Adah Louise Sutton

“ A basket of waxen fruits, perpetrated by Sally’s grandmother in her youth, had been thrown down from the shelf, and all the beautiful peaches and pears and apples lay ruined on the carpet mixed with the fragments of the glass shade that had covered them.
Most deplorable of all, nurse’s best bonnet had been dragged from its box and the gorgeous bunch of grapes that adorned its brim had been torn off and lay crushed and mangled on the floor. ”

“ Now the Teddy bear was naturally very much offended that he had not been invited to taste the goodies at which he had been sniffing hungrily during their preparation; much more so that he had been left behind when Sally carried them away. Therefore he was now in anything but a pleasant frame of mind and felt very much inclined to bite nurse when she picked him up and carried him off to the nursery.
“Sure and there’s more nor rats,” she repeated half aloud as she ran up the back stairs with Peter Pan upside down under her arm. ”

“ Sally, who all the time had been wondering if he were red in the face under his fur, longed to remark that the crumbs must have gone the wrong way with a vengeance if they had gone up his nose. However, she rather feared provoking the Teddy bear, and remarked, by way of continuing the conversation:
“Oh, of course, you don’t grow any bigger. That is because you are just stuffed. There isn’t anything in you to grow.” ”

“ Maggie nodded, at the same time casting a furtive glance over her shoulder, as if she half expected to see the author of all the direful “goings on” walking in at the kitchen door.
“Sure and he’s all right now, but do ye’s think it was rats he saw?” she inquired, dropping another lump of sugar into her cup of tea.
[79]
“There’s more nor rats,” replied nurse sententiously as she folded her napkin and picked up Peter Pan, who had been left perched on the window sill by Sally, who dearly loved to get down into the cosy kitchen, for she and cook were great friends. ”

“ Across the street and into the park they hurried, Tim hopping and flapping along in front. At the entrance they dimly distinguished a tiny gray figure, sitting up with its little paws crossed on its breast and its great, fluffy tail curled up, feather-like, over its back. It was Chip, eagerly awaiting their advent. He ran joyfully to meet his guests, and explained, as they hurried along, that he was sure they would enjoy the festivities soon to follow, and that he had obtained an invitation for them from the old horned owl, who was to be master of ceremonies. ”

“ Never for one moment did Sally suspect Peter Pan, sitting so calmly in the bosom of his family, of being the author of the tragedy.
She had taken off his pajamas and dressed him for the day in a smart white sweater with leggings to match, and a beautiful white toboggan cap with a pink tassel that hung down at one side. To be sure, the tendency of the tassel was rather to make things topheavy on its own particular side, so that the toboggan cap was somewhat inclined to tilt rakishly over one eye. ”

“ Dearly Sally loved to drink from the oddly shaped cups, watching anxiously as the warm liquid descended for the gradual appearance of the fanciful little figures that lined the inside as well as the outside with a quaint fresco.
It was so delightful to see first the top of the big, stiffly starched white linen headdresses, and then, after a rather meditative swallow, the wide flat linen collar, and then after a succession of rather hasty swallows, for things were getting too interesting to linger, the funny short blouses, the big white aprons and balloon-like skirts. ”

“ Sally sat up in bed rubbing her eyes and quite unable to believe the evidence of her own senses. For how could a rational little girl be expected to believe that a Teddy bear was really standing beside her bed, bowing to her politely and pausing, between bows, to take large bites out of a pink wafer that he held daintily in one paw? ”

“ Just about this time the swift patter of furry paws sounded on the kitchen floor and were heard rapidly approaching the cellar door. Immediately the frightened bears knew what had happened. Rough House had awakened, in a really very inconsiderate manner, and missing the bear family had hurried downstairs to do a little detective work on his own account.
Instantly Peter Pan blew out the candle and the whole family scurried away in the pitch black darkness, wading knee deep through the lake of cider, and finally taking refuge in the coal bin. ”

“ Every year Sally went through the same ceremony and every year she felt in duty bound, and as a tribute to Bob’s genius, to shriek and cling to cook, as the whole goblin crew stood glaring and blinking, calling forth a chorus of indignant protests from the dogs, who considered that they had borne a great deal and indeed quite too much from the Teddy bears, without having such monsters added to the family circle. ”

“ Miss Palmer knew a great deal about the martyred president and so interested were the children that they could scarcely believe the journey was at an end when the conductor called out the name of the place that was their destination. A big three-seated wagon was in waiting and when they were all piled comfortably aboard, including Peter Pan and Bedelia, whom nurse had carried while the rest of the Teddy bear family journeyed in a trunk, the fine gray farm horses started off at a trot along the uneven and rutty country road. ”

“ They were now entering a part of the park where the trees stood thickest, forming a sort of grove, in the centre of which lay an open space. A bat drifted by on velvety wings with eyes that glared in the darkness, and the great horned owl himself presently came flying along, flapping close to the ground, and, sad to contemplate, even on such an important occasion as this was evidently engaged in a still-hunt for mice. Sally could not help wondering if he ever made an error and mistook the squirrels for lawful prey. ”

“ Indeed she had to pinch herself quite hard in order to convince herself that she was really wide awake and not sound asleep and dreaming.
“Do not be surprised,” said the Teddy bear, and Sally smiled involuntarily at the pomposity of his manner. “The scene that you have just witnessed is not at all an unusual one. In fact, I, myself, am rather astonished that after all the years you have been playing with toys you never discovered the fact that they always waken at night. ”

“ Merrier and merrier grew the music and faster and faster waxed the dance, as all the toys immediately seized upon the nearest partners and whirled them off to trip the light fantastic.
A truly comical sight it was to see the baby bear waltzing with the French doll whose place in bed he had usurped, while the twins led off, one with a jolly round-eyed rag doll who had come all the way from London, as she proudly informed her partner, and the other with a wooden soldier, who had lost one leg and consequently hopped about in a most absurd manner ”

“ And Mike was on his way to the stables to hitch up, as he called it, when the amazing spectacle just described burst upon his astonished sight. At once he jumped to the conclusion that the goat was trying to make mince-meat of Sally’s beloved Teddy bear. And springing forward—he seized Dick by his horns, yanked him to his feet and drove him off to the stables. Then returning he picked up Bedelia, no longer pirouetting like a ballet girl, but suddenly grown mute and stiff, and carried her to the kitchen, where Mrs. Hale took her in charge. ”

“ Rough House was scarcely out of the puppy stage and the Teddy bear had often trembled for himself and his family, chiefly, I am afraid, for his own hide, as he watched the big fellow running off to his lair under the head of Sally’s bed and close up against the wall, an almost impregnable fastness where it was practically impossible to get at him, carrying in his mouth various belongings of Sally’s which he proceeded to tear and rend in a leisurely manner. ”

“ Sally jumped out of bed at once, hastily stuck her little pink toes into her red bedroom slippers, a new pair, kept carefully in a convenient hidie-hole where the dog’s greatest ingenuity could never discover them, and threw over her nightie a dainty silk kimono on which were embroidered a succession of smiling Japanese ladies, each one sitting under a cherry tree in full bloom and holding over her head a wonderful Japanese umbrella, which seemed to be entirely unnecessary in view of the shade that must have been cast by the cherry tree. ”

“ They Visit the Kitchen.
VERY cautiously they set forth, Peter Pan conducting, while Bedelia brought up the rear in order to safeguard the small fry from any possible attack in either direction.
Silently the little procession crept from the nursery and hopping and sliding down the stairs swiftly advanced upon the lower regions. In the kitchen hall they broke ranks.
The kitchen was a big, bright room, beautifully kept and as clean as wax. Indeed, cook was in the habit of saying that you could eat off the floor, which was undoubtedly true provided you did not prefer a table and chair. ”

“ I think I should like to call you Peter Pan; that is if you haven’t any other name,” she added quickly.
“The name on my tag was Teddy, but it really doesn’t matter, as I have never been christened,” returned the Teddy bear. “Really Peter Pan is a pretty name, and decidedly more appropriate for me. Only I think the latter part of it rather reminds one of cake. And, by the way, couldn’t you hunt up some names for my wife and the cubs? You see we were all named Teddy—Teddy bears. But it seems rather mixed up, don’t you know, especially when there are so many of us.” Sally nodded acquiescently. ”

“ Nearer swept the unknown company, headed by one of kindly bearing, clothed in blanket and fringed leggings, with moccasins embroidered with wampum and quills of porcupine, with eagle feathers in his hair and tomahawk at his belt, and after him followed his countless braves, stepping noiselessly, moving silently in the wake of the leader. So they passed and vanished and Bob knew that he had looked upon the great chief who for countless years had slept in the windy hilltop in the shadow of the lonely oak. ”

“ Chip, as Sally had named her favorite squirrel, was so tame that he often followed her out of the park and across the street to the kitchen door, which he was not slow to enter, for well he knew that cook kept a generous store of nuts in the pantry for his especial benefit. ”

“ And sure enough, there were the twins, having returned that very morning even as they went, in Papa Doctor’s big pockets. Disgusted with life in a sphere that gave them such small scope for the exercise of their talents, they had seized upon an opportunity to leave Mrs. Gray’s, and right glad they were to be at home again and in the bosom of a family that received them with frantic rejoicings. Had Teddy bears been fond of veal, no doubt an unlimited supply could have been provided, for surely never were returned prodigals received with such acclaim. ”

“ Peter Pan and Bedelia all this time had been busy investigating Bob’s big closet in which they had found a store of queer articles the like of which they had never seen among Sally’s possessions. There were skates and baseball bats, boxing gloves and fencing foils, and various other strange articles, dear to the soul of a small boy, but inexplicable mysteries to Teddy bears. ”

“ Two weeks had elapsed since the adventures of the Teddy bears in the attic. Peace had descended on the troubled household and every thing was jogging along comfortably and quietly.
But just at this stage of the game Peter Pan made up his mind that it was time to visit the kitchen, as his family, especially Bedelia, who had grown more surly than ever, were complaining bitterly of short rations. His only fear was of Rough House, who slept in the nursery. ”

“ Sally, of course, never knew the difference, nor guessed that Jerry was Tom and Tom was Jerry ever after.
The bears spent a blissful hour romping around the attic, and pulling out the contents of every trunk and box that they found unfastened. