p> + +<p>In the morning Santa Claus and his men hurried into the workshop after +breakfast. There was a hum and a bustle, whistling and singing, and the +sound of many tools being used.</p> + +<p>"Lively, my merry men, lively!" cried Santa Claus, with a laugh, as he +passed from bench to bench. "I will soon make a trip to Earth, and I +shall need many toys to take with me. I want a big bagful to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>load into +my sleigh. My reindeer are waiting. All I need is toys—more toys—all +the toys you can make!"</p> + +<p>"You shall have them, Santa Claus! You shall have them!" cried the merry +little men, and they began to work as fast as they could.</p> + +<p>At one of the benches Santa Claus observed a little man looking about as +though in search of something. The little man moved his tools to one +side, he shifted toys here and there, and then he looked under his +bench.</p> + +<p>"What are you looking for?" asked Santa Claus, as he passed up and down +the aisles.</p> + +<p>"Why, yesterday, I finished a fine Plush Bear," answered the workman. "I +set it over here, but now it is gone. You did not take it to Earth, did +you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," answered Santa Claus. "I have not been to Earth for some time. +But I am going soon again. Ha! I know what may have happened," he said +sud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>denly. "The windows were open yesterday. The Plush Bear may have +fallen out of the window!"</p> + +<p>It did not take the workman more than an instant to raise the sash and +poke out his head. He looked down into the bank of snow under the +window.</p> + +<p>"Here he is!" he cried. "Just as you thought, Santa Claus, the Plush +Bear fell out of the window! He isn't hurt a bit! I'll get him back +again. Ho! Ho! My Plush Bear fell out of the window!"</p> + +<p>Of course this didn't happen at all, but it was the only way Santa Claus +and his men could think of the accident having happened. But we know +about the little Eskimo boy, and how his father left the Plush Bear in +the snow bank.</p> + +<p>"There you are!" said the toy workman as he came in with the Plush Bear +and set him on the bench again. "I'm glad to get you back. Only for your +warm coat you might have frozen. I must see if you work all right."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the cold had chilled the wheels and springs inside the Plush Bear, +and it was not until after some warm oil had been poured on them that +they worked properly again. Then, when the Plush Bear was wound up, he +could growl, wag his head, and wave his paws as well as ever.</p> + +<p>"Once more you are ready to go down to Earth, as soon as Santa Claus is +ready to take you," said the workman, as he started to make a toy fire +engine that, some day, would gladden the heart of a lucky boy.</p> + +<p>As for the other toys in Santa Claus' shop, they had been very much +surprised to see the Plush Bear brought back into their midst again. But +while Saint Nicholas and his helpers were around, nothing could be said, +no questions could be asked, and Plush Bear could tell none of his +adventures.</p> + +<p>But when night came again, and the Northern Lights glowed, when the +janitor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>had mended the hole in the ice pane, breathed on by the Eskimo +boy, when all was still and quiet, the Flannel Pig leaned over toward +the Plush Bear and whispered:</p> + +<p>"Where were you? What happened? Did you try to run away?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I did not run away! Some one ran away with me! An Eskimo boy, +and he took me to his igloo, but his father would not let him keep me +because he thought I was magic and would bring him bad luck," answered +the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"My, what marvelous adventures!" exclaimed the Wax Doll, who was fond of +using big words. "Please tell us all about it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, do," growled the Polar Bear. "And after that we can have a +somersault race. You missed it last night. We thought you had fallen out +of the window."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you of my adventures," said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>the Plush Bear, and he did, from +the time Ski took him away until the workman found him in the snow bank.</p> + +<p>"I told you his adventures would be marvelous," said the Wax Doll. +"Nothing as strange will happen to you when you are taken to Earth, Mr. +Plush Bear."</p> + +<p>But just wait and see. You never can tell what is going to happen, and +the Plush Bear may have even more strange adventures.</p> + +<p>That night in the shop of Santa Claus passed all too soon for the Plush +Bear. When he had finished telling his story the Flannel Pig cried:</p> + +<p>"Let's have a game of tag!"</p> + +<p>"All right! I'll be it!" agreed a Jumping Jack, and he was such a lively +fellow that in less than a second he had tagged an Elephant. The +Elephant was so large and such a slow chap that he was it for a long +time. He could hardly tag any one, not even the Plush Bear and the Polar +Bear, who, also being large animal toys, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>had to move slowly. But they +were not as slow as the Elephant.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is no fun!" said the Elephant after a while. "I can't catch +any of you! Let's play hide and go seek! I'll have some chance in that +game!"</p> + +<p>So they played that, and told stories and sang songs until it was almost +morning, and time for Santa Claus and his men to open the shop again. +Then the toys became quiet, as usual.</p> + +<p>That day Saint Nicholas walked up and down among the benches and spoke +to his workmen.</p> + +<p>"I will go to Earth to-morrow," said Santa Claus. "Get ready all the +toys you can, and I will fill my sleigh. I will load it to-night."</p> + +<p>And the toys who heard this were very much excited, wondering who would +be taken and who would be left.</p> + +<p>"I'll take this Plush Bear!" said Santa Claus that evening, as he began +selecting the toys he wanted for his sack to take to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> Earth. "And I'll +take the Wax Doll, the Flannel Pig, and the Elephant. I want a lot of +other dolls, plenty of drums, some Jumping Jacks, some Jacks in the Box, +some toy soldiers, some toy engines, trains of cars, toy guns and enough +more to fill my sack to running over. It is so near Christmas that I +need all the toys I can pile into my sleigh."</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear was lifted off the bench by one of the workmen and put in +a box, after being wrapped in tissue paper.</p> + +<p>"I hope they don't smother me!" thought the Bear, but he need not have +been afraid. His last glimpse was of the Wax Doll. She, too, was well +wrapped and placed in a box so her complexion would not be spoiled.</p> + +<p>"I did hope I'd have a chance to bid farewell to the toys that are +left," thought the Plush Bear, as he was placed in the sleigh of Santa +Claus. "But some of them are coming with me, that's a comfort. We shall +not have room to move <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>around, though, and hardly a chance to talk on +our trip to the Earth. However, I suppose it cannot be helped. This is +part of our adventures in life."</p> + +<p>A little later there was a merry jingle of bells, and Santa Claus could +be heard calling:</p> + +<p>"Hi, Prancer! Steady there, Dashaway! Wait a minute, Comet!"</p> + +<p>"Those are the reindeer," whispered the Wax Doll, through the side of +her box to the Plush Bear in his box.</p> + +<p>"I supposed so," was the answer. "I hope I am not made seasick on this +voyage through the air."</p> + +<p>"Seasick! The idea! The sleigh of Santa Claus is not a boat!" squealed +the Flannel Pig.</p> + +<p>Then the sack of toys was lifted up and put in the sleigh. The reindeer +shook their heads, making the bells jingle more merrily than ever. There +came a jolly laugh from Santa Claus, and then he cried:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Away we go! Over the ice! Over the snow! Down to the Earth below!"</p> + +<p>And a moment later the Plush Bear and the other toys found themselves +being swiftly carried through the cold air. But they were snug and warm +in the sleigh of Santa Claus.</p> + +<p>Of all the things that happened to the Plush Bear and the other toys on +their trip from the shop of Santa Claus to Earth I have not room to tell +you here. Enough to say that, unlike the Nodding Donkey, they suffered +no accident. None of them was tossed out into a drift of snow. Then, +finally, the big sack of toys was left at one of the many big buildings +on Earth, whence they were to be divided among the toy shops.</p> + +<p>And one day, after having been cooped up in his box for a long time, so, +at least, it seemed to him, the Plush Bear's eyes were suddenly dazzled +by a flash of light.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if I am back at the North Pole," he thought. "Has that Eskimo +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>boy caught me again, and is he taking me to his igloo? Are these +Northern Lights that flash in front of me?"</p> + +<p>But they were not, though they came from the same cause—electricity. +The glare that dazzled the eyes of the Plush Bear came from the electric +lights of a large store, where he was being unpacked, together with +other toys. There was a rustle of paper as the Plush Bear was unwrapped, +and then a voice cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Father, see what a fine toy! And it's the kind you wind up! Oh, I +shall love this Plush Bear!"</p> + +<p>"Do not squeeze him too tightly, Angelina," said a white-haired and +white-whiskered old man, who was helping two women lift the toys out of +the big box in which they had come. "You may break some of the wheels or +springs."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shan't hug him too tightly," said Angelina, laughing. "But he is +certainly a lovely Plush Bear."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is very nice," said the old gen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>tleman. "What have you, +Geraldine?" he asked his other daughter.</p> + +<p>"An Elephant," was the answer. "But he doesn't wind up. However, he will +look well in the window."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the old man, "to-morrow we will decorate the show windows +for the Christmas trade. The Plush Bear must surely stand in the window. +Some one will see him and buy him."</p> + +<p>"Well, at last I seem to have reached a toy shop—the very place I most +wanted to come to," thought the Plush Bear. "I wonder who the old +gentleman is?"</p> + +<p>Had the Plush Bear been able to read he would have seen in white letters +on one of the windows the name:</p> + +<div class='center'> +HORATIO MUGG<br /> +TOY DEALER<br /> +<br /></div> + +<p>But the Plush Bear did not need this to tell him he was in the very +place he wished to be.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now some girl or boy will buy me, I hope, and I shall have more +adventures," thought the new toy.</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear, who was taken from his box by Angelina, one of Mr. +Mugg's daughters, was placed safely on a shelf, and the unpacking of the +toys went on. It was evening, and the store was closed for the day. But +Mr. Mugg took this time to open his new shipment of Christmas goods.</p> + +<p>Geraldine had just lifted out the Wax Doll, and the Plush Bear was +wondering when he would have a chance to talk to her and his other +friends from the shop of Santa Claus when, all of a sudden, from the +rear of the toy store, which was in darkness, came a strange sound.</p> + +<p>There was a banging, slamming noise, then several bumps, and finally a +loud whistle.</p> + +<p>"Goodness; what's that?" exclaimed Angelina.</p> + +<p>"I hope that isn't a policeman whis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>tling, to tell us there is another +fire!" said Geraldine.</p> + +<p>"Or that burglars are trying to break in to take the new toys," added +her sister.</p> + +<p>They looked at their father, who laid down a Noah's Ark he was just +looking at and started toward the back of the store. As he did so the +noise became louder; bumping, banging, crashing, and above it all +sounded the shrill toot-toot of whistles.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, what is happening?" thought the Plush Bear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE FAT BOY</h3> + + +<p>Horatio Mugg, owner of the toy store where the Plush Bear was now at +home, hurried to the back of the shop. It was here that the noise had +come from, and the sound was still keeping up as Mr. Mugg turned on an +electric light.</p> + +<p>Then the Plush Bear, who was listening as closely as were Geraldine and +Angelina, heard Mr. Mugg laugh, and with that the rattling, banging and +tooting noise came to a stop.</p> + +<p>"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Mr. Mugg again.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Angelina. "It isn't a burglar, evidently."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nor a policeman nor a fire," Geraldine added.</p> + +<p>"None of them," answered Mr. Mugg. "One of the toy trains of cars that I +wound up this evening just started off by itself. I guess some of the +toys must have wanted a ride, and the Engineer of the toy train tooted +his whistle to tell them to get aboard."</p> + +<p>"Why, Father!" exclaimed Geraldine, "the toys couldn't want a ride. They +can't do anything like that."</p> + +<p>"Well, I wouldn't be so sure," said Mr. Mugg, as his two daughters +entered the rear room to see what had caused all the racket. "Sometimes +I feel that these toys know more than we think they do," he went on. +"Take that new Plush Bear," he added, pointing to the other room where +Bruin was sitting on a shelf. "See how wise he looks? He seems about to +speak. And if he ever should come to life I think he would enjoy a ride +in a toy train."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, but he <i>can't</i> come to life!" exclaimed Angelina.</p> + +<p>"Ha! can't I, though?" whispered the Plush Bear to himself. "You just +ought to see us toys after dark! No, on second thought, it is just as +well you don't see us," he went on. "For if you looked at us we couldn't +say a word or move about. It is best that you do not know we can pretend +to be alive."</p> + +<p>Angelina and Geraldine looked at the toy train which had caused the +excitement. It was a new engine and cars that had been unpacked that +evening by their father. Mr. Mugg had wound up the spring in the engine, +which was very much like a real one, with a bell, whistle, and even an +iron Engineer in the cab. The toy train, all wound up and ready to go, +had been left on the floor in a rear room. Then, when Mr. Mugg and his +daughters were unpacking the Plush Bear and other toys, the little +train, in some manner, had started off by itself, had run along the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>floor, banging into the walls, bumping over other toys, and with the +whistle going:</p> + +<p>Toot! Toot! Toot!</p> + +<p>"What started it?" asked Angelina, when the train had been put in a safe +place.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think the spring began to unwind of itself," answered Mr. Mugg. +"Or our walking around may have jarred the engine, and started it off. +At any rate no harm is done, and now we must finish unpacking the toys."</p> + +<p>The toy-dealer and his two daughters were soon busy over the large +packing box, and the Plush Bear and his friends from the workshop of +Santa Claus looked on, well pleased to be out of the box.</p> + +<p>"This is ever so much a nicer place than the igloo of Ski, the Eskimo +boy," thought the Plush Bear. "I would not want to be up in that bleak +North Pole Land, unless I were with Santa Claus, and of course one +cannot stay long in his work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>shop. I think I shall have much more fun +here. There is so much light and happiness."</p> + +<p>It was nearly midnight when Mr. Mugg and his daughters finished +unpacking the toys. All about the floor wrapping paper and the covers of +boxes were scattered. The toys, as they were taken out of the case, had +been set on shelves about the room.</p> + +<p>"This will be enough for to-night," said the toy-dealer after a while. +"We will leave things as they are, now that we have all the toys +unpacked. To-morrow I will put some in the show window, and the boys and +girls will come to buy them."</p> + +<p>"Be sure and put the Plush Bear in the window," said Angelina. "I know +he'll be one of the first to go, he is so cute and he can do so many +things when he is wound up. He shakes his head and moves his paws."</p> + +<p>"He is a good toy," said Mr. Mugg. And a little later the toy shop was +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>darkness, except for one light that was left burning all night.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ho!" thought the Plush Bear, when he saw Mr. Mugg and his daughters +leave. "Now is our chance! Now we can come to life!"</p> + +<p>He turned his head to one side, and spoke to the Wax Doll.</p> + +<p>"How do you like it here?" asked the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, very much," the Doll answered. "As soon as we get to know the other +toys I'm sure we shall like it."</p> + +<p>"We are glad to welcome you here," said a Jumping Jack, who had been in +Mr. Mugg's store for a long time. "Make yourselves at home. After a bit +we shall have some fun. You just came from North Pole Land, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the Plush Bear. "But we like it here very much. Come, +Miss Wax Doll," he went on, "allow me the pleasure of taking you for a +walk through the shop."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Wax Doll and the Plush Bear got down off the shelf where they had +been put, and began to move about. Some of the other new toys did the +same, while about them crowded the playthings that had been on the +shelves and the counters for some days.</p> + +<p>"Take a look through the store," suggested the older Jumping Jack to the +Plush Bear, "and then come back and we'll have some fun."</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear and the Wax Doll, who took hold of his paw, moved along +through the different rooms of the toy store. Everywhere they went they +were made welcome by the playthings that had been in stock for some +time. The old toys were glad to welcome the new ones.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Plush Bear and the Wax Doll found themselves in a strange +place. All about were shining tools, pots of glue, pieces of wood, +strips of cloth, glass eyes, wooden arms and legs, odd ears, noses, +tails and heads.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, what a queer place!" cried the Wax Doll. "I don't like it here! +What is it?"</p> + +<p>"I hardly know," answered the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"This is the repair department," said the Jumping Jack, who had followed +the two new toys. "It is here that Mr. Mugg mends the toys that get +broken in the store, or toys that get broken when the boys and girls +play with them. We had a fire here, not long ago, and the place is +rather upset, but don't mind that. It is almost in order again, but +there are always things scattered about in this repair department. If +ever you lose an eye or an ear, Mr. Plush Bear, just come in here and +Mr. Mugg will make you a new one," said the Jumping Jack.</p> + +<p>"That's a comfort," answered the Plush Bear, laughing. "So you have had +a fire here? I thought the place smelled rather smoky."</p> + +<p>"It's just the way I smelled after I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>climbed up the string, too near +the gas jet, and burned my trousers," said a voice that seemed to come +from one of the shelves in the repair room.</p> + +<p>"Who is that?" whispered the Wax Doll.</p> + +<p>"The Calico Clown," answered the Jumping Jack. "He came here to have a +new cap put on him."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said the Clown, and he made a polite bow to the Plush +Bear and the Wax Doll. "Sidney, the boy who owns me, was playing circus +with me. His brother, who owns the Monkey on a Stick, was trying to make +me jump over the Monkey, when my cap caught on the stick and was ripped +off. So they brought me here to have Mr. Mugg make me a new one. But did +you hear about how I burned my trousers?" asked the Calico Clown.</p> + +<p>"I never did, having just arrived here," said the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you should hear that story!" cried <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>the Clown. "It was quite funny +in a way, though I did not think so at the time. In fact, there has been +a book made about it, and about some of my other adventures. I must tell +you of them."</p> + +<p>"I should be delighted to hear them," said the Wax Doll, who seemed to +have taken quite a liking to the Calico Clown.</p> + +<p>"Baa! Baa!" suddenly called a voice from another shelf. "I have had +adventures also. After you finish telling about how you burned your +trousers, Mr. Clown, I'll tell how I was once down in a coal hole."</p> + +<p>"Who is that?" asked the Plush Bear in a low tone of the Jumping Jack.</p> + +<p>"That is a Lamb on Wheels," was the answer. "How comes it that you are +here, Miss Lamb?" the Jack answered. "I didn't hear that you had had an +accident."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; but not a very bad one," bleated the Lamb. "One of my wheels +came off when Mirabell, the little girl who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>owns me, let me fall. Her +brother Arnold, who has a Bold Tin Soldier and his men, tried to fix me, +but his father brought me here for Mr. Mugg to operate on. I shall be +well again in a few days, and go back home. But who are the visitors?" +asked the Lamb.</p> + +<p>"Oh, excuse me," said the Jumping Jack. "Let me introduce Mr. Plush Bear +and Miss Wax Doll from North Pole Land," and the Bear and Doll made +polite bows, as did the Lamb on Wheels and the Calico Clown.