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diff --git a/20097.txt b/20097.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff5e5cf --- /dev/null +++ b/20097.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2490 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug, by Arthur Scott +Bailey, Illustrated by Harry L. 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 Tale of Mrs. Ladybug + + +Author: Arthur Scott Bailey + + + +Release Date: December 12, 2006 [eBook #20097] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG*** + + +E-text prepared by Joe Longo 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 illustrations. + See 20097-h.htm or 20097-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/0/9/20097/20097-h/20097-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/0/9/20097/20097-h.zip) + + + + + +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + + + + * * * * * + + + + _TUCK-ME-IN TALES_ + (Trademark Registered) + BY + ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + + AUTHOR OF + SLEEPY-TIME TALES + (Trademark Registered) + + THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN + THE TALE OF OLD MR. CROW + THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL + THE TALE OF JASPER JAY + THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN + THE TALE OF DADDY LONGLEGS + THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID + THE TALE OF BUSTER BUMBLEBEE + THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY + THE TALE OF BETSY BUTTERFLY + THE TALE OF BOBBY BOBOLINK + THE TALE OF CHIRPY CRICKET + THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + THE TALE OF REDDY WOODPECKER + THE TALE OF GRANDMOTHER GOOSE + + + + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: Mrs. Ladybug Scolds Buster Bumblebee + _Frontispiece_.--(_Page 12_)] + + + +_Tuck-Me-in Tales_ +(Trademark Registered) + +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + +by + +ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + +Author of +"Sleepy-Time Tales" +(Trademark Registered) +and +"Slumber-Town Tales" +(Trademark Registered) + +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith + + + + + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers +Made in the United States of America +Copyright, 1921, by +Grosset & Dunlap + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I THE POLKA DOT LADY + II BUSTER'S RESOLVE + III HIDDEN WINGS + IV RUSTY WREN HELPS + V A HARD SHELL + VI THE TRAVELER + VII A HANDSOME STRANGER + VIII SEEKING THE TRUTH + IX THAT CARPETBAG + X A BIT OF NEWS + XI THE NEW COUSIN + XII A QUEER WAY TO HELP + XIII JENNIE JUNEBUG + XIV BUMPS + XV ENOUGH! + XVI PLAYING DEAD + XVII A BRAVE GENTLEMAN +XVIII A MYSTERY + XIX THE DINNER BELL + XX FIRE! FIRE! + XXI PLANS FOR WINTER + XXII MRS. LADYBUG LEAVES +XXIII BACK AGAIN + XXIV MRS. GREEN'S MISTAKE + + + + + + +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG + +I + +THE POLKA DOT LADY + + +LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug was a worker. Nobody could deny that. To be sure, +she had to stop now and then to talk to her neighbors, because Mrs. +Ladybug dearly loved a bit of gossip. At the same time there wasn't +anyone in Pleasant Valley that helped Farmer Green more than she did. +She tried her hardest to keep the trees in the orchard free from +insects. + +Some of her less worthy neighbors were known sometimes to say with a +sniff, "If Mrs. Ladybug didn't enjoy her work she wouldn't care about +helping Farmer Green. If she hadn't such a big appetite she'd stop to +chat even more than she does now." + +That might seem an odd remark--unless one happened to know how Mrs. +Ladybug freed the orchard of the tiny pests that attacked it. The truth +of the matter was this: Mrs. Ladybug _ate_ the little insects that fed +upon the fruit trees. Her constant toil meant that she devoured huge +numbers of Farmer Green's enemies. + +Goodness knows what Farmer Green would have done had Mrs. Ladybug and +all her family lost their taste for that kind of fare. The orchard might +have been a sorry sight. + +Perhaps it was only to be expected that Mrs. Ladybug should have little +patience with folk that seemed lazy. She thought that Freddie Firefly +wasted too much of his time dancing in the meadow at night. She +considered Buster Bumblebee, the Queen's son, to be a useless idler, +dressed in his black velvet and gold. Having heard that Daddy Longlegs +was a harvestman, she urged him to go to work for Farmer Green at +harvest time. And as for the beautiful Betsy Butterfly, Mrs. Ladybug +found all manner of fault with her. + +Nothing made Mrs. Ladybug angrier than to see Betsy Butterfly flitting +from flower to flower in the sunshine, followed by her admirers. + +"What _can_ they see in that gaudy creature?" Mrs. Ladybug often asked +her friends. + +It will appear, from this, that Mrs. Ladybug was not always as pleasant +as she might have been. Moreover, she was something of a busybody and +too fond of prying into the affairs of others. And if she didn't happen +to approve of her neighbors, or their ways, Mrs. Ladybug never hesitated +to speak her mind. + +When she first appeared on Farmer Green's place, wearing her bright red +gown with its black spots, everyone supposed that Mrs. Ladybug was +dressed in her working clothes. And indeed she was! Nor did she ever don +any other. + +"I've no time to fritter away," she declared when somebody asked her +what she was going to wear to Betsy Butterfly's party. "If I go to the +party I'll just drop in for a few minutes as I am, in my polka dot." + +Her neighbors thought that very strange. They even whispered to one +another that they didn't believe Mrs. Ladybug had anything else to +wear. + +Nor had she. Nor did she want any. And it wasn't long before everybody +understood Mrs. Ladybug's ways. She was so earnest that they couldn't +help liking her, no matter if her remarks were a bit tart now and then. + + + + +II + +BUSTER'S RESOLVE + + +NOT only was Betsy Butterfly a beautiful creature. She was pleasant to +everybody. And almost all her neighbors were just as pleasant to her. +Mrs. Ladybug was one of the few that were sometimes disagreeable to +Betsy. For Mrs. Ladybug did not approve of her. She thought that Betsy +Butterfly was frivolous. And she frowned whenever she saw Betsy in her +beautiful costume. + +"She _never_ wears working clothes," Mrs. Ladybug often complained, when +talking to her friends. "Now, if Betsy Butterfly would only wear +something plain and serviceable, as I do, once in a while, people might +have a different opinion of her. She ought to try this hard-finished red +and black polka dot of mine. It's a wonderful piece of goods." + +One day Mrs. Ladybug was gossiping in that fashion with Mehitable Moth, +a soberly clad person who was always a bit jealous of the gorgeous +Betsy. And Mehitable Moth nodded her head to everything that little Mrs. +Ladybug said. + +"What do you think of Betsy Butterfly's wings?" Miss Moth inquired. + +"They're all for show," Mrs. Ladybug declared. "They're so flimsy and +delicate that Betsy Butterfly never dares venture out in bad weather. Of +what use would I be to Farmer Green if I had wings like hers? If I +stayed under cover whenever the sun didn't shine, the orchard would soon +be overrun with insects." + +Now, it happened that Buster Bumblebee was sipping nectar from a head of +clover near by. Of course, he wasn't listening to what Mrs. Ladybug and +Miss Moth were saying. But he couldn't help hearing their remarks. And +being a great admirer of Betsy Butterfly, he wasn't at all pleased. He +even buzzed near the two gossipers and said to them, "Can't you find +something else to talk about?" + +"Such rudeness!" Mrs. Ladybug gasped. + +"What shocking manners!" cried Miss Mehitable Moth. + +They hoped that Buster Bumblebee heard what they said. Anyhow, he flew +off in his blundering, clumsy way without speaking to them again. + +"Who is this Mrs. Ladybug, to pick flaws in the beautiful Betsy +Butterfly?" he asked himself savagely. "Who is she to find fault with +Betsy's lovely wings? If Mrs. Ladybug herself had wings, I shouldn't +think her chatter so strange. But a person with no wings has no business +expressing his views of somebody else's." + +Buster Bumblebee was so out of patience with Mrs. Ladybug that he lost +his taste for clover heads for the rest of the afternoon. And that was a +most unusual thing with him. However, he could think of nothing but Mrs. +Ladybug and her unkind speeches. And at last, meeting Betsy Butterfly +herself along towards sunset, he stopped to tell how well she was +looking and how charming her colors were. + +Betsy Butterfly was not vain. She laughed gayly and said, "You're very +kind to say those agreeable things." + +"I can't help it," he replied heartily. + +"Everybody's not like you," Betsy Butterfly told him. + +"Then you've been hearing about Mrs. Ladybug!" he cried. "Somebody has +been tattling." + +"It doesn't matter," Betsy Butterfly assured him. "Perhaps it's good for +me to know that everyone doesn't admire me." + +Buster Bumblebee didn't agree with her. + +"I'll have to speak to Mrs. Ladybug," he declared. + +"Oh, don't!" Betsy Butterfly begged him; for she was as gentle as she +was beautiful and never wanted people to quarrel on her account. + +But Buster Bumblebee had made up his mind and nothing could change it. + + + + +III + +HIDDEN WINGS + + +THE next day Buster Bumblebee set out for the orchard to find Mrs. +Ladybug. He wanted to warn her to stop talking about Betsy Butterfly. +But Buster hadn't realized that it was not an easy matter to say +anything to Mrs. Ladybug. Mrs. Ladybug always liked to do most of the +talking herself. She preferred to let others listen. + +He found her hard at work destroying insects on an old apple tree. And +when she caught sight of him Mrs. Ladybug paused in her labors. + +"Well, young man!" she exclaimed, looking at Buster severely. "Are you +idling this lovely day away? You don't seem to be making any honey." + +Buster wished that he had spoken first. He certainly had had no +intention of discussing such matters as honey making. + +"I don't need to make honey," he told Mrs. Ladybug. "The workers in our +hive provide honey enough. Maybe you didn't know that I'm of royal +blood. I'm the Queen's son. I don't have to work," he declared somewhat +hotly. + +"Rubbish!" cried Mrs. Ladybug, regarding him with a frown. "Go get +yourself some working clothes! Take off your black velvet and gold! And +save that suit for best!" + +"You don't understand," Buster tried to explain. "Being a Queen's son, +I'm expected to wear my court costume every day." + +"Nonsense!" Mrs. Ladybug retorted. "The sooner you get such silly +notions out of your head, the better off you'll be. Everybody ought to +work. Too much play is bad for folks." + +Buster Bumblebee could feel himself flushing. The neighbors were not +expected to address a Queen's son in that fashion. + +"That's exactly the way you talk about Betsy Butterfly!" he exploded. + +"Huh!" Mrs. Ladybug sniffed. "You are a worthless pair. Betsy +Butterfly's wings--" + +At this point Buster managed to interrupt her. + +"Don't talk about wings, please!" he cried. "Who are you, to talk about +wings?