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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 17371 ***
+
+
+
+
+RAGGEDY ANDY
+STORIES
+
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy on a bar]
+
+
+
+
+RAGGEDY ANDY
+STORIES
+
+Introducing the Little Rag
+Brother of Raggedy Ann
+
+Written & Illustrated by
+   JOHNNY GRUELLE
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy]
+
+       LITTLE SIMON
+New York London Toronto Sydney
+
+[Illustration: TO MARCELLA'S MAMA]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy bowing]
+
+                                   Gainsville, Florida,
+                                   January 8, 1919.
+
+Johnny Gruelle,
+Care of P. F. Volland Company.
+Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Johnny:
+
+When I saw your Raggedy Ann books and dolls in a store near here, I went
+right in and bought one of each, and when I had read your introduction
+to "Raggedy Ann" I went right up to an old trunk in my own attic and
+brought down the doll I am sending you with this letter.
+
+This doll belonged to my mother and she played with it when a little
+girl. She treasured it highly, I know, for she kept it until I came and
+then she gave it to me.
+
+The fun that we two have had together I cannot begin to tell you, but
+often, like the little boy who went out into the garden to eat worms
+when all the world seemed blue and clouded, this doll and I went out
+under the arbor and had our little cry together. I can still feel it's
+soft rag arms (as I used to imagine) about me, and hear the words of
+comfort (also imaginary) that were whispered in my ear.
+
+As you say in your Raggedy Ann book, "Fairyland must be filled with rag
+dolls, soft loppy rag dolls who go through all the beautiful adventures
+found there, nestling in the crook of a dimpled arm." I truly believe
+there is such a fairyland and that rag dolls were first made there, or
+how else could they bring so much sunshine into a child's life?
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Ann bowing]
+
+All the little girls of my acquaintance have your Raggedy Ann book and
+doll, and for the happiness you have brought to them let me give to you
+the doll of all my dolls, the doll I loved most dearly.
+
+May it prove to you a gift from Fairyland, bringing with it all the
+"wish come true" that you may wish and, if possible, add to the sunshine
+in your life.
+
+My mother called the doll Raggedy Andy and it was by this name that I
+have always known him. Is it any wonder that I was surprised when I saw
+the title of your book?
+
+Introduce Raggedy Andy to Raggedy Ann, dear Johnny. Let him share in the
+happiness of your household.
+
+                                    Sincerely yours,
+                                         Raggedy Andy's "Mama."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                                    Wilton, Connecticut,
+                                    January 12, 1919.
+
+Dear John:
+
+Your letter brings many pleasant memories to my mind and takes me back
+to my childhood.
+
+Living next door to us, when I was about four years old, was a little
+girl named Bessie; I cannot recall her last name. When my mother made
+Raggedy Ann for me, Bessie's mother made a rag doll for her, for we two
+always played together; as I recall, there was no fence between our two
+houses.
+
+Bessie's doll was made a day or so after Raggedy Ann, I think, though I
+am not quite certain which of the two dolls was made first. However,
+Bessie's doll was given the name of Raggedy Andy, and one of the two
+dolls was named after the other, so that their names would sound alike.
+
+We children played with the two rag dolls most of the time until
+Bessie's family moved away--when I was eight or nine years old. They had
+faces just alike; the mother who made the first doll probably painted
+both doll faces. I do not remember just how Raggedy Andy was dressed,
+but I know he often wore dresses over his boy clothes when Bessie and I
+decided that he and Raggedy Ann should be sisters for the day.
+
+You will remember I told you about Raggedy Andy long ago, John.
+
+Isn't it strange that the two old rag dolls should come together after
+all these years? I wish Raggedy Andy's "Mama" had signed her name, for I
+should like to write to her. Perhaps there may be some way of finding
+her out.
+
+Anyway, it seems to me you have the subject for another rag doll book,
+for Raggedy Andy must have had some wonderful adventures in his long
+life.
+
+                                    Yours lovingly,
+                                              Mom.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+               CONTENTS
+
+          HOW RAGGEDY ANDY CAME
+          THE NURSERY DANCE
+          THE SPINNING WHEEL
+          THE TAFFY PULL
+          THE RABBIT CHASE
+          THE NEW TIN GUTTER
+          DOCTOR RAGGEDY ANDY
+          RAGGEDY ANDY'S SMILE
+          THE WOODEN HORSE
+          MAKING "ANGELS" IN THE SNOW
+          THE SINGING SHELL
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Ann and Books]
+
+
+
+
+HOW RAGGEDY ANDY CAME
+
+
+One day Daddy took Raggedy Ann down to his office and propped her up
+against some books upon his desk; he wanted to have her where he could
+see her cheery smile all day, for, as you must surely know, smiles and
+happiness are truly catching.
+
+Daddy wished to catch a whole lot of Raggedy Ann's cheeriness and
+happiness and put all this down on paper, so that those who did not have
+Raggedy Ann dolls might see just how happy and smiling a rag doll can
+be.
+
+So Raggedy Ann stayed at Daddy's studio for three or four days.
+
+She was missed very, very much at home and Marcella really longed for
+her, but knew that Daddy was borrowing some of Raggedy Ann's sunshine,
+so she did not complain.
+
+Raggedy Ann did not complain either, for in addition to the sunny, happy
+smile she always wore (it was painted on), Raggedy Ann had a candy
+heart, and of course no one (not even a rag doll) ever complains if they
+have such happiness about them.
+
+One evening, just as Daddy was finishing his day's work, a messenger boy
+came with a package; a nice, soft lumpy package.
+
+Daddy opened the nice, soft lumpy package and found a letter.
+
+Gran'ma had told Daddy, long before this, that at the time Raggedy Ann
+was made, a neighbor lady had made a boy doll, Raggedy Andy, for her
+little girl, who always played with Gran'ma.
+
+And when Gran'ma told Daddy this she wondered whatever had become of her
+little playmate and the boy doll, Raggedy Andy.
+
+After reading the letter, Daddy opened the other package which had been
+inside the nice, soft, lumpy package and found--Raggedy Andy.
+
+Raggedy Andy had been carefully folded up.
+
+His soft, loppy arms were folded up in front of him and his soft, loppy
+legs were folded over his soft, loppy arms, and they were held this way
+by a rubber band.
+
+Raggedy Andy must have wondered why he was being "done up" this way, but
+it could not have caused him any worry, for in between where his feet
+came over his face Daddy saw his cheery smile.
+
+After slipping off the rubber band, Daddy smoothed out the wrinkles in
+Raggedy Andy's arms and legs.
+
+Then Daddy propped Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy up against books on his
+desk, so that they sat facing each other; Raggedy Ann's shoe button eyes
+looking straight into the shoe button eyes of Raggedy Andy.
+
+They could not speak--not right out before a real person--so they just
+sat there and smiled at each other.
+
+Daddy could not help reaching out his hands and feeling their throats.
+
+Yes! There was a lump in Raggedy Ann's throat, and there was a lump in
+Raggedy Andy's throat. A cotton lump, to be sure, but a lump
+nevertheless.
+
+"So, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, that is why you cannot talk, is it?"
+said Daddy.
+
+"I will go away and let you have your visit to yourselves, although it
+is good to sit and share your happiness by watching you."
+
+Daddy then took the rubber band and placed it around Raggedy Ann's right
+hand, and around Raggedy Andy's right hand, so that when he had it fixed
+properly they sat and held each other's hands.
+
+Daddy knew they would wish to tell each other all the wonderful things
+that had happened to them since they had parted more than fifty years
+before.
+
+So, locking his studio door, Daddy left the two old rag dolls looking
+into each other's eyes.
+
+The next morning, when Daddy unlocked his door and looked at his desk,
+he saw that Raggedy Andy had fallen over so that he lay with his head in
+the bend of Raggedy Ann's arm.
+
+[Illustration: Then Daddy propped Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy up]
+
+[Illustration: Side by side]
+
+[Illustration: Dolls in a row]
+
+
+
+
+THE NURSERY DANCE
+
+
+When Raggedy Andy was first brought to the nursery he was very quiet.
+
+Raggedy Andy did not speak all day, but he smiled pleasantly to all the
+other dolls. There was Raggedy Ann, the French doll, Henny, the little
+Dutch doll, Uncle Clem, and a few others.
+
+Some of the dolls were without arms and legs.
+
+One had a cracked head. She was a nice doll, though, and the others all
+liked her very much.
+
+All of them had cried the night Susan (that was her name) fell off the
+toy box and cracked her china head.
+
+Raggedy Andy did not speak all day.
+
+But there was really nothing strange about this fact, after all.
+
+None of the other dolls spoke all day, either.
+
+Marcella had played in the nursery all day and of course they did not
+speak in front of her.
+
+Marcella thought they did, though, and often had them saying things
+which they really were not even thinking of.
+
+For instance, when Marcella served water with sugar in it and little
+oyster crackers for "tea," Raggedy Andy was thinking of Raggedy Ann, and
+the French doll was thinking of one time when Fido was lost.
+
+Marcella took the French doll's hand, and passed a cup of "tea" to
+Raggedy Andy, and said, "Mr. Raggedy Andy, will you have another cup of
+tea?" as if the French doll was talking.
+
+And then Marcella answered for Raggedy Andy, "Oh, yes, thank you! It is
+so delicious!"
+
+Neither the French doll nor Raggedy Andy knew what was going on, for
+they were thinking real hard to themselves.
+
+Nor did they drink the tea when it was poured for them. Marcella drank
+it instead.
+
+Perhaps this was just as well, for, most of the dolls were moist inside
+from the "tea" of the day before.
+
+Marcella did not always drink all of the tea, often she poured a little
+down their mouths.
+
+Sugar and water, if taken in small quantities, would not give the dolls
+colic, Marcella would tell them, but she did not know that it made their
+cotton, or sawdust insides, quite sticky.
+
+Quite often, too, Marcella forgot to wash their faces after a "tea," and
+Fido would do it for them when he came into the nursery and found the
+dolls with sweets upon their faces.
+
+Really, Fido was quite a help in this way, but he often missed the
+corners of their eyes and the backs of their necks where the "tea" would
+run and get sticky. But he did his best and saved his little Mistress a
+lot of work.
+
+No, Raggedy Andy did not speak; he merely thought a great deal.