</p> + +<p>Then the toys talked together and had a good time among themselves until +morning came, when they had to go back to their places and become quiet. +As soon as the store was opened for business Mr. Mugg and his daughters +began arranging the playthings. The Plush Bear was put in the show +window, with the Wax Doll and some of the other new gifts. It was the +first time in his life that he had been in such a place, and you may be +sure the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> Plush Bear looked about him with eagerness.</p> + +<p>He was gazing out into a busy street—a street where people were passing +up and down all the while—a street in which there was a layer of +newly-fallen snow, only not as much as at the North Pole.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Santa Claus is here?" thought the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>But he could not speak aloud because so many eyes—those of the +passers-by in the street and the customers in the store—were watching. +There was so much to see that the Plush Bear did not know at which to +look first, but, all of a sudden, he heard a voice saying:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I want that Plush Bear! I want that! Can he do any tricks?"</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear felt himself being lifted out of the show window of the +toy shop. The springs inside him were wound up by Mr. Mugg and when he +was set down on a showcase near the window the Bear began to move his +head and paws, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>and from his red mouth came a make-believe growl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I want him! I want him!" the eager voice went on, and the Plush +Bear was caught up by a fat boy—the very fattest and jolliest boy that +the toy had ever seen. "I want this Plush Bear for my very own!" cried +the fat boy. "He's the best toy I ever saw!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>OUT OF THE WINDOW</h3> + + +<p>"Don't squeeze the Bear so hard, Arthur," said a lady who was with the +fat boy. "You may break the toy before I have paid for him."</p> + +<p>"The Plush Bear is strong and well-made, Mrs. Rowe," said Mr. Mugg. "He +is one of the newest of the Christmas toys, and I only put him in the +show window this morning."</p> + +<p>"And I saw him when I was walking along!" exclaimed Arthur Rowe, the +jolly fat boy. "As soon as I saw him I knew I'd like him! Oh, Mother, +hear him growl! And see him wave his paws!"</p> + +<p>Indeed the Plush Bear was doing all his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>tricks, for he had been wound +up by Mr. Mugg for that very purpose. There he sat on the top of the +glass showcase, growling away (make believe of course) and waving his +paws like a real bear.</p> + +<p>Other persons in the toy store crowded up to the showcase to watch the +Plush Bear do his tricks, and Arthur, the jolly fat boy, laughed loud +and long as his plaything amused the throng. For the Plush Bear was to +belong to Arthur. Passing down the street early that Winter morning, he +had seen the toy in Mr. Mugg's window, and had begged his mother to stop +and go in and inquire about him.</p> + +<p>"Wrap him up, Mr. Mugg, please," said Arthur, when the spring was all +unwound and the wheels inside the Plush Bear no longer moved his paws +and head and caused him to growl. "Wrap him up, and I'll take him home. +I guess Dick and Arnold and Herbert and Sidney will wish they had a toy +like this!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Plush Bear again felt himself being lifted up by Mr. Mugg, who put +him in tissue paper and then in the same box in which the Bear had +traveled to Earth from the shop of Santa Claus.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, Wax Doll! Good-by, Jumping Jack, Elephant and all my friends," +said the Plush Bear to himself as the tissue paper covered his eyes and +shut out the sight of the other toys in the store. "Good-by! I don't +know when I shall see you again!"</p> + +<p>Of course the Plush Bear dared not say this out loud, for he was being +watched. And he dared not move of his own accord for the same reason. He +felt a little sad at leaving all his toy friends, but he liked the looks +of the fat boy, and Arthur seemed like one who would make a kind master.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what fun I'll have with my Plush Bear!" said the fat boy, as he +walked out of the toy store with his mother. "I'll invite Dick over with +his White Rocking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> Horse, Arnold with his Bold Tin Soldiers, Herbert +with his Monkey on a Stick, and Sidney with his Calico Clown. We'll have +a lot of fun!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you said Sidney's Calico Clown was broken," remarked Mrs. +Rowe as she and Arthur got into their automobile.</p> + +<p>"Only the Clown's cap was torn off when they were playing circus the +other day," said Arthur. "Mirabell's Lamb on Wheels was broken, too, and +I guess they're both in Mr. Mugg's toy shop being fixed."</p> + +<p>"Indeed they are there," thought the Plush Bear, who could hear all that +was said through the tissue paper and his box. "I was talking to the +Lamb and the Clown only last night. Well, it will not be so bad if I can +see them once in a while. I should also like to meet the Wax Doll again, +and the Elephant. I hope nice fat boys get them for presents."</p> + +<p>Though it was cold outside of Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> Mugg's store, the Plush Bear did not +feel it. In the first place, he had on his own warm coat, which was +almost like fur. Then he was wrapped in paper, and he was in a box, and +he was inside the nice automobile. So he was even more comfortable than +he had been at the North Pole, and ever so much more cozy than when he +was in the igloo of Ski, the Eskimo boy.</p> + +<p>"Look, Nettie! Look what I have!" cried Arthur, the fat boy, as he ran +into the house as soon as the auto stopped. "I have a Bear that growls!"</p> + +<p>Nettie, his little sister, who was running to meet her brother, carrying +in her arms a Rag Doll, stopped when Arthur began to open the bundle he +had carried from Mr. Mugg's store.</p> + +<p>"I don't like growly bears!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this bear is nice! He's a Plush Bear," Arthur said. "He wobbles his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>head and he jiggles his paws, and he growls, but it's only a +make-believe growl. Look at my new Bear, Nettie!"</p> + +<p>Arthur quickly took the wrappings from the Plush Bear and wound up the +spring as Mr. Mugg had shown him. Then, when the Bear was set down on +the floor, the toy began to wave his paws, to shake his head from side +to side, and from his red mouth came several growls.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Nettie, who had knelt down beside her brother to +look at the Bear. "I don't like him when he growls!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he won't hurt you, Nettie!" laughed the fat boy Arthur. "See, he's +waving his paw to you, and he only growls like your rubber doll squeaks. +My Plush Bear is nice, Nettie."</p> + +<p>And when the little girl found that the Bear did no harm, but only +growled in a make-believe, jolly fashion, she decided to make friends +with him. She sat down <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>on the floor close beside him, and when the +clockwork inside the toy had run down, and the Bear was still, Nettie +took him up in her arms and loved him.</p> + +<p>"Isn't he nice?" asked Arthur.</p> + +<p>"Yes, pretty nice," agreed Nettie. "But he isn't as nice as my Rag +Doll."</p> + +<p>"Well, girls like dolls and boys like Plush Bears. That's the best way, +I guess," said Arthur.</p> + +<p>Then he and his sister played some more with the Plush Bear, winding him +up, listening to his pretended growls, and watching him wave his paws +and shake his head.</p> + +<p>That night after the children had gone to bed and the Plush Bear was in +the closet of the playroom with the Rag Doll, the Bear leaned over and +whispered to the Doll:</p> + +<p>"What sort of place is it here?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, very nice!" the Rag Doll answered. "Two better children than Nettie +and Arthur you could not wish for!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> And every Summer they go to the +seashore."</p> + +<p>"The seashore? Where is that?" asked the Plush Bear. "Is it near the +North Pole?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my, no!" answered the Rag Doll. "It is so long since I was at the +North Pole, where I once lived in the shop of Santa Claus, that I have +almost forgotten about it. But the seashore is quite different. I have +been there with Nettie for two summers. And, now that you belong to +Arthur, I suppose he will take you there. It is very jolly down on the +warm sand near the sparkling waves."</p> + +<p>"I should very much like to see it," said the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>There were other toys in the closet, and they talked and had a good time +together that night when Arthur and Nettie were fast asleep.</p> + +<p>And then began a happy life for the Plush Bear. The Christmas season +came and went, and Nettie and Arthur received <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>other toys, but none that +they cared for any more than they did for the Rag Doll and the Plush +Bear. During the Winter days and evenings other boys and girls came over +to play with Arthur and Nettie, bringing their toys. In this way the +Plush Bear again met the Lamb on Wheels and the Calico Clown, each of +whom had been made as good as new by Mr. Mugg.</p> + +<p>At last the warm days of Summer came, and the Rowe family started in a +train for the seashore. Nettie had her Rag Doll, and Arthur carried his +Plush Bear. The children had seats near the window in the train, and +Arthur held his Bear up to look out. It was a warm day and the window +was open.</p> + +<p>"Be careful, Arthur!" called his mother. "Don't put your head out!"</p> + +<p>"I won't," the fat boy promised. But he did hold his Plush Bear part way +out of the window. "I want to let him see things," said Arthur.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>Suddenly the train slowed up, and so quickly that the Plush Bear was +jerked from the fat boy's hand. Out of the car window fell the Plush +Bear!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>ON THE BOARDWALK</h3> + + +<p>Down, down, down out of the window of the moving train fell the Plush +Bear! He heard Arthur cry as his toy was jerked from his hands, and the +toy had a strange feeling inside him as he turned over and over in his +plunge.</p> + +<p>"Talk about somersaults!" thought Mr. Bruin as he sailed downward. "The +Polar Bear should see me now! I wonder what is going to happen to me! I +have turned more somersaults in a minute than he turned in a whole +evening at the North Pole!"</p> + +<p>"Arthur! Arthur! what is the matter?" called the fat boy's mother, when +she heard him cry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother! my Plush Bear has fallen out of the window!" Arthur +answered. "I was showing him the sights, and the train jiggled him out +of my hand!"</p> + +<p>"And my Rag Doll almost went out of my window, but I held on to her," +added Nettie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have lost your nice new Plush Bear!" exclaimed Mrs. Rowe. "I +wonder if we can get him back?"</p> + +<p>"I fancy so," said Mr. Rowe, who was taking his family to the seashore. +"The train is going to stop at this station, and I can run back and pick +up Arthur's toy."</p> + +<p>The fat boy felt better when he heard his father say this, but still he +was afraid lest perhaps his plaything might have been broken in the +tumble.</p> + +<p>It was the sudden slowing of the train for the station stop that had +caused Arthur to drop his Plush Bear. With a grinding of the brakes the +cars came to a standstill, and Mr. Rowe, followed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> Arthur, started +for the door. Nettie also got down out of her seat.</p> + +<p>"No, dear, you had better stay with me," her mother said. "Daddy will +get the Plush Bear back if it can be found."</p> + +<p>"Where you s'pose he is?" asked the little girl.</p> + +<p>And now we must find that out ourselves.</p> + +<p>Down! down! down! turning somersault after somersault, the Plush Bear +fell. Arthur had held the toy up to the window just as the train was +crossing a high bridge, beneath which ran a street. The railroad tracks +were on an embankment, and in the street below trees were growing. The +train ran over the bridge, or trestle, above the trees.</p> + +<p>And it was into one of these trees, growing down in the street, that the +Plush Bear fell. Right down among the branches he plunged, but as it was +now Summer, and there were leaves on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>trees, it was almost like +falling on a soft sofa cushion.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad this tree was here!" thought the Plush Bear, as he landed on a +branch among the soft leaves. "If I had struck on the hard street or on +the sidewalk there is no telling what would have happened. I don't +believe I'm at all hurt now."</p> + +<p>And indeed he was not. Aside from being shaken up and having his plush +ruffled, the Bear was not in the least harmed. But had he landed on the +road one of his springs inside or some of his wheels might have been +broken or twisted, and he never could have growled again or moved his +head or paws. That is, unless Mr. Mugg could have mended him.</p> + +<p>As it was, the Plush Bear fell down into the tree, and there he stuck on +a branch not far from the ground. The Plush Bear sat astraddle the limb.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am not safe yet!" he thought. "Maybe I'll fall after all! I must +keep <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>very still and quiet until I see what will happen next."</p> + +<p>By this time the train had stopped and Arthur and his father were +alighting at the small station.</p> + +<p>"This isn't where you get off," said the conductor to Mr. Rowe. "This +isn't the seashore."</p> + +<p>"I know it," said Mr. Rowe. "But my little boy dropped his Plush Bear +out of the window, and we're going back to see if we can get it. Have we +time?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the conductor. "The train has to wait here five minutes +to have some trunks taken off. But don't be too long. I hope you may +find the little boy's toy."</p> + +<p>Arthur hoped so himself, as he hurried down to the street level.</p> + +<p>"Where do you think my Bear is, Daddy?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It must be somewhere near the bridge," was the answer. "I heard you +call out as the train rumbled over it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>Along the street which ran near the railroad walked Arthur and his +father. As they walked they looked carefully on the ground for sight of +the Plush Bear, but he was not to be found.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you must have dropped him about here," said Mr. Rowe, as he +and the fat boy stood beneath the railroad bridge. "But he isn't in +sight. Perhaps some one picked him up."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is my nice Plush Bear gone?" sighed Arthur.</p> + +<p>He looked all around, but Mr. Bruin, as the Bear was sometimes called, +was not in sight. Then a ragged little boy, who had been flying a kite, +came running along the street.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked the ragged lad. "Did you lose your ball?"</p> + +<p>"No; it's my Plush Bear," answered Arthur. "I dropped him out of the car +window, but I don't see him now."</p> + +<p>The ragged boy looked up into the tree under which he and the fat boy +and Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> Rowe were standing. There, right over their heads, stretched +out on a limb to which he seemed to be clinging with all four paws, was +the Plush Bear. The toy had been looking down at Arthur and his father, +and he had been wishing he might call and tell them where he was, but of +course this was not allowed.</p> + +<p>"I see him! I'll get him for you!" cried the ragged boy.</p> + +<p>In another moment he was climbing the tree, and a little later he tossed +down the Plush Bear, Mr. Rowe catching the toy in his hands.</p> + +<p>"Now I have him back again! Oh, I'm so glad! Now I have my Plush Bear!" +cried Arthur. "I'll never let you fall out of a window again!"</p> + +<p>"I should hope not!" said Mr. Rowe, as he gave his fat son the toy. "And +here is twenty-five cents for you, little man," he added to the ragged +boy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thanks!" cried the barefoot lad, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>as he ran away down the street, +the shining silver quarter held tightly in his hand. Then Arthur and his +father went back to their train, the fat boy holding the Plush Bear in +his arms.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you found him! I'm so glad!" said Mrs. Rowe, as her husband and son +took their seats and the train started. "You must be careful after this, +Arthur."</p> + +<p>"I will," promised the little boy.</p> + +<p>"And I'm going to be careful of my Rag Doll," said Nettie, as she held +her plaything on her lap.</p> + +<p>There were no more accidents during the trip to the seashore, which was +reached in the afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe went to the hotel with their +son and daughter, and of course the Plush Bear and the Rag Doll went +also.</p> + +<p>"Where is this ocean you talked about?" asked the Plush Bear of the Rag +Doll when they had a moment alone together.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, it is outside. Did you think they kept the ocean in the hotel?" +asked the Doll, with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know," the Bear remarked. "Is this a hotel?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; it's a great big house where the family lives while at the +seashore," the Doll said. "You'll like it here. This is my third summer, +and I—"</p> + +<p>But just then the door opened and Arthur and Nettie came running into +the room. Of course the toys could no longer talk to each other.</p> + +<p>"We're going down on the boardwalk in wheeled chairs!" cried Nettie. +"I'm going to take my Rag Doll."</p> + +<p>"And I'll take my Plush Bear," said Arthur. "To-morrow I'll play with +him on the sand."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what all this means—wheeled chairs—sand—boardwalk?" thought +the Plush Bear. "So many things are happening I cannot keep track of +them!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>Suddenly he found himself shut up with the two children and the Rag Doll +in a sort of iron cage. And, all of a sudden, it began to go down.</p> + +<p>"Goodness! am I falling again?" thought the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>He looked at the Rag Doll, but she did not seem to be startled. And then +he heard Nettie say:</p> + +<p>"Don't you like to go down in the elevator, Arthur?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's lots of fun," answered the fat boy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it seems I am in an elevator," thought the Plush Bear. "Something +else new!"</p> + +<p>He soon grew used to the motion, and a little later he and Arthur, with +Nettie and her Doll, were seated in a big chair on Wheels, and were +being pushed along a broad wooden walk by a colored man.</p> + +<p>"Isn't there a big crowd on the boardwalk?" said Arthur to his sister, +as they were being wheeled along.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, but not as large as this time last year," replied the little girl. +"Look out, Arthur!" she suddenly cried. "Your Bear is slipping! If he +falls under the wheels he'll be run over!"</p> + +<p>Arthur made a grab for his toy, which had been resting in his lap, but +he was not quick enough. Down out of the wheeled chair slipped the Plush +Bear! Down to the boardwalk, and right toward him rumbled another big +double chair, in which sat a fat man and a large woman.</p> + +<p>"I guess this is the last of me!" thought the Plush Bear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>IN THE SAND</h3> + + +<p>Sometimes things occur very luckily in this world. If it had not +happened that the colored man, who was pushing the big, double, wheeled +chair, looked down at the boardwalk and saw the Plush Bear just in time, +Mr. Bruin would have been crushed. His spring that made him move his +head and paws and the growler inside him would have been broken to bits. +But, as it happened, the colored chair-pusher saw the Plush Bear fall +from the lap of Arthur Rowe, who sat beside his sister Nettie in a chair +on the boardwalk at the seaside city.</p> + +<p>"Hi! My land! Wait a minute!" shouted the colored man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe he is going to save me!" thought the Plush Bear, who had seen the +rubber-tired wheels coming nearer and nearer.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Sam?" asked the man in the big rolling chair.</p> + +<p>At the same time Arthur leaned forward with a cry of alarm, for he saw +his Plush Bear had slipped, as it had slipped from him and out of the +car window the day before.</p> + +<p>"Li'l boy done drop his play-toy!" answered Sam, the colored man. "I +come nigh onto runnin' ober it. Heah it is, li'l man," went on the +chair-pusher as he picked up the Plush Bear and handed him back to +Arthur.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Arthur, while Nettie, who had seen what +almost had happened, held her Rag Doll tighter in her arms.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to drop Polinda, not ever!" declared Nettie. Polinda was +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>name of her doll. When Nettie first received the toy she had wanted +to call the doll Polly, but the little girl next door said Lucinda would +be a better name. So Nettie mixed up both names and called her doll +Polinda, which is a very good name, I think.</p> + +<p>With his Plush Bear safe in his arms once more, Arthur leaned back in +his rolling chair. He and Nettie smiled at the lady and gentleman in the +chair that had almost run over Mr. Bruin, and then the two chairs were +pushed on by the men rolling them. Just behind Arthur and his sister, in +another chair, were Mr. and Mrs. Rowe, but they had been so busy, +looking at the sights along the boardwalk, they had not seen how nearly +there was an accident.</p> + +<p>"Is your Bear all right?" asked Nettie of her brother, as they were +wheeled along. "I mean will his head nod?"</p> + +<p>"His head doesn't exactly nod," re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>plied Arthur. "I guess you're +thinking of Joe's Nodding Donkey. But my Bear wags his head."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he won't now, after all that happened," suggested Nettie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess he will," said Arthur. "But I'll wind him up and see."</p> + +<p>He turned the key that wound up the spring, and as soon as it was tight +enough the Plush Bear began to move his paws, shake his head from side +to side and growl in a gentle voice, just as Santa Claus had intended he +should do.</p> + +<p>"He's all right," said Arthur.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness for that!" exclaimed the Plush Bear to himself. "One +never knows what may happen when one falls out of a car window and then +from a wheeled chair to the boardwalk. I might have got a lot of slivers +in me, or have loosened a wheel! I'm glad I'm all right."</p> + +<p>After an hour spent on the boardwalk, seeing the many sights and looking +at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>waves of the ocean rolling up on the sandy beach, Arthur and his +sister, with their father and mother, went back to their hotel. Evening +was coming on and it was time for supper, or dinner as it is called in +fashionable seaside hotels, for the principal meal is served in the +evening instead of at noon.</p> + +<p>"I wish we could go down and play on the sand," said Nettie, as she and +her brother got out of the wheeled chair. "My Rag Doll wants to go +barefoot on the beach."</p> + +<p>"And I think my Plush Bear would like it, too," said Arthur.</p> + +<p>"You may go down and play in the sand all day to-morrow," promised their +mother.</p> + +<p>"Oh, won't we have fun!" cried Nettie. "Maybe my Rag Doll can learn to +swim."</p> + +<p>"Well, swimming won't hurt <i>her</i>," said Arthur; "but I'm not going to +let my Plush Bear get in the water. I'm going to make a sand cave for +him to live in."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, it seems I am to have some fun," thought the toy, as he was taken +up in the elevator.</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear did not like the elevator very much. It gave him a queer +feeling among his wheels and spring; and his grunter, by means of which +he growled, seemed to be turning over and over. But this did not last +long, and while Arthur and Nettie, with their parents, were at dinner in +the hotel, the Bear and the Doll had a chance to talk.</p> + +<p>"How do you like it at this fashionable seaside hotel?" asked the Bear.</p> + +<p>"Quite well," answered the Doll, lifting her eyebrows the way she had +seen some ladies doing in the hotel parlor as she was carried in. "I +wish Nettie would put a different dress on me, though," the Doll added. +"It is fashionable to dress here in the evening, but she has left my old +clothes on."</p> + +<p>"Old clothes are best," growled the Bear. "You feel more comfortable in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>them. I don't need any, I'm glad to say, not even at the cold North +Pole. But say, Rag Doll, now we're alone, let's do something."</p> + +<p>"I know what we can do!" the Rag Doll exclaimed. "All my life I have +wanted to play with the glistening things in a hotel bathroom. I want to +work the shower, and turn the shiny handles. There are ever so many more +than we have at home. Come on into the bathroom, and let's turn every +handle we see!"</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed the Plush Bear. "That'll be fun!"</p> + +<p>And there is no telling what mischief he and the Rag Doll might have got +into, only, just then, in came Nettie and Arthur, having finished +dinner.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to play with my Plush Bear!" cried the fat boy.</p> + +<p>"And I'm going to get my Rag Doll to sleep," said Nettie. "It's time she +was in bed."</p> + +<p>The Doll and the Bear could only look <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>slyly at one another. There was +no chance now for them to have fun with the shiny handles in the +bathroom. But perhaps it was just as well.</p> + +<p>That night, when Arthur and Nettie, as well as their father and mother +were asleep, the Bear and Doll had a chance to make believe come to +life, move about, and speak.</p> + +<p>"But we won't turn the handles in the bathroom and splash the water +now," said the Doll. "It would make such a noise that they'd awaken and +we'd be caught. But what can we do?"</p> + +<p>"Let's look out the windows," suggested the Plush Bear. So, climbing up +first on little stools, and then on chairs, the two toys looked from the +hotel windows. They saw many lights sparkling, and out to sea was a tall +lighthouse with a gleaming beacon which flickered like a giant lightning +bug.</p> + +<p>In the morning Arthur and Nettie went down on the sand to play, the +little fat boy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>taking his Plush Bear and Nettie her Rag Doll.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a dandy Teddy Bear!" cried a small, red-haired chap as he ran +along the beach to play with Arthur.</p> + +<p>"This isn't a Teddy Bear," explained Arthur. "He's a Plush Bear, and he +can move his head and his paws and he can growl."</p> + +<p>"Let's hear him!" begged the red-haired boy.</p> + +<p>So Arthur wound up the spring, and, surely enough, the toy did all those +things.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's a dandy!" cried the red-haired lad. "If you let me play with +him, I'll let you take my airship that flies."</p> + +<p>"We'll take turns playing with them," said Arthur, and then began a +happy time for the children. Some little girls came over to play with +Nettie, and they had lots of fun on the sand.</p> + +<p>After a while Arthur happened to think of what he had said he was going +to do—dig a sand cave for his Bear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll make a big one," he said to the red-haired lad. "We'll dig a big +hole."</p> + +<p>"With clam shells!" cried the other lad, and, putting aside the Plush +Bear and the airship, the two little friends began to make a large hole +in the sand. When it was finished the Plush Bear was put down in it, and +some sticks were stuck up in front.</p> + +<p>"We'll make believe the sticks are the bars of his cage," said Arthur. +"We'll pretend he's a circus Bear."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," agreed the red-haired boy. "That's lots of fun."</p> + +<p>So they played with the Plush Bear in the hole of the sand for some +time. Then other boys and girls came along, joining in the fun, and +pretty soon some children rode past on ponies.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm going to ask mother if we can't ride on the ponies!" cried +Nettie.</p> + +<p>"So'm I!" added her brother, and, forgetting all about the Plush Bear in +the hole, away they ran to tease for ponies to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>ride. Mrs. Rowe was +sitting on the sand not far from where the children had been playing.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Arthur and Nettie, you may ride the ponies," she said. "I'll take +you down and tell the man to put you on."</p> + +<p>And in the excitement of the pony ride Arthur forgot all about his Plush +Bear in the sand cave. The toy was left there all alone, and he did not +know what to think.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if I dare knock down those sticks they call bars and climb +out?" thought the toy. "I don't believe any one is looking." He was just +going to do this when along the beach dashed one of the ponies with a +little girl on his back. The pony stepped close to the hole where the +Plush Bear was, and in another instant the sand caved in, covering Mr. +Bruin from sight!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>OUT TO SEA</h3> + + +<p>Sand ran down into the eyes of the Plush Bear. Grains of sand tickled +his plush toes. Some even got in his plush mouth that he opened when he +gave his growls. Other grains of sand trickled between the joints of his +paws and his body.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, this is terrible!" said Mr. Bruin, as he found himself in +darkness when the hole into which Arthur had placed him caved in from +the feet of the pony. "This is simply terrible!"</p> + +<p>But though the Plush Bear, being by himself, was allowed to talk and +move about, pretending to come to life, he soon found that it was not +wise to open his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>mouth. The wider he opened it the more sand came in.</p> + +<p>"What shall I do?" thought the Plush Bear to himself, not opening his +mouth to say anything this time. "How am I ever going to get out of +here?"</p> + +<p>Well might he ask himself that, for the sand was so closely packed in +about him that he could hardly move. Even though the spring inside him +was wound up, the Plush Bear could not turn his head nor wave his paws. +As for growling, he knew better than to try that.</p> + +<p>"Well, something must be done!" thought the Plush Bear. "If I stay in +this sand hole too long I'll smother! I wonder why Arthur doesn't come +and take me out? He always said he was fond of me!"</p> + +<p>But Arthur, the fat boy, was just then having a glorious ride on a pony, +and Nettie, his sister, was also having a ride. For the time being the +children had forgotten about their toys. Nettie had left <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>her Rag Doll +and Arthur his Plush Bear. But the Rag Doll was not buried in the sand.</p> + +<p>Up and down along the sand rode the children on the backs of the beach +ponies. But at last Mrs. Rowe decided that Nettie and Arthur had had fun +enough, so she helped them out of the little saddles.</p> + +<p>"Get your playthings and come to the hotel. We must dress for dinner," +she said. "Where is your Rag Doll, Nettie? And your Plush Bear, Arthur?"</p> + +<p>"I left my Rag Doll on the sand," answered Nettie. "I'll get her."</p> + +<p>"And I left my Plush Bear—Oh, I left him in the sand circus cage, where +I was playing he was a wild Bear!" cried Arthur. "Oh, I forgot, I left +my nice Plush Bear in a hole!"</p> + +<p>"You'd better get him out as soon as you can," said his mother.</p> + +<p>The children remembered the spot where they had been playing on the sand +before they took the pony rides. Nettie <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>ran back there, and soon found +her Rag Doll.</p> + +<p>"But where's my Plush Bear?" asked Arthur anxiously, looking up and down +the beach. "I made a hole here, right by Nettie's Doll, and I put sticks +in the hole, like bars in a circus cage, and I left my Plush Bear in the +hole."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Mrs. Rowe, as she, too, looked +searchingly up and down the sand. She did not want Arthur to lose his +toy.</p> + +<p>"It was right here," declared the fat boy.</p> + +<p>"I don't see any hole," went on Mrs. Rowe. Of course she did not know +that the pony had scattered the sand, filling up the little cave Arthur +had made.</p> + +<p>"Oh, where is my Plush Bear?" cried the little fat boy, and he was +almost ready to cry. His mother and Nettie helped him look. So did other +children, wandering up and down the beach, but there was no sign of the +toy. Then a coast guard, one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>of the men who march up and down the +sands, keeping watch for shipwrecks, came along the boardwalk.</p> + +<p>"Have you lost something?" asked the guard, as he came down the steps +from the boardwalk to the beach.</p> + +<p>"We lost a Bear," said Arthur.</p> + +<p>"A bear?" cried the guard, in surprise. "A—a bear?"</p> + +<p>"My little boy means a <i>Plush</i> Bear," explained Mrs. Rowe, and then she +told what had happened.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a toy, buried in the sand," said the guard, laughing. "Well, that's +too bad. Right around here, was it? Well, I happened to be passing this +afternoon, and I noticed just about the spot where the children were +sitting on the sand. I didn't see the Plush Bear, but I know the +children were digging, and it wasn't at this spot—it was nearer the +ocean. Over here it was," the guard went on, moving away from the place +where Ar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>thur had been sure he had made the cave for the toy. "You see, +we coast guards get in the habit of noticing things and remembering +where they are," he added. "You were looking in the wrong place. I fancy +your Bear must have been covered up in some way. I'll dig here!"</p> + +<p>With a stick the guard began digging, and in a little while he uncovered +the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there he is! There he is!" cried Arthur, as he saw his toy again. +"Oh, thank you for finding him for me!" and he took his plaything from +the hands of the coast guard.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's what I say—thanks a whole lot of times!" murmured the +Plush Bear to himself, as once more he was able to breathe. "This was +the most terrible adventure I ever had!"</p> + +<p>But the Plush Bear was to have one even worse, as you shall soon hear.</p> + +<p>"You must be more careful of your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>toys, Arthur," said his mother, as, +having thanked the man, she and her children went back to the hotel.</p> + +<p>"I'll never put him in a sand hole again," promised the little fat boy.</p> + +<p>That night, when Arthur and Nettie were snug in their beds, and the +Plush Bear and the Rag Doll were in a closet by themselves, the Doll +leaned over and said:</p> + +<p>"Wasn't it terrible, Mr. Bear?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly was," agreed the Plush Bear. "I'm full of grit as it is. +Sand is all over me, even though Arthur did brush me off with a little +broom. I seem to squeak instead of growling as I ought to."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, maybe you'll be better after a while," said the Rag Doll. +Then she and the Plush Bear talked together in the darkness, but the +Bear did not feel like playing. He was too much shocked by having been +buried in the sand.</p> + +<p>"Now we're going to have some fun, Plush Bear!" cried Arthur the next +morning, as he took his toy from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>closet. "We're going in swimming!"</p> + +<p>"Swimming? Swimming?" repeated the Plush Bear to himself. "I wonder what +that means?"</p> + +<p>If he had been a real bear he would have known, for real bears, that +live in the woods, are very fond of playing in the water. But, being +only a Santa Claus toy, the Plush Bear knew nothing of this.</p> + +<p>A little later Arthur and Nettie were down on the sand in their bathing +suits. All along the beach were many other children and grown folk, too, +in their bathing suits. Nettie carried her Rag Doll and Arthur had his +Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Arthur! you aren't going to take your toy into the <i>water</i> with +you, are you?" asked his mother.</p> + +<p>"No'm," the little fat boy answered. "I'm just going to play with him on +the sand till Daddy comes to teach me to swim. And I'm not going to put +my Bear in a hole, either!"</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that, anyhow," thought <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>the Plush Bear, who heard all that +was said. "Once in a sand hole is enough for me."</p> + +<p>Arthur's father was going to teach the little fat boy to swim, and while +waiting for Daddy, Arthur played about on the sand with the Plush Bear, +as Nettie played with her Rag Doll.</p> + +<p>Now and then Arthur, with the Plush Bear in his arms, would wade out a +little way into the water, and he would laugh, and run back, as the +incoming tide would send a wave over his bare toes.</p> + +<p>"Be careful, Sonny!" called his mother, as she watched him. "The waves +are getting higher and higher. I wish your father would come and give +you your swimming lesson."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm having fun!" laughed the fat boy. "My Plush Bear likes me to +carry him out, but I won't let him fall in the ocean."</p> + +<p>Once more the little fat boy started to wade down the beach. Nettie had +gone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>back to sit with her mother and, for a moment, Arthur was all by +himself. Except, of course, he had the Plush Bear with him.</p> + +<p>"Look and see how big the ocean is, Mr. Bear," said Arthur, holding his +toy up above the waves. And just then a bigger wave than any that had +yet rolled up the beach broke right at Arthur's feet.</p> + +<p>In an instant the big wave had knocked the little fellow down. Arthur +gave a scream, and his father, who had just arrived in his bathing suit, +ran to get his little boy. Arthur had let go the Plush Bear when the +wave knocked him down.</p> + +<p>Into the water fell the toy, and, a moment later, when the wave washed +back into the ocean, it took Mr. Bruin with it. Right out to sea the +Plush Bear was washed, on the top of the big wave!</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh, dear! What is going to happen to me now?" thought the poor +Plush Bear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>SAVED AT LAST</h3> + + +<p>When the big wave knocked Arthur down and the little fat boy dropped the +Plush Bear into the sea, that toy expected he would at once sink to the +bottom and be drowned. It was the first time he had ever fallen into the +water. At the North Pole, where he had been made in the workshop of +Santa Claus, it is so cold nearly all the time that all water is frozen +into ice, and there is very little into which one may fall.</p> + +<p>"This is the last of me!" thought the poor Plush Bear, as he felt the +water closing over his head. Faintly he heard the screams of Arthur, as +the waves rolled the fat boy over and over on the beach.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> But Arthur's +father quickly sprang in and picked up his little fat son, saving him.</p> + +<p>There was no one at hand just then to save the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"Yes, this is the last of me!" thought Mr. Bruin. But, to his surprise, +he found that, after his first drop into the ocean when the waters +closed over his head, he bobbed up again and floated nicely like a piece +of wood.</p> + +<p>Much of what was inside the Plush Bear was sawdust and cork, making him +very light, so that, though he did not know it, he was a better floater +than was Arthur.</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear had been careful not to breathe when he fell into the +sea, so he did not sniff any water up his nose. And after the first +shock he did not feel bad. The water was warm, and by keeping his mouth +closed the Plush Bear did not taste any of the salt. There he was, +floating on his back, his big, yellow eyes staring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>up at the sun and +the blue sky. And now, as the tide had turned and was going out, the +Bear was carried out to sea with it.</p> + +<p>Back on the beach there was much excitement when Arthur's father had +pulled the fat boy out of the sea. But it was soon found that Arthur was +all right, except that he had swallowed a little salt water.</p> + +<p>"But where's my Plush Bear?" Arthur cried, when he had been dried and +comforted by his mother. "Where's my Plush Bear?"</p> + +<p>Where, indeed? Well might Arthur ask that, for his Plush Bear was being +carried far, far out to sea on the waves.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Arthur! did you drop Mr. Bruin when the wave knocked you down?" +asked Nettie.</p> + +<p>"I guess—I guess I did!" answered her brother sadly.</p> + +<p>"Then that's the last of your Plush Bear," said Arthur's father. "But +don't cry!" he told the little boy. "I'll get you another. Don't cry! +There is salt water <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>enough around here without your adding to it by +your tears!" he laughed. But Arthur felt too unhappy to laugh.</p> + +<p>And all this while Mr. Bruin was floating on the waves.</p> + +<p>"This is certainly the strangest thing that ever happened to me," +thought the Plush Bear. "I thought surely my end had come when Arthur +dropped me. But, though I am all wet outside, I seem to be dry inside."</p> + +<p>On and on floated the Plush Bear; then, all of a sudden, he heard voices +talking. The voices were those of men and children, and not the voices +of toys.</p> + +<p>"Don't you like it here, Joe?" asked a boy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do, Herbert," was the answer. "And my Nodding Donkey likes it, +too."</p> + +<p>"My Monkey on a Stick is having fun, and he isn't seasick a bit," said +the boy who had been called Herbert. "He loves to ride in a motor boat, +my Monkey does."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What's this? What's this!" thought the Plush Bear. "Nodding Donkey? +Monkey on a Stick?"</p> + +<p>He tried to raise himself in the water to look toward the place whence +came the voices, but the Plush Bear could see nothing. A moment later, +though, he heard one of the boys call:</p> + +<p>"Oh, look! What's that floating in the water?"</p> + +<p>"It's a fish!" said the other boy.</p> + +<p>"That isn't a fish! It's some sort of floating toy," was the answer in a +man's voice. "Well, I declare, it's a Teddy Bear!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not a Teddy Bear at all," said Mr. Bruin to himself; "but if you +rescue me from the water you may call me anything you wish."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/122.jpg" alt="The Plush Bear Meets Nodding Donkey and Monkey On a Stick." title="The Plush Bear Meets Nodding Donkey and Monkey On a Stick." /></div> +<div class='center'>The Plush Bear Meets Nodding Donkey and Monkey On a Stick.</div> +<div class='caption'><i>Page</i> <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></div> + +<p>A moment later, after he had been afloat for some hours, the Plush Bear +felt himself being lifted from the sea, and in another second he was +placed in the bottom of a motor boat. In the boat were two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>men and +two boys, but when the water had run out of his eyes the Plush Bear was +more interested in looking at two other toys which were also in the +boat.</p> + +<p>On one seat was a Nodding Donkey who seemed to be bowing in a most +pleasant and jolly fashion to the Plush Bear. And on the other seat, +beside a boy, was a Monkey on a Stick.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have heard of these toys," thought the Plush Bear. "They, too, +were once in the shop of Santa Claus! Oh, how glad I am! I'm saved at +last!"</p> + +<p>"Where do you suppose this Plush Bear came from?" asked Joe, the boy who +had the Nodding Donkey.</p> + +<p>"I think he must have fallen overboard out of some boat when some +children were being given a ride, just as you boys are having a ride," +said the father of Herbert. Herbert, you know, owned the Monkey on a +Stick.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could keep that Plush Bear," softly said Joe. "Now that I'm +not lame <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>any more I could run around and have fun with him."</p> + +<p>"It is a very nice Plush Bear," said Mr. Richmond, Joe's father, as he +examined the wet toy. "Some little boy or girl will be glad to get it +back. It doesn't seem to be much harmed." He wound up the spring and at +once the Plush Bear began to move his paws, wag his head, and growl. The +growl was a trifle rusty and a bit gritty from the sand still inside the +works, but that did not matter.</p> + +<p>"We'll take the Plush Bear back to shore with us," said Joe's father. +"Perhaps some children stopping at one of the hotels, or even at our own +hotel, may claim this toy. We must find out. I'll put the Bear on his +back in the sun so he'll dry."</p> + +<p>"And I'll put my Nodding Donkey back there, too, so Mr. Bruin won't be +lonesome," offered Joe.</p> + +<p>"Put my Monkey there, too," said Herbert.</p> + +<p>So the three toys were placed near each <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>other on the back seat of the +boat, and then the two boys and their father gathered in the bow, or +front part, to look across the ocean. They were out for a pleasure ride.</p> + +<p>"How did you come to be floating in the sea all by yourself?" asked the +Nodding Donkey in a whisper of the Plush Bear.</p> + +<p>"A big wave knocked Arthur down and he dropped me," was the answer, in +the same low voice.</p> + +<p>The Plush Bear was just going to tell more of his adventures when the +motor boat was run up alongside a dock, and the party got out.</p> + +<p>"I'll carry the Plush Bear," said Joe's father. "He isn't quite dry yet. +We'll take him to our hotel, and I'll tell the clerk to post up a +notice, saying the toy was found at sea. Then whoever owns him may claim +him."</p> + +<p>But matters were not going to turn out just that way. As it happened, +Joe and Herbert were stopping at the same hotel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>where Arthur and Nettie +were with their father and mother. Joe and Herbert had just arrived that +day, which was why Arthur and Nettie had not seen their little friends +before.</p> + +<p>Coming back from their boat ride, on which they had rescued at sea the +Plush Bear, the two men and the two boys entered the hotel. As they +walked toward the desk, Mr. Richmond carrying the Plush Bear, there was +a cry of delight from a small boy who fairly leaped out of a big, easy +chair.</p> + +<p>"There's my Plush Bear! There's my Plush Bear!" cried Arthur, for it was +he. "Oh, where did you get him?" he cried, as he looked at the damp toy +in Mr. Richmond's hand.</p> + +<p>"Is this your toy?" asked Joe's father.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, that's my Mr. Bruin!" cried Arthur. "I dropped him in the +ocean when a big wave knocked me down, and I thought he was drowned. Oh, +where'd you get him?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He was floating on a wave, and we saw him from our motor boat," +explained Joe. And then Herbert, with his Monkey on a Stick, stepped +forward, and Nettie came out of her chair, and the children were soon +all together, laughing with each other in the hotel parlor.</p> + +<p>Arthur wound up his toy, which seemed to work as well as ever, though it +was still damp.</p> + +<p>"Now we can have lovely fun!" said Nettie, when the story of the rescue +of Mr. Bruin had been told by those who were in the boat. "I can play +with my Rag Doll, Herbert can make his Monkey do funny tricks, the +Donkey will nod his head and Arthur's Bear will growl."</p> + +<p>And so the children played in the hotel with their toys, while their +fathers and mothers talked together.</p> + +<p>"That Plush Bear has had many adventures," said Mrs. Rowe to Joe's +mother. "He fell out of a car window, he was buried in the sand, and he +was carried out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>to sea." Of course she knew nothing of the time he had +spent in the ice igloo of the little Eskimo boy.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Richmond, "Joe's Donkey had many adventures, also."</p> + +<p>"And so did Herbert's Monkey," said that little boy's mother.</p> + +<p>"Adventures! I should say so!" exclaimed the Plush Bear to the Donkey +and Monkey, when they were alone for a moment. "But I never want to fall +into the ocean again!"</p> + +<p>And he never did, I am glad to say. I wish I might tell you more of the +adventures of the Monkey, the Donkey, the China Cat and Plush Bear. But +this book is quite filled, as you may see. Though of course I may write +other books about other toys if you think you would like them. But now +we must say good-by to the Plush Bear.</p> + + +<h2>THE END</h2> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="./images/back.jpg" alt="Back Facing" title="Back Facing" /></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> +<h2>HAPPY HOME SERIES</h2> + +<h3>By HOWARD R. GARIS</h3> +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<div class='center'><b>Individual Colored Wrappers and Colored Illustrations by<br /> +LANG CAMPBELL</b></div> +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<p>Mr. Garis has written many stories for boys and girls, among them his +Uncle Wiggly volumes, but these books are something distinctly new, +surprising and entertaining.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div>ADVENTURES OF THE GALLOPING GAS STOVE</div> + +<p>A tale of how Gassy mysteriously disappeared, and how he came riding +home on the back of an elephant. It is also related how he broke his +leg, and fed a hungry family in a cottage near a lake.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div>ADVENTURES of the RUNAWAY ROCKING CHAIR</div> + +<p>Racky creaked and groaned when fat Grandma sat on him too hard. He felt +himself ill-treated, so he vanished. He did not intend to take Grandma's +glasses with him, but he did. And he rocked a bunny to sleep.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div>ADVENTURES OF THE TRAVELING TABLE</div> + +<p>Tippy, the table, always wanted to travel and see the world, but he did +not know how to start. Until, all of a sudden, a diamond ring was hidden +in his leg and a balloon carried him off through the air.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div>ADVENTURES OF THE SLIDING FOOT STOOL</div> + +<p>Just because he did not want to be used as a milking stool by the Maiden +All Forlorn, Skiddy slid away Christmas eve. With him went Jack the +Jumper, and they had a wonderful time in the top shop.<br /><br /></p> + + +<div>ADVENTURES OF THE SAILING SOFA</div> + +<p>Skippy always wanted to be a sailor. When the high water came in the +spring, the sofa went sailing. He had a Rooster for a crew, while +Tatter, the rag doll with one shoe button eye, was Captain.<br /></p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class="smcap">Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE PUSS-IN-BOOTS, Jr. SERIES</h2> + +<h3>By DAVID CORY</h3> + +<div class='center'>Author of "The Little Jack Rabbit Stories" and "Little Journeys to +Happyland"</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. <br />Each Volume Complete +in Itself.</b></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> +<p>To know Puss Junior once is to love him forever. That's the way all the +little people feel about this young, adventurous cat, son of a very +famous father.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Puss in Boots, Jr."> +<tr><td align='left'>THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>FURTHER ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>. IN FAIRYLAND</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TRAVELS OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>., AND OLD MOTHER GOOSE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>., IN NEW MOTHER GOOSE LAND</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>., AND THE GOOD GRAY HORSE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>., AND TOM THUMB</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>., AND ROBINSON CRUSOE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PUSS-IN-BOOTS, <span class="smcap">Jr</span>., AND THE MAN IN THE MOON</td></tr> +</table></div> +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <i>Publishers</i>, NEW YORK</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<p> </p> +<div class='tnote'><b>Transcriber's Notes:</b><br /> +<p>Page 27, removed extraneous quotation mark from [squealed the Flannel Pig."]</p> +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. +Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17064-h.txt or 17064-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/6/17064">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/6/17064</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of a Plush Bear + + +Author: Laura Lee Hope + + + +Release Date: November 14, 2005 [eBook #17064] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 17064-h.htm or 17064-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/6/17064/17064-h/17064-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/6/17064/17064-h.zip) + + + + + +Make Believe Stories +(Trademark Registered) + +THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR + +by + +LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of "The Story of a Sawdust Doll," "The +Story of a Nodding Donkey," "The Story of a China +Cat," "Bobbsey Twins Series," "Bunny Brown +Series," "Six Little Bunkers Series," Etc. + +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith + + + + + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap Publishers +Made in the United States of America +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York +Copyright, 1921, by Grosset & Dunlap + + + + +BOOKS + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Durably Bound. Illustrated. + + + MAKE BELIEVE STORIES + + THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL + THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE + THE STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS + THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER + THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT + THE STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK + THE STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN + THE STORY OF A NODDING DONKEY + THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT + THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR + + * * * * * + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP + + * * * * * + + THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES + + * * * * * + + THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES + + * * * * * + + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES + + * * * * * + + + + +The Story of a Plush Bear + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I A SNOWBALL FIGHT 1 + + II THE LITTLE ESKIMO 14 + + III OUT ALL NIGHT 26 + + IV IN THE TOY SHOP 41 + + V THE FAT BOY 55 + + VI OUT OF THE WINDOW 68 + + VII ON THE BOARDWALK 78 + +VIII IN THE SAND 89 + + IX OUT TO SEA 100 + + X SAVED AT LAST 110 + + + + +THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A SNOWBALL FIGHT + + +Down swirled the white flakes, blowing this way and that. It was snowing +furiously in North Pole Land, and even the immense workshop of Santa +Claus was almost buried in white. How the wind howled! It whistled down +the chimneys, and blew the sparks about. + +"Whew, how cold it is!" cried a Wax Doll, who did not have any shoes on, +for she was not yet quite finished. "What makes such a breeze in here?" +and she shivered as she pulled up over her legs a blanket of plush +cloth from which Santa Claus and his men made Teddy Bears. + +"It is cold," said a Celluloid Doll, who was lying on the work bench +next to the wax toy. "Some one must have left a window open." + +"Left a window open? There are three or four windows open!" gleefully +shouted a fuzzy, Woolen Boy Doll. "Look at the snow blowing in! Hurray! +Now we can have a snowball fight without going outside. Come on!" cried +the Woolen Boy Doll to a little Flannel Pig who had just been stuffed +with cotton. "Come on, have a snowball fight!" + +"All right!" squealed the Flannel Pig. "I'll wash your face!" + +"Oh, how cold it is! How cold it is!" sighed the Wax Doll. "Give me more +covers, please, somebody! My feet are freezing! Who left the windows +open?" + +"Here, take this," called a big Plush Bear, tossing toward the Wax Doll +a quilt he took from a bed in a playhouse that stood next to him on the +work table. "This will keep you warm. I guess some of the men who work +for Santa Claus must have gone off and forgotten to close the windows." + +This is just what had happened. There had been a busy time in the North +Pole workshop of Santa Claus that day, for it was getting near to +Christmas. The little men, like elves, who built the Noah's Arks, the +toy animals, the dolls, and the other playthings, had been as busy as +bees. + +Then, in the afternoon, just before dark, jolly old Santa Claus himself +entered his shop, the windows of which were made from crystal-clear +sheets of ice. + +"What ho, my merry men!" cried Santa Claus, "you have been working very +hard. Stop now, and have lunch, for we must work overtime to-night so +that we may finish a lot of toys to be taken down to Earth. But now I +will give you a little rest, though it is not five o'clock, when we +usually stop." + +"Hurray!" cried the merry little men. + +They gladly laid down their tools and put aside the half-finished toys +on which they had been working. Half-finished Dolls, Jumping Jacks that +could not yet leap, Jacks in Boxes that could not yet spring out, trains +of cars that could not yet run--all these were laid aside, together with +toys completely made, so that the little men might rest themselves. + +"Come to the lunch room and get some hot chocolate and some frosted +cake," said Santa Claus, and away trooped the jolly little men. Just who +had left some of the windows open no one knew. But they were open, and +when the big storm came, in blew the snowflakes. + +"I call this real jolly," said the big Plush Bear, who had given the Wax +Doll the bed quilt to keep her feet warm. "I'd like to be out in this +storm. But this is the next best thing. Hi there!" he called to the +Flannel Pig, "look out where you're throwing snowballs! You nearly hit +the Wax Doll." + +"Oh, if he did that my complexion would be spoiled!" cried the beautiful +toy, who was not, as yet, quite finished. + +"I'll be careful," promised the Flannel Pig. "Don't you want to have fun +in the snowball fight, Mr. Teddy Bear?" + +"I am not a Teddy Bear!" roared the big plush creature. "Many people +take me for one; but I am not, though I do look like a Teddy. But I am a +real Plush Bear, and when I am wound up I can move my head and my paws +and I can growl. Listen! I am wound up now!" + +There was a whirring sound inside the Plush Bear as the clock work +wheels began to turn, and soon his head moved slowly from side to side, +he raised his paws and lowered them, and out of his red mouth came a +growling voice saying: + +"To be sure, I'll join the snowball fight!" + +"Hurray!" cried the Woolen Boy Doll. "Now for some fun!" For though the +Plush Bear had spoken with a growl he was not at all cross. That was +just his way. He was really most jolly, though he had a very wise look +on his plush face, as though always thinking of hard examples to solve +and hard words to spell. But though he was wise, and growled when he +talked, the Plush Bear was most delightful. + +"Come on! We'll move over to one side where we shall not get any snow on +the toys who don't like it," said the Plush Bear. With his warm coat, +almost like fur, he loved to roll in the snow. So did the Flannel Pig +and the Woolen Boy Doll. But the Wax Doll, who, as yet, had no shoes, +the Celluloid Doll, who was only partly dressed, and some of the others +did not like the cold. + +Faster and faster the snow came down, and more and more white flakes +blew in through the open windows of the shop of Santa Claus at the +North Pole. The Plush Bear caught up a paw full of the white crystals +from the bench, made them into a ball, and tossed them at the Flannel +Pig. The Flannel Pig turned quickly and chased after the Woolen Boy +Doll, crying: + +"I'll wash your face! I'll wash your face!" + +Then such fun as there was! The Wax Doll, covered up now so that her +feet were no longer cold, and in a safe corner where no balls could hit +her, watched the sport. + +"I'm glad Santa Claus and his men took a little resting spell," said the +Plush Bear, as he quickly stooped down to get out of the way of a +snowball thrown by a Teddy Bear, almost like himself. + +"Yes, if they were here we could have no fun," said the Flannel Pig. + +And this was very true. + +As I shall explain to you in this book, and as I have told you in other +books of these "Make Believe Stories," the toys could pretend to come to +life, move about, and have fun when no one was looking at them. They +could talk, tell jokes and stories, as well as riddles, play games, have +races and even snowball fights, as they were having one now. But the +moment any one looked at them, or came into the room where they were +playing, the toys settled back straight and stiff and still. They could +listen to what was said, but they dared not speak, and they could take +no part in life. + +So it was that the toys were glad Santa Claus and his men had, for a +little while, gone out of the big workshop. It was a wonderful +place--this workshop of Santa Claus. There many of the toys in the world +were made for the boys and girls of the Earth. And as fast as he had +several boxes of toys ready, Santa Claus would hitch his eight reindeer +to his sleigh, and down to Earth he would go. He would leave boxes and +bags of toys at the different shops and warehouses, whence they were +sent to other places where boys and girls could see them, and tell +their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts or cousins what +they wanted for Christmas. + +Biff! a big snowball went sailing across the room. + +Bang! it struck the Plush Bear on his nose. + +"Wuff! Wuff!" growled the Plush Bear, but he was not at all cross, and, +an instant later, he sent another ball sailing toward the Flannel Pig. + +"Oh, I didn't throw that! I didn't hit you!" squealed the Flannel Pig, +as he tried to dodge out of the way of the mass of snow tossed by the +Plush Bear. + +"Never mind," growled Mr. Bruin, as the Bear was sometimes called. "It's +all in fun!" + +And fun it was! At other times, when they were left alone, the toys in +the workshop of Santa Claus had fun, but never before, at least in a +long while, had windows been left open so that the snow blew in. + +"It's almost as much fun as being out doors," said the Plush Bear again, +as he moved his paws and shook his head from side to side. "I only wish +the Nodding Donkey could be here to enjoy it," he went on. + +"Who is the Nodding Donkey?" asked the Wax Doll, as the Flannel Pig and +the others stopped snowballing for a moment. + +"He was a toy who was born here, and who lived here for some time, +before he was taken down to Earth," answered the Plush Bear. "He could +nod his head, and he did not have to be wound up with a key as I have to +be. I liked the Nodding Donkey very much. But he and the China Cat have +both gone away. + +"However, I suppose that is the way of things up here. We are made to +give happiness to boys and girls, and the only way in which we can do +that is to allow ourselves to be taken to Earth by Santa Claus. Yes, I +suppose I shall be taken down some day," and once more he moved his +head from side to side, and looked very wise indeed, did the Plush Bear. + +As I have said, he was not a Teddy Bear, though sometimes he looked like +one. He was made entirely of soft, brown, silky plush. This plush +covered from view the clock wheels and springs inside the Bear, which +when wound up, caused him to move and growl. But the wheels did not give +the Bear his wise look. That was put on his face by one of the workmen +of Santa Claus. + +"Oh, I know what we can do!" suddenly cried a Polar Bear, who had just +shuffled along to join the fun. The Polar Bear was like the Plush Bear +only a different color, the Plush Bear being brown, and the Polar Bear +white. + +"What shall we do?" asked the Flannel Pig, as he wiped some snow water +out of one of his eyes. + +"Let's build a big snow house, such as the Eskimos all about the North +Pole build," went on the Polar Bear. "There is enough snow being blown +in through the open windows to make a lot of houses. And we can make a +hill, and slide down that, too!" + +"Yes, let's do it," said the Woolen Doll Boy. But just then the Plush +Bear shook his head and growled out: + +"Be careful, everybody! I think some one is coming! We must not be seen +in motion, or be heard talking. Keep quiet, every one!" + +Each of the toys became as still as a little chocolate mouse. + +Then one of the open windows was darkened as a strange creature looked +in. It seemed to be a boy, but he was covered with skins and fur, almost +like an animal. Only his face could be seen. His hands, as he rested +them on the sill of the window, were covered with big, fur mittens. + +"Oh, ho! Nobody is here! I can take one of the toys!" said the +fur-dressed Eskimo boy, for such he was. "Now is my chance! I'll take +that big bear!" + +The Eskimo boy, one of a strange, unknown race that live at the North +Pole, was just climbing in through the open window, when suddenly, at +the far end of the shop, a voice cried: + +"Oh, my goodness! Look what has happened! Some one left the windows open +and a lot of snow has blown in! Quick, my merry men! Close the windows +and start work to finish the toys! I hope none is spoiled!" + +And with that Santa Claus himself hurried into the shop. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LITTLE ESKIMO + + +Following Santa Claus, his little men hurried into the North Pole shop. +They were dancing and capering about, for they felt very lively after +their rest, and they were ready to start again making toys, or finishing +those half completed. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh! Such a lot of trouble!" cried Santa Claus, but even this +trouble could not keep the laughter out of his jolly voice. "Snow! Snow! +Snow all over everything!" went on Saint Nicholas. "Who left the windows +open so that all the flakes blew in?" he asked. + +"I--I guess I did, Santa Claus," replied one of the little men who wore +a red cap. "I wanted some fresh air, for I was working over the paint +pots, putting blue eyes in wax dolls, and the paint smell almost choked +me. So I opened some windows." + +"I guess no great harm is done," said Santa Claus, looking about. "It is +so cold the snow hasn't melted, and it is only melted snow that spoils +toys. But I don't see how the snow got all over the floor, as well as on +the benches," he added. + +Ah, if Santa Claus had only seen the toys at play, throwing snowballs +all about, and washing the faces of one another, he would have known how +it happened. But even Santa Claus was not allowed to see the toys come +to life and play. + +"Get brooms, sweep up the snow, and close the windows," called Saint +Nicholas. "Get the shop ready to work in again, for we are going to be +very busy. The Earth children want many toys this year, and we have not +made nearly enough. Clean out the snow!" + +With brooms, shovels, and brushes, the merry little men fell to work, +and soon the shop of Santa Claus was as it should be, and as it had been +before the storm. The windows, made of sheets of ice, were pulled down, +and soon there was the hum of songs all through the shop, for the men of +Santa Claus sang as they worked. + +One of the men, as he pulled down the window near his bench, where he +was making a lot of little animals for a Noah's Ark, looked out through +the pane of ice glass. + +"What do you see?" asked the workman next him. + +"Oh, one of those odd Eskimo children, all dressed in fur, was right +under this window," answered the other little man. "He must have been +here when the windows were open. Maybe he wanted to see us making toys. +Well, he won't see any better toy than the Plush Bear I just finished," +said the little man proudly. + +"No, indeed!" agreed the second little man. "But does Santa Claus know +about these little Eskimo children coming around his workshop?" he +asked. + +"Oh, they never bother us," was the answer. "Now we mustn't talk any +more, for we have many toys to make for the Earth children." + +So the little men became very busy--too busy to talk, though the Plush +Bear heard them singing as they made toy after toy. The Plush Bear and +the other playthings could hear what was said, though they could take no +part in the talk while Santa Claus, or any of his men, were in the shop. +And Santa Claus was there now, seeing that each one of his tiny elves +made as many toys as possible. + +"Well, we certainly had a good time for a while!" thought the Plush Bear +to himself. "What fun that snowball fight was! I'd like another. I +didn't feel a bit cold!" + +And no wonder. His coat of silk plush was as warm as the fur coat of a +real bear. The Plush toy was looking straight at the Polar Bear and the +big, white fellow seemed to be blinking his eyes at the other Bear. + +All through the great North Pole workshop of Santa Claus the little men +were busy, singing over their tasks. But they could not work all night +and all day as well, so at last there came an hour when Santa Claus rang +a bell and said: + +"Now, my merry men, it is time for you to go to bed. Be up early in the +morning to make more toys. Good-night, everybody!" + +With that he went out, buttoning his fur coat about him, and the +workmen, after putting away their tools, followed. Santa Claus and his +men slept in snow castles not far from the workshop. + +It was almost dark in the toy shop now. Outside the Northern Lights +glowed faintly, and inside only a little candle was left gleaming, its +beams reflected in some shiny gold stars that were to go on the tops of +Christmas trees later on. + +[Illustration: "Be Careful, Everybody!" Said the Plush Bear. + +_Page_ 12] + +"Hello, everybody!" softly called the voice of the Flannel Pig, as he +peered out from the roof of a toy dog house, where he had been put by +one of the workmen. "Now we can have some more fun!" + +"We must be sure every one is gone," said the Plush Bear, as he began to +swing his head from side to side. For he had been wound up, and now the +wheels and springs inside him were beginning to move. + +"Oh, every one is gone," said the Wax Doll. "And this time they will +stay away all night. Now we can have our usual fun." + +"Is there any snow left?" asked the Polar Bear. "I should like to wash +the face of the Plush Bear." + +"And I'd wash yours, too!" laughed the Plush Bear. "But the little men +swept out all the snow and closed the windows. There isn't so much as an +icicle left." + +"Too bad!" sighed the Polar Bear. "Well, we'll have fun some other way. +Let's see, what shall we do? Have any of you ever seen me turn +somersaults?" he asked, after a moment's pause. + +"No. Can you do it?" asked the Plush Bear. + +"You should see me!" boasted the big white Bear. "I don't believe +anywhere in North Pole Land you will find a better somersault turner +than I. Watch me!" + +The Plush Bear and the other toys leaned forward from the shelves and +tables where they sat or stood to see what would happen. If they had not +been so eager to see what the Polar Bear was going to do some of them +might have noticed a small, dark figure stealing up outside the workshop +of Santa Claus, and stopping beneath one of the ice windows. + +This little figure was that of an Eskimo boy--the same little chap, all +dressed in sealskin and fur, who had looked in and almost reached +through the window to take out the Plush Bear when he had interrupted +the toys in the midst of their snowball fight. + +"Ah, now is my chance!" murmured the little Eskimo boy, as he stepped +softly over the snow, coming nearer and nearer to the workshop of Santa +Claus. "If I can open a window I'll take out that Plush Bear, cart him +off to the igloo, and have a lot of fun." + +The Eskimo boy lived with his father and mother in a house made of +blocks of snow and ice. This house was called an "igloo," and it takes +its name from the house built by the seals in the far North. The Eskimos +build their houses the same shape as the houses made in the ice by the +seals. If you cut an orange or an apple in half, and put the flat side +down on a table, you will see exactly how an Eskimo igloo is shaped. + +"Oh, if I can only get the Plush Bear!" thought the Eskimo boy, as he +stepped softly nearer and nearer to the workshop of Santa Claus. + +It was not very dark in North Pole Land just then. Though the sun had +gone down, and the long winter had set in, still there were the +Northern Lights, which glowed and flickered in the sky and made enough +of a gleam for the Eskimo boy to see his way over the snow. The snow, +too, helped to make it less dark. + +Ever since he had seen the Plush Bear through the window of Santa Claus' +workshop that day, the Eskimo boy had wanted the plaything. So after his +supper of seal fat and blubber, with a piece of tallow candle, which was +to him what candy is to you, the boy, well wrapped in fur, started out +from his igloo. + +All this while, or at least after Santa Claus and his men had gone, the +Plush Bear and the other toys were having fun among themselves. As I +have told you, the Polar Bear was getting ready to turn somersaults to +amuse the other toys. + +"Watch me now!" cried the Polar Bear, as he leaned over and got ready to +stand on his head. + +"Say, why don't you turn some somersaults?" the Flannel Pig asked of +the Plush Bear. + +"Maybe I will after he gets through," the Plush Bear answered. + +The Eskimo boy was now at one of the windows of the shop--a window which +had for a pane a clear sheet of ice. The Eskimo boy blew his warm breath +on this window pane, close to the place where, inside, there was a catch +to hold the window shut. + +"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" breathed the Eskimo boy on the glass. And his breath +was warm, just as yours is when you melt the frost on your window glass +at home. Very soon the fur-clad boy had melted a hole in the ice pane. +After that it was easy for him to slip his hand in and turn back the +window catch. + +The Eskimo boy did not know it was wrong thus to take a toy from the +workshop of Santa Claus. He only knew that he wanted the Plush Bear, and +that this was the easiest way to get it. + +Softly he raised the window, after he had turned back the catch. There, +in front of him on one of the tables, stood the Plush Bear and many +other Christmas toys. But the Eskimo boy had eyes only for the Plush +Bear. + +"What fun I shall have with you!" whispered the Eskimo boy. He reached +forth his hand and took the wonderful plaything. + +Just at this time the Polar Bear was turning a somersault, and the eyes +of all the other toys were looking at him. + +If they had not been looking at the Polar Bear they would have seen the +Eskimo boy open the window. And had he once looked at the toys they +would have had to stop talking and moving. But, as it happened, none of +the toys saw him. + +The Plush Bear had just been going to clap his paws together to applaud +the Polar Bear's trick of turning a somersault, when the Plush Bear felt +himself lifted up. + +"Oh!" he said faintly, and then he saw that he must not move or speak, +for the Eskimo boy was looking straight at him. + +"Ha, now I have you, Mr. Plush Bear," whispered the Eskimo boy, and he +quickly drew his arm back out of the open window, taking the wonderful +toy with him. He slipped the Plush Bear under his coat of fur, and away +he sped over the snow, sparkling in the Northern Lights. Over the snow +ran the Eskimo boy, taking to his igloo the Plush Bear. + +"Oh, dear me," thought the Plush Bear, "this is a strange adventure, +indeed! I hoped I might go to Earth in the sleigh of Santa Claus, as the +Nodding Donkey did, but now, it seems, I must stay at the North Pole in +a snow and ice hut! Oh, dear! What is going to happen to me?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OUT ALL NIGHT + + +"There! What do you think of that for a somersault?" cried the Polar +Bear, as he flopped over on his back. "Can you do as well as that, Mr. +Plush Bear?" + +"Oh, what a wonderful fellow the Polar Bear is!" cried the Wax Doll, who +now had on her shoes so she could walk about on the broad workshop +bench. "Quite remarkable!" + +"The Plush Bear can do as well!" squealed the Flannel Pig, making his +nose wrinkle up in a funny way. "Come on, Plush Bear!" he cried. "Show +them how you turn somersaults!" + +This talk took place just after the Polar Bear had done his trick, and +right after the Eskimo boy had opened the window and taken away the toy +he so much wanted. + +None of the toys, except the Plush Bear, had seen the Eskimo boy, and +the boy had not looked at any of the other toys, so they did not have to +stop what they were doing. And as the Eskimo boy popped his hand out of +the window, almost as soon as he had popped it in, the toys kept right +on with what they were doing. + +"Come, let's see you turn a somersault, Plush Bear!" called the Polar +Bear to his friend. + +"Yes! Yes!" cried the other playthings! "Let's have a somersault race!" + +They turned toward that part of the work bench where they thought the +Plush Bear would be standing, but the Plush Bear was not there. + +"Oh, he's gone!" squealed the Flannel Pig. + +"Maybe he got down on the floor to practice a somersault, so he can beat +me! But he'll have hard work!" growled the Polar Bear. But he was not +cross when he growled. It was just his way of speaking, as it was also +that of the Plush Bear. + +"No, he isn't on the floor!" said the Wax Doll, leaning over the edge of +the table to look down. + +"Oh, he has fallen out of the window!" suddenly cried the Flannel Pig. +"See, the window is open! The Plush Bear must have fallen into the snow +outside." + +"We must get him back!" + +"Throw him a piece of a doll's clothes-line and haul him up!" + +"Get a ladder from one of the toy fire engines!" + +"Let's all go down after him! Maybe he bumped his nose!" + +These were only a few of the shouts and cries that came when it was +discovered that the window was open and that the Plush Bear was gone. + +The Eskimo boy had not stopped to close the window after opening it to +take the toy he so much wanted. And now the toys, crowding on the sill, +which was close to the work bench, looked out in the snow under the +window. It was light enough for them to see quite well. + +"Come on back here, Plush Bear!" called the Flannel Pig, who was quite +friendly with the big toy. "I want to see you turn a somersault." + +"Yes, come on back, unless you're afraid that I can beat you!" growled +the Polar Bear. + +"Maybe he is afraid, and ran away," suggested the Wax Doll, who seemed +more friendly to the Polar Bear. + +"No, indeed!" squealed the Flannel Pig. "The Plush Bear is a brave +fellow, and he is very wise! He would not run away. The window must have +come open and he tumbled out." + +"But he isn't down there in the snow," said a toy Fireman, looking +carefully below. "If he was down there I could fix a ladder for him so +he could climb up. But he isn't there." + +"Where can he be?" asked the Flannel Pig. "He was standing near me one +minute, saying how he was going to turn a somersault, and when next I +looked he was gone." + +"See! There are footprints in the snow under the window," said the Polar +Bear, who had come to the sill. "Maybe Santa Claus or some of his men +came along outside, and took the Plush Bear away." + +"They would not do that," declared the Wax Doll. "Santa Claus would not +take just one of us toys. When he takes any, he takes a whole +sleigh-load to Earth for the children. No, there is something strange +about this!" + +And indeed there was, as we know. The Eskimo boy had the Plush Bear, but +the toys knew nothing of this. However, there was nothing they could +do. + +After calling softly to the Plush Bear to come back, but receiving no +answer, about a dozen of the Jumping Jacks, by climbing up and all +pulling together on the window, managed to close it to keep out the +cold, night air. + +"Well, since there is no one else to turn somersaults with me, I'll do +it alone," said the Polar Bear. So he flipped and flopped over again, +and the other toys played games among themselves, but the nice Plush +Bear was not among them. + +He was under the fur coat of the Eskimo boy, being carried across the +snow to the ice hut, or igloo. The door to this igloo was not like the +door to your home. It was just a hole, with some pieces of fur and skin +hung over it to keep out the cold wind. Ski, which was the name of the +Eskimo boy, pushed aside this curtain of fur as he crawled into the +igloo, with the Plush Bear beneath his warm jacket. The doorway, or +hole, was made small to keep out as much cold as possible, and Ski had +to stoop down and crawl on his hands and knees to get in. + +Inside the igloo there were no tables and chairs, such as there are in +your house. There were just some slabs of ice set here and there, being +raised a little from the icy floor. On the floor were skins to make it +as warm as possible, and in the middle of the igloo was a sort of lamp, +or stove, made of stone, filled with oil in which floated a wick that +was burning. This lamp-stove was all the Eskimos had to heat and cook +with. But as they wore their fur clothes all winter long, never taking +them off, they did not catch cold. + +"Look!" said Ski, the Eskimo boy, as he pulled the Plush Bear out from +under his fur coat and set the toy down on a shelf of ice in the igloo, +where the rays from the oil lamp fell upon it. "See what I have!" and +his father and mother and his brothers and sisters leaned forward to +look at the strange object. + +There was not much room in the igloo, and the Eskimo family was rather +crowded. But they did not mind this, as it was much warmer than if they +had lived in a big room. In fact, except in the center, one could not +stand up in the igloo. The roof was too low. + +"Where did you get that?" asked Ski's father, as he looked at the Plush +Bear. + +"He was in the big igloo, far over the snow, near the big ice mountain," +answered the Eskimo boy. "I saw him through a window, and I wanted him. +When all in the igloo were asleep I breathed on the ice pane, opened the +window, and took this Bear. Now he is mine!" + +"Yes, I know that big igloo," said Ski's father. "There was none like it +where we came from. I do not know what it is." + +Ski's family had just moved to North Pole Land, and they had never heard +of Santa Claus, though the other Eskimos of this country were well +acquainted with Saint Nicholas. To Ski and his family the workshop of +Santa Claus was just a big "igloo." + +"Is not this Bear nice?" asked Ski, of his brothers and sisters. + +"But he is not like the bears here," said Kiki, one of the Eskimo girls. +"He is brown, like the seals. The North Bears are white." + +"There was a white Bear in the big igloo, but I would rather have this +one," said Ski. "I will always keep him." + +During this time the Plush Bear, of course, had not dared to say a word +or move by himself. He was being watched too closely. But he could hear +what was said, and he wondered what was going to happen to him. + +"I shall be dreadfully lonesome if I have to stay here," thought the +Plush Bear. "There is not another toy in the whole place!" + +There was another toy, but the Plush Bear did not know it. This toy was +a rudely carved Wooden Doll, owned by Kiki. She had wrapped this Wooden +Doll in a bit of sealskin and put it in her bed to keep it warm. For to +Kiki the piece of wood, which looked something like a Doll, was as much +alive as your Doll is to you girls. + +"That is a wonderful thing, Ski," said the Eskimo boy's father. "Never +have I seen such a thing in all my life!" + +Ski's father leaned forward and touched the Plush Bear. And he happened +to touch the very spring that set the toy animal in motion. For the +Plush Bear was all wound up when Ski reached through the window and took +him, and all that was needed was a touch to send him off. + +Immediately the Plush Bear began to move his head from side to side, +growls came out of his red mouth, and his paws waved to and fro. He +behaved almost like a small, live bear. + +"Wow!" cried Ski, leaping back when he saw the Plush Bear beginning to +move. + +"Wow!" cried Ski's father, mother and sisters and brothers, and they, +too, leaped back. + +"Gurr-r-r-r! Gurr-r-r-r!" growled the Plush Bear, and he moved his paws +and head faster than ever. He was not doing this himself, you +understand. He was not making believe come to life. He was only doing as +all the other spring toys do--moving when the wheels within him moved. + +"Wow!" cried Ski's father again. "This is magic! This bear is bewitched! +It will bring us bad luck! It must not stay in my igloo!" + +"Oh, please let me keep it!" begged Ski, as his father caught up the +Plush Bear. + +"No! No! It would be dangerous! It would bring us bad luck! There is a +witch in that bear!" murmured Ski's mother. + +"Never have I seen such a thing!" went on Ski's father in awe and +wonder. "We must not keep it! If we allowed it to stay in this igloo we +should freeze, I should never catch any seals, and our blubber fat would +become so hard we could not eat it. I must take this magic bear that +moves back to the big igloo!" + +So, though Ski begged his father to be allowed to keep the toy, the +Eskimo man thrust the bear under his fur coat and crawled out of the +igloo into the glow of the Northern Lights. + +"I must take it back to the big igloo," murmured Ski's father. "Then +will the bad magic pass away." + +You see he did not know, never having seen such a toy before, and never +having heard of machinery--Ski's father did not know what a delightful +toy the Plush Bear was. All he thought of was bad luck and magic. + +Quickly Ski's father hitched his team of dogs to the long, low wooden +sled. + +Crack! went the long whip over their heads, but the Eskimo man did not +let the lash fall on the animals. + +Over the snow and ice they drew the sled, on which Ski's father sat well +wrapped in fur blankets. Nearer they came to the workshop of Santa +Claus--the "big igloo" as Ski had called it. + +"I will leave the magic bear that moves beneath one of the windows," +murmured Ski's father. "Then will the bad luck pass from us." + +He guided his dog team up under the very window out of which Ski had +taken the bear, for the man could see Ski's footprints in the snow. + +"There! Now I am done with you!" whispered Ski's father, as he dropped +the Plush Bear in the snow and turned his dog team around to go back to +his igloo. + +As for the Plush Bear, his head moved, he growled, and his paws waved to +and fro as long as the spring was wound up. But when it ran down, as it +did in a little while, he was motionless. Except that now, as no one +could see him, he was allowed to make believe come to life and could do +as he pleased. + +"Well, this is certainly a fine state of affairs!" said the Plush Bear +to himself, speaking out loud, as there were no human ears to hear. +"Taken away to an ice house, scaring an Eskimo family half to death, and +then to be brought back here and dumped in a snow bank! It's a good +thing I have on a warm plush coat, or I'd surely freeze! I wonder if I +can get back into the shop?" + +But this the Bear could not do. The window had been pulled down and shut +by the Jumping Jacks, and the hole Ski had breathed in the icy pane was +too small for the Plush Bear to crawl through, even if he could have +reached it. He tried to call out, to make the toys inside hear him, so +they might rescue him, but they had gone to sleep after their evening of +fun. + +So the Plush Bear had to stay out in the snow bank near the workshop of +Santa Claus all night. It was cold and dreary, but he made the best of +it. + +"When morning comes they will take me in," he thought. "The night can +not last forever." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN THE TOY SHOP + + +Slowly the night passed. Well it was for the Plush Bear that he was +warmly clad in such a warm coat, or he might have been frozen stiff. As +it was, his wheels and springs had to be oiled several times after his +long night spent in a snowdrift. + +In the morning Santa Claus and his men hurried into the workshop after +breakfast. There was a hum and a bustle, whistling and singing, and the +sound of many tools being used. + +"Lively, my merry men, lively!" cried Santa Claus, with a laugh, as he +passed from bench to bench. "I will soon make a trip to Earth, and I +shall need many toys to take with me. I want a big bagful to load into +my sleigh. My reindeer are waiting. All I need is toys--more toys--all +the toys you can make!" + +"You shall have them, Santa Claus! You shall have them!" cried the merry +little men, and they began to work as fast as they could. + +At one of the benches Santa Claus observed a little man looking about as +though in search of something. The little man moved his tools to one +side, he shifted toys here and there, and then he looked under his +bench. + +"What are you looking for?" asked Santa Claus, as he passed up and down +the aisles. + +"Why, yesterday, I finished a fine Plush Bear," answered the workman. "I +set it over here, but now it is gone. You did not take it to Earth, did +you?" + +"Oh, no," answered Santa Claus. "I have not been to Earth for some time. +But I am going soon again. Ha! I know what may have happened," he said +suddenly. "The windows were open yesterday. The Plush Bear may have +fallen out of the window!" + +It did not take the workman more than an instant to raise the sash and +poke out his head. He looked down into the bank of snow under the +window. + +"Here he is!" he cried. "Just as you thought, Santa Claus, the Plush +Bear fell out of the window! He isn't hurt a bit! I'll get him back +again. Ho! Ho! My Plush Bear fell out of the window!" + +Of course this didn't happen at all, but it was the only way Santa Claus +and his men could think of the accident having happened. But we know +about the little Eskimo boy, and how his father left the Plush Bear in +the snow bank. + +"There you are!" said the toy workman as he came in with the Plush Bear +and set him on the bench again. "I'm glad to get you back. Only for your +warm coat you might have frozen. I must see if you work all right." + +But the cold had chilled the wheels and springs inside the Plush Bear, +and it was not until after some warm oil had been poured on them that +they worked properly again. Then, when the Plush Bear was wound up, he +could growl, wag his head, and wave his paws as well as ever. + +"Once more you are ready to go down to Earth, as soon as Santa Claus is +ready to take you," said the workman, as he started to make a toy fire +engine that, some day, would gladden the heart of a lucky boy. + +As for the other toys in Santa Claus' shop, they had been very much +surprised to see the Plush Bear brought back into their midst again. But +while Saint Nicholas and his helpers were around, nothing could be said, +no questions could be asked, and Plush Bear could tell none of his +adventures. + +But when night came again, and the Northern Lights glowed, when the +janitor had mended the hole in the ice pane, breathed on by the Eskimo +boy, when all was still and quiet, the Flannel Pig leaned over toward +the Plush Bear and whispered: + +"Where were you? What happened? Did you try to run away?" + +"Indeed I did not run away! Some one ran away with me! An Eskimo boy, +and he took me to his igloo, but his father would not let him keep me +because he thought I was magic and would bring him bad luck," answered +the Plush Bear. + +"My, what marvelous adventures!" exclaimed the Wax Doll, who was fond of +using big words. "Please tell us all about it." + +"Yes, do," growled the Polar Bear. "And after that we can have a +somersault race. You missed it last night. We thought you had fallen out +of the window." + +"I'll tell you of my adventures," said the Plush Bear, and he did, from +the time Ski took him away until the workman found him in the snow bank. + +"I told you his adventures would be marvelous," said the Wax Doll. +"Nothing as strange will happen to you when you are taken to Earth, Mr. +Plush Bear." + +But just wait and see. You never can tell what is going to happen, and +the Plush Bear may have even more strange adventures. + +That night in the shop of Santa Claus passed all too soon for the Plush +Bear. When he had finished telling his story the Flannel Pig cried: + +"Let's have a game of tag!" + +"All right! I'll be it!" agreed a Jumping Jack, and he was such a lively +fellow that in less than a second he had tagged an Elephant. The +Elephant was so large and such a slow chap that he was it for a long +time. He could hardly tag any one, not even the Plush Bear and the Polar +Bear, who, also being large animal toys, had to move slowly. But they +were not as slow as the Elephant. + +"Oh, this is no fun!" said the Elephant after a while. "I can't catch +any of you! Let's play hide and go seek! I'll have some chance in that +game!" + +So they played that, and told stories and sang songs until it was almost +morning, and time for Santa Claus and his men to open the shop again. +Then the toys became quiet, as usual. + +That day Saint Nicholas walked up and down among the benches and spoke +to his workmen. + +"I will go to Earth to-morrow," said Santa Claus. "Get ready all the +toys you can, and I will fill my sleigh. I will load it to-night." + +And the toys who heard this were very much excited, wondering who would +be taken and who would be left. + +"I'll take this Plush Bear!" said Santa Claus that evening, as he began +selecting the toys he wanted for his sack to take to Earth. "And I'll +take the Wax Doll, the Flannel Pig, and the Elephant. I want a lot of +other dolls, plenty of drums, some Jumping Jacks, some Jacks in the Box, +some toy soldiers, some toy engines, trains of cars, toy guns and enough +more to fill my sack to running over. It is so near Christmas that I +need all the toys I can pile into my sleigh." + +The Plush Bear was lifted off the bench by one of the workmen and put in +a box, after being wrapped in tissue paper. + +"I hope they don't smother me!" thought the Bear, but he need not have +been afraid. His last glimpse was of the Wax Doll. She, too, was well +wrapped and placed in a box so her complexion would not be spoiled. + +"I did hope I'd have a chance to bid farewell to the toys that are +left," thought the Plush Bear, as he was placed in the sleigh of Santa +Claus. "But some of them are coming with me, that's a comfort. We shall +not have room to move around, though, and hardly a chance to talk on +our trip to the Earth. However, I suppose it cannot be helped. This is +part of our adventures in life." + +A little later there was a merry jingle of bells, and Santa Claus could +be heard calling: + +"Hi, Prancer! Steady there, Dashaway! Wait a minute, Comet!" + +"Those are the reindeer," whispered the Wax Doll, through the side of +her box to the Plush Bear in his box. + +"I supposed so," was the answer. "I hope I am not made seasick on this +voyage through the air." + +"Seasick! The idea! The sleigh of Santa Claus is not a boat!" squealed +the Flannel Pig. + +Then the sack of toys was lifted up and put in the sleigh. The reindeer +shook their heads, making the bells jingle more merrily than ever. There +came a jolly laugh from Santa Claus, and then he cried: + +"Away we go! Over the ice! Over the snow! Down to the Earth below!" + +And a moment later the Plush Bear and the other toys found themselves +being swiftly carried through the cold air. But they were snug and warm +in the sleigh of Santa Claus. + +Of all the things that happened to the Plush Bear and the other toys on +their trip from the shop of Santa Claus to Earth I have not room to tell +you here. Enough to say that, unlike the Nodding Donkey, they suffered +no accident. None of them was tossed out into a drift of snow. Then, +finally, the big sack of toys was left at one of the many big buildings +on Earth, whence they were to be divided among the toy shops. + +And one day, after having been cooped up in his box for a long time, so, +at least, it seemed to him, the Plush Bear's eyes were suddenly dazzled +by a flash of light. + +"I wonder if I am back at the North Pole," he thought. "Has that Eskimo +boy caught me again, and is he taking me to his igloo? Are these +Northern Lights that flash in front of me?" + +But they were not, though they came from the same cause--electricity. +The glare that dazzled the eyes of the Plush Bear came from the electric +lights of a large store, where he was being unpacked, together with +other toys. There was a rustle of paper as the Plush Bear was unwrapped, +and then a voice cried: + +"Oh, Father, see what a fine toy! And it's the kind you wind up! Oh, I +shall love this Plush Bear!" + +"Do not squeeze him too tightly, Angelina," said a white-haired and +white-whiskered old man, who was helping two women lift the toys out of +the big box in which they had come. "You may break some of the wheels or +springs." + +"Oh, I shan't hug him too tightly," said Angelina, laughing. "But he is +certainly a lovely Plush Bear." + +"Yes, he is very nice," said the old gentleman. "What have you, +Geraldine?" he asked his other daughter. + +"An Elephant," was the answer. "But he doesn't wind up. However, he will +look well in the window." + +"Yes," said the old man, "to-morrow we will decorate the show windows +for the Christmas trade. The Plush Bear must surely stand in the window. +Some one will see him and buy him." + +"Well, at last I seem to have reached a toy shop--the very place I most +wanted to come to," thought the Plush Bear. "I wonder who the old +gentleman is?" + +Had the Plush Bear been able to read he would have seen in white letters +on one of the windows the name: + + HORATIO MUGG + TOY DEALER + +But the Plush Bear did not need this to tell him he was in the very +place he wished to be. + +"Now some girl or boy will buy me, I hope, and I shall have more +adventures," thought the new toy. + +The Plush Bear, who was taken from his box by Angelina, one of Mr. +Mugg's daughters, was placed safely on a shelf, and the unpacking of the +toys went on. It was evening, and the store was closed for the day. But +Mr. Mugg took this time to open his new shipment of Christmas goods. + +Geraldine had just lifted out the Wax Doll, and the Plush Bear was +wondering when he would have a chance to talk to her and his other +friends from the shop of Santa Claus when, all of a sudden, from the +rear of the toy store, which was in darkness, came a strange sound. + +There was a banging, slamming noise, then several bumps, and finally a +loud whistle. + +"Goodness; what's that?" exclaimed Angelina. + +"I hope that isn't a policeman whistling, to tell us there is another +fire!" said Geraldine. + +"Or that burglars are trying to break in to take the new toys," added +her sister. + +They looked at their father, who laid down a Noah's Ark he was just +looking at and started toward the back of the store. As he did so the +noise became louder; bumping, banging, crashing, and above it all +sounded the shrill toot-toot of whistles. + +"Dear me, what is happening?" thought the Plush Bear. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE FAT BOY + + +Horatio Mugg, owner of the toy store where the Plush Bear was now at +home, hurried to the back of the shop. It was here that the noise had +come from, and the sound was still keeping up as Mr. Mugg turned on an +electric light. + +Then the Plush Bear, who was listening as closely as were Geraldine and +Angelina, heard Mr. Mugg laugh, and with that the rattling, banging and +tooting noise came to a stop. + +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Mr. Mugg again. + +"What is it?" asked Angelina. "It isn't a burglar, evidently." + +"Nor a policeman nor a fire," Geraldine added. + +"None of them," answered Mr. Mugg. "One of the toy trains of cars that I +wound up this evening just started off by itself. I guess some of the +toys must have wanted a ride, and the Engineer of the toy train tooted +his whistle to tell them to get aboard." + +"Why, Father!" exclaimed Geraldine, "the toys couldn't want a ride. They +can't do anything like that." + +"Well, I wouldn't be so sure," said Mr. Mugg, as his two daughters +entered the rear room to see what had caused all the racket. "Sometimes +I feel that these toys know more than we think they do," he went on. +"Take that new Plush Bear," he added, pointing to the other room where +Bruin was sitting on a shelf. "See how wise he looks? He seems about to +speak. And if he ever should come to life I think he would enjoy a ride +in a toy train." + +"Oh, but he _can't_ come to life!" exclaimed Angelina. + +"Ha! can't I, though?" whispered the Plush Bear to himself. "You just +ought to see us toys after dark! No, on second thought, it is just as +well you don't see us," he went on. "For if you looked at us we couldn't +say a word or move about. It is best that you do not know we can pretend +to be alive." + +Angelina and Geraldine looked at the toy train which had caused the +excitement. It was a new engine and cars that had been unpacked that +evening by their father. Mr. Mugg had wound up the spring in the engine, +which was very much like a real one, with a bell, whistle, and even an +iron Engineer in the cab. The toy train, all wound up and ready to go, +had been left on the floor in a rear room. Then, when Mr. Mugg and his +daughters were unpacking the Plush Bear and other toys, the little +train, in some manner, had started off by itself, had run along the +floor, banging into the walls, bumping over other toys, and with the +whistle going: + +Toot! Toot! Toot! + +"What started it?" asked Angelina, when the train had been put in a safe +place. + +"Oh, I think the spring began to unwind of itself," answered Mr. Mugg. +"Or our walking around may have jarred the engine, and started it off. +At any rate no harm is done, and now we must finish unpacking the toys." + +The toy-dealer and his two daughters were soon busy over the large +packing box, and the Plush Bear and his friends from the workshop of +Santa Claus looked on, well pleased to be out of the box. + +"This is ever so much a nicer place than the igloo of Ski, the Eskimo +boy," thought the Plush Bear. "I would not want to be up in that bleak +North Pole Land, unless I were with Santa Claus, and of course one +cannot stay long in his workshop. I think I shall have much more fun +here. There is so much light and happiness." + +It was nearly midnight when Mr. Mugg and his daughters finished +unpacking the toys. All about the floor wrapping paper and the covers of +boxes were scattered. The toys, as they were taken out of the case, had +been set on shelves about the room. + +"This will be enough for to-night," said the toy-dealer after a while. +"We will leave things as they are, now that we have all the toys +unpacked. To-morrow I will put some in the show window, and the boys and +girls will come to buy them." + +"Be sure and put the Plush Bear in the window," said Angelina. "I know +he'll be one of the first to go, he is so cute and he can do so many +things when he is wound up. He shakes his head and moves his paws." + +"He is a good toy," said Mr. Mugg. And a little later the toy shop was +in darkness, except for one light that was left burning all night. + +"Oh, ho!" thought the Plush Bear, when he saw Mr. Mugg and his daughters +leave. "Now is our chance! Now we can come to life!" + +He turned his head to one side, and spoke to the Wax Doll. + +"How do you like it here?" asked the Plush Bear. + +"Oh, very much," the Doll answered. "As soon as we get to know the other +toys I'm sure we shall like it." + +"We are glad to welcome you here," said a Jumping Jack, who had been in +Mr. Mugg's store for a long time. "Make yourselves at home. After a bit +we shall have some fun. You just came from North Pole Land, didn't you?" + +"Yes," answered the Plush Bear. "But we like it here very much. Come, +Miss Wax Doll," he went on, "allow me the pleasure of taking you for a +walk through the shop." + +The Wax Doll and the Plush Bear got down off the shelf where they had +been put, and began to move about. Some of the other new toys did the +same, while about them crowded the playthings that had been on the +shelves and the counters for some days. + +"Take a look through the store," suggested the older Jumping Jack to the +Plush Bear, "and then come back and we'll have some fun." + +The Plush Bear and the Wax Doll, who took hold of his paw, moved along +through the different rooms of the toy store. Everywhere they went they +were made welcome by the playthings that had been in stock for some +time. The old toys were glad to welcome the new ones. + +Suddenly the Plush Bear and the Wax Doll found themselves in a strange +place. All about were shining tools, pots of glue, pieces of wood, +strips of cloth, glass eyes, wooden arms and legs, odd ears, noses, +tails and heads. + +"Oh, what a queer place!" cried the Wax Doll. "I don't like it here! +What is it?" + +"I hardly know," answered the Plush Bear. + +"This is the repair department," said the Jumping Jack, who had followed +the two new toys. "It is here that Mr. Mugg mends the toys that get +broken in the store, or toys that get broken when the boys and girls +play with them. We had a fire here, not long ago, and the place is +rather upset, but don't mind that. It is almost in order again, but +there are always things scattered about in this repair department. If +ever you lose an eye or an ear, Mr. Plush Bear, just come in here and +Mr. Mugg will make you a new one," said the Jumping Jack. + +"That's a comfort," answered the Plush Bear, laughing. "So you have had +a fire here? I thought the place smelled rather smoky." + +"It's just the way I smelled after I climbed up the string, too near +the gas jet, and burned my trousers," said a voice that seemed to come +from one of the shelves in the repair room. + +"Who is that?" whispered the Wax Doll. + +"The Calico Clown," answered the Jumping Jack. "He came here to have a +new cap put on him." + +"That's right," said the Clown, and he made a polite bow to the Plush +Bear and the Wax Doll. "Sidney, the boy who owns me, was playing circus +with me. His brother, who owns the Monkey on a Stick, was trying to make +me jump over the Monkey, when my cap caught on the stick and was ripped +off. So they brought me here to have Mr. Mugg make me a new one. But did +you hear about how I burned my trousers?" asked the Calico Clown. + +"I never did, having just arrived here," said the Plush Bear. + +"Oh, you should hear that story!" cried the Clown. "It was quite funny +in a way, though I did not think so at the time. In fact, there has been +a book made about it, and about some of my other adventures. I must tell +you of them." + +"I should be delighted to hear them," said the Wax Doll, who seemed to +have taken quite a liking to the Calico Clown. + +"Baa! Baa!" suddenly called a voice from another shelf. "I have had +adventures also. After you finish telling about how you burned your +trousers, Mr. Clown, I'll tell how I was once down in a coal hole." + +"Who is that?" asked the Plush Bear in a low tone of the Jumping Jack. + +"That is a Lamb on Wheels," was the answer. "How comes it that you are +here, Miss Lamb?" the Jack answered. "I didn't hear that you had had an +accident." + +"Oh, yes; but not a very bad one," bleated the Lamb. "One of my wheels +came off when Mirabell, the little girl who owns me, let me fall. Her +brother Arnold, who has a Bold Tin Soldier and his men, tried to fix me, +but his father brought me here for Mr. Mugg to operate on. I shall be +well again in a few days, and go back home. But who are the visitors?" +asked the Lamb. + +"Oh, excuse me," said the Jumping Jack. "Let me introduce Mr. Plush Bear +and Miss Wax Doll from North Pole Land," and the Bear and Doll made +polite bows, as did the Lamb on Wheels and the Calico Clown. + +Then the toys talked together and had a good time among themselves until +morning came, when they had to go back to their places and become quiet. +As soon as the store was opened for business Mr. Mugg and his daughters +began arranging the playthings. The Plush Bear was put in the show +window, with the Wax Doll and some of the other new gifts. It was the +first time in his life that he had been in such a place, and you may be +sure the Plush Bear looked about him with eagerness. + +He was gazing out into a busy street--a street where people were passing +up and down all the while--a street in which there was a layer of +newly-fallen snow, only not as much as at the North Pole. + +"I wonder if Santa Claus is here?" thought the Plush Bear. + +But he could not speak aloud because so many eyes--those of the +passers-by in the street and the customers in the store--were watching. +There was so much to see that the Plush Bear did not know at which to +look first, but, all of a sudden, he heard a voice saying: + +"Oh, I want that Plush Bear! I want that! Can he do any tricks?" + +The Plush Bear felt himself being lifted out of the show window of the +toy shop. The springs inside him were wound up by Mr. Mugg and when he +was set down on a showcase near the window the Bear began to move his +head and paws, and from his red mouth came a make-believe growl. + +"Oh, I want him! I want him!" the eager voice went on, and the Plush +Bear was caught up by a fat boy--the very fattest and jolliest boy that +the toy had ever seen. "I want this Plush Bear for my very own!" cried +the fat boy. "He's the best toy I ever saw!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OUT OF THE WINDOW + + +"Don't squeeze the Bear so hard, Arthur," said a lady who was with the +fat boy. "You may break the toy before I have paid for him." + +"The Plush Bear is strong and well-made, Mrs. Rowe," said Mr. Mugg. "He +is one of the newest of the Christmas toys, and I only put him in the +show window this morning." + +"And I saw him when I was walking along!" exclaimed Arthur Rowe, the +jolly fat boy. "As soon as I saw him I knew I'd like him! Oh, Mother, +hear him growl! And see him wave his paws!" + +Indeed the Plush Bear was doing all his tricks, for he had been wound +up by Mr. Mugg for that very purpose. There he sat on the top of the +glass showcase, growling away (make believe of course) and waving his +paws like a real bear. + +Other persons in the toy store crowded up to the showcase to watch the +Plush Bear do his tricks, and Arthur, the jolly fat boy, laughed loud +and long as his plaything amused the throng. For the Plush Bear was to +belong to Arthur. Passing down the street early that Winter morning, he +had seen the toy in Mr. Mugg's window, and had begged his mother to stop +and go in and inquire about him. + +"Wrap him up, Mr. Mugg, please," said Arthur, when the spring was all +unwound and the wheels inside the Plush Bear no longer moved his paws +and head and caused him to growl. "Wrap him up, and I'll take him home. +I guess Dick and Arnold and Herbert and Sidney will wish they had a toy +like this!" + +The Plush Bear again felt himself being lifted up by Mr. Mugg, who put +him in tissue paper and then in the same box in which the Bear had +traveled to Earth from the shop of Santa Claus. + +"Good-by, Wax Doll! Good-by, Jumping Jack, Elephant and all my friends," +said the Plush Bear to himself as the tissue paper covered his eyes and +shut out the sight of the other toys in the store. "Good-by! I don't +know when I shall see you again!" + +Of course the Plush Bear dared not say this out loud, for he was being +watched. And he dared not move of his own accord for the same reason. He +felt a little sad at leaving all his toy friends, but he liked the looks +of the fat boy, and Arthur seemed like one who would make a kind master. + +"Oh, what fun I'll have with my Plush Bear!" said the fat boy, as he +walked out of the toy store with his mother. "I'll invite Dick over with +his White Rocking Horse, Arnold with his Bold Tin Soldiers, Herbert +with his Monkey on a Stick, and Sidney with his Calico Clown. We'll have +a lot of fun!" + +"I thought you said Sidney's Calico Clown was broken," remarked Mrs. +Rowe as she and Arthur got into their automobile. + +"Only the Clown's cap was torn off when they were playing circus the +other day," said Arthur. "Mirabell's Lamb on Wheels was broken, too, and +I guess they're both in Mr. Mugg's toy shop being fixed." + +"Indeed they are there," thought the Plush Bear, who could hear all that +was said through the tissue paper and his box. "I was talking to the +Lamb and the Clown only last night. Well, it will not be so bad if I can +see them once in a while. I should also like to meet the Wax Doll again, +and the Elephant. I hope nice fat boys get them for presents." + +Though it was cold outside of Mr. Mugg's store, the Plush Bear did not +feel it. In the first place, he had on his own warm coat, which was +almost like fur. Then he was wrapped in paper, and he was in a box, and +he was inside the nice automobile. So he was even more comfortable than +he had been at the North Pole, and ever so much more cozy than when he +was in the igloo of Ski, the Eskimo boy. + +"Look, Nettie! Look what I have!" cried Arthur, the fat boy, as he ran +into the house as soon as the auto stopped. "I have a Bear that growls!" + +Nettie, his little sister, who was running to meet her brother, carrying +in her arms a Rag Doll, stopped when Arthur began to open the bundle he +had carried from Mr. Mugg's store. + +"I don't like growly bears!" she exclaimed. + +"Oh, this bear is nice! He's a Plush Bear," Arthur said. "He wobbles his +head and he jiggles his paws, and he growls, but it's only a +make-believe growl. Look at my new Bear, Nettie!" + +Arthur quickly took the wrappings from the Plush Bear and wound up the +spring as Mr. Mugg had shown him. Then, when the Bear was set down on +the floor, the toy began to wave his paws, to shake his head from side +to side, and from his red mouth came several growls. + +"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Nettie, who had knelt down beside her brother to +look at the Bear. "I don't like him when he growls!" + +"Oh, he won't hurt you, Nettie!" laughed the fat boy Arthur. "See, he's +waving his paw to you, and he only growls like your rubber doll squeaks. +My Plush Bear is nice, Nettie." + +And when the little girl found that the Bear did no harm, but only +growled in a make-believe, jolly fashion, she decided to make friends +with him. She sat down on the floor close beside him, and when the +clockwork inside the toy had run down, and the Bear was still, Nettie +took him up in her arms and loved him. + +"Isn't he nice?" asked Arthur. + +"Yes, pretty nice," agreed Nettie. "But he isn't as nice as my Rag +Doll." + +"Well, girls like dolls and boys like Plush Bears. That's the best way, +I guess," said Arthur. + +Then he and his sister played some more with the Plush Bear, winding him +up, listening to his pretended growls, and watching him wave his paws +and shake his head. + +That night after the children had gone to bed and the Plush Bear was in +the closet of the playroom with the Rag Doll, the Bear leaned over and +whispered to the Doll: + +"What sort of place is it here?" + +"Oh, very nice!" the Rag Doll answered. "Two better children than Nettie +and Arthur you could not wish for! And every Summer they go to the +seashore." + +"The seashore? Where is that?" asked the Plush Bear. "Is it near the +North Pole?" + +"Oh, my, no!" answered the Rag Doll. "It is so long since I was at the +North Pole, where I once lived in the shop of Santa Claus, that I have +almost forgotten about it. But the seashore is quite different. I have +been there with Nettie for two summers. And, now that you belong to +Arthur, I suppose he will take you there. It is very jolly down on the +warm sand near the sparkling waves." + +"I should very much like to see it," said the Plush Bear. + +There were other toys in the closet, and they talked and had a good time +together that night when Arthur and Nettie were fast asleep. + +And then began a happy life for the Plush Bear. The Christmas season +came and went, and Nettie and Arthur received other toys, but none that +they cared for any more than they did for the Rag Doll and the Plush +Bear. During the Winter days and evenings other boys and girls came over +to play with Arthur and Nettie, bringing their toys. In this way the +Plush Bear again met the Lamb on Wheels and the Calico Clown, each of +whom had been made as good as new by Mr. Mugg. + +At last the warm days of Summer came, and the Rowe family started in a +train for the seashore. Nettie had her Rag Doll, and Arthur carried his +Plush Bear. The children had seats near the window in the train, and +Arthur held his Bear up to look out. It was a warm day and the window +was open. + +"Be careful, Arthur!" called his mother. "Don't put your head out!" + +"I won't," the fat boy promised. But he did hold his Plush Bear part way +out of the window. "I want to let him see things," said Arthur. + +Suddenly the train slowed up, and so quickly that the Plush Bear was +jerked from the fat boy's hand. Out of the car window fell the Plush +Bear! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ON THE BOARDWALK + + +Down, down, down out of the window of the moving train fell the Plush +Bear! He heard Arthur cry as his toy was jerked from his hands, and the +toy had a strange feeling inside him as he turned over and over in his +plunge. + +"Talk about somersaults!" thought Mr. Bruin as he sailed downward. "The +Polar Bear should see me now! I wonder what is going to happen to me! I +have turned more somersaults in a minute than he turned in a whole +evening at the North Pole!" + +"Arthur! Arthur! what is the matter?" called the fat boy's mother, when +she heard him cry. + +"Oh, Mother! my Plush Bear has fallen out of the window!" Arthur +answered. "I was showing him the sights, and the train jiggled him out +of my hand!" + +"And my Rag Doll almost went out of my window, but I held on to her," +added Nettie. + +"Oh, you have lost your nice new Plush Bear!" exclaimed Mrs. Rowe. "I +wonder if we can get him back?" + +"I fancy so," said Mr. Rowe, who was taking his family to the seashore. +"The train is going to stop at this station, and I can run back and pick +up Arthur's toy." + +The fat boy felt better when he heard his father say this, but still he +was afraid lest perhaps his plaything might have been broken in the +tumble. + +It was the sudden slowing of the train for the station stop that had +caused Arthur to drop his Plush Bear. With a grinding of the brakes the +cars came to a standstill, and Mr. Rowe, followed by Arthur, started +for the door. Nettie also got down out of her seat. + +"No, dear, you had better stay with me," her mother said. "Daddy will +get the Plush Bear back if it can be found." + +"Where you s'pose he is?" asked the little girl. + +And now we must find that out ourselves. + +Down! down! down! turning somersault after somersault, the Plush Bear +fell. Arthur had held the toy up to the window just as the train was +crossing a high bridge, beneath which ran a street. The railroad tracks +were on an embankment, and in the street below trees were growing. The +train ran over the bridge, or trestle, above the trees. + +And it was into one of these trees, growing down in the street, that the +Plush Bear fell. Right down among the branches he plunged, but as it was +now Summer, and there were leaves on the trees, it was almost like +falling on a soft sofa cushion. + +"I'm glad this tree was here!" thought the Plush Bear, as he landed on a +branch among the soft leaves. "If I had struck on the hard street or on +the sidewalk there is no telling what would have happened. I don't +believe I'm at all hurt now." + +And indeed he was not. Aside from being shaken up and having his plush +ruffled, the Bear was not in the least harmed. But had he landed on the +road one of his springs inside or some of his wheels might have been +broken or twisted, and he never could have growled again or moved his +head or paws. That is, unless Mr. Mugg could have mended him. + +As it was, the Plush Bear fell down into the tree, and there he stuck on +a branch not far from the ground. The Plush Bear sat astraddle the limb. + +"Oh, I am not safe yet!" he thought. "Maybe I'll fall after all! I must +keep very still and quiet until I see what will happen next." + +By this time the train had stopped and Arthur and his father were +alighting at the small station. + +"This isn't where you get off," said the conductor to Mr. Rowe. "This +isn't the seashore." + +"I know it," said Mr. Rowe. "But my little boy dropped his Plush Bear +out of the window, and we're going back to see if we can get it. Have we +time?" + +"Yes," answered the conductor. "The train has to wait here five minutes +to have some trunks taken off. But don't be too long. I hope you may +find the little boy's toy." + +Arthur hoped so himself, as he hurried down to the street level. + +"Where do you think my Bear is, Daddy?" he asked. + +"It must be somewhere near the bridge," was the answer. "I heard you +call out as the train rumbled over it." + +Along the street which ran near the railroad walked Arthur and his +father. As they walked they looked carefully on the ground for sight of +the Plush Bear, but he was not to be found. + +"I'm sure you must have dropped him about here," said Mr. Rowe, as he +and the fat boy stood beneath the railroad bridge. "But he isn't in +sight. Perhaps some one picked him up." + +"Oh, is my nice Plush Bear gone?" sighed Arthur. + +He looked all around, but Mr. Bruin, as the Bear was sometimes called, +was not in sight. Then a ragged little boy, who had been flying a kite, +came running along the street. + +"What's the matter?" asked the ragged lad. "Did you lose your ball?" + +"No; it's my Plush Bear," answered Arthur. "I dropped him out of the car +window, but I don't see him now." + +The ragged boy looked up into the tree under which he and the fat boy +and Mr. Rowe were standing. There, right over their heads, stretched +out on a limb to which he seemed to be clinging with all four paws, was +the Plush Bear. The toy had been looking down at Arthur and his father, +and he had been wishing he might call and tell them where he was, but of +course this was not allowed. + +"I see him! I'll get him for you!" cried the ragged boy. + +In another moment he was climbing the tree, and a little later he tossed +down the Plush Bear, Mr. Rowe catching the toy in his hands. + +"Now I have him back again! Oh, I'm so glad! Now I have my Plush Bear!" +cried Arthur. "I'll never let you fall out of a window again!" + +"I should hope not!" said Mr. Rowe, as he gave his fat son the toy. "And +here is twenty-five cents for you, little man," he added to the ragged +boy. + +"Oh, thanks!" cried the barefoot lad, as he ran away down the street, +the shining silver quarter held tightly in his hand. Then Arthur and his +father went back to their train, the fat boy holding the Plush Bear in +his arms. + +"Oh, you found him! I'm so glad!" said Mrs. Rowe, as her husband and son +took their seats and the train started. "You must be careful after this, +Arthur." + +"I will," promised the little boy. + +"And I'm going to be careful of my Rag Doll," said Nettie, as she held +her plaything on her lap. + +There were no more accidents during the trip to the seashore, which was +reached in the afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe went to the hotel with their +son and daughter, and of course the Plush Bear and the Rag Doll went +also. + +"Where is this ocean you talked about?" asked the Plush Bear of the Rag +Doll when they had a moment alone together. + +"Oh, it is outside. Did you think they kept the ocean in the hotel?" +asked the Doll, with a laugh. + +"I didn't know," the Bear remarked. "Is this a hotel?" + +"Yes; it's a great big house where the family lives while at the +seashore," the Doll said. "You'll like it here. This is my third summer, +and I--" + +But just then the door opened and Arthur and Nettie came running into +the room. Of course the toys could no longer talk to each other. + +"We're going down on the boardwalk in wheeled chairs!" cried Nettie. +"I'm going to take my Rag Doll." + +"And I'll take my Plush Bear," said Arthur. "To-morrow I'll play with +him on the sand." + +"I wonder what all this means--wheeled chairs--sand--boardwalk?" thought +the Plush Bear. "So many things are happening I cannot keep track of +them!" + +Suddenly he found himself shut up with the two children and the Rag Doll +in a sort of iron cage. And, all of a sudden, it began to go down. + +"Goodness! am I falling again?" thought the Plush Bear. + +He looked at the Rag Doll, but she did not seem to be startled. And then +he heard Nettie say: + +"Don't you like to go down in the elevator, Arthur?" + +"Yes, it's lots of fun," answered the fat boy. + +"Oh, it seems I am in an elevator," thought the Plush Bear. "Something +else new!" + +He soon grew used to the motion, and a little later he and Arthur, with +Nettie and her Doll, were seated in a big chair on Wheels, and were +being pushed along a broad wooden walk by a colored man. + +"Isn't there a big crowd on the boardwalk?" said Arthur to his sister, +as they were being wheeled along. + +"Yes, but not as large as this time last year," replied the little girl. +"Look out, Arthur!" she suddenly cried. "Your Bear is slipping! If he +falls under the wheels he'll be run over!" + +Arthur made a grab for his toy, which had been resting in his lap, but +he was not quick enough. Down out of the wheeled chair slipped the Plush +Bear! Down to the boardwalk, and right toward him rumbled another big +double chair, in which sat a fat man and a large woman. + +"I guess this is the last of me!" thought the Plush Bear. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN THE SAND + + +Sometimes things occur very luckily in this world. If it had not +happened that the colored man, who was pushing the big, double, wheeled +chair, looked down at the boardwalk and saw the Plush Bear just in time, +Mr. Bruin would have been crushed. His spring that made him move his +head and paws and the growler inside him would have been broken to bits. +But, as it happened, the colored chair-pusher saw the Plush Bear fall +from the lap of Arthur Rowe, who sat beside his sister Nettie in a chair +on the boardwalk at the seaside city. + +"Hi! My land! Wait a minute!" shouted the colored man. + +"Maybe he is going to save me!" thought the Plush Bear, who had seen the +rubber-tired wheels coming nearer and nearer. + +"What's the matter, Sam?" asked the man in the big rolling chair. + +At the same time Arthur leaned forward with a cry of alarm, for he saw +his Plush Bear had slipped, as it had slipped from him and out of the +car window the day before. + +"Li'l boy done drop his play-toy!" answered Sam, the colored man. "I +come nigh onto runnin' ober it. Heah it is, li'l man," went on the +chair-pusher as he picked up the Plush Bear and handed him back to +Arthur. + +"Oh, thank you!" exclaimed Arthur, while Nettie, who had seen what +almost had happened, held her Rag Doll tighter in her arms. + +"I'm not going to drop Polinda, not ever!" declared Nettie. Polinda was +the name of her doll. When Nettie first received the toy she had wanted +to call the doll Polly, but the little girl next door said Lucinda would +be a better name. So Nettie mixed up both names and called her doll +Polinda, which is a very good name, I think. + +With his Plush Bear safe in his arms once more, Arthur leaned back in +his rolling chair. He and Nettie smiled at the lady and gentleman in the +chair that had almost run over Mr. Bruin, and then the two chairs were +pushed on by the men rolling them. Just behind Arthur and his sister, in +another chair, were Mr. and Mrs. Rowe, but they had been so busy, +looking at the sights along the boardwalk, they had not seen how nearly +there was an accident. + +"Is your Bear all right?" asked Nettie of her brother, as they were +wheeled along. "I mean will his head nod?" + +"His head doesn't exactly nod," replied Arthur. "I guess you're +thinking of Joe's Nodding Donkey. But my Bear wags his head." + +"Maybe he won't now, after all that happened," suggested Nettie. + +"Oh, I guess he will," said Arthur. "But I'll wind him up and see." + +He turned the key that wound up the spring, and as soon as it was tight +enough the Plush Bear began to move his paws, shake his head from side +to side and growl in a gentle voice, just as Santa Claus had intended he +should do. + +"He's all right," said Arthur. + +"Thank goodness for that!" exclaimed the Plush Bear to himself. "One +never knows what may happen when one falls out of a car window and then +from a wheeled chair to the boardwalk. I might have got a lot of slivers +in me, or have loosened a wheel! I'm glad I'm all right." + +After an hour spent on the boardwalk, seeing the many sights and looking +at the waves of the ocean rolling up on the sandy beach, Arthur and his +sister, with their father and mother, went back to their hotel. Evening +was coming on and it was time for supper, or dinner as it is called in +fashionable seaside hotels, for the principal meal is served in the +evening instead of at noon. + +"I wish we could go down and play on the sand," said Nettie, as she and +her brother got out of the wheeled chair. "My Rag Doll wants to go +barefoot on the beach." + +"And I think my Plush Bear would like it, too," said Arthur. + +"You may go down and play in the sand all day to-morrow," promised their +mother. + +"Oh, won't we have fun!" cried Nettie. "Maybe my Rag Doll can learn to +swim." + +"Well, swimming won't hurt _her_," said Arthur; "but I'm not going to +let my Plush Bear get in the water. I'm going to make a sand cave for +him to live in." + +"Well, it seems I am to have some fun," thought the toy, as he was taken +up in the elevator. + +The Plush Bear did not like the elevator very much. It gave him a queer +feeling among his wheels and spring; and his grunter, by means of which +he growled, seemed to be turning over and over. But this did not last +long, and while Arthur and Nettie, with their parents, were at dinner in +the hotel, the Bear and the Doll had a chance to talk. + +"How do you like it at this fashionable seaside hotel?" asked the Bear. + +"Quite well," answered the Doll, lifting her eyebrows the way she had +seen some ladies doing in the hotel parlor as she was carried in. "I +wish Nettie would put a different dress on me, though," the Doll added. +"It is fashionable to dress here in the evening, but she has left my old +clothes on." + +"Old clothes are best," growled the Bear. "You feel more comfortable in +them. I don't need any, I'm glad to say, not even at the cold North +Pole. But say, Rag Doll, now we're alone, let's do something." + +"I know what we can do!" the Rag Doll exclaimed. "All my life I have +wanted to play with the glistening things in a hotel bathroom. I want to +work the shower, and turn the shiny handles. There are ever so many more +than we have at home. Come on into the bathroom, and let's turn every +handle we see!" + +"All right," agreed the Plush Bear. "That'll be fun!" + +And there is no telling what mischief he and the Rag Doll might have got +into, only, just then, in came Nettie and Arthur, having finished +dinner. + +"I'm going to play with my Plush Bear!" cried the fat boy. + +"And I'm going to get my Rag Doll to sleep," said Nettie. "It's time she +was in bed." + +The Doll and the Bear could only look slyly at one another. There was +no chance now for them to have fun with the shiny handles in the +bathroom. But perhaps it was just as well. + +That night, when Arthur and Nettie, as well as their father and mother +were asleep, the Bear and Doll had a chance to make believe come to +life, move about, and speak. + +"But we won't turn the handles in the bathroom and splash the water +now," said the Doll. "It would make such a noise that they'd awaken and +we'd be caught. But what can we do?" + +"Let's look out the windows," suggested the Plush Bear. So, climbing up +first on little stools, and then on chairs, the two toys looked from the +hotel windows. They saw many lights sparkling, and out to sea was a tall +lighthouse with a gleaming beacon which flickered like a giant lightning +bug. + +In the morning Arthur and Nettie went down on the sand to play, the +little fat boy taking his Plush Bear and Nettie her Rag Doll. + +"Oh, what a dandy Teddy Bear!" cried a small, red-haired chap as he ran +along the beach to play with Arthur. + +"This isn't a Teddy Bear," explained Arthur. "He's a Plush Bear, and he +can move his head and his paws and he can growl." + +"Let's hear him!" begged the red-haired boy. + +So Arthur wound up the spring, and, surely enough, the toy did all those +things. + +"Oh, he's a dandy!" cried the red-haired lad. "If you let me play with +him, I'll let you take my airship that flies." + +"We'll take turns playing with them," said Arthur, and then began a +happy time for the children. Some little girls came over to play with +Nettie, and they had lots of fun on the sand. + +After a while Arthur happened to think of what he had said he was going +to do--dig a sand cave for his Bear. + +"We'll make a big one," he said to the red-haired lad. "We'll dig a big +hole." + +"With clam shells!" cried the other lad, and, putting aside the Plush +Bear and the airship, the two little friends began to make a large hole +in the sand. When it was finished the Plush Bear was put down in it, and +some sticks were stuck up in front. + +"We'll make believe the sticks are the bars of his cage," said Arthur. +"We'll pretend he's a circus Bear." + +"Oh, yes," agreed the red-haired boy. "That's lots of fun." + +So they played with the Plush Bear in the hole of the sand for some +time. Then other boys and girls came along, joining in the fun, and +pretty soon some children rode past on ponies. + +"Oh, I'm going to ask mother if we can't ride on the ponies!" cried +Nettie. + +"So'm I!" added her brother, and, forgetting all about the Plush Bear in +the hole, away they ran to tease for ponies to ride. Mrs. Rowe was +sitting on the sand not far from where the children had been playing. + +"Yes, Arthur and Nettie, you may ride the ponies," she said. "I'll take +you down and tell the man to put you on." + +And in the excitement of the pony ride Arthur forgot all about his Plush +Bear in the sand cave. The toy was left there all alone, and he did not +know what to think. + +"I wonder if I dare knock down those sticks they call bars and climb +out?" thought the toy. "I don't believe any one is looking." He was just +going to do this when along the beach dashed one of the ponies with a +little girl on his back. The pony stepped close to the hole where the +Plush Bear was, and in another instant the sand caved in, covering Mr. +Bruin from sight! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +OUT TO SEA + + +Sand ran down into the eyes of the Plush Bear. Grains of sand tickled +his plush toes. Some even got in his plush mouth that he opened when he +gave his growls. Other grains of sand trickled between the joints of his +paws and his body. + +"Oh, dear, this is terrible!" said Mr. Bruin, as he found himself in +darkness when the hole into which Arthur had placed him caved in from +the feet of the pony. "This is simply terrible!" + +But though the Plush Bear, being by himself, was allowed to talk and +move about, pretending to come to life, he soon found that it was not +wise to open his mouth. The wider he opened it the more sand came in. + +"What shall I do?" thought the Plush Bear to himself, not opening his +mouth to say anything this time. "How am I ever going to get out of +here?" + +Well might he ask himself that, for the sand was so closely packed in +about him that he could hardly move. Even though the spring inside him +was wound up, the Plush Bear could not turn his head nor wave his paws. +As for growling, he knew better than to try that. + +"Well, something must be done!" thought the Plush Bear. "If I stay in +this sand hole too long I'll smother! I wonder why Arthur doesn't come +and take me out? He always said he was fond of me!" + +But Arthur, the fat boy, was just then having a glorious ride on a pony, +and Nettie, his sister, was also having a ride. For the time being the +children had forgotten about their toys. Nettie had left her Rag Doll +and Arthur his Plush Bear. But the Rag Doll was not buried in the sand. + +Up and down along the sand rode the children on the backs of the beach +ponies. But at last Mrs. Rowe decided that Nettie and Arthur had had fun +enough, so she helped them out of the little saddles. + +"Get your playthings and come to the hotel. We must dress for dinner," +she said. "Where is your Rag Doll, Nettie? And your Plush Bear, Arthur?" + +"I left my Rag Doll on the sand," answered Nettie. "I'll get her." + +"And I left my Plush Bear--Oh, I left him in the sand circus cage, where +I was playing he was a wild Bear!" cried Arthur. "Oh, I forgot, I left +my nice Plush Bear in a hole!" + +"You'd better get him out as soon as you can," said his mother. + +The children remembered the spot where they had been playing on the sand +before they took the pony rides. Nettie ran back there, and soon found +her Rag Doll. + +"But where's my Plush Bear?" asked Arthur anxiously, looking up and down +the beach. "I made a hole here, right by Nettie's Doll, and I put sticks +in the hole, like bars in a circus cage, and I left my Plush Bear in the +hole." + +"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Mrs. Rowe, as she, too, looked +searchingly up and down the sand. She did not want Arthur to lose his +toy. + +"It was right here," declared the fat boy. + +"I don't see any hole," went on Mrs. Rowe. Of course she did not know +that the pony had scattered the sand, filling up the little cave Arthur +had made. + +"Oh, where is my Plush Bear?" cried the little fat boy, and he was +almost ready to cry. His mother and Nettie helped him look. So did other +children, wandering up and down the beach, but there was no sign of the +toy. Then a coast guard, one of the men who march up and down the +sands, keeping watch for shipwrecks, came along the boardwalk. + +"Have you lost something?" asked the guard, as he came down the steps +from the boardwalk to the beach. + +"We lost a Bear," said Arthur. + +"A bear?" cried the guard, in surprise. "A--a bear?" + +"My little boy means a _Plush_ Bear," explained Mrs. Rowe, and then she +told what had happened. + +"Oh, a toy, buried in the sand," said the guard, laughing. "Well, that's +too bad. Right around here, was it? Well, I happened to be passing this +afternoon, and I noticed just about the spot where the children were +sitting on the sand. I didn't see the Plush Bear, but I know the +children were digging, and it wasn't at this spot--it was nearer the +ocean. Over here it was," the guard went on, moving away from the place +where Arthur had been sure he had made the cave for the toy. "You see, +we coast guards get in the habit of noticing things and remembering +where they are," he added. "You were looking in the wrong place. I fancy +your Bear must have been covered up in some way. I'll dig here!" + +With a stick the guard began digging, and in a little while he uncovered +the Plush Bear. + +"Oh, there he is! There he is!" cried Arthur, as he saw his toy again. +"Oh, thank you for finding him for me!" and he took his plaything from +the hands of the coast guard. + +"Yes, that's what I say--thanks a whole lot of times!" murmured the +Plush Bear to himself, as once more he was able to breathe. "This was +the most terrible adventure I ever had!" + +But the Plush Bear was to have one even worse, as you shall soon hear. + +"You must be more careful of your toys, Arthur," said his mother, as, +having thanked the man, she and her children went back to the hotel. + +"I'll never put him in a sand hole again," promised the little fat boy. + +That night, when Arthur and Nettie were snug in their beds, and the +Plush Bear and the Rag Doll were in a closet by themselves, the Doll +leaned over and said: + +"Wasn't it terrible, Mr. Bear?" + +"It certainly was," agreed the Plush Bear. "I'm full of grit as it is. +Sand is all over me, even though Arthur did brush me off with a little +broom. I seem to squeak instead of growling as I ought to." + +"Oh, well, maybe you'll be better after a while," said the Rag Doll. +Then she and the Plush Bear talked together in the darkness, but the +Bear did not feel like playing. He was too much shocked by having been +buried in the sand. + +"Now we're going to have some fun, Plush Bear!" cried Arthur the next +morning, as he took his toy from the closet. "We're going in swimming!" + +"Swimming? Swimming?" repeated the Plush Bear to himself. "I wonder what +that means?" + +If he had been a real bear he would have known, for real bears, that +live in the woods, are very fond of playing in the water. But, being +only a Santa Claus toy, the Plush Bear knew nothing of this. + +A little later Arthur and Nettie were down on the sand in their bathing +suits. All along the beach were many other children and grown folk, too, +in their bathing suits. Nettie carried her Rag Doll and Arthur had his +Plush Bear. + +"Oh, Arthur! you aren't going to take your toy into the _water_ with +you, are you?" asked his mother. + +"No'm," the little fat boy answered. "I'm just going to play with him on +the sand till Daddy comes to teach me to swim. And I'm not going to put +my Bear in a hole, either!" + +"I'm glad of that, anyhow," thought the Plush Bear, who heard all that +was said. "Once in a sand hole is enough for me." + +Arthur's father was going to teach the little fat boy to swim, and while +waiting for Daddy, Arthur played about on the sand with the Plush Bear, +as Nettie played with her Rag Doll. + +Now and then Arthur, with the Plush Bear in his arms, would wade out a +little way into the water, and he would laugh, and run back, as the +incoming tide would send a wave over his bare toes. + +"Be careful, Sonny!" called his mother, as she watched him. "The waves +are getting higher and higher. I wish your father would come and give +you your swimming lesson." + +"Oh, I'm having fun!" laughed the fat boy. "My Plush Bear likes me to +carry him out, but I won't let him fall in the ocean." + +Once more the little fat boy started to wade down the beach. Nettie had +gone back to sit with her mother and, for a moment, Arthur was all by +himself. Except, of course, he had the Plush Bear with him. + +"Look and see how big the ocean is, Mr. Bear," said Arthur, holding his +toy up above the waves. And just then a bigger wave than any that had +yet rolled up the beach broke right at Arthur's feet. + +In an instant the big wave had knocked the little fellow down. Arthur +gave a scream, and his father, who had just arrived in his bathing suit, +ran to get his little boy. Arthur had let go the Plush Bear when the +wave knocked him down. + +Into the water fell the toy, and, a moment later, when the wave washed +back into the ocean, it took Mr. Bruin with it. Right out to sea the +Plush Bear was washed, on the top of the big wave! + +"Oh! Oh, dear! What is going to happen to me now?" thought the poor +Plush Bear. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SAVED AT LAST + + +When the big wave knocked Arthur down and the little fat boy dropped the +Plush Bear into the sea, that toy expected he would at once sink to the +bottom and be drowned. It was the first time he had ever fallen into the +water. At the North Pole, where he had been made in the workshop of +Santa Claus, it is so cold nearly all the time that all water is frozen +into ice, and there is very little into which one may fall. + +"This is the last of me!" thought the poor Plush Bear, as he felt the +water closing over his head. Faintly he heard the screams of Arthur, as +the waves rolled the fat boy over and over on the beach. But Arthur's +father quickly sprang in and picked up his little fat son, saving him. + +There was no one at hand just then to save the Plush Bear. + +"Yes, this is the last of me!" thought Mr. Bruin. But, to his surprise, +he found that, after his first drop into the ocean when the waters +closed over his head, he bobbed up again and floated nicely like a piece +of wood. + +Much of what was inside the Plush Bear was sawdust and cork, making him +very light, so that, though he did not know it, he was a better floater +than was Arthur. + +The Plush Bear had been careful not to breathe when he fell into the +sea, so he did not sniff any water up his nose. And after the first +shock he did not feel bad. The water was warm, and by keeping his mouth +closed the Plush Bear did not taste any of the salt. There he was, +floating on his back, his big, yellow eyes staring up at the sun and +the blue sky. And now, as the tide had turned and was going out, the +Bear was carried out to sea with it. + +Back on the beach there was much excitement when Arthur's father had +pulled the fat boy out of the sea. But it was soon found that Arthur was +all right, except that he had swallowed a little salt water. + +"But where's my Plush Bear?" Arthur cried, when he had been dried and +comforted by his mother. "Where's my Plush Bear?" + +Where, indeed? Well might Arthur ask that, for his Plush Bear was being +carried far, far out to sea on the waves. + +"Oh, Arthur! did you drop Mr. Bruin when the wave knocked you down?" +asked Nettie. + +"I guess--I guess I did!" answered her brother sadly. + +"Then that's the last of your Plush Bear," said Arthur's father. "But +don't cry!" he told the little boy. "I'll get you another. Don't cry! +There is salt water enough around here without your adding to it by +your tears!" he laughed. But Arthur felt too unhappy to laugh. + +And all this while Mr. Bruin was floating on the waves. + +"This is certainly the strangest thing that ever happened to me," +thought the Plush Bear. "I thought surely my end had come when Arthur +dropped me. But, though I am all wet outside, I seem to be dry inside." + +On and on floated the Plush Bear; then, all of a sudden, he heard voices +talking. The voices were those of men and children, and not the voices +of toys. + +"Don't you like it here, Joe?" asked a boy. + +"Yes, I do, Herbert," was the answer. "And my Nodding Donkey likes it, +too." + +"My Monkey on a Stick is having fun, and he isn't seasick a bit," said +the boy who had been called Herbert. "He loves to ride in a motor boat, +my Monkey does." + +"What's this? What's this!" thought the Plush Bear. "Nodding Donkey? +Monkey on a Stick?" + +He tried to raise himself in the water to look toward the place whence +came the voices, but the Plush Bear could see nothing. A moment later, +though, he heard one of the boys call: + +"Oh, look! What's that floating in the water?" + +"It's a fish!" said the other boy. + +"That isn't a fish! It's some sort of floating toy," was the answer in a +man's voice. "Well, I declare, it's a Teddy Bear!" + +"I'm not a Teddy Bear at all," said Mr. Bruin to himself; "but if you +rescue me from the water you may call me anything you wish." + +[Illustration: The Plush Bear Meets Nodding Donkey and Monkey On a +Stick. _Page_ 117] + +A moment later, after he had been afloat for some hours, the Plush Bear +felt himself being lifted from the sea, and in another second he was +placed in the bottom of a motor boat. In the boat were two men and +two boys, but when the water had run out of his eyes the Plush Bear was +more interested in looking at two other toys which were also in the +boat. + +On one seat was a Nodding Donkey who seemed to be bowing in a most +pleasant and jolly fashion to the Plush Bear. And on the other seat, +beside a boy, was a Monkey on a Stick. + +"Oh, I have heard of these toys," thought the Plush Bear. "They, too, +were once in the shop of Santa Claus! Oh, how glad I am! I'm saved at +last!" + +"Where do you suppose this Plush Bear came from?" asked Joe, the boy who +had the Nodding Donkey. + +"I think he must have fallen overboard out of some boat when some +children were being given a ride, just as you boys are having a ride," +said the father of Herbert. Herbert, you know, owned the Monkey on a +Stick. + +"I wish I could keep that Plush Bear," softly said Joe. "Now that I'm +not lame any more I could run around and have fun with him." + +"It is a very nice Plush Bear," said Mr. Richmond, Joe's father, as he +examined the wet toy. "Some little boy or girl will be glad to get it +back. It doesn't seem to be much harmed." He wound up the spring and at +once the Plush Bear began to move his paws, wag his head, and growl. The +growl was a trifle rusty and a bit gritty from the sand still inside the +works, but that did not matter. + +"We'll take the Plush Bear back to shore with us," said Joe's father. +"Perhaps some children stopping at one of the hotels, or even at our own +hotel, may claim this toy. We must find out. I'll put the Bear on his +back in the sun so he'll dry." + +"And I'll put my Nodding Donkey back there, too, so Mr. Bruin won't be +lonesome," offered Joe. + +"Put my Monkey there, too," said Herbert. + +So the three toys were placed near each other on the back seat of the +boat, and then the two boys and their father gathered in the bow, or +front part, to look across the ocean. They were out for a pleasure ride. + +"How did you come to be floating in the sea all by yourself?" asked the +Nodding Donkey in a whisper of the Plush Bear. + +"A big wave knocked Arthur down and he dropped me," was the answer, in +the same low voice. + +The Plush Bear was just going to tell more of his adventures when the +motor boat was run up alongside a dock, and the party got out. + +"I'll carry the Plush Bear," said Joe's father. "He isn't quite dry yet. +We'll take him to our hotel, and I'll tell the clerk to post up a +notice, saying the toy was found at sea. Then whoever owns him may claim +him." + +But matters were not going to turn out just that way. As it happened, +Joe and Herbert were stopping at the same hotel where Arthur and Nettie +were with their father and mother. Joe and Herbert had just arrived that +day, which was why Arthur and Nettie had not seen their little friends +before. + +Coming back from their boat ride, on which they had rescued at sea the +Plush Bear, the two men and the two boys entered the hotel. As they +walked toward the desk, Mr. Richmond carrying the Plush Bear, there was +a cry of delight from a small boy who fairly leaped out of a big, easy +chair. + +"There's my Plush Bear! There's my Plush Bear!" cried Arthur, for it was +he. "Oh, where did you get him?" he cried, as he looked at the damp toy +in Mr. Richmond's hand. + +"Is this your toy?" asked Joe's father. + +"Oh, yes, that's my Mr. Bruin!" cried Arthur. "I dropped him in the +ocean when a big wave knocked me down, and I thought he was drowned. Oh, +where'd you get him?" + +"He was floating on a wave, and we saw him from our motor boat," +explained Joe. And then Herbert, with his Monkey on a Stick, stepped +forward, and Nettie came out of her chair, and the children were soon +all together, laughing with each other in the hotel parlor. + +Arthur wound up his toy, which seemed to work as well as ever, though it +was still damp. + +"Now we can have lovely fun!" said Nettie, when the story of the rescue +of Mr. Bruin had been told by those who were in the boat. "I can play +with my Rag Doll, Herbert can make his Monkey do funny tricks, the +Donkey will nod his head and Arthur's Bear will growl." + +And so the children played in the hotel with their toys, while their +fathers and mothers talked together. + +"That Plush Bear has had many adventures," said Mrs. Rowe to Joe's +mother. "He fell out of a car window, he was buried in the sand, and he +was carried out to sea." Of course she knew nothing of the time he had +spent in the ice igloo of the little Eskimo boy. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Richmond, "Joe's Donkey had many adventures, also." + +"And so did Herbert's Monkey," said that little boy's mother. + +"Adventures! I should say so!" exclaimed the Plush Bear to the Donkey +and Monkey, when they were alone for a moment. "But I never want to fall +into the ocean again!" + +And he never did, I am glad to say. I wish I might tell you more of the +adventures of the Monkey, the Donkey, the China Cat and Plush Bear. But +this book is quite filled, as you may see. Though of course I may write +other books about other toys if you think you would like them. But now +we must say good-by to the Plush Bear. + + +THE END + + + + +HAPPY HOME SERIES + +By HOWARD R. GARIS + +Individual Colored Wrappers and Colored Illustrations by LANG CAMPBELL + +Mr. Garis has written many stories for boys and girls, among them his +Uncle Wiggly volumes, but these books are something distinctly new, +surprising and entertaining. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE GALLOPING GAS STOVE + +A tale of how Gassy mysteriously disappeared, and how he came riding +home on the back of an elephant. It is also related how he broke his +leg, and fed a hungry family in a cottage near a lake. + + +ADVENTURES of the RUNAWAY ROCKING CHAIR + +Racky creaked and groaned when fat Grandma sat on him too hard. He felt +himself ill-treated, so he vanished. He did not intend to take Grandma's +glasses with him, but he did. And he rocked a bunny to sleep. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE TRAVELING TABLE + +Tippy, the table, always wanted to travel and see the world, but he did +not know how to start. Until, all of a sudden, a diamond ring was hidden +in his leg and a balloon carried him off through the air. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE SLIDING FOOT STOOL + +Just because he did not want to be used as a milking stool by the Maiden +All Forlorn, Skiddy slid away Christmas eve. With him went Jack the +Jumper, and they had a wonderful time in the top shop. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE SAILING SOFA + +Skippy always wanted to be a sailor. When the high water came in the +spring, the sofa went sailing. He had a Rooster for a crew, while +Tatter, the rag doll with one shoe button eye, was Captain. + + * * * * * + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +THE PUSS-IN-BOOTS, Jr. SERIES + +By DAVID CORY + +Author of "The Little Jack Rabbit Stories" and "Little Journeys to +Happyland" + + * * * * * + +Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. Each Volume Complete +in Itself. + +To know Puss Junior once is to love him forever. That's the way all the +little people feel about this young, adventurous cat, son of a very +famous father. + + +THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. + +FURTHER ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. + +PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. IN FAIRYLAND + +TRAVELS OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. + +PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND OLD MOTHER GOOSE + +PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., IN NEW MOTHER GOOSE LAND + +PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE GOOD GRAY HORSE + +PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND TOM THUMB + +PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND ROBINSON CRUSOE + +PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE MAN IN THE MOON + + * * * * * + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + * * * * * + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + Table of Contents, XI changed to IX. + Page 21, "workship" changed to "workshop." (North Pole workshop) + Page 27, removed extraneous ending quotation mark. (squealed the + Flannel Pig.) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR*** + + +******* This file should be named 17064.txt or 17064.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/6/17064 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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