--when you haven't any yourself." + +Mrs. Ladybug started; and she gave him a queer look. "What's that?" she +inquired. "What's that? Say that again!" + +"You haven't any wings." + +"Ho!" she laughed. "You're mistaken. I _have_ wings." + +"Then you've left them at home," he insisted. + +Mrs. Ladybug smiled a very knowing sort of smile. When he saw it Buster +Bumblebee couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. Somehow he knew that he +had blundered. But just where he had erred he was unable to decide. + +"Watch sharp, young sir!" Mrs. Ladybug bade him. "Watch sharp and +perhaps you'll be able to learn something." + +Then Buster Bumblebee received the surprise of his life. As he watched, +little Mrs. Ladybug opened her shell-like, black-dotted, red back and +spread a pair of delicate brown wings. + +"See these?" she said to Buster Bumblebee, who gasped at her blankly. +"I've really _two_ pairs of wings, because my polka dot wing covers are +actually wings too--only folks don't usually call them by that name." + +Having spread her wings, Mrs. Ladybug decided to take a short flight. +And with Buster gazing dully after her she flitted off. + +"I'll have to tell my mother, the Queen, about this," he muttered. + + + + +IV + +RUSTY WREN HELPS + + +RUSTY WREN'S wife was getting very impatient. She was at home with her +fast-growing family of youngsters, at home in the cherry tree near +Farmer Green's chamber window. + +"Dear me!" Mrs. Wren exclaimed. "I don't see what's keeping Rusty. It's +at least a quarter of an hour since he brought any food to these +children." + +Mrs. Wren soon grew tired of waiting. + +"I'll go and find him!" she said under her breath. And telling her +nestlings that she would be back in a few minutes, she hurried off +towards the orchard. + +"I thought so!" Mrs. Wren muttered soon afterward, as she caught sight +of her husband. He was talking with Jolly Robin, in the old apple tree +where the Robin family lived. "I thought so!" + +"Have you forgotten your duty as a parent?" Mrs. Wren asked her husband +in a tart voice, dropping down on a branch right behind him. + +Rusty Wren jumped. + +"I've been here only a second or two," he faltered. "Mr. Robin and I had +a little business together." + +"So I see," said Mrs. Wren. "So I see. And now, if your business is +finished, allow me to remind you that you have six hungry sons and +daughters at home." Then Mrs. Wren twitched herself off her perch and +flew back to the cherry tree and her family. + +"I declare," Rusty Wren remarked to his friend Jolly Robin, "I must +have stayed here, talking with you, longer than I thought. Those +children have enormous appetites. I'll have to work more spryly than +ever to get them fed before sunset." + +"I know how that is," said Jolly Robin with a chuckle. Somehow he seemed +much more cheerful than his companion. "I was actually glad when our +last nestlings were big enough to leave home and hustle for themselves. +But, of course," he added, "I still keep an eye on them." + +Rusty Wren had already begun to hunt for tidbits. Almost immediately he +found an ant, which he snatched up and carried away. Back and forth he +flew, making dozens of trips between his house and the orchard. Grubs +and caterpillars, grasshoppers and spiders--he seized them wherever he +could spy them and took them home to his famishing children. + +Though he worked his hardest, Mrs. Wren hadn't a smile for him. And when +she said anything in his hearing, it was some such remark as this: "You +poor, hungry dears! It's a pity you can't have all you need to eat. I +only hope your scanty meals won't stunt your growth." + +Naturally such speeches didn't make her husband feel any more at his +ease. + +"I'll have to bring home something special, to please her," he thought. +"I wish I could find some dainty that would put her in better humor." + +So he looked all around to see what he could discover that was different +from the food he had been gathering. And it wasn't long before he gave a +chirp of delight. "Here's a pretty beetle!" he cried. "I know it will +make Mrs. Wren smile when I show it to her." + +Thereupon Rusty Wren pounced upon Mrs. Ladybug and bore her away, +struggling, in his bill. + + + + +V + +A HARD SHELL + + +RUSTY WREN hurried home, carrying Mrs. Ladybug despite her frantic +efforts to escape. She wriggled all her six legs at the same time. + +"She'll be pleased with this one," Rusty murmured, as he watched Mrs. +Ladybug's struggles. "Mrs. Wren will certainly thank me when I give her +this morsel." + +And she did. + +"How lovely!" Mrs. Wren exclaimed when Rusty gave her his captive. + +And he was so glad that he hastened away to try to find another just +like that one. But he hadn't gone far before he said, "Ugh! I hope I +haven't made a mistake. I don't like the taste of that beetle." And he +dropped down upon the ground and carefully wiped his bill upon the +grass. + +He couldn't help feeling somewhat worried. + +"I don't believe the children will notice anything wrong," he muttered. +"So far, they've never refused anything that was offered them. But if +Mrs. Wren tried to eat that beetle herself, I fear there'll be trouble." + +And there was. Rusty knew it a few minutes later, when little Mr. +Chippy's son, Chippy, Jr., came flitting up and peeped in his childish +voice, "Please, sir, Mrs. Wren wants you at once." + +There was nothing to do except to go home. And Rusty went. + +He found Mrs. Wren much upset. + +"Are you trying to poison us?" she demanded. + +"No, indeed--my love!" Rusty Wren replied meekly. + +"Well, you made a terrible mistake, then," she declared. + +Meanwhile Rusty Wren was looking all around. Yet he couldn't see the +pretty beetle (meaning Mrs. Ladybug) anywhere. "Somebody must have +swallowed it, anyhow," he thought. + +"You must be more careful," his wife told him severely. "That was a +horrid-tasting beetle that you brought home. It's lucky I discovered +that it was a queer one. The children--poor dears!--are so hungry that +any one of them would have bolted it had I offered it to him." + +"Then you ate it yourself," Rusty Wren faltered. + +"Oh, no, I didn't," said his wife. "I dropped it upon the ground. And no +doubt I'd have thrown it away, anyhow, no matter how it tasted." + +"Why?" he asked her. "I thought it was a pretty beetle." + +"It was pretty enough--I dare say," Mrs. Wren replied. "But it had a +very hard shell. It wouldn't have been safe to feed it to the children. +Nor should I have cared to eat it myself." + +"I thought it was a pretty beetle," Rusty said again. "It was such a gay +color--bright red, you know. It seemed to me it would please the +children, and you, too." + +Mrs. Wren still seemed to be somewhat out of patience. + +"When you gather food for the youngsters, never mind about the color of +it!" she exclaimed. "If you want to bring them playthings, that's +another matter. But don't fetch home any more pretty red beetles for +them to eat." + +"Very well--my love!" said Rusty Wren. And then he slipped away to hunt +for food, because the children were still clamoring for more. + +Mrs. Wren talked a good deal, afterward, about her terrible experience. +Yet she never stopped to think about the pretty beetle--about little +Mrs. Ladybug. For Mrs. Ladybug had had a dreadful fright. Luckily she +wasn't hurt. But it was a long time before she was her usual busy, able +self again. And later, when she told her friends about her adventure, +she said that she couldn't understand how Rusty came to make such a +mistake. + +"I supposed," Mrs. Ladybug declared, "that every bird in Pleasant Valley +knew I wasn't good to eat." + + + + +VI + +THE TRAVELER + + +FARMER GREEN'S garden was growing fast. The sweet corn waved and rustled +whenever a breeze swept it. The beets and carrots sent their pert tops a +little higher each day. The cabbages began to puff their heads out as if +they felt of some importance in the world. And the potato vines were +actually pretty, with their white blossoms amid the green leaves. Farmer +Green was very proud of his potatoes. He said, in Mrs. Ladybug's +hearing, that they were the best he had ever raised. + +"I must fly over to the garden and have a look at those potatoes," Mrs. +Ladybug thought. "It's always a pleasure to see flourishing crops." + +Before she found time to spare for her visit to the garden a traveler +entered the orchard one day. At least, he had every appearance of having +come from other parts. For he carried a traveling bag--an old-fashioned +carpetbag--and he seemed to have lost his way. + +As soon as Mrs. Ladybug saw him she couldn't help thinking what a +handsome person he was. He wore a yellow coat. And instead of being +spotted with black, as her gown was, it was striped. + +"Good morning!" said the stranger. + +"Good morning!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "Can I be of any service to you?" + +The stranger took off his cap. He was a most polite chap. + +"Perhaps you can help me," he replied. + +"I'm looking for Farmer Green's vegetable garden. Do you know where it +is?" + +"Indeed I do!" Mrs. Ladybug cried. "It's at the end of this orchard, +just beyond the fence." + +"And the potato patch--I suppose I'll have no trouble finding that?" the +stranger went on. + +"Follow your nose!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "You're headed right for it now." + +The stranger thanked her. And he was about to move on. But of course +Mrs. Ladybug wanted to talk more than that before he got away. + +"The potatoes are fine this season," she remarked. + +The stranger looked greatly pleased. + +"That's good news," he told her. "Have you seen them yourself?" + +"Not yet!" Mrs. Ladybug answered. "But I heard Farmer Green say they +were fine. And he ought to know if anybody does." + +"He certainly ought," the stranger agreed. Then, thanking Mrs. Ladybug +once more, he hurried toward the garden. + +"One moment!" she called. There were several questions that she wanted +to ask the newcomer. She was wildly curious to know who he was and where +he came from and what business had brought him to Pleasant Valley. + +But he couldn't have heard her. Anyhow, he was out of sight in no time, +leaving Mrs. Ladybug almost bursting with the questions that had sprung +to her lips. + +"He might have waited a second," she muttered. "But if he has traveled a +long way no doubt he's eager to get to his journey's end." + +Luckily Mrs. Ladybug had kept her eyes open when talking with the +gentleman in the striped yellow coat. And as he turned to leave her she +looked closely at his carpetbag. On one side of it she read, in big +letters: + + P. BUG + COLORADO + + + + +VII + +A HANDSOME STRANGER + + +LITTLE Mrs. Ladybug was too excited to work. Ever since meeting the +stranger in the orchard she had been able to think of nothing but him. +Perhaps if she hadn't happened to notice his carpetbag, with the words, +"P. Bug, Colorado," upon its side, she might not have been so stirred +up. + +Anyhow, Mrs. Ladybug kept wondering what business had brought the +stranger to Pleasant Valley. She wished she could find out what he was +going to do in the potato patch. She wanted to ask him why he chose to +have black stripes on his yellow coat, instead of spots. How long had +he been traveling? When did he expect to leave the farm? There was no +end to the questions that Mrs. Ladybug burned to put to him. + +Meanwhile she told the news to everybody she saw. For Mrs. Ladybug +dearly loved to spread choice morsels of gossip. It pleased her mightily +to tell her neighbors something they didn't know. + +People listened to her story with great interest. They were eager to +learn all about the stranger, whom Mrs. Ladybug declared to be very +handsome. + +Mrs. Ladybug made her news last as long as possible in the telling. She +made her neighbors wait a bit for every fact, so they would enjoy it to +the full. And whenever she stopped anyone and told him about the +newcomer, Mrs. Ladybug kept the best part until the last. She always +ended her remarks by saying, with a most important air, "His name is +Mr. P. Bug. And he comes from Colorado." + +That never failed to impress her listeners--which was exactly what Mrs. +Ladybug wanted. + +Since nobody asked her how she knew the traveler's name, and where he +came from, Mrs. Ladybug did not trouble herself to explain that she had +read both name and place upon his old-fashioned carpetbag. + +There was one thing that puzzled her slightly, when she paused to think +about it. How did it happen that the elegant stranger carried a most +unfashionable bag? + +Mrs. Ladybug soon settled that question to her own satisfaction. + +"He's like me!" she decided. "Mr. P. Bug is a hard worker and he doesn't +care for show. He's a plain person. No doubt he put on that yellow coat +to travel in, because it's his best. But he'll wear overalls, perhaps, +if he starts to work in the potato patch--as I suspect he will." + +At last, however, Mrs. Ladybug met with a rude shock. She was telling +her news to Peppery Polly Bumblebee, one of the workers in the hive +ruled by Buster Bumblebee's mother, the well-known Queen. And to Mrs. +Ladybug's amazement, when she related the name of the stranger, and the +place he came from, Peppery Polly laughed in her face. + +"Mr. P. Bug is not from Colorado," said Peppery Polly Bumblebee. "He has +never been off this farm." + +Well, Mrs. Ladybug was staggered. She gasped. She clung to a leaf to +keep from failing. + +"I don't believe that!" she cried, as soon as she could speak. "I'll +find Mr. Bug himself and learn the truth from him." + + + + +VIII + +SEEKING THE TRUTH + + +MRS. LADYBUG was determined to know the truth about Mr. P. Bug, the +newcomer. And as soon as she had fully recovered from the rude blow that +Peppery Polly Bumblebee dealt her, she set out for Farmer Green's garden +and the potato patch. + +For some time Mrs. Ladybug flew back and forth above the potato vines. +It was not an easy matter to find so small a person as Mr. Bug in so big +a field. But she discovered him at last. And she was somewhat surprised +to see him still in his elegant yellow coat, with the black stripes. +For Mrs. Ladybug had expected him to be hard at work, in overalls. + +To be sure, Mr. P. Bug did appear to be busy about something or other. +He was so busy that he scarcely so much as glanced at Mrs. Ladybug when +she spoke to him, mumbling "Good morning!" in answer to her greeting, +but not taking the trouble to doff his cap. + +"He's at work anyhow," thought Mrs. Ladybug. "He's helping Farmer +Green." Then she alighted on the potato vine where Mr. Bug was clinging. + +"Don't you remember me?" she asked. + +He shook his head. His mouth seemed to be full of something--Mrs. +Ladybug wasn't sure what. + +"Don't you recall speaking to me one time?" she persisted. + +After swallowing, he answered. + +"I can't say I do!" + +"I'm the person that told you how to get to this potato patch," Mrs. +Ladybug explained. "When you met me in the orchard, on your way from +Colorado, you stopped and asked me to direct you to Farmer Green's +potato patch." + +For a moment or two Mr. Bug seemed puzzled--especially when Mrs. Ladybug +mentioned Colorado. But by the time Mrs. Ladybug had finished speaking, +he nodded. + +"So I did!" he exclaimed. "I had forgotten all about that. Though now +that you speak of it, I do remember meeting a very talkative dame +dressed in a polka dot. Possibly I spoke to you about my settling in the +potato patch for the summer?" + +"No!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "But I thought I'd find you here. You seemed in +a great hurry to reach this place." + +"So I was!" said Mr. P. Bug. "And I'm glad I came. This is the finest +potato patch in the whole valley--so I have been told." + +"You must have seen a good many others on your journey from Colorado," +Mrs. Ladybug ventured. "It's a long way from there to here, I suppose." + +"I suppose it is," Mr. P. Bug murmured. He seemed to be a bit impatient, +as if he were in haste to return to his work and didn't care to talk any +longer. + +"I suppose you were weeks on the road," Mrs. Ladybug went on. "Are you +going back to Colorado after you've finished helping Farmer Green with +the potato crop?" + +"Colorado!" he blurted. "I don't know where that place is. I've never +been there in all my life." + + + + +IX + +THAT CARPETBAG + + +MR. P. BUG'S statement amazed Mrs. Ladybug. He said he had never been in +Colorado. More than that, he declared he didn't even know where the +place was. + +Now, Peppery Polly Bumblebee had told Mrs. Ladybug that Mr. P. Bug was +no stranger in Pleasant Valley. But Mrs. Ladybug had not believed what +she said. Even hearing Mr. Bug's own words, Mrs. Ladybug couldn't help +doubting them. + +"Can it be true--" she asked him--"can it be true that you've never been +off this farm?" + +Mr. Bug quite plainly wished that she would go away and stop bothering +him. + +"It can be--it _is_ true," he replied carelessly. + +At last Mrs. Ladybug had to believe what she heard. + +"Then you're a fraud!" she cried. '"You're a cheat! For I read on your +carpetbag, when we met in the orchard, 'P. Bug. Colorado.'" + +"Oh!" said Mr. Bug with a smile. "Oh! So _that's_ where you got your odd +notion. I wondered how you happened to make such a mistake." + +"A perfectly natural mistake, I'm sure!" Mrs. Ladybug exclaimed +indignantly. + +"Well, I dare say it is," he admitted. "But you see, that's not my +carpetbag. At least, I didn't get it new. It belonged to my +great-great-great-grandfather. Indeed, I'm not sure he wasn't even +still greater than I've said. _He_ lived in Colorado once--so I've been +told. But I was born and raised on this farm." + +"If all this is true," said Mrs. Ladybug, "what were you doing with that +carpetbag? And why did you ask me the way to this potato patch?" + +"I'm in a hurry to get to work," Mr. Bug remarked. "I'll answer just +this once. When we met in the orchard I had been away on a little +vacation. And Farmer Green's potato patch--so I learned--had been moved +since last year." + +"Dear me!" Mrs. Ladybug wailed. "People will laugh at me for having made +such a serious mistake." + +But Mr. P. Bug didn't say anything about that. + +"Good-by!" he grunted. And he crawled under a leaf, out of sight. + +For once in her life Mrs. Ladybug wasn't eager to talk to her neighbors. +On the contrary, she seemed to avoid them. But Peppery Polly Bumblebee +called on her and asked her if she had seen the handsome stranger, Mr. +P. Bug. + +"Yes!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "I've talked with him. And it's true that he +has always lived here. There was a slight mistake about his carpetbag. +It belonged to one of his ancestors. And since it bears his ancestor's +name and address, naturally I thought they both belonged to this Mr. +Bug." + +Peppery Polly laughed. + +"If you don't believe what I tell you, you can ask him yourself!" Mrs. +Ladybug snapped. "He's at work over in the potato patch, helping Farmer +Green." + +Peppery Polly laughed again, more unpleasantly than ever. + +"_Helping_ Farmer Green!" she exclaimed. "He's eating the leaves off the +vines as fast as he can. I know that gentleman. He's Mr. Potato Bug. And +he's one of the greatest pests on the farm." + + + + +X + +A BIT OF NEWS + + +CHIRPY CRICKET was looking for Mrs. Ladybug. He had news for her. Now, +it wasn't often that anybody could tell Mrs. Ladybug anything. Usually +she was the one that told other people bits of gossip. So Chirpy Cricket +was specially eager to find her and make known to her what he had +learned. + +It was about Mrs. Ladybug's cousin. At least, there was a person living +in the vegetable garden who claimed to be a cousin of Mrs. Ladybug's. + +Chirpy found Mrs. Ladybug in the orchard. But strange to say, she +didn't seem at all interested in his news. + +"I dare say I have a cousin in the garden," she told him. "Ours is a big +family. I have more cousins than I could ever count. They're as +plentiful as the leaves on the trees. I can't stop my work to go and see +this one. If I called on all my cousins I'd never have time to help +Farmer Green." + +Chirpy Cricket looked disappointed. He had expected Mrs. Ladybug to show +great interest in what he told her. She certainly always thought that +others ought to pay strict attention when she related the happenings +about the farm. And she always wanted them to act surprised and pleased, +too. + +"Aren't you going to the garden?" Chirpy Cricket demanded. "Don't you +intend to be polite to your cousin?" + +"Humph!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "She can't be any busier than I am. Why +doesn't she come to the orchard to call on me?" + +"She can't do that," he explained. "Your cousin says that it wouldn't be +etiquette. She says you've lived on the farm longer than she has." + +"Rubbish!" Mrs. Ladybug scolded. "I'm a plain working person. There's +too much to do, during the summer, for me to bother with such nonsense." + +Chirpy Cricket found her rather discouraging. Still he hadn't given up +hope of making Mrs. Ladybug change her mind. + +"I fear you're making a mistake," he remarked. "You ought to see this +cousin. She's different from any of your family that I've ever met +before." + +"How is she different?" Mrs. Ladybug demanded, pausing in her pursuit of +insects on the leaves of the apple tree. At last she began to show some +signs of interest. + +"I don't know," Chirpy Cricket replied. "I can't say. Maybe it's her +clothes that make her look strange." + +Mrs. Ladybug then started to ask him questions--which was the best of +proof that her curiosity had been aroused. + +"What sort of gown was my cousin wearing?" she inquired. "Was it a red +polka dot, like mine?" + +"I don't remember," he answered. + +"What colors did she have on?" + +"I didn't notice," said Chirpy Cricket. + +Mrs. Ladybug gave him a look of disgust. + +"Well, if that isn't just like a man!" she spluttered. "Men never can +tell how a body's dressed. If I want to learn anything more about this +cousin of mine I suppose I'll have to go and see her with my own eyes." + +And that afternoon she went to the vegetable garden. + + + + +XI + +THE NEW COUSIN + + +FOR Mrs. Ladybug, finding her unknown cousin in Farmer Green's vegetable +garden was not an easy task. Since Chirpy Cricket hadn't been able to +tell Mrs. Ladybug what colors her cousin wore, Mrs. Ladybug didn't know +what to expect. + +"I wish I knew whether she was dressed in red, black, blue, yellow or +some other color," Mrs. Ladybug complained to herself. "But I don't know +that. I don't even know if she carries an umbrella." + +There was nothing Mrs. Ladybug could do except to ask everyone she met. +So she inquired right and left if anybody happened to be acquainted +with her cousin. And at last Betsy Butterfly came to Mrs. Ladybug's +help. + +"Look among the squash vines!" Betsy Butterfly advised her. "I noticed +somebody there that looks a bit like you. Maybe it's your cousin." + +That was very kind of Betsy Butterfly. Mrs. Ladybug was no friend of +hers. Indeed, Mrs. Ladybug had often found fault with Betsy for being +too pleasure-loving. But Betsy Butterfly was not one of the kind that +nurses grudges. She was only too glad to do Mrs. Ladybug a favor. + +Mrs. Ladybug thanked her--albeit somewhat grumpily. Then, flying to the +place where Farmer Green had planted his squashes, she found a person at +whom she stared hard for a few moments. + +"Do you want to speak to me?" this strange lady inquired. She was a gay +appearing creature, dressed in yellow, with black patches on it. + +"I can't tell whether I care to talk to you or not," said Mrs. Ladybug. +"It all depends. If you're my cousin, I do. If you aren't, I don't." + +The strange lady laughed lightly. + +"I wonder--" she replied--"I wonder if you are Mrs. Ladybug." + +"I am," said Mrs. Ladybug. + +"Then I'm your cousin!" cried the other. "At last I've met you!" And she +rushed towards Mrs. Ladybug with every intention of embracing her. + +Mrs. Ladybug backed hastily away. + +"Not so fast!" she exclaimed. "If you really are my cousin, well and +good! But how do I know that you aren't an impostor?" + +"A _what_?" the strange lady faltered. She was, quite naturally, +somewhat taken aback by Mrs. Ladybug's coolness. + +"How do I know that you're not a cheat?" Mrs. Ladybug asked her. "Have +you any references?" + +"Any _what_?" stammered the would-be cousin. + +"Any letters about yourself," Mrs. Lady explained. "For all I know, you +may be dissembling." + +"I may be _whatting_?" quavered the lady in yellow. + +"Dear me!" Mrs. Ladybug muttered to herself. "Must I address this person +in words of one syllable?" Then, to her companion she said bluntly, +"Tell me why you think you and I are related!" + +"That's easy!" cried the yellow one. "I belong to the Ladybug family." + +Now, you might think that would have satisfied Mrs. Ladybug. But she +wasn't convinced yet. + +"My family--" she declared--"my family are all famous workers. If you're +one of us, where are your working clothes? Where's your red and black +polka dot?" + +The cousin tittered. She seemed to be a silly sort of creature. + +"I haven't any red and black polka dot," she replied. "These are my +working clothes that I'm wearing now." + +Mrs. Ladybug shook her head. It was plain that she didn't approve of +those clothes--nor of their wearer. + + + + +XII + +A QUEER WAY TO HELP + + +MRS. LADYBUG wished that she hadn't come to the vegetable garden to see +the person who called herself Mrs. Ladybug's cousin. She wasn't at all +the sort of relation that Mrs. Ladybug cared to have. + +Although the stranger in yellow was most agreeable, somehow Mrs. Ladybug +disliked her exceedingly. And strange to say, Mrs. Ladybug couldn't have +told exactly what it was in her cousin that displeased her. It wasn't +alone the yellow gown that the new cousin wore. Nor her simpering smile. +Nor her trifling manner. It was something else--something that made +Mrs. Ladybug feel that she was not to be trusted. + +"I must hurry back to the orchard," Mrs. Ladybug announced. "There's +work waiting for me there. I really ought not to have left it to come to +see you." + +"Don't take your work so seriously!" her cousin advised her. "You ought +to take more time for amusement. I hope you'll come to see me often." + +Mrs. Ladybug's opinion of the stranger sank even lower. + +"If some of us weren't earnest about our work the rest of the world +would have a sorry time," she declared. "I may as well tell you that I +shall not be able to call on you again. I shall be too busy. And there's +no use of my urging you to come to see me, because of course you have +your work to do too." + +"Oh, naturally!" said Mrs. Ladybug's cousin with an odd smile. "Still, I +could leave it once in a while to make a cousinly call." + +"It won't be necessary," Mrs. Ladybug told her. "If I need you, I'll +send for you." And she said to herself grimly, under her breath, "She'll +never hear from me." + +"If I can help you at any time, don't fail to let me know," the cousin +told Mrs. Ladybug. "Doubtless I could be of some service, though I'd +always rather work on vines--squash and pumpkin preferred." + +Mrs. Ladybug thanked her. "I shouldn't want her helping me," she +thought. "I'll warrant she's so careless that she would do more harm +than good." And Mrs. Ladybug looked at the vine on which they were +standing. + +"I see you're helping Farmer Green with his squash vines at present," +she remarked aloud. + +"Yes!" said her cousin. "I have this one almost finished." + +"Good!" said Mrs. Ladybug. And she took a closer look at the vine. It +seemed far from healthy. In fact she noticed that the leaves were +tattered and torn. + +"What are these great holes in the squash leaves?" she inquired. + +Her cousin fidgeted and made no reply. Glancing at her, Mrs. Ladybug +thought she was growing a bit red in the face. + +Then all at once Mrs. Ladybug guessed the dreadful truth. + +"You've been _eating_ these leaves!" she cried. + +Her cousin tossed her head. + +"A person has to eat something," she retorted. + +Mrs. Ladybug threw up her hands. + +"I _knew_ you weren't trustworthy," she muttered. "I _knew_ you weren't +the sort of relation I'd want anything to do with." + +Then Mrs. Ladybug left her. + +Later, when Chirpy Cricket met her, he asked her if she had seen her +cousin who was spending the summer among the squash vines. And he was +astonished when Mrs. Ladybug glared at him and exclaimed: + +"Never mention her to me again!" + + + + +XIII + +JENNIE JUNEBUG + + +JENNIE JUNEBUG was a frolicsome fat person. And she was a great joker. +The joke that she loved most was this: she loved to bump into people +that were flying through the air--to bump into them and knock them, +spinning, upon the ground. + +Being much heavier than many of her neighbors, Jennie Junebug suffered +little from such collisions. And she never could understand why anybody +should find fault with her favorite sport. If a body objected to her +rough play Jennie Junebug only laughed heartily. + +"I don't mind when I take a tumble," she would retort. "So why should +you?" + +And if the sufferer complained that it wasn't the tumble that hurt, so +much as the shock of her hard, bulky self, Jennie would shake with +merriment and crash into him again. + +Really, it was useless to try to reason with her. The safest way was to +avoid her if possible, especially after dark. For then was the time that +she preferred for her rowdy tricks. + +Mrs. Ladybug couldn't abide her. Not only did she dislike Jennie +Junebug's jokes. She disapproved of her treatment of Farmer Green. For +Jennie Junebug did everything she could to ruin the trees on the farm. +She ate their leaves. And that was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug couldn't +forgive in anybody. + +"It's a shame--" Mrs. Ladybug often said--"it's a shame, the way Jennie +Junebug riddles the foliage. Here I work my hardest to save the leaves +by ridding them of tiny insects that feed upon them--insects that suck +the juices from the leaves and make them wither. And there's Jennie +Junebug, trying her best to destroy the leaves that I save.... It's +enough to make an honest person weep." + +Perhaps Jennie Junebug wasn't so bad, at heart, as Mrs. Ladybug thought +her. Maybe she was merely a gay, careless creature who never stopped to +consider that she was injuring Farmer Green when she hurt his trees. At +least, that was what some of Mrs. Ladybug's other neighbors sometimes +remarked. + +But Mrs. Ladybug never could believe that Jennie had a single good +trait--unless it was good nature. For she was always ready with a laugh, +no matter what anybody said to her. + +It was seldom that Mrs. Ladybug hesitated to speak her mind right out to +a person if she happened to disapprove of him. But she had always kept +out of Jennie Junebug's way. Jennie was many times bigger than little +Mrs. Ladybug. Mrs. Ladybug trembled to think what might happen to her if +Jennie should ever hurl her fat body against Mrs. Ladybug with a dull, +sickening thud. + +"If that ever happens," Mrs. Ladybug thought, "I fear I'll never be able +to do another day's work for Farmer Green. It might be the end of me." + +Now, in spite of her fears, Mrs. Ladybug had even more than her share of +courage. And as time went on, and she saw the awful havoc that Jennie +Junebug played with the trees, Mrs. Ladybug reached the point where she +couldn't any longer stand by silently and let Jennie Junebug riddle the +leaves. "Something will have to be done!" Mrs. Ladybug declared to her +friends. "I can't compel Jennie Junebug to stop. She's too big for me to +handle. + +"I'm going to have a talk with her," said Mrs. Ladybug. + + + + +XIV + +BUMPS + + +SOME busybody went straight to Jennie Junebug and told her what Mrs. +Ladybug had said. + +"Mrs. Ladybug is going to have a talk with you," this meddling person +told the fat and frolicsome Jennie. "She wants you to stop eating +leaves. She says you are doing your best--or your worst--to hurt the +trees that she is trying to save. She claims that you are no friend of +Farmer Green's. She--" + +Jennie Junebug broke in upon her companion with a loud laugh. + +"I'd like to have Mrs. Ladybug try to speak to me," she chuckled. "If +she does, I'll have fun with her. I'll knock her over. I'll send her +spinning." + +Jennie's friend seemed somewhat alarmed at that. + +"Now, be careful!" she begged the fat lady. "Don't forget that Mrs. +Ladybug is a little creature! You'll injure her if you're too rough with +her." + +"Ho! ho!" laughed Jennie Junebug, and also, "Ha! ha!" She had to stop +and hold her sides, while she rocked back and forth. "This is a great +joke!" Jennie cried. "Imagine Mrs. Ladybug trying to talk with me! Why, +she'll be lucky if she can get her breath after I've flown into her +once." + +"Dear me!" said the tale-bearer. "I wish I hadn't mentioned this matter +to you. Of course, everybody knows that Mrs. Ladybug talks too much. And +I thought maybe you'd enjoy meeting her and making her keep still. But +I had no idea you would do her any harm." + +"Bless you!" cried Jennie Junebug. "I wouldn't harm a hair of her head!" +And she roared with laughter, for she had made a joke. You see, Mrs. +Ladybug had no hair. She was quite bald. + +Well, Mrs. Ladybug found Jennie Junebug that very evening. She knew that +Jennie wasn't often seen except after sunset. For Jennie loved to see +the lights twinkling through the gloom. And she delighted in surprising +people in the dark, by flying _bang!_ into them and knocking them down. +So Mrs. Ladybug didn't leave her work and set out to seek this dangerous +fat lady until twilight came. + +"Good evening!" said Mrs. Ladybug as soon as she spied Miss Junebug. +"Have you a few minutes to spare? If you have, I'd like to talk with +you." + +Jennie Junebug grinned broadly. + +"I can give you a few seconds of my valuable time," she replied. "I was +just going over to the meadow, for Freddie Firefly will be there soon. +He dances in the meadow every night. And I like to see his flickering +light--and watch him bounce when I hit him. So you'll have to talk fast, +for I'm in a hurry," said Jennie Junebug. + +"Good!" thought Mrs. Ladybug. "She's going to listen to me, after all." +And then she fixed Miss Junebug with her eye and spoke to her severely. + +"Don't you think you ought--" she began. + +And then Jennie Junebug bumped into her, sending Mrs. Ladybug sprawling. + +"Don't I think I ought to frolic with you?" Jennie cried. "Certainly I +do." + +Mrs. Ladybug managed to rise off the ground. + +"Won't you please--" she started to say. + +"Won't I please knock you down? Of course I will!" Jennie Junebug +exclaimed. And thereupon she struck Mrs. Ladybug again. + +Poor Mrs. Ladybug was much shaken. In her fall she had dropped her +umbrella, and her handkerchief too. But she didn't stop to pick them up. +She scrambled to her feet and rose into the air again, angrier than she +had ever been before in all her life. + +"I'll thank you--" she spluttered. + +"You'll thank me if I'll do that again, eh?" said Jennie Junebug, +interrupting her rudely. "Very well! Here goes!" This time she gave Mrs. +Ladybug a terrific blow. She dropped upon the grass, where she clung to +a blade and swayed up and down for a few moments, dizzy and trembling. +And she was gasping so hard, in order to get her breath, that she +couldn't speak. + +Watching her, Jennie Junebug shrieked with laughter. Then, seeing +Freddie Firefly's light flashing in the meadow, Miss Junebug hurried +away. + + + + +XV + +ENOUGH! + + +"SUCH impudence!" Mrs. Ladybug gasped, as soon as she could speak. "That +terrible Jennie Junebug didn't care whether I ever got my breath or +not." + +After bowling Mrs. Ladybug over three times, Miss Junebug had flown +away, leaving poor little Mrs. Ladybug clinging to a blade of grass and +wondering if she would be able to move again. + +Mrs. Ladybug had attempted to take Jennie Junebug to task. She had +intended to berate Jennie for devouring the leaves of Farmer Green's +trees and to order her to stop such damage at once. But Jennie Junebug +hadn't allowed her to say much. In her playful way she had knocked the +breath out of Mrs. Ladybug. + +"I must try some other plan," thought Mrs. Ladybug. "And I'll have to +have help." So she sent Miss Moth over to the meadow, to find Freddie +Firefly and ask him if he wouldn't come to the orchard because Mrs. +Ladybug wanted to talk with him. + +He came. He came at once; for he saw Jennie Junebug looking for him. And +he was only too glad to escape her attentions. He found her too rough to +suit him. + +Mrs. Ladybug quickly explained her difficulty. + +"What shall I do?" she asked him. + +"I don't know," he answered. "I can't do a thing with Jennie Junebug. +She knocks me down whenever I meet her. She annoys me." + +"It's not so much myself I'm thinking of," said Mrs. Ladybug. "It's +Farmer Green's fruit trees that I'm disturbed about. Jennie Junebug eats +the leaves. I must put an end to that." + +"I have it!" Freddie Firefly exclaimed suddenly. "I'll ask her why she +doesn't bump into Solomon Owl!" + +Mrs. Ladybug didn't seem to care for his suggestion. "What good would +that do?" she inquired. + +"Ah!" he said. "Solomon Owl wouldn't let her browbeat him. He'd soon +cure her of her rude pranks." + +"Then please speak to her, and to Solomon Owl at once--that is, if you +dare to," said Mrs. Ladybug. + +"I'm not afraid of him," Freddie Firefly boasted. "He won't touch me. +He's a-scared of my light." And then Freddie Firefly flitted away. + +He found Solomon Owl easily enough. He had heard Solomon's _Wha-wha_, +_whoo-ah_! booming from the edge of the woods. And he soon persuaded +Solomon to fly down into the meadow. + +Solomon Owl sailed above the waving grass, while Freddie Firefly spoke +to Jennie Junebug. + +She liked his scheme. She thought it would be a great joke to bump into +solemn Solomon Owl. And for once she forgot to fling herself against +Freddie Firefly. + +Only a little while later she struck Solomon Owl with an awful thud. To +her huge surprise she fell headlong, while he merely paused in his low +flight. + +"Who struck me?" he bawled. + +"Jennie Junebug!" said Freddie Firefly. + +"Where is she now?" Solomon hooted. "If I find her I'll fix her." + +Jennie Junebug heard everything he said. She was lying hidden in the +grass near-by. And she wouldn't have come out for anything. + +"I'll keep an eye out for her," Solomon Owl announced. "I come to the +meadow often, a-mousing." + +Jennie Junebug kept still as a mouse, herself, until Solomon had gone +back to the woods. Then she stole forth from her hiding place, showing a +battered face to her friends. + +"Good-by, everybody!" she called. "I'm going to move. I'm going 'way +down to the end of the valley to live.... I'm off already," she added, +as she spread her wings. + +Nobody ever saw Jennie Junebug on Farmer Green's place again. + +And Mrs. Ladybug was more than satisfied. + + + + +XVI + +PLAYING DEAD + + +FARMER GREEN'S apple trees looked green and flourishing. Thanks to Mrs. +Ladybug--and some of her relations--there was scarcely an insect left on +the leaves. And since there was no more work to be done in the orchard +just then, and nothing for her to eat, Mrs. Ladybug settled among the +raspberry bushes near the duck pond. She said that they needed her +attention. + +One day she paused in her labors, feeling that she had earned a few +minutes' rest. And she dropped out of the bushes and strayed close to +the water's edge. + +A light breeze ruffled the surface of the duck pond into tiny waves. + +"What a terrible, rough sea there is to-day!" Mrs. Ladybug murmured as +she gazed upon the troubled water. "Perhaps, if I cling to a tall grass +stalk, I can get a better view of it." + +She soon found a stalk that grew high above all the rest. Crawling to +the very top of it Mrs. Ladybug was able to look far out over the face +of the pond. + +"Goodness!" she said to herself. "I'm glad I'm not out there in a ship." + +A few moments later she happened to glance down near the shore. And +there, to her horror, she beheld a frog. + +He was not a big frog. On the contrary, he was the tiniest frog that +Mrs. Ladybug had ever seen. He was sitting on a lily pad, singing with a +small, shrill voice, which sounded exactly as if you were tapping two +marbles together. + +Now, Mrs. Ladybug had all her life stood in great fear of frogs. She +didn't dare move, as she gazed at this one with eyes that popped almost +out of her head. + +He was a brownish person, with a yellow throat which he puffed out like +a bag as he sang. And his skin was so rough that Mrs. Ladybug shuddered +as she looked at it. Her own was very, very smooth. + +All at once the frog looked up and spied Mrs. Ladybug staring at him. + +She would have shrieked--had she been able to. + +Then Mrs. Ladybug did the thing that she always did whenever she had a +great fright. She played dead. She pulled her feet under her body, out +of sight, and stuck, motionless, to the grass stalk. + +Nothing happened. And she was about to take another sly look at the +frog when something moved the stalk of grass. It was only the wind. But +Mrs. Ladybug didn't know that. She was sure that the frog had touched +it. + +Then Mrs. Ladybug played her next trick. She let go of the stalk and +dropped to the ground, where she lay upon her side as if she would never +move again. + +Once more she kept quite still. And since nobody disturbed her, after a +time she opened her eyes. + +She found herself looking straight into those of the tiny frog, who +still sat upon his lily pad in the duck pond. + +Mrs. Ladybug shut her eyes instantly. She only hoped that the frog +hadn't noticed her action. + + + + +XVII + +A BRAVE GENTLEMAN + + +MRS. LADYBUG didn't know that the frog she saw was a very timid fellow. +His name was Mr. Cricket Frog. He liked to sit on a lily pad and sing. +And his singing sounded a good deal like the music that Chirpy Cricket +made. In fact, that was the reason for his odd name. + +Mr. Cricket Frog had a trick not unlike the one that Mrs. Ladybug +herself played upon him. Whenever a fish, or any other enemy, came near +him, if he hadn't time to hide in the mud at the bottom of the pond Mr. +Cricket Frog played dead. He would float in the water as if lifeless, +until his enemy had gone off about his business. + +He was so timid--this Mr. Cricket Frog--that when he saw a stranger he +would sometimes play dead. And that was exactly what happened when he +caught sight of Mrs. Ladybug as she clung to the grass stalk near the +edge of the duck pond and stared at him. + +Of course Mrs. Ladybug didn't know all this. When she shut her eyes, and +pulled her feet under her body, she wasn't aware that Mr. Cricket Frog +was just as alarmed as she was. Having closed her eyes, she couldn't see +him jump into the water and float. She couldn't see him climb out upon +the lily pad again and gaze at her. + +Now, the moment Mrs. Ladybug looked at the frog the second time he took +fright anew. Once more he sprang from his seat. Once more he floated +like a chip upon the surface of the pond. Once more he crawled back to +his seat, after he had made up his mind that the danger had passed. + +So they played dead for a long time--both Mrs. Ladybug and Mr. Cricket +Frog. And if he hadn't at last made up his mind that she was afraid of +him, they might still be trying to fool each other. + +"Pardon me, madam!" Mr. Cricket Frog called to Mrs. Ladybug. "I see +you're a bit timid. I assure you I shall not harm you." + +At that Mrs. Ladybug opened her eyes and looked at him. Slowly she +thrust her feet out from under her body. And then she tried her wings. +They were as good as ever. Her fall had not injured them. + +"You gave me a terrible fright," Mrs. Ladybug told him. + +Mr. Cricket Frog was very bold now. + +"Why were you afraid of me?" he asked her. "Do I look fierce?" he +inquired with a hopeful smile, as if he hoped that he did, but scarcely +dared think so. + +"I'm afraid of all frogs," Mrs. Ladybug explained. "Now, there's +Ferdinand Frog--" + +"A rascal!" Mr. Cricket Frog cried. "But, madam, I'm not in the least +like him. I wouldn't hurt you. In fact, I'd protect you." + +His words pleased Mrs. Ladybug. She said that thereafter she should +always feel safe, with him in the neighborhood. + +Mr. Cricket Frog bowed gallantly, with his hand on his heart. + +And Mrs. Ladybug went away without guessing that he had himself played +dead because he had been in terror of her. + +"What a brave gentleman he is!" Mrs. Ladybug murmured. + + + + +XVIII + +A MYSTERY + + +THERE was one thing that Mrs. Ladybug dreaded more than any other. That +was--fire. The slightest whiff of smoke sent her into a flutter of +alarm. The sight of a blaze made her almost frantic. + +Perhaps Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors--more than she--were to be blamed for +her fear. Some of them had an unkind way of frightening her. When they +found her a bit too prying with her countless questions about this, +that, and the other matter that did not concern her, they said to her: + +"Aren't you worried, Mrs. Ladybug? What if your house were on fire? +Wouldn't your children burn?" + +Such questions never failed to send Mrs. Ladybug hurrying away. + +After a while people began to wonder where Mrs. Ladybug went when she +dashed away like that. Nobody seemed to know where she lived. They +supposed that she must fly to her home, wherever it was. + +To everybody's surprise, Mrs. Ladybug appeared to want to keep the site +of her house a secret from all her friends. When they asked her, +point-blank, where her house was, she always pretended not to hear the +question and left them. Or she would begin to ask questions of her own +choosing, without answering theirs. + +"Humph!" said some people. "Mrs. Ladybug likes to pry into our affairs. +She wants to know all about our business. And when she learns anything +about anybody else she can't rest until she has told it to the whole +neighborhood." + +The more Mrs. Ladybug's friends thought about her house, the harder they +tried to discover its whereabouts. Sometimes they even mentioned _fire_ +to her and then tried to follow her when she hurried off. But she always +managed to give them the slip before she had gone far. + +Now and then somebody or other thought he had found Mrs. Ladybug's +house. But in the end somebody else was sure to prove that he was +mistaken. + +Once Freddie Firefly announced with great pride that at last he knew +where Mrs. Ladybug was rearing her family. + +"Her house," he explained, "is in a hole in the ground, in the meadow." + +And that night he led Miss Mehitable Moth to the spot, lighting the way +with his flickering gleams. + +She soon pointed out his mistake. He had led her to the doorway of the +Bumblebee family, who were all sound asleep inside their crowded house. + +After that Freddie Firefly had to listen to a good many titters from his +friends. + +"The idea!" they would say. "Mrs. Ladybug must have a much bigger house +than the Bumblebee family's. She couldn't squeeze her children into such +small quarters as theirs. Why, she has more children than she can +count." + + + + +XIX + +THE DINNER BELL + + +THERE was great excitement in Farmer Green's orchard. The neighbors came +a-flying and a-running and a-crawling from all directions. And little +Mrs. Ladybug was the cause of the hurly-burly. She had appeared with a +strange, flaring object hanging by a cord from her waist--if she could +be said to have a waist. The queer, dangling thing had a handle at its +upper end. And when Mrs. Ladybug moved a jingling, jangling sound might +have been heard. + +In no time at all a crowd had gathered around her. And some of the more +curious and ill-bred pointed at whatever it was that puzzled them. + +"What's that?" they asked Mrs. Ladybug. + +Strange to say, she seemed pleased with the stir that she had made. + +"It's a dinner bell," she explained. + +They gazed at it in wonder, until at last somebody spoke up and +demanded, "What's it for?" + +"To give the alarm with!" she replied. + +"What alarm?" chimed a chorus of voices, high and low. + +Mrs. Ladybug smiled an odd sort of smile as she answered, "The fire +alarm, of course! Everybody's always talking _fire_ to me. It makes me +frightfully uneasy. There's so little one can do alone in case of fire. +But now--" she added--"now when anyone says 'Fire!' I'm going to ring +this bell with all my might." + +Well, people didn't know what to say--then. Later, however, they +gathered about in groups and talked a good deal about Mrs. Ladybug and +her dinner bell. + +Miss Moth said that she feared Mrs. Ladybug would disturb her rest if +she rang the bell in the daytime, when Miss Moth was accustomed to +sleep. Buster Bumblebee hoped Mrs. Ladybug wouldn't ring it at night, +because he had a short enough night's sleep as it was, with the family +trumpeter waking everybody in the house about dawn. And Freddie Firefly +exclaimed that it would be very annoying to him if Mrs. Ladybug gave the +alarm of fire whenever she saw his flickering gleams on pleasant +evenings in the meadow. + +If others were troubled, Mrs. Ladybug herself was much pleased by her +dinner bell. She liked to hear it tinkle as she worked. She said it was +a cheerful sound and so long as she wore it she never needed to worry +about being lost. It was as good as a cowbell for letting the world know +one's whereabouts. + +There was only one thing that annoyed her. Since she hung the bell from +her waist nobody had mentioned _fire_ to her. Nobody had said a word +about her children's burning. It seemed as if none of her neighbors +wanted her to sound a fire alarm. And if there was anything that would +have given her joy, it would have been to seize the handle of her bell +and ring it madly. + +There were even some people that complained of the tinkle it made among +the apple trees. + +Peppery Polly Bumblebee laughed at them. + +"You've brought this trouble upon yourselves," she told them. "How can +you expect Mrs. Ladybug to keep the tongue of the bell still? She can't +even keep her own tongue from wagging!" + +No doubt Peppery Polly knew what she was talking about. She had a very +sharp tongue, herself. + + + + +XX + +FIRE! FIRE! + + +THE whole countryside was dry. It hadn't rained for weeks. The grass was +turning brown. The water in the river was low. And Broad Brook was no +more than a narrow trickle. Every morning the sun rose streaming hot, to +beat down upon Pleasant Valley all day long until it sank--a round, red +ball--behind Blue Mountain each night. + +At last, one afternoon, Farmer Green and the hired man started for the +woods on a run. They had seen a wisp of smoke curling up from the tree +tops. And they knew that the woods were on fire. + +There was a high wind that day. And if they hadn't worked lively there's +no telling how far the fire would have spread. As it was, glowing bits +came sailing down from the hill and settled in the valley. But luckily +they did no damage. At least, no other fire had started anywhere when +the men came home from the woods and said that all was safe again. + +Some of the small folk that lived in the fields knew what was going on. +But Mrs. Ladybug never guessed that there had been a fire. She was so +busy, working among the apple trees, that she hadn't noticed any unusual +stir. And no one took the trouble to tell her about it. + +Everyone had put thoughts of fire out of his mind when along toward +evening a loud clanging rang out upon the air. + +"What's that?" people asked one another. + +And all at once somebody shouted, "It's Mrs. Ladybug's dinner bell!" + +Far and wide through orchard, garden and meadow the neighbors took up +the cry. "Fire! Fire! Mrs. Ladybug's ringing the alarm! Her house is on +fire!" + +Back and forth they hurried, trying to find Mrs. Ladybug. + +"At last--" they told one another--"at last we're going to find out +where her house is." + +And they did. At least, they soon discovered Mrs. Ladybug standing +beside a blazing dwelling near the pasture fence. With all her hands +(and she had several!) she was ringing her bell furiously. + +"We'll help you!" her friends all cried. "Don't worry, Mrs. Ladybug! +We'll have the fire out soon. Be calm!" + +But there was nothing they could do. The fire raged so fiercely that +they couldn't get near enough to it to fight it. And before long it had +burned itself out. There was nothing left of the house but ashes. + +"What a pity!" said Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors. "It was a fine, big +house." + +And then some one cried, "What about the children? Where are they?" + +Nobody knew. If Mrs. Ladybug did, she was too overcome to speak. + +People looked very solemn. They hoped her children hadn't burned. + +And then--then Mr. Meadow Mouse came running up all out of breath. + +"Sakes alive!" he screamed. "My house is ruined. I wouldn't have had +this happen for anything. But it doesn't matter, for I can easily build +another." + +Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors crowded about her, all asking the same +question. + +"Wasn't this your house?" + +"No!" she admitted. "No, it wasn't." And then she made an astonishing +confession. "I've never owned a house," she said. "I've never had one in +all my life. I _can't_ have a house. I couldn't get one that was big +enough. + +"I have so many children that I don't know what to do," said little Mrs. +Ladybug. + + + + +XXI + +PLANS FOR WINTER + + +IT was almost fall. The nights--and some of the days--were chilly. Those +that had spent the whole summer out of doors began to think about where +they should pass the winter. Yet everybody was amazed by the news that +Mrs. Ladybug spread broadcast. She said that she expected, soon, to go +into winter quarters. + +"Humph!" cried Daddy Longlegs' wife when she heard what Mrs. Ladybug was +saying. "She never had any quarters, so far as anyone knows. Mrs. +Ladybug hasn't been able to tear herself away from the orchard long +enough to live anywhere except in the apple trees." + +It was plain that Daddy Longlegs' wife didn't believe what Mrs. Ladybug +was telling her neighbors. And there were many more folk that agreed +with her. + +Little Mrs. Ladybug smiled a knowing smile when she heard what her +friends thought. + +"They'll see! They'll see!" she said. "I'm going to spend the winter in +the biggest and finest house on this farm." + +That was all she would tell. She wouldn't breathe another word about her +plans. And naturally, every one became very curious. There wasn't a soul +that wasn't agog to know what Mrs. Ladybug intended to do. + +The neighbors asked her, begged her, teased her--some even threatened +her. But she declined to answer. She said that if she told where she +expected to pass the cold months everybody would want to go to the same +place and maybe there wouldn't be any room left for her. + +Perhaps some of her friends _had_ intended to follow her into her winter +quarters. Anyhow, many of them looked guilty when she made that remark. +And a few of them looked angry, and declared that Mrs. Ladybug was +selfish. + +"If the house is as big as she claims it is, it ought to hold a few +extra guests without being crowded," they grumbled. + +"Guests--" said Mrs. Ladybug--"guests should always wait for an +invitation." + +"Have you had one?" Buster Bumblebee asked her. + +Mrs. Ladybug did not answer his question. Most people thought Buster +Bumblebee a stupid fellow. Many people paid little heed to him. Yet +strange to say, he often hit the nail on the head, so to speak. And this +time he made Mrs. Ladybug somewhat uncomfortable. She had had no +invitation to spend the winter in the fine, big house. But she didn't +care to have her neighbors know that. + +"There's just one thing to do," Buster Bumblebee decided. "I'll ask the +Carpenter Bee if he's building a house for her." + +So he went to the big poplar by the brook, where the Carpenter Bee +lived. And that mild person himself--sawdust-covered as usual--answered +Buster's knock at his door. + +"Are you building a house for Mrs. Ladybug?" Buster Bumblebee inquired. + +"No!" said the Carpenter. "We couldn't agree. She wanted me to work +twelve hours a day. And I wanted to work twenty-four. I told her I must +have _some_ time to rest. But she couldn't see things as I did." + +Buster Bumblebee was puzzled. + +"I don't understand," he said. + +The Carpenter kindly made matters clear to him. + +"I rest only when I'm working," he explained. + + + + +XXII + +MRS. LADYBUG LEAVES + + +THE Carpenter Bee, who lived in the big poplar by the brook, wasn't +building a house for Mrs. Ladybug. That skillful woodworker hadn't been +able to agree with her--so he told Buster Bumblebee. Furthermore, he +knew nothing of Mrs. Ladybug's present plans as to where she was going +to spend the winter. + +Nor did anybody else. It was all a great mystery. And Mrs. Ladybug +seemed to enjoy it far more than her neighbors did. She was the only +person that could have solved it for them. And she wouldn't. + +At the same time she took delight in talking about her winter quarters, +as she called the place where she intended to live during cold weather. + +"It will be cozy and warm there," she often remarked to her callers, of +whom she had huge numbers. For there was scarcely a person in the +orchard or the garden that didn't burn with curiosity to know more about +the fine, big house into which Mrs. Ladybug expected to move. + +"My winter quarters will be wind-proof," Mrs. Ladybug told them. And +that speech set them all to guessing again. + +Almost everybody said then that she was going to live underground. + +"I shall not feel a drop of rain--not even during the January thaw," +Mrs. Ladybug went on. + +And then everybody had to begin guessing all over again; for rain drops +were sure to trickle into an underground house during a warm spell. + +"You're going to live in a pumpkin!" cried Buster Bumblebee. + +And all the neighbors--even Mrs. Ladybug--laughed when they heard that. + +Buster knew of an old tune called "The Bumblebee in the Pumpkin," and he +cried with some heat that he could think of no reason why there +shouldn't be "A Ladybug in a Pumpkin." + +"I told you my house was big--the biggest one on the farm," Mrs. Ladybug +reminded him. + +"Ah!" Chirpy Cricket exclaimed. "Now I know! You're going to live in the +haystack. A haystack is cozy and warm; it's wind-proof; it sheds water; +and there's nothing bigger anywhere." + +It really seemed as if Chirpy Cricket had solved the great mystery. + +"He's guessed the riddle!" people said. "You might as well admit now, +Mrs. Ladybug, that you're going to spend the winter in Farmer Green's +haystack." + +But Mrs. Ladybug dashed their hopes. + +"You're wrong," she told her friends. "And if to-night's as nippy as +last night was, perhaps you'll find out to-morrow where I'm going. For I +don't care to freeze my toes here in the orchard." + +That night it was colder than ever. And the next day Mrs. Ladybug went +all around the orchard and the garden bidding people good-by. + +Still she wouldn't tell where she was going. And if Daddy Longlegs +hadn't happened to stroll around the cherry tree outside Farmer Green's +chamber window that afternoon, nobody would have known where Mrs. +Ladybug went. But Daddy Longlegs saw her. And he hastened to spread the +news. + +"Mrs. Ladybug has gone to spend the winter in the farmhouse!" + + + + +XXIII + +BACK AGAIN + + +SOMEHOW Mrs. Ladybug's friends missed her. The orchard seemed quite a +different place after she vanished inside the farmhouse to stay there +all winter long. In spite of her sharp tongue and her prying ways people +discovered--now that she was gone--that they had liked Mrs. Ladybug more +than they knew. + +While she was with them in the orchard they had often wished she +wouldn't ask so many questions. But now the days seemed very long +without Mrs. Ladybug to inquire _how_ and _why_ and _when_ and _where_. + +And then--then a rumor flashed from lip to lip all the way across the +garden and the orchard and the meadow: "Mrs. Ladybug is back again! She +didn't stay in the farmhouse a week." + +And sure enough! the rumor proved to be true. Mrs. Ladybug, looking +rather foolish, appeared in her old haunts among the apple trees. She +acted as if something had occurred to upset her. And though she seemed +glad to be greeted by all her old companions, she didn't want them to +ask her a single question as to why she hadn't spent the whole winter, +instead of only a few days of early fall, in Farmer Green's house. + +If she thought her neighbors weren't going to question her she was sadly +mistaken. + +Only a little while before they had asked her a thousand and one +questions about _where_ she was going to live during the winter. And +now they were all just as curious to know why she had returned. But this +time they asked her a thousand and two questions. + +You couldn't say that her answers weren't satisfying, because she didn't +make any answers at all. + +Of course, things couldn't go on like that forever. People _had_ to know +what had changed Mrs. Ladybug's plans. And in order to persuade the +stubborn lady to explain matters, a few of her friends hinted that they +expected they would have to go to Farmer Green himself and learn the +truth. + +"You may ask him if you wish," Mrs. Ladybug told them. "But it won't do +you any good. He can't tell you what happened because he doesn't know +himself." + +"Maybe the farmhouse was cold," Chirpy Cricket suggested. + +Mrs. Ladybug made no comment on that remark. + +"Perhaps the roof leaked," said Daddy Longlegs. + +Still no sign from Mrs. Ladybug. + +"She found that the farmhouse wasn't wind-proof," said Daddy Longlegs' +wife. + +And Mrs. Ladybug didn't deny it; nor did she say that that was so. + +Then Buster Bumblebee made one of his blundering speeches. + +"It was a short winter, anyhow," he said. + +Mrs. Ladybug's neighbors couldn't help tittering. And somehow their +amusement stung her into telling the truth about the whole affair, right +then and there. + +"Mrs. Green and I didn't get on well together," she confessed. + + + + +XXIV + +MRS. GREEN'S MISTAKE + + +MRS. LADYBUG spoke at last. Her listeners crowded close about her, +jostling one another in their eagerness to hear every word she said. For +Mrs. Ladybug was recounting her adventures at the farmhouse. + +"I flew in through an open window," Mrs. Ladybug began. And she heaved a +deep sigh, as if the telling of the tale was costing her much pain. + +"I said nothing to anybody," she explained, "because I didn't wish to +trouble the family. I knew I could find my way about the house after a +little. And it wasn't long before I had discovered the stairway. + +"I didn't walk on the stairs for fear there might be mud on my feet," +said Mrs. Ladybug. "I didn't walk, but flew up to the second floor and +went into the first chamber I saw. There was a fine, big closet off that +room. The door leading into it was ajar; so I had no trouble slipping +inside it. And there, high up on a broad shelf, I picked out the very +spot where I could have spent the winter with every comfort in the +world." + +At this point Mrs. Ladybug was overcome by her feelings for a few +moments. But the company waited politely until she could go on with her +story. + +She soon continued. + +"All went well--" said Mrs. Ladybug--"all went well until one day--this +morning, to be exact--Mrs. Green opened the closet door and began to +brush and sweep and wipe and dust. I heard her say that she was doing +her fall cleaning. And of course that pleased me; for I was glad to +learn that she was a neat housekeeper. + +"And then--" here Mrs. Ladybug's voice broke slightly--"and then, the +first thing I knew she spied me and cried 'Ah, ha! A Carpet Bug!' + +"The next instant she whisked me off the shelf with a brush. Of course I +played dead the moment she touched me. And I fell into the dustpan and +never so much as wriggled a toe. + +"Soon afterward Mrs. Green set the dustpan beside the window which she +had already opened. That was my chance. I seized it. I flew out of the +window. And here I am." + +Mrs. Ladybug's listeners shook their heads in sympathy. + +"You had a narrow escape," they told her. "It's a wonder you got away." + +"Yes!" said Mrs. Ladybug. "And I'm glad now that that window was open. +But for a moment I didn't much care what became of me. To think that +anybody should mistake me for a Carpet Bug! Mrs. Green ought to know +that the Carpet Bug family are covered with black, white and red scales. +Ugh!" + +Mrs. Ladybug shuddered. She was smooth and shiny herself. So it wasn't +strange that she should have felt insulted. + +"Anyhow," she added, "Mrs. Green is the loser. Toward spring I would +have kept her house plants free from insects. But now, of course, she'll +have to do that herself." + +"Well," said the neighbors (or words to this effect), "we're glad to see +you again. And now--tell us!--where do you expect to spend the winter?" + +"I'll let you decide that," Mrs. Ladybug replied. + +THE END + + + + * * * * * + + + TUCK-ME-IN TALES + (Trademark Registered) + By ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + + AUTHOR OF THE +SLEEPY-TIME TALES and SLUMBER-TOWN TALES + +Colored Wrappers and Illustrations Drawn by HARRY L. SMITH + +A delightful and unusual series of bird and insect stories for boys and +girls from three to eight years old, or thereabouts. + +THE TALE OF JOLLY ROBIN +THE TALE OF OLD MR. CROW +THE TALE OF SOLOMON OWL +THE TALE OF JASPER JAY +THE TALE OF RUSTY WREN +THE TALE OF DADDY LONG-LEGS +THE TALE OF KIDDIE KATYDID +THE TALE OF BETSY BUTTERFLY +THE TALE OF BUSTER BUMBLEBEE +THE TALE OF FREDDIE FIREFLY +THE TALE OF BOBBIE BOBOLINK +THE TALE OF CHIRPY CRICKET +THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG +THE TALE OF REDDY WOODPECKER +THE TALE OF GRANDMA GOOSE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + * * * * * + + + THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS + SERIES + +Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. + For Children 6 to 12 Years + +This series presents early American history in a manner that impresses +the young readers. George and Martha Washington Parke, two young +descendants of the famous General Washington, follow in play, the life +of the great American. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS + +Their thrilling battles and expeditions generally end in "punishment" +lessons read by Mrs. Parke from the "Life of Washington." The culprits +listen intently, for this reading generally gives them new ideas for +further games of Indian warfare and Colonists battles. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' RELATIVES + +The Davis children visit the Parke home and join zealously in the games +of playing George Washington. So zealously, in fact, that little Jim +almost loses his scalp. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' TRAVELS + +The children wage a fierce battle upon the roof of a hotel in New York +City. Then, visiting the Davis home in Philadelphia, the patriotic +Washingtons vanquish the Hessians on a battle-field in the empty lot +back of the Davis property. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS AT SCHOOL + +After the school-house battle the Washingtons discover a band of gypsies +camping near their homes and incidentally they recover a stolen horse +which the gypsies had taken from a farmer. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS' HOLIDAYS + +They spend a pleasant summer on adjoining farms in Vermont. During a +voyage they try to capture a "frigate" but little Jim is caught and +about to be punished by the Captain when his confederates save him. + +THE LITTLE WASHINGTONS; FARMERS + +Nero, the donkey, had never heard of George Washington, and so the game +the children had planned after reading the story of the General's life +on his farm turned out to be quite a different game altogether. + +Grosset & Dunlap, _Publishers_, New York + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF MRS. LADYBUG*** + + +******* This file should be named 20097.txt or 20097.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/0/9/20097 + + + +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. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. 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