+
+One can, you know, when one has been a rag doll as long as Raggedy Andy
+had. Years and years and years and years!
+
+Even Raggedy Ann, with all her wisdom, did not really know how long
+Raggedy Andy and she had been rag dolls.
+
+If Raggedy Ann had a pencil in her rag hand and Marcella guided it for
+her, Raggedy Ann could count up to ten--sometimes. But why should one
+worry one's rag head about one's age when all one's life has been one
+happy experience after another, with each day filled with love and
+sunshine?
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy in a chair]
+
+Raggedy Andy did not know his age, but he remembered many things that
+had happened years and years and years ago, when he and Raggedy Ann were
+quite young.
+
+It was of these pleasant times Raggedy Andy was thinking all day, and
+this was the reason he did not notice that Marcella was speaking for
+him.
+
+Raggedy Andy could patiently wait until Marcella put all the dollies to
+bed and left them for the night, alone in the nursery.
+
+The day might have passed very slowly had it not been for the happy
+memories which filled Raggedy Andy's cotton-stuffed head.
+
+But he did not even fidget.
+
+Of course, he fell out of his chair once, and his shoe button eyes went
+"Click!" against the floor, but it wasn't his fault. Raggedy Andy was so
+loppy he could hardly be placed in a chair so that he would stay, and
+Marcella jiggled the table.
+
+Marcella cried for Raggedy Andy, "AWAA! AWAA!" and picked him up and
+snuggled him and scolded Uncle Clem for jiggling the table.
+
+Through all this Raggedy Andy kept right on thinking his pleasant
+thoughts, and really did not know he had fallen from the chair.
+
+You see how easy it is to pass over the little bumps of life if we are
+happy inside.
+
+And so Raggedy Andy was quiet all day, and so the day finally passed.
+
+Raggedy Andy was given one of Uncle Clem's clean white nighties and
+shared Uncle Clem's bed. Marcella kissed them all good night and left
+them to sleep until morning.
+
+But as soon as she had left the room all the dolls raised up in their
+beds. When their little mistress' footsteps passed out of hearing, all
+the dollies jumped out of their beds and gathered around Raggedy Andy.
+
+Raggedy Ann introduced them one by one and Raggedy Andy shook hands with
+each.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy on his face]
+
+[Illustration: Shaking hands]
+
+"I am very happy to know you all!" he said, in a voice as kindly as
+Raggedy Ann's, "and I hope we will all like each other as much as
+Raggedy Ann and I have always liked each other!"
+
+"Oh, indeed we shall!" the dollies all answered. "We love Raggedy Ann
+because she is so kindly and happy, and we know we shall like you too,
+for you talk like Raggedy Ann and have the same cheery smile!"
+
+"Now that we know each other so well, what do you say to a game, Uncle
+Clem?" Raggedy Andy cried, as he caught Uncle Clem and danced about the
+floor.
+
+Henny, the Dutch doll, dragged the little square music box out into the
+center of the room and wound it up. Then all, catching hands, danced in
+a circle around it, laughing and shouting in their tiny doll voices.
+
+"That was lots of fun!" Raggedy Andy said, when the music stopped and
+all the dolls had taken seats upon the floor facing him. "You know I
+have been shut up in a trunk up in an attic for years and years and
+years."
+
+"Wasn't it very lonesome in the trunk all that time?" Susan asked in
+her queer little cracked voice. You see, her head had been cracked.
+
+"Oh, not at all," Raggedy Andy replied, "for there was always a nest of
+mice down in the corner of the trunk. Cute little Mama and Daddy mice,
+and lots of little teeny weeny baby mice. And when the mama and daddy
+mice were away, I used to cuddle the tiny little baby mice!"
+
+"No wonder you were never lonesome!" said Uncle Clem, who was very kind
+and loved everybody and everything.
+
+"No, I was never lonesome in the old trunk in the attic, but it is far
+more pleasant to be out again and living here with all you nice
+friends!" said Raggedy Andy.
+
+And all the dolls thought so too, for already they loved Raggedy Andy's
+happy smile and knew he would prove to be as kindly and lovable as
+Raggedy Ann.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy and a mouse]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy in bed]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy throws a pillow]
+
+
+
+
+THE SPINNING WHEEL
+
+
+One night, after all the household had settled down to sleep, Raggedy
+Andy sat up in bed and tickled Uncle Clem.
+
+Uncle Clem twisted and wiggled in his sleep until finally he could stand
+it no longer and awakened.
+
+"I dreamed that some one told me the funniest story!" said Uncle Clem;
+"But I cannot remember what it was!"
+
+"I was tickling you!" laughed Raggedy Andy.
+
+When the other dolls in the nursery heard Raggedy Andy and Uncle Clem
+talking, they too sat up in their beds.
+
+"We've been so quiet all day," said Raggedy Andy. "Let's have a good
+romp!"
+
+This suggestion suited all the dolls, so they jumped out of their beds
+and ran over towards Raggedy Andy's and Uncle Clem's little bed.
+
+Raggedy Andy, always in for fun, threw his pillow at Henny, the Dutch
+doll.
+
+Henny did not see the pillow coming towards him so he was knocked head
+over heels.
+
+Henny always said "Mama" when he was tilted backward or forward, and
+when the pillow rolled him over and over, he cried, "Mama, Mama, Mama!"
+
+It was not because it hurt him, for you know Santa Claus always sees to
+it that each doll he makes in his great workshop is covered with a very
+magical Wish, and this Wish always keeps them from getting hurt.
+
+Henny could talk just as well as any of the other dolls when he was
+standing up, sitting, or lying down, but if he was being tipped forward
+and backward, all he could say was, "Mama."
+
+This amused Henny as much as it did the other dolls, so when he jumped
+to his feet he laughed and threw the pillow back at Raggedy Andy.
+
+Raggedy Andy tried to jump to one side, but forgot that he was on the
+bed, and he and Uncle Clem went tumbling to the floor.
+
+Then all the dolls ran to their beds and brought their pillows and had
+the jolliest pillow fight imaginable.
+
+The excitement ran so high and the pillows flew so fast, the floor of
+the nursery was soon covered with feathers. It was only when all the
+dolls had stopped to rest and put the feathers back into the pillow
+cases that Raggedy Andy discovered he had lost one of his arms in the
+scuffle.
+
+The dolls were worried over this and asked, "What will Marcella say when
+she sees that Raggedy Andy has lost an arm?"
+
+"We can push it up his sleeve!" said Uncle Clem. "Then when Raggedy Andy
+is taken out of bed in the morning, Marcella will find his arm is
+loose!"
+
+"It has been hanging by one or two threads for a day or more!" said
+Raggedy Andy. "I noticed the other day that sometimes my thumb was
+turned clear around to the back, and I knew then that the arm was
+hanging by one or two threads and the threads were twisted."
+
+Uncle Clem pushed Raggedy Andy's arm up through his sleeve, but every
+time Raggedy Andy jumped about, he lost his arm again.
+
+"This will never do!" said Raggedy Ann. "Raggedy Andy is lopsided with
+only one arm and he cannot join in our games as well as if he had two
+arms!"
+
+[Illustration: Pillow fight]
+
+"Oh, I don't mind that!" laughed Raggedy Andy. "Marcella will sew it
+on in the morning and I will be all right, I'm sure!"
+
+"Perhaps Raggedy Ann can sew it on now!" suggested Uncle Clem.
+
+"Yes, Raggedy Ann can sew it on!" all the dolls cried. "She can play
+Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater on the toy piano and she can sew!"
+
+"I will gladly try," said Raggedy Ann, "but there are no needles or
+thread in the nursery, and I have to have a thimble so the needle can be
+pressed through Raggedy Andy's cloth!"
+
+"Marcella always gets a needle from Mama!" said the French Doll.
+
+"I know," said Raggedy Ann, "but we cannot waken Mama to ask her!"
+
+The dolls all laughed at this, for they knew very well that even had
+Mama been awake, they would not have asked her for needle and thread,
+because they did not wish her to know they could act and talk just like
+real people.
+
+"Perhaps we can get the things out of the machine drawer!" Henny
+suggested.
+
+"Yes," cried Susan, "let's all go get the things out of the machine
+drawer! Come on, everybody!"
+
+And Susan, although she had only a cracked head, ran out the nursery
+door followed by all the rest of the dolls.
+
+Even the tiny little penny dolls clicked their china heels upon the
+floor as they followed the rest, and Raggedy Andy, carrying his loose
+arm, thumped along in the rear.
+
+Raggedy Andy had not lived in the house as long as the others; so he did
+not know the way to the room in which the machine stood.
+
+After much climbing and pulling, the needle and thread and thimble were
+taken from the drawer, and all raced back again to the nursery.
+
+Uncle Clem took off Raggedy Andy's waist, and the other dolls all sat
+around watching while Raggedy Ann sewed the arm on again.
+
+Raggedy Ann had only taken two stitches when she began laughing so hard
+she had to quit. Of course when Raggedy Ann laughed, all the other dolls
+laughed too, for laughter, like yawning, is very catching.
+
+"I was just thinking!" said Raggedy Ann. "Remember, 'way, 'way back, a
+long, long time ago, I sewed this arm on once before?" she asked Raggedy
+Andy.
+
+"I do remember, now that you mention it," said Raggedy Andy, "but I can
+not remember how the arm came off!"
+
+"Tell us about it!" all the dolls cried.
+
+"Let's see!" Raggedy Ann began. "Your Mistress left you over at our
+house one night, and after everyone had gone to bed, we went up into the
+attic!"
+
+"Oh, yes! I do remember now!" Raggedy Andy laughed. "We played with the
+large whirligig!"
+
+"Yes," Raggedy Ann said. "The large spinning wheel. We held on to the
+wheel and went round and round! And when we were having the most fun,
+your feet got fastened between the wheel and the rod which held the
+wheel in position and there you hung, head down!"
+
+"I remember, you were working the pedal and I was sailing around very
+fast," said Raggedy Andy, "and all of a sudden the wheel stopped!"
+
+"We would have laughed at the time," Raggedy Ann explained to the other
+dolls, "but you see it was quite serious."
+
+"My mistress had put us both to bed for the night, and if she had
+discovered us 'way up in the attic, she would have wondered how in the
+world we got there! So there was nothing to do but get Raggedy Andy out
+of the tangle!"
+
+"But you pulled me out all right!" Raggedy Andy laughed.
+
+"Yes, I pulled and I pulled until I pulled one of Raggedy Andy's arms
+off," Raggedy Ann said. "And then I pulled and pulled until finally his
+feet came out of the wheel and we both tumbled to the floor!"
+
+"Then we ran downstairs as fast as we could and climbed into bed, didn't
+we!" Raggedy Andy laughed.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Ann sewing]
+
+"Yes, we did!" Raggedy Ann replied. "And when we jumped into bed, we
+remembered that we had left Raggedy Andy's arm lying up on the attic
+floor, so we had to run back up there and get it! Remember, Raggedy
+Andy?"
+
+"Yes! Wasn't it lots of fun?"
+
+"Indeed it was!" Raggedy Ann agreed.
+
+"Raggedy Andy wanted to let the arm remain off until the next morning,
+but I decided it would be better to have it sewed on, just as it had
+been when Mistress put us to bed. So, just like tonight, we went to the
+pincushion and found a needle and thread and I sewed it on for him!"
+
+"There!" Raggedy Ann said, as she wound the thread around her hand and
+pulled, so that the thread broke near Raggedy Andy's shoulder. "It's
+sewed on again, good as new!"
+
+"Thank you, Raggedy Ann!" said Raggedy Andy, as he threw the arm about
+Raggedy Ann's neck and gave her a hug.
+
+"Now we can have another game!" Uncle Clem cried as he helped Raggedy
+Andy into his waist and buttoned it for him.
+
+Just then the little Cuckoo Clock on the nursery wall went, "Whirrr!"
+the little door opened, and the little bird put out his head and cried,
+"Cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo! cuckoo!"
+
+"No more games!" Raggedy Ann said. "We must be very quiet from now on.
+The folks will be getting up soon!"
+
+"Last one in bed is a monkey!" cried Raggedy Andy.
+
+There was a wild scramble as the dolls rushed for their beds, and Susan,
+having to be careful of her cracked head, was the monkey. So Raggedy
+Andy, seeing that Susan was slow about getting into her bed, jumped out
+and helped her.
+
+Then, climbing into the little bed which Uncle Clem shared with him, he
+pulled the covers up to his eyes and, after pretending to snore a couple
+of times, he lay very quiet, thinking of the kindness of his doll
+friends about him, until Marcella came and took him down to breakfast.
+
+And all the other dolls smiled at him as he left the room, for they were
+very happy to know that their little mistress loved him as much as they
+did.
+
+[Illustration: Watching the cuckoo clock]
+
+[Illustration: Friends]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy in the sugar]
+
+
+
+
+THE TAFFY PULL
+
+
+"I know how we can have a whole lot of fun!" Raggedy Andy said to the
+other dolls. "We'll have a taffy pull!"
+
+"Do you mean crack the whip, Raggedy Andy?" asked the French doll.
+
+"He means a tug of war, don't you, Raggedy Andy?" asked Henny.
+
+"No," Raggedy Andy replied, "I mean a taffy pull!"
+
+"If it's lots of fun, then show us how to play the game!" Uncle Clem
+said. "We like to have fun, don't we?" And Uncle Clem turned to all the
+other dolls as he asked the question.
+
+"It really is not a game," Raggedy Andy explained. "You see, it is only
+a taffy pull.
+
+"We take sugar and water and butter and a little vinegar and put it all
+on the stove to cook. When it has cooked until it strings 'way out when
+you dip some up in a spoon, or gets hard when you drop some of it in a
+cup of water, then it is candy.
+
+"Then it must be placed upon buttered plates until it has cooled a
+little, and then each one takes some of the candy and pulls and pulls
+until it gets real white. Then it is called 'Taffy'."
+
+"That will be loads of fun!" "Show us how to begin!" "Let's have a
+taffy pull!" "Come on, everybody!" the dolls cried.
+
+"Just one moment!" Raggedy Ann said. She had remained quiet before, for
+she had been thinking very hard, so hard, in fact, that two stitches had
+burst in the back of her rag head. The dolls, in their eagerness to have
+the taffy pull, were dancing about Raggedy Andy, but when Raggedy Ann
+spoke, in her soft cottony voice, they all quieted down and waited for
+her to speak again.
+
+"I was just thinking," Raggedy Ann said, "that it would be very nice to
+have the taffy pull, but suppose some of the folks smell the candy while
+it is cooking."
+
+"There is no one at home!" Raggedy Andy said. "I thought of that,
+Raggedy Ann. They have all gone over to Cousin Jenny's house and will
+not be back until day after tomorrow. I heard Mama tell Marcella."
+
+"If that is the case, we can have the taffy pull and all the fun that
+goes with it!" Raggedy Ann cried, as she started for the nursery door.
+
+After her ran all the dollies, their little feet pitter-patting across
+the floor and down the hall.
+
+When they came to the stairway Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, Uncle Clem and
+Henny threw themselves down the stairs, turning over and over as they
+fell.
+
+The other dolls, having china heads, had to be much more careful; so
+they slid down the banisters, or jumped from one step to another.
+
+Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, Uncle Clem and Henny piled in a heap at the
+bottom of the steps, and by the time they had untangled themselves and
+helped each other up, the other dolls were down the stairs.
+
+To the kitchen they all raced. There they found the fire in the stove
+still burning.
+
+Raggedy Andy brought a small stew kettle, while the others brought the
+sugar and water and a large spoon. They could not find the vinegar and
+decided not to use it, anyway.
+
+[Illustration: They threw themselves down the stairs]
+
+Raggedy Andy stood upon the stove and watched the candy, dipping into it
+every once in a while to see if it had cooked long enough, and stirring
+it with the large spoon.
+
+At last the candy began to string out from the spoon when it was held
+above the stew kettle, and after trying a few drops in a cup of cold
+water, Raggedy Andy pronounced it "done."
+
+Uncle Clem pulled out a large platter from the pantry, and Raggedy Ann
+dipped her rag hand into the butter jar and buttered the platter.
+
+The candy, when it was poured into the platter, was a lovely golden
+color and smelled delicious to the dolls. Henny could not wait until it
+cooled; so he put one of his chamois skin hands into the hot candy.
+
+Of course it did not burn Henny, but when he pulled his hand out again,
+it was covered with a great ball of candy, which strung out all over the
+kitchen floor and got upon his clothes.
+
+Then too, the candy cooled quickly, and in a very short time Henny's
+hand was encased in a hard ball of candy. Henny couldn't wiggle any of
+his fingers on that hand and he was sorry he had been so hasty.
+
+While waiting for the candy to cool, Raggedy Andy said, "We must rub
+butter upon our hands before we pull the candy, or else it will stick to
+our hands as it has done to Henny's hands and have to wear off!"
+
+"Will this hard ball of candy have to wear off of my hand?" Henny asked.
+"It is so hard, I cannot wiggle any of my fingers!"
+
+"It will either have to wear off, or you will have to soak your hand in
+water for a long time, until the candy on it melts!" said Raggedy Andy.
+
+"Dear me!" said Henny.
+
+Uncle Clem brought the poker then and, asking Henny to put his hand upon
+the stove leg, he gave the hard candy a few sharp taps with the poker
+and chipped the candy from Henny's hand.
+
+"Thank you, Uncle Clem!" Henny said, as he wiggled his fingers. "That
+feels much better!"
+
+Raggedy Andy told all the dolls to rub butter upon their hands.
+
+"The candy is getting cool enough to pull!" he said.
+
+Then, when all the dolls had their hands nice and buttery, Raggedy Andy
+cut them each a nice piece of candy and showed them how to pull it.
+
+"Take it in one hand this way," he said, "and pull it with the other
+hand, like this!"
+
+When all the dolls were supplied with candy they sat about and pulled
+it, watching it grow whiter and more silvery the longer they pulled.
+
+Then, when the taffy was real white, it began to grow harder and harder,
+so the smaller dolls could scarcely pull it any more.
+
+When this happened, Raggedy Andy, Raggedy Ann, Uncle Clem and Henny, who
+were larger, took the little dolls' candy and mixed it with what they
+had been pulling until all the taffy was snow white.
+
+[Illustration: The taffy pull]
+
+Then Raggedy Andy pulled it out into a long rope and held it while Uncle
+Clem hit the ends a sharp tap with the edge of the spoon.
+
+This snipped the taffy into small pieces, just as easily as you might
+break icicles with a few sharp taps of a stick.
+
+The small pieces of white taffy were placed upon the buttered platter
+again and the dolls all danced about it, singing and laughing, for this
+had been the most fun they had had for a long, long time.
+
+"But what shall we do with it?" Raggedy Ann asked.
+
+"Yes, what shall we do with it!" Uncle Clem said. "We can't let it
+remain in the platter here upon the kitchen floor! We must hide it, or
+do something with it!"
+
+"While we are trying to think of a way to dispose of it, let us be
+washing the stew kettle and the spoon!" said practical Raggedy Ann.
+
+"That is a very happy thought, Raggedy Ann!" said Raggedy Andy. "For it
+will clean the butter and candy from our hands while we are doing it!"
+
+So the stew kettle was dragged to the sink and filled with water, the
+dolls all taking turns scraping the candy from the sides of the kettle,
+and scrubbing the inside with a cloth.
+
+When the kettle was nice and clean and had been wiped dry, Raggedy Andy
+found a roll of waxed paper in the pantry upon one of the shelves.
+
+"We'll wrap each piece of taffy in a nice little piece of paper," he
+said, "then we'll find a nice paper bag, and put all the pieces inside
+the bag, and throw it from the upstairs window when someone passes the
+house so that someone may have the candy!"
+
+All the dolls gathered about the platter on the floor, and while Raggedy
+Andy cut the paper into neat squares, the dolls wrapped the taffy in the
+papers.
+
+Then the taffy was put into a large bag, and with much pulling and
+tugging it was finally dragged up into the nursery, where a window faced
+out toward the street.
+
+Then, just as a little boy and a little girl, who looked as though they
+did not ever have much candy, passed the house, the dolls all gave a
+push and sent the bag tumbling to the sidewalk.
+
+The two children laughed and shouted, "Thank you," when they saw that
+the bag contained candy, and the dolls, peeping from behind the lace
+curtains, watched the two happy faced children eating the taffy as they
+skipped down the street.
+
+When the children had passed out of sight, the dolls climbed down from
+the window.
+
+"That was lots of fun!" said the French doll, as she smoothed her skirts
+and sat down beside Raggedy Andy.
+
+"I believe Raggedy Andy must have a candy heart too, like Raggedy Ann!"
+said Uncle Clem.
+
+"No!" Raggedy Andy answered, "I'm just stuffed with white cotton and I
+have no candy heart, but some day perhaps I shall have!"
+
+"A candy heart is very nice!" Raggedy Ann said. (You know, she had one.)
+"But one can be just as nice and happy and full of sunshine without a
+candy heart."
+
+"I almost forgot to tell you," said Raggedy Andy, "that when pieces of
+taffy are wrapped in little pieces of paper, just as we wrapped them,
+they are called 'Kisses'."
+
+[Illustration: All sitting together]
+
+[Illustration: Fido in a basket]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy and Fido]
+
+
+
+
+THE RABBIT CHASE
+
+
+"Well, what shall we play tonight?" asked Henny, the Dutch doll, when
+the house was quiet and the dolls all knew that no one else was awake.
+
+Raggedy Andy was just about to suggest a good game, when Fido, who
+sometimes slept in a basket in the nursery, growled.
+
+All the dollies looked in his direction.
+
+Fido was standing up with his ears sticking as straight in the air as
+loppy silken puppy dog ears can stick up.
+
+"He must have been dreaming!" said Raggedy Andy.
+
+"No, I wasn't dreaming!" Fido answered. "I heard something go, 'Scratch!
+Scratch!' as plain as I hear you!"
+
+"Where did the sound come from, Fido?" Raggedy Andy asked when he saw
+that Fido really was wide awake.
+
+"From outside somewhere!" Fido answered. "And if I could get out without
+disturbing all the folks, I'd run out and see what it might be! Perhaps
+I had better bark!"
+
+"Please do not bark!" Raggedy Andy cried as he put his rag arm around
+Fido's nose. "You will awaken everybody in the house. We can open a door
+or a window for you and let you out, if you must go!"
+
+"I wish you would. Listen! There it is again: 'Scratch! Scratch!' What
+can it be?"
+
+"You may soon see!" said Raggedy Andy. "We'll let you out, but please
+don't sit at the door and bark and bark to get back in again, as you
+usually do, for we are going to play a good game and we may not hear
+you!"
+
+"You can sleep out in the shed after you have found out what it is,"
+said Raggedy Andy.
+
+As soon as the dolls opened the door for Fido, he went running across
+the lawn, barking in a loud shrill voice. He ran down behind the shed
+and through the garden, and then back towards the house again.
+
+Raggedy Andy and Uncle Clem stood looking out of the door, the rest of
+the dolls peeping over their shoulders, so when something came jumping
+through the door, it hit Uncle Clem and Raggedy Andy and sent them
+flying against the other dolls behind them.
+
+All the dolls went down in a wiggling heap on the floor.
+
+It was surprising that the noise and confusion did not waken Daddy and
+the rest of the folks, for just as the dolls were untangling themselves
+from each other and getting upon their feet, Fido came jumping through
+the door and sent the dolls tumbling again.
+
+Fido quit barking when he came through the door.
+
+"Which way did he go?" he asked, when he could get his breath.
+
+"What was it?" Raggedy Andy asked in return.
+
+"It was a rabbit!" Fido cried. "He ran right in here, for I could smell
+his tracks!"
+
+"We could feel him!" Raggedy Andy laughed.
+
+"I could not tell you which way he went!" Uncle Clem said, "Except I
+feel sure he came through the door and into the house!"
+
+None of the dolls knew into which room the rabbit had run.
+
+Finally, after much sniffing, Fido traced the rabbit to the nursery,
+where, when the dolls followed, they saw the rabbit crouching behind the
+rocking horse.
+
+[Illustration: Looking out of the door]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy and the rabbit]
+
+Fido whined and cried because he could not get to the rabbit and bite
+him.
+
+"You should be ashamed of yourself, Fido!" cried Raggedy Ann. "Just see
+how the poor bunny is trembling!"
+
+"He should not come scratching around our house if he doesn't care to be
+chased!" said Fido.
+
+"Why don't you stay out in the woods and fields where you really
+belong?" Raggedy Andy asked the rabbit.
+
+"I came to leave some Easter eggs!" the bunny answered in a queer little
+quavery voice.
+
+"An Easter bunny!" all the dolls cried, jumping about and clapping their
+hands. "An Easter bunny!"
+
+"Well!" was all Fido could say, as he sat down and began wagging his
+tail.
+
+"You may come out from behind the rocking horse now, Easter bunny!" said
+Raggedy Andy. "Fido will not hurt you, now that he knows, will you,
+Fido?"
+
+"Indeed I won't!" Fido replied. "I'm sorry that I chased you! And I
+remember now, I had to jump over a basket out by the shed! Was that
+yours?"
+
+"Yes, it was full of Easter eggs and colored grasses for the little girl
+who lives here!" the bunny said.
+
+When the Easter bunny found out that Fido and the dolls were his
+friends, he came out from behind the rocking horse and hopped across the
+floor to the door.
+
+"I must go see if any of the eggs are broken, for if they are, I will
+have to run home and color some more! I was just about to make a nice
+nest and put the eggs in it when Fido came bouncing out at me!"
+
+And with a squeeky little laugh the Easter bunny, followed by Fido and
+all the dolls, hopped across the lawn towards the shed. There they found
+the basket. Four of the lovely colored Easter eggs were broken.
+
+"I will run home and color four more. It will only take a few minutes,
+so when I return and scratch again to make a nest, please do not bark at
+me!" said the Easter bunny.
+
+[Illustration: The Easter bunny]
+
+"I won't! I promise!" Fido laughed.
+
+"May we go with you and watch you color the Easter eggs?" Raggedy Andy
+begged.
+
+"Indeed you may!" the Easter bunny answered. "Can you run fast?"
+
+Then down through the garden and out through a crack in the fence the
+Easter bunny hopped, with a long string of dolls trailing behind.
+
+When they came to the Easter bunny's home, they found Mama Easter bunny
+and a lot of little teeny weeny bunnies who would some day grow up to be
+big Easter bunnies like their Mama and Daddy bunny.
+
+The Easter bunny told them of his adventure with Fido, and all joined in
+his laughter when they found it had turned out well at the end.
+
+The Easter bunny put four eggs on to boil and while these were boiling
+he mixed up a lot of pretty colors.
+
+When the eggs were boiled, he dipped the four eggs into the pretty
+colored dye and then painted lovely flowers on them.
+
+When the Easter bunny had finished painting the eggs he put them in his
+basket and, with all the dolls running along beside him, they returned
+to the house.
+
+"Why not make the nest right in the nursery?" Raggedy Andy asked.
+
+"That would be just the thing! Then the little girl would wonder and
+wonder how I could ever get into the nursery without awakening the rest
+of the folks, for she will never suspect that you dolls and Fido let me
+in!"
+
+So with Raggedy Andy leading the way, they ran up to the nursery and
+there, 'way back in a corner, they watched the Easter bunny make a
+lovely nest and put the Easter eggs in it.
+
+And in the morning when Marcella came in to see the dolls you can
+imagine her surprise when she found the pretty gift of the Easter
+bunny.
+
+"How in the world did the bunny get inside the house and into this room
+without awakening Fido?" she laughed.
+
+And Fido, pretending to be asleep, slowly opened one eye and winked over
+the edge of his basket at Raggedy Andy.
+
+And Raggedy Andy smiled back at Fido, but never said a word.
+
+[Illustration: How did the bunny get into this room?]
+
+[Illustration: Looking out the window]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy under the quilt]
+
+
+
+
+THE NEW TIN GUTTER
+
+
+All day Saturday the men had worked out upon the eaves of the house and
+the dolls facing the window could see them.
+
+The men made quite a lot of noise with their hammers, for they were
+putting new gutters around the eaves, and pounding upon tin makes a
+great deal of noise.
+
+Marcella had not played with the dolls all that day, for she had gone
+visiting; so when the men hammered and made a lot of noise, the dolls
+could talk to each other without fear of anyone hearing or knowing they
+were really talking to each other.
+
+"What are they doing now?" Raggedy Andy asked.
+
+He was lying with his head beneath a little bed quilt, just as Marcella
+had dropped him when she left the nursery; so he could not see what was
+going on.
+
+"We can only see the men's legs as they pass the window," answered Uncle
+Clem. "But they are putting new shingles or something on the roof!"
+
+After the men had left their work and gone home to supper and the house
+was quiet, Raggedy Andy cautiously moved his head out from under the
+little bed quilt and, seeing that the coast was clear, sat up.
+
+This was a signal for all the dolls to sit up and smooth out the
+wrinkles in their clothes.
+
+[Illustration: Lifting the penny dolls]
+
+The nursery window was open; so Raggedy Andy lifted the penny dolls to
+the sill and climbed up beside them.
+
+Leaning out, he could look along the new shiny tin gutter the men had
+put in place.
+
+"Here's a grand place to have a lovely slide!" he said as he gave one of
+the penny dolls a scoot down the shiny tin gutter.
+
+"Whee! See her go!" Raggedy Andy cried.
+
+All the other dolls climbed upon the window sill beside him.
+
+"Scoot me too!" cried the other little penny doll in her squeeky little
+voice, and Raggedy Andy took her in his rag hand and gave her a great
+swing which sent her scooting down the shiny tin gutter, "Kerswish!"
+
+Then Raggedy Andy climbed into the gutter himself and, taking a few
+steps, spread out his feet and went scooting down the shiny tin.
+
+The other dolls followed his example and scooted along behind him.
+
+When Raggedy Andy came to the place where he expected to find the penny
+dolls lying, they were nowhere about.
+
+"Perhaps you scooted them farther than you thought!" Uncle Clem said.
+
+"Perhaps I did!" Raggedy Andy said, "We will look around the bend in the
+eave!"
+
+"Oh dear!" he exclaimed when he had peeped around the corner of the
+roof, "the gutter ends here and there is nothing but a hole!"
+
+"They must have scooted right into the hole," Henny, the Dutch doll
+said.
+
+Raggedy Andy lay flat upon the shiny tin and looked down into the hole.
+
+"Are you down there, penny dolls?" he called.
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"I hope their heads were not broken!" Raggedy Ann said.
+
+[Illustration: In the gutter]
+
+"I'm so sorry I scooted them!" Raggedy Andy cried, as he brushed his
+hand over his shoe button eyes.
+
+"Maybe if you hold to my feet, I can reach down the hole and find them
+and pull them up again!" he added.
+
+Uncle Clem and Henny each caught hold of a foot of Raggedy Andy and let
+him slide down into the hole.
+
+It was a rather tight fit, but Raggedy Andy wiggled and twisted until
+all the dolls could see of him were his two feet.
+
+"I can't find them!" he said in muffled tones. "Let me down farther and
+I think I'll be able to reach them!"
+
+Now Henny and Uncle Clem thought that Raggedy Andy meant for them to let
+go of his feet and this they did.
+
+Raggedy Andy kept wiggling and twisting until he came to a bend in the
+pipe and could go no farther.
+
+"I can't find them!" he cried. "They have gone farther down the pipe!
+Now you can pull me up!"
+
+"We can't reach you, Raggedy Andy!" Uncle Clem called down the pipe.
+"Try to wiggle back up a piece and we will catch your feet and pull you
+up!"
+
+Raggedy Andy tried to wiggle backward up the pipe, but his clothes
+caught upon a little piece of tin which stuck out from the inside of the
+pipe and there he stayed. He could neither go down nor come back up.
+
+"What shall we do?" Uncle Clem cried, "The folks will never find him
+down there, for we can not tell them where he is, and they will never
+guess it!"
+
+The dolls were all very sad. They stayed out upon the shiny new tin
+gutter until it began raining and hoped and hoped that Raggedy Andy
+could get back up to them.
+
+Then they went inside the nursery and sat looking out the window until
+it was time for the folks to get up and the house to be astir. Then they
+went back to the position each had been in, when Marcella had left them.
+
+And although they were very quiet, each one was so sorry to lose Raggedy
+Andy, and each felt that he would never be found again.
+
+[Illustration: Down the spout]
+
+"The rain must have soaked his cotton through and through!" sighed
+Raggedy Ann. "For all the water from the house runs down the shiny tin
+gutters and down the pipe into a rain barrel at the bottom!"
+
+Then Raggedy Ann remembered that there was an opening at the bottom of
+the pipe.
+
+"Tomorrow night if we have a chance, we dolls must take a stick and see
+if we can reach Raggedy Andy from the bottom of the pipe and pull him
+down to us!" she thought.
+
+Marcella came up to the nursery and played all day, watching the rain
+patter upon the new tin gutter. She wondered where Raggedy Andy was,
+although she did not get worried about him until she had asked Mama
+where he might be.
+
+"He must be just where you left him!" Mama said.
+
+"I cannot remember where I left him!" Marcella said.
+
+"I thought he was with all the other dolls in the nursery, though!"
+
+All day Sunday it rained and all of Sunday night, and Monday morning
+when Daddy started to work it was still raining.
+
+As Daddy walked out of the front gate, he turned to wave good-bye to
+Mama and Marcella and then he saw something.
+
+Daddy came right back into the house and called up the men who had put
+in the new shiny tin gutters.
+
+"The drain pipe is plugged up. Some of you must have left shavings or
+something in the eaves, and it has washed down into the pipe, so that
+the water pours over the gutter in sheets!"
+
+"We will send a man right up to fix it!" the men said.
+
+So along about ten o'clock that morning one of the men came to fix the
+pipe.
+
+But although he punched a long pole down the pipe, and punched and
+punched, he could not dislodge whatever it was which plugged the pipe
+and kept the water from running through it.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Ann and the dolls]
+
+[Illustration: The man finds Raggedy Andy]
+
+Then the man measured with his stick, so that he knew just where the
+place was, and with a pair of tin shears he cut a section from the pipe
+and found Raggedy Andy.
+
+Raggedy Andy was punched quite out of shape and all jammed together, but
+when the man straightened out the funny little figure, Raggedy Andy
+looked up at him with his customary happy smile.
+
+The man laughed and carried little water-soaked Raggedy Andy into the
+house.
+
+"I guess your little girl must have dropped this rag doll down into the
+drain pipe!" the man said to Mama.
+
+"I'm so glad you found him!" Mama said to the man.
+
+"We have hunted all over the house for him! Marcella could not remember
+where she put him; so when I get him nice and dry, I'll hide him in a
+nice easy place for her to find, and she will not know he has been out
+in the rain all night!"
+
+So Mama put Raggedy Andy behind the radiator and there he sat all
+afternoon, steaming and drying out.
+
+And as he sat there he smiled and smiled, even though there was no one
+to see him.
+
+He felt very happy within and he liked to smile, anyway, because his
+smile was painted on.
+
+And another reason Raggedy Andy smiled was because he was not lonesome.
+
+Inside his waist were the two little penny dolls.
+
+The man had punched Raggedy Andy farther down into the pipe, and he had
+been able to reach the two little dolls and tuck them into a safe place.
+
+"Won't they all be surprised to see us back again!" Raggedy Andy
+whispered as he patted the two little penny dolls with his soft rag
+hands.
+
+And the two little penny dolls nestled against Raggedy Andy's soft
+cotton stuffed body, and thought how nice it was to have such a happy,
+sunny friend.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy sitting]
+
+[Illustration: Medicine]
+
+[Illustration: Four dolls]
+
+
+
+
+DOCTOR RAGGEDY ANDY
+
+
+Raggedy Andy, Raggedy Ann, Uncle Clem and Henny were not given medicine.
+
+Because, you see, they had no mouths.
+
+That is, mouths through which medicine could be poured.
+
+Their mouths were either painted on, or were sewed on with yarn.
+
+Sometimes the medicine spoon would be touched to their faces but none of
+the liquid be given them. Except accidentally.
+
+But the French doll had a lovely mouth for taking medicine; it was open
+and showed her teeth in a dimpling smile.
+
+She also had soft brown eyes which opened and closed when she was tilted
+backward or forward.
+
+The medicine which was given the dolls had great curing properties.
+
+It would cure the most stubborn case of croup, measles, whooping cough
+or any other ailment the dolls had wished upon them by their little
+Mistress.
+
+Some days all the dolls would be put to bed with "measles" but in the
+course of half an hour they would have every other ailment in the Doctor
+book.
+
+The dolls enjoyed it very much, for, you see, Marcella always tried the
+medicine first to see if it was strong enough before she gave any to the
+dolls.
+
+[Illustration: Bandaged up]
+
+So the dolls really did not get as much of the medicine as their little
+mistress.
+
+The wonderful remedy was made from a very old recipe handed down from
+ancient times.
+
+This recipe is guaranteed to cure every ill a doll may have.
+
+The medicine was made from brown sugar and water. Perhaps you may have
+used it for your dollies.
+
+The medicine was also used as "tea" and "soda water," except when the
+dolls were supposed to be ill.
+
+Having nothing but painted or yarn mouths, the ailments of Raggedy Andy,
+Raggedy Ann, Uncle Clem and Henny, the Dutch doll, mostly consisted of
+sprained wrists, arms and legs, or perhaps a headache and a toothache.
+
+None of them knew they had the trouble until Marcella had wrapped up the
+"injured" rag arm, leg or head, and had explained in detail just what
+was the matter.
+
+Raggedy Andy, Raggedy Ann, Uncle Clem, or Henny were just as happy with
+their heads tied up for the toothache as they were without their heads
+tied up.
+
+Not having teeth, naturally they could not have the toothache, and if
+they could furnish amusement for Marcella by having her pretend they had
+the toothache, then that made them very happy.
+
+So this day, the French doll was quite ill. She started out with the
+"croup," and went through the "measles," "whooping cough," and "yellow
+fever" in an hour.
+
+The attack came on quite suddenly.
+
+The French doll was sitting quietly in one of the little red chairs,
+smiling the prettiest of dimpling smiles at Raggedy Andy, and thinking
+of the romp the dolls would have that night after the house grew quiet,
+when Marcella discovered that the French doll had the "croup" and put
+her to bed.
+
+The French doll closed her eyes when put to bed, but the rest of her
+face did not change expression. She still wore her happy smile.
+
+[Illustration: Marcella caring for the sick]
+
+Marcella mixed the medicine very "strong" and poured it into the French
+doll's open mouth.
+
+She was given a "dose" every minute or so.
+
+It was during the "yellow fever" stage that Marcella was called to
+supper and left the dolls in the nursery alone.
+
+Marcella did not play with them again that evening; so the dolls all
+remained in the same position until Marcella and the rest of the folks
+went to bed.
+
+Then Raggedy Andy jumped from his chair and wound up the little music
+box. "Let's start with a lively dance!" he cried.
+
+When the music started tinkling he caught the French doll's hand, and
+danced 'way across the nursery floor before he discovered that her soft
+brown eyes remained closed as they were when she lay upon the "sick"
+bed.
+
+All the dolls gathered around Raggedy Andy and the French doll.
+
+"I can't open my eyes!" she said.
+
+Raggedy Andy tried to open the French doll's eyes with his soft rag
+hands, but it was no use.
+
+They shook her. This sometimes has the desired effect when dolls do not
+open their eyes.
+
+They shook her again and again. It was no use, her eyes remained closed.
+
+"It must be the sticky, sugary 'medicine'!" said Uncle Clem.
+
+"I really believe it must be!" the French doll replied. "The 'medicine'
+seemed to settle in the back of my head when I was lying down, and I can
+still feel it back there!"
+
+"That must be it, and now it has hardened and keeps your pretty eyes
+from working!" said Raggedy Ann. "What shall we do?"
+
+Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann walked over to a corner of the nursery and
+thought and thought. They pulled their foreheads down into wrinkles with
+their hands, so that they might think harder.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy winds the music box]
+
+Finally Raggedy Ann cried, "I've thought of a plan!" and went skipping
+from the corner out to where the other dolls sat about the French doll.
+
+"We must stand her upon her head, then the 'medicine' will run up into
+her hair, for there is a hole in the top of her head. I remember seeing
+it when her hair came off one time!"
+
+"No sooner said than done!" cried Uncle Clem, as he took the French doll
+by the waist and stood her upon her head.
+
+"That should be long enough!" Raggedy Ann said, when Uncle Clem had held
+the French doll in this position for five minutes.
+
+But when the French doll was again placed upon her feet her eyes still
+remained tightly closed.
+
+All this time, Raggedy Andy had remained in the corner, thinking as hard
+as his rag head would think.
+
+He thought and thought, until the yarn hair upon his head stood up in
+the air and wiggled.
+
+"If the 'medicine' did not run up into her hair when she stood upon her
+head," thought Raggedy Andy, "then it is because the 'medicine' could
+not run; so, if the medicine can not run, it is because it is too sticky
+and thick to run out the hole in the top of her head." He also thought a
+lot more.
+
+At last he turned to the others and said out loud, "I can't seem to
+think of a single way to help her open her eyes unless we take off her
+hair and wash the medicine from inside her china head."
+
+"Why didn't I think of that?" Raggedy Ann asked. "That is just the way
+we shall have to do!"
+
+So Raggedy Ann caught hold of the French doll's feet, and Raggedy Andy
+caught hold of the French doll's lively curls, and they pulled and they
+pulled.
+
+Then the other dolls caught hold of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and
+pulled and pulled, until finally, with a sharp "R-R-Rip!" the French
+doll's hair came off, and the dolls who were pulling went tumbling over
+backwards.
+
+[Illustration: Shaking the French doll upside down]
+
+[Illustration: Hole in her head]
+
+Laughingly they scrambled to their feet and sat the French doll up, so
+they might look into the hole in the top of her head.
+
+Yes, the sticky "medicine" had grown hard and would not let the French
+doll's eyes open.
+
+Raggedy Andy put his hand inside and pushed on the eyes so that they
+opened.
+
+This was all right, only now the eyes would not close when the French
+doll lay down. She tried it.
+
+So Raggedy Andy ran down into the kitchen and brought up a small tin cup
+full of warm water and a tiny rag.
+
+With these he loosened the sticky "medicine" and washed the inside of
+the French doll's head nice and clean.
+
+There were lots of cooky and cracker crumbs inside her head, too.
+
+Raggedy Andy washed it all nice and clean, and then wet the glue which
+made the pretty curls stay on.
+
+So when her hair was placed upon her head again, the French doll was as
+good as new.
+
+"Thank you all very much!" she said, as she tilted backwards and
+forwards, and found that her eyes worked very easily.
+
+Raggedy Andy again wound up the little music box and, catching the
+French doll about the waist, started a rollicking dance which lasted
+until the roosters in the neighborhood began their morning crowing.
+
+Then, knowing the folks might soon be astir, the dolls left off their
+playing, and all took the same positions they had been in when Marcella
+left them the night before.
+
+And so Marcella found them.
+
+The French doll was in bed with her eyes closed, and her happy dimpling
+smile lighting up her pretty face.
+
+And to this day, the dollies' little mistress does not know that Raggedy
+Andy was the doctor who cured the French doll of her only ill.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy dancing with the French doll]
+
+[Illustration: Dickie and Raggedy Andy]
+
+[Illustration: Where is Raggedy Andy's smile?]
+
+
+
+
+RAGGEDY ANDY'S SMILE
+
+
+Raggedy Andy's smile was gone.
+
+Not entirely, but enough so that it made his face seem onesided.
+
+If one viewed Raggedy Andy from the left side, one could see his smile.
+
+But if one looked at Raggedy Andy from the right side, one could not see
+his smile. So Raggedy Andy's smile was gone.
+
+It really was not Raggedy Andy's fault.
+
+He felt just as happy and sunny as ever.
+
+And perhaps would not have known the difference had not the other dolls
+told him he had only one half of his cheery smile left.
+
+Nor was it Marcella's fault. How was she to know that Dickie would feed
+Raggedy Andy orange juice and take off most of his smile?
+
+And besides taking off one half of Raggedy Andy's smile, the orange
+juice left a great brown stain upon his face.
+
+Marcella was very sorry when she saw what Dickie had done.
+
+Dickie would have been sorry, too, if he had been more than two years
+old, but when one is only two years old, he has very few sorrows.
+
+Dickie's only sorrow was that Raggedy Andy was taken from him, and he
+could not feed Raggedy Andy more orange juice.
+
+Marcella kissed Raggedy Andy more than she did the rest of the dolls
+that night, when she put them to bed, and this made all the dolls very
+happy.
+
+It always gave them great pleasure when any of their number was hugged
+and kissed, for there was not a selfish doll among them.
+
+Marcella hung up a tiny stocking for each of the dollies, and placed a
+tiny little china dish for each of the penny dolls beside their little
+spool box bed.
+
+For, as you probably have guessed, it was Christmas eve, and Marcella
+was in hopes Santa Claus would see the tiny stockings and place
+something in them for each dollie.
+
+Then when the house was very quiet, the French doll told Raggedy Andy
+that most of his smile was gone.
+
+"Indeed!" said Raggedy Andy. "I can still feel it! It must be there!"
+
+"Oh, but it really is gone!" Uncle Clem said. "It was the orange juice!"
+
+"Well, I still feel just as happy," said Raggedy Andy, "so let's have a
+jolly game of some sort! What shall it be?"
+
+"Perhaps we had best try to wash your face!" said practical Raggedy Ann.
+She always acted as a mother to the other dolls when they were alone.
+
+"It will not do a bit of good!" the French doll told Raggedy Ann, "for I
+remember I had orange juice spilled upon a nice white frock I had one
+time, and the stain would never come out!"
+
+"That is too bad!" Henny, the Dutch doll, said. "We shall miss Raggedy
+Andy's cheery smile when he is looking straight at us!"
+
+"You will have to stand on my right side, when you wish to see my
+smile!" said Raggedy Andy, with a cheery little chuckle 'way down in his
+soft cotton inside.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy's lopsided smile]
+
+[Illustration: Santa]
+
+"But I wish everyone to understand," he went on, "that I am smiling just
+the same, whether you can see it or not!"
+
+And with this, Raggedy Andy caught hold of Uncle Clem and Henny, and
+made a dash for the nursery door, followed by all the other dolls.
+
+Raggedy Andy intended jumping down the stairs, head over heels, for he
+knew that neither he, Uncle Clem nor Henny would break anything by
+jumping down stairs.
+
+But just as they got almost to the door, they dropped to the floor in a
+heap, for there, standing watching the whole performance, was a man.
+
+All the dolls fell in different attitudes, for it would never do for
+them to let a real person see that they could act and talk just like
+real people.
+
+Raggedy Andy, Uncle Clem and Henny stopped so suddenly they fell over
+each other and Raggedy Andy, being in the lead and pulling the other
+two, slid right through the door and stopped at the feet of the man.
+
+A cheery laugh greeted this and a chubby hand reached down and picked up
+Raggedy Andy and turned him over.
+
+Raggedy Andy looked up into a cheery little round face, with a little
+red nose and red cheeks, and all framed in white whiskers which looked
+just like snow.
+
+Then the little round man walked into the nursery and picked up all the
+dolls and looked at them. He made no noise when he walked, and this was
+why he had taken the dolls by surprise at the head of the stairs.
+
+The little man with the snow-white whiskers placed all the dolls in a
+row and from a little case in his pocket he took a tiny bottle and a
+little brush. He dipped the little brush in the tiny bottle and touched
+all the dolls' faces with it.
+
+He had purposely saved Raggedy Andy's face until the last. Then, as all
+the dolls watched, the cheery little white-whiskered man touched Raggedy
+Andy's face with the magic liquid, and the orange juice stain
+disappeared, and in its place came Raggedy Andy's rosy cheeks and cheery
+smile.
+
+[Illustration: Santa repairs Raggedy Andy]
+
+And, turning Raggedy Andy so that he could face all the other dolls, the
+cheery little man showed him that all the other dolls had new rosy
+cheeks and newly-painted faces. They all looked just like new dollies.
+Even Susan's cracked head had been made whole.
+
+Henny, the Dutch doll, was so surprised he fell over backward and said,
+"Squeek!"
+
+When the cheery little man with the white whiskers heard this, he picked
+Henny up and touched him with the paint brush in the center of the back,
+just above the place where Henny had the little mechanism which made him
+say "Mama" when he was new. And when the little man touched Henny and
+tipped him forward and backward, Henny was just as good as new and said
+"Mama" very prettily.
+
+Then the little man put something in each of the tiny doll stockings,
+and something in each of the little china plates for the two penny
+dolls.
+
+Then, as quietly as he had entered, he left, merely turning at the door
+and shaking his finger at the dolls in a cheery, mischievous manner.
+
+Raggedy Andy heard him chuckling to himself as he went down the stairs.
+
+Raggedy Andy tiptoed to the door and over to the head of the stairs.
+
+Then he motioned for the other dolls to come.
+
+There, from the head of the stairs, they watched the cheery little
+white-whiskered man take pretty things from a large sack and place them
+about the chimneyplace.
+
+"He does not know that we are watching him," the dolls all thought, but
+when the little man had finished his task, he turned quickly and laughed
+right up at the dolls, for he had known that they were watching him all
+the time.
+
+Then, again shaking his finger at them in his cheery manner, the little
+white-whiskered man swung the sack to his shoulder, and with a whistle
+such as the wind makes when it plays through the chinks of a window, he
+was gone--up the chimney.
+
+The dolls were very quiet as they walked back into the nursery and sat
+down to think it all over, and as they sat there thinking, they heard
+out in the night the "tinkle, tinkle, tinkle" of tiny sleigh bells,
+growing fainter and fainter as they disappeared in the distance.
+
+Without a word, but filled with a happy wonder, the dolls climbed into
+their beds, just as Marcella had left them, and pulled the covers up to
+their chins.
+
+And Raggedy Andy lay there, his little shoe button eyes looking straight
+towards the ceiling and smiling a joyful smile--not a "half smile" this
+time, but a "full size smile."
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy smiling a joyful smile]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy and the Wooden Horse]
+
+[Illustration: Santa leaves the Wooden Horse]
+
+
+
+
+THE WOODEN HORSE
+
+
+Santa Claus left a whole lot of toys.
+
+A wooden horse, covered with canton flannel and touched lightly with a
+paint brush dipped in black paint to give him a dappled gray appearance,
+was one of the presents.
+
+With the wooden horse came a beautiful red wagon with four yellow
+wheels. My! The paint was pretty and shiny.
+
+The wooden horse was hitched to the wagon with a patent leather harness;
+and he, himself, stood proudly upon a red platform running on four
+little nickel wheels.
+
+It was true that the wooden horse's eyes were as far apart as a camel's
+and made him look quite like one when viewed from in front, but he had
+soft leather ears and a silken mane and tail.
+
+He was nice to look upon, was the wooden horse. All the dolls patted him
+and smoothed his silken mane and felt his shiny patent leather harness
+the first night they were alone with him in the nursery.
+
+The wooden horse had a queer voice; the dolls could hardly understand
+him at first, but when his bashfulness wore off, he talked quite
+plainly.
+
+"It is the first time I have ever tried to talk," he explained when he
+became acquainted, "and I guess I was talking down in my stomach instead
+of my head!"
+
+"You will like it here in the nursery very much!" said Raggedy Andy. "We
+have such jolly times and love each other so much I know you will enjoy
+your new home!"
+
+"I am sure I shall!" the wooden horse answered. "Where I came from,
+we--the other horses and myself--just stood silently upon the shelves
+and looked and looked straight ahead, and never so much as moved our
+tails."
+
+"See if you can move your tail now!" Henny, the Dutch doll, suggested.
+
+The wooden horse started to roll across the nursery floor and if Raggedy
+Ann had not been in the way, he might have bumped into the wall. As it
+was, the wooden horse rolled against Raggedy Ann and upset her but could
+go no further when his wheels ran against her rag foot.
+
+When the wooden horse upset Raggedy Ann, he stood still until Uncle Clem
+and Henny and Raggedy Andy lifted him off Raggedy Ann's feet. "Did I
+frisk my tail?" he asked when Raggedy Ann stood up and smoothed her
+apron.
+
+"Try it again!" said Raggedy Ann. "I couldn't see!" She laughed her
+cheery rag doll laugh, for Raggedy Ann, no matter what happened, never
+lost her temper.
+
+The wooden horse started rolling backward at this and knocked Henny over
+upon his back, causing him to cry "Mama!" in his squeeky voice.
+
+Uncle Clem, Raggedy Ann, and the tin soldier all held to the wooden
+horse and managed to stop him just as he was backing out of the nursery
+door towards the head of the stairs.
+
+Then the dolls pulled the wooden horse back to the center of the room.
+"It's funny" he said, "that I start moving backward or forward when I
+try to frisk my tail!"
+
+"I believe it is because you have stood so long upon the shelf without
+moving," Raggedy Andy suggested. "Suppose you try moving forward!"
+
+Uncle Clem, who was standing in front of the wooden horse, jumped to one
+side so hastily his feet slipped out from under him, just as if he had
+been sliding upon slippery ice.
+
+[Illustration: The wooden horse rolled over Raggedy Ann's foot]
+
+[Illustration: The wooden horse and the dolls]
+
+The wooden horse did not start moving forward as Uncle Clem had
+expected; instead, his silken tail frisked gaily up over his back.
+
+"Whee! There, you frisked your tail!" cried all the dolls as joyfully as
+if the wooden horse had done something truly wonderful.
+
+"It's easy now!" said the wooden horse. "When I wish to go forward or
+backward I'll try to frisk my tail and then I'll roll along on my shiny
+wheels; then when I wish to frisk my tail I'll try to roll forward or
+backward, like this!" But instead of rolling forward, the wooden horse
+frisked his tail. "I wanted to frisk my tail then!" he said in surprise.
+"Now I'll roll forward!" And sure enough, the wooden horse rolled across
+the nursery floor.
+
+When he started rolling upon his shiny wheels, Raggedy Andy cried, "All
+aboard!" and, taking a short run, he leaped upon the wooden horse's
+back. Uncle Clem, Raggedy Ann, Henny, the Dutch doll and Susan, the doll
+without a head, all scrambled up into the pretty red wagon.
+
+The wooden horse thought this was great fun and round and round the
+nursery he circled. His shiny wheels and the pretty yellow wheels of the
+red wagon creaked so loudly none of the dolls heard the cries of the
+tiny penny dolls who were too small to climb aboard. Finally, as the
+wagon load of dolls passed the penny dolls, Raggedy Andy noticed the two
+little midgets standing together and missing the fun; so, leaning 'way
+over to one side as the horse swept by them, Raggedy Andy caught both
+the penny dolls in his strong rag arms and lifted them to a seat upon
+the broad back of the wooden horse.
+
+"Hooray!" cried all the dolls when they saw Raggedy Andy's feat. "It was
+just like a Wild West Show!"
+
+"We must all have all the fun we can together!" said Raggedy Andy.
+
+"Good for you!" cried Uncle Clem. "The more fun we can give each other,
+the more fun each one of us will have!"
+
+[Illustration: The wooden horse pulls a cart]
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy and the penny dolls went clear over his
+head]
+
+The wooden horse made the circle of the nursery a great many times, for
+it pleased him very much to hear the gay laughter of the dolls and he
+thought to himself, "How happy I will be, living with such a jolly
+crowd."
+
+But just as he was about to pass the door, there was a noise upon the
+stairs and the wooden horse, hearing it, stopped so suddenly Raggedy
+Andy and the penny dolls went clear over his head and the dolls in the
+front of the wagon took Raggedy Andy's seat upon the horse's back.
+
+They lay just as they fell, for they did not wish anyone to suspect that
+they could move or talk.
+
+"Ha! Ha! Ha! I knew you were having a lot of fun!" cried a cheery voice.
+
+At this, all the dolls immediately scrambled back into their former
+places, for they recognized the voice of the French dollie.
+
+But what was their surprise to see her dressed in a lovely fairy
+costume, her lovely curls flying out behind, as she ran towards them.
+
+Raggedy Andy was just about to climb upon the horse's back again when
+the French doll leaped there herself and, balancing lightly upon one
+foot, stood in this position while the wooden horse rolled around the
+nursery as fast as he could go.
+
+Raggedy Andy and the two penny dolls ran after the wagon and, with the
+assistance of Uncle Clem and Raggedy Ann, climbed up in back.
+
+When the wooden horse finally stopped the dolls all said, "This is the
+most fun we have had for a _long_ time!"
+
+The wooden horse, a thrill of happiness running through his wooden body,
+cried, "It is the most fun I have _ever_ had!"
+
+And the dolls, while they did not tell him so, knew that he had had the
+most fun because he had given _them_ the most pleasure.
+
+For, as you must surely know, they who are the most unselfish are the
+ones who gain the greatest joy; because they give happiness to others.
+
+[Illustration: The French doll balanced lightly upon one foot]
+
+[Illustration: In front of the toy stove]
+
+[Illustration: Four dolls]
+
+
+
+
+MAKING "ANGELS" IN THE SNOW
+
+
+"Whee! It's good to be back home again!" said Raggedy Andy to the other
+dolls, as he stretched his feet out in front of the little toy stove and
+rubbed his rag hands briskly together, as if to warm them.
+
+All the dolls laughed at Raggedy Andy for doing this, for they knew
+there had never been a fire in the little toy stove in all the time it
+had been in the nursery. And that was a long time.
+
+"We are so glad and happy to have you back home again with us!" the
+dolls told Raggedy Andy. "For we have missed you very, very much!"
+
+"Well," Raggedy Andy replied, as he held his rag hands over the tiny lid
+of the stove and rubbed them again, "I have missed all of you, too, and
+wished many times that you had been with me to join in and share in the
+pleasures and frolics I've had."
+
+And as Raggedy Andy continued to hold his hands over the little stove,
+Uncle Clem asked him why he did it.
+
+Raggedy Andy smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Really," he said, "I
+wasn't paying any attention to what I was doing! I've spent so much of
+my time while I was away drying out my soft cotton stuffing it seems as
+though it has almost become a habit."
+
+"Were you wet most of the time, Raggedy Andy?" the French doll asked.
+
+"Nearly all the time!" Raggedy Andy replied. "First I would get sopping
+wet and then I'd freeze!"
+
+"Freeze!" exclaimed all the dolls in one breath.
+
+"Dear me, yes!" Raggedy Andy laughed. "Just see here!" And Raggedy Andy
+pulled his sleeve up and showed where his rag arm had been mended. "That
+was quite a rip!" he smiled.
+
+"Dear! Dear! How in the world did it happen? On a nail?" Henny, the
+Dutch doll, asked as he put his arm about Raggedy Andy.
+
+"Froze!" said Raggedy Andy.
+
+The dolls gathered around Raggedy Andy and examined the rip in his rag
+arm.
+
+"It's all right now!" he laughed. "But you should have seen me when it
+happened! I was frozen into one solid cake of ice all the way through,
+and when Marcella tried to limber up my arm before it had thawed out, it
+went, 'Pop!' and just bursted.
+
+"Then I was placed in a pan of nice warm water until the icy cotton
+inside me had melted, and then I was hung up on a line above the kitchen
+stove, out at Gran'ma's."
+
+"But how did you happen to get so wet and then freeze?" asked Raggedy
+Ann.
+
+"Out across the road from Gran'ma's home, 'way out in the country, there
+is a lovely pond," Raggedy Andy explained. "In the summer time pretty
+flowers grow about the edge, the little green frogs sit upon the pond
+lilies and beat upon their tiny drums all through the night, and the
+twinkling stars wink at their reflections in the smooth water. But when
+Marcella and I went out to Gran'ma's, last week, Gran'ma met us with a
+sleigh, for the ground was covered with starry snow. The pretty pond was
+covered with ice, too, and upon the ice was a soft blanket of the white,
+white snow. It was beautiful!" said Raggedy Andy.
+
+[Illustration: Marcella and Raggedy Andy in the snow]
+
+[Illustration: Marcella on a sled]
+
+"Gran'ma had a lovely new sled for Marcella, a red one with shiny
+runners.
+
+"And after we had visited Gran'ma a while, we went to the pond for a
+slide.
+
+"It was heaps of fun, for there was a little hill at one end of the pond
+so that when we coasted down, we went scooting across the pond like an
+arrow.
+
+"Marcella would turn the sled sideways, just for fun, and she and I
+would fall off and go sliding across the ice upon our backs, leaving a
+clean path of ice, where we pushed aside the snow as we slid. Then
+Marcella showed me how to make 'angels' in the soft snow!"
+
+"Oh, tell us how, Raggedy Andy!" shouted all the dollies.
+
+"It's very easy!" said Raggedy Andy. "Marcella would lie down upon her
+back in the snow and put her hands back up over her head, then she would
+bring her hands in a circle down to her sides, like this." And Raggedy
+Andy lay upon the floor of the nursery and showed the dollies just how
+it was done. "Then," he added, "when she stood up it would leave the
+print of her body and legs in the white, white snow, and where she had
+swooped her arms there were the 'angel's wings!'"
+
+"It must have looked just like an angel!" said Uncle Clem.
+
+"Indeed it was very pretty!" Raggedy Andy answered. "Then Marcella made
+a lot of 'angels' by placing me in the snow and working my arms; so you
+see, what with falling off the sled so much and making so many 'angels,'
+we both were wet, but I was completely soaked through. My cotton just
+became soppy and I was ever so much heavier! Then Gran'ma, just as we
+were having a most delightful time, came to the door and 'Ooh-hooed' to
+Marcella to come and get a nice new doughnut. So Marcella, thinking to
+return in a minute, left me lying upon the sled and ran through the snow
+to Gran'ma's. And there I stayed and stayed until I began to feel stiff
+and could hear the cotton inside me go, 'Tic! Tic!' as it began to
+freeze.
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Andy on a sled at night]
+
+"I lay upon the sled until after the sun went down. Two little Chicadees
+came and sat upon the sled and talked to me in their cute little bird
+language, and I watched the sky in the west get golden red, then turn
+into a deep crimson purple and finally a deep blue, as the sun went
+farther down around the bend of the earth. After it had been dark for
+some time, I heard someone coming through the snow and could see the
+yellow light of a lantern. It was Gran'ma.
+
+"She pulled the sled over in back of her house and did not see that I
+was upon it until she turned to go in the kitchen; then she picked me up
+and took me inside. 'He's frozen as stiff as a board!' she told Marcella
+as she handed me to her. Marcella did not say why she had forgotten to
+come for me, but I found out afterward that it was because she was so
+wet. Gran'ma made her change her clothes and shoes and stockings and
+would not permit her to go out and play again.
+
+"Well, anyway," concluded Raggedy Andy, "Marcella tried to limber my arm
+and, being almost solid ice, it just burst. And that is the way it went
+all the time we were out at Gran'ma's; I was wet nearly all the time.
+But I wish you could all have been with me to share in the fun."
+
+And Raggedy Andy again leaned over the little toy stove and rubbed his
+rag hands briskly together.
+
+Uncle Clem went to the waste paper basket and came back with some scraps
+of yellow and red paper. Then, taking off one of the tiny lids, he
+stuffed the paper in part of the way as if the flames were "shooting
+up!"
+
+Then, as all the dolls' merry laughter rang out, Raggedy Andy stopped
+rubbing his hands, and catching Raggedy Ann about the waist, he went
+skipping across the nursery floor with her, whirling so fast neither saw
+they had gone out through the door until it was too late. For coming to
+the head of the stairs, they both went head over heels, "blumpity,
+blump!" over and over, until they wound up, laughing, at the bottom.
+
+"Last one up is a Cocoa baby!" cried Raggedy Ann, as she scrambled to
+her feet. And with her skirts in her rag hands she went racing up the
+stairs to where the rest of the dollies stood laughing.
+
+"Hurrah, for Raggedy Ann!" cried Raggedy Andy generously. "She won!"
+
+[Illustration: Raggedy Ann racing up the stairs]
+
+[Illustration: Listening to the seashell]
+
+[Illustration: The Singing Shell]
+
+
+
+
+THE SINGING SHELL
+
+
+For years and years the beautiful shell had been upon the floor in
+Gran'ma's front room. It was a large shell with many points upon it.
+These were coarse and rough, but the shell was most beautiful inside.
+
+Marcella had seen the shell time and time again and often admired its
+lovely coloring, which could be seen when one looked inside the shell.
+
+So one day, Gran'ma gave the beautiful shell to Marcella to have for her
+very own, up in the nursery.
+
+"It will be nice to place before the nursery door so the wind will not
+blow the door to and pinch anyone's fingers!" Gran'ma laughed.
+
+So Marcella brought the shell home and placed it in front of the nursery
+door. Here the dolls saw it that night, when all the house was still,
+and stood about it wondering what kind of toy it might be.
+
+"It seems to be nearly all mouth!" said Henny, the Dutch doll. "Perhaps
+it can talk."
+
+"It has teeth!" the French doll pointed out. "It may bite!"
+
+"I do not believe it will bite," Raggedy Andy mused, as he got down upon
+his hands and knees and looked up into the shell. "Marcella would not
+have it up here if it would bite!" And, saying this, Raggedy Andy put
+his rag arm into the lovely shell's mouth.
+
+"It doesn't bite! I knew it wouldn't!" he cried. "Just feel how smooth
+it is inside!"
+
+All the dolls felt and were surprised to find it polished so highly
+inside, while the outside was so coarse and rough. With the help of
+Uncle Clem and Henny, Raggedy Andy turned the shell upon its back, so
+that all the dolls might look in.
+
+The coloring consisted of dainty pinks, creamy whites and pale blues,
+all running together just as the coloring in an opal runs from one shade
+into another. Raggedy Andy, stooping over to look further up inside the
+pretty shell, heard something.
+
+"It's whispering!" he said, as he raised up in surprise.
+
+All the dolls took turns putting their ears to the mouth of the
+beautiful shell. Yes, truly it whispered, but they could not catch just
+what it said.
+
+Finally Raggedy Andy suggested that all the dolls lie down upon the
+floor directly before the shell and keep very quiet.
+
+"If we don't make a sound we may be able to hear what it says!" he
+explained.
+
+So the dolls lay down, placing themselves flat upon the floor directly
+in front of the shell and where they could see and admire its beautiful
+coloring.
+
+Now the dolls could be very, very quiet when they really wished to be,
+and it was easy for them to hear the faint whispering of the shell.
+
+This is the story the shell told the dolls in the nursery that night:
+
+"A long, long time ago, I lived upon the yellow sand, deep down beneath
+the blue, blue waters of the ocean. Pretty silken sea weeds grew around
+my home and reached their waving branches up, up towards the top of the
+water.
+
+[Illustration: Everyone listens]
+
+"Through the pretty sea weeds, fishes of pretty colors and shapes darted
+here and there, playing at their games.
+
+"It was still and quiet 'way down where I lived, for even if the ocean
+roared and pounded itself into an angry mass of tumbling waves up above,
+this never disturbed the calm waters down where I lived.
+
+"Many times, little fishes or other tiny sea people came and hid within
+my pretty house when they were being pursued by larger sea creatures.
+And it always made me very happy to give them this protection.
+
+"They would stay inside until I whispered that the larger creature had
+gone, then they would leave me and return to their play.
+
+"Pretty little sea horses with slender, curving bodies often went
+sailing above me, or would come to rest upon my back. It was nice to lie
+and watch the tiny things curl their little tails about the sea weed and
+talk together, for the sea horses like one another and are gentle and
+kind to each other, sharing their food happily and smoothing their
+little ones with their cunning noses.
+
+"But one day a diver leaped over the side of a boat and came swimming
+head-first down, down to where I lay. My! How the tiny sea creatures
+scurried to hide from him. He took me within his hand and, giving his
+feet a thump upon the yellow sand, rose with me to the surface.
+
+"He poured the water from me, and out came all the little creatures who
+had been hiding there!"
+
+Raggedy Andy wiggled upon the floor, he was so interested.
+
+"Did the tiny creatures get back into the water safely?" he asked the
+beautiful shell.
+
+"Oh, yes!" the shell whispered in reply. "The man held me over the side
+of the boat, so the tiny creatures went safely back into the water!"
+
+"I am so glad!" Raggedy Andy said, with a sigh of relief. "He must have
+been a kindly man!"
+
+"Yes, indeed!" the beautiful shell replied. "So I was placed along with
+a lot of other shells in the bottom of the boat and every once in a
+while another shell was placed amongst us. We whispered together and
+wondered where we were going. We were finally sold to different people
+and I have been at Gran'ma's house for a long, long time."
+
+"You lived there when Gran'ma was a little girl, didn't you?" Raggedy
+Ann asked.
+
+"Yes," replied the shell, "I have lived there ever since Gran'ma was a
+little girl. She often used to play with me and listen to me sing."
+
+"Raggedy Ann can play 'Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater' on the piano, with
+one hand," said Uncle Clem, "but none of us can sing. Will you sing for
+us?" he asked the shell.
+
+"I sing all the time," the shell replied, "for I cannot help singing,
+but my singing is a secret and so is very soft and low. Put your head
+close to the opening in my shell and listen!"
+
+The dolls took turns doing this, and heard the shell sing softly and
+very sweetly.
+
+"How strange and far away it sounds!" exclaimed the French doll. "Like
+fairies singing in the distance! The shell must be singing the songs of
+the mermaids and the water-fairies!"
+
+"It is queer that anything so rough on the outside could be so pretty
+within!" said Raggedy Andy. "It must be a great pleasure to be able to
+sing so sweetly!"
+
+"Indeed it is," replied the beautiful shell, "and I get a great
+happiness from singing all the time."
+
+"And you will bring lots of pleasure to us, by being so happy!" said
+Raggedy Andy. "For although you may not enter into our games, we will
+always know that you are happily singing, and that will make us all
+happy!"
+
+"I will tell you the secret of my singing," said the shell. "When anyone
+puts his ear to me and listens, he hears the reflection of his own
+heart's music, singing; so, you see, while I say that I am singing all
+the time, in reality I sing only when someone full of happiness hears
+his own singing as if it were mine."
+
+"How unselfish you are to say this!" said Raggedy Andy. "Now we are ever
+so much more glad to have you with us. Aren't we?" he asked, turning to
+the rest of the dolls.
+
+"Yes, indeed!" came the answer from all the dolls, even the tiny penny
+dolls.
+
+"That is why the shell is so beautiful inside!" said Raggedy Ann. "Those
+who are unselfish may wear rough clothes, but inside they are always
+beautiful, just like the shell, and reflect to others the happiness and
+sunny music within their hearts!"
+
+[Illustration: The shell speaks]
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Table of Contents was added.
+
+Punctuation was normalized.
+
+Descriptions were added to the illustrations which in the original had
+no captions.
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 17371 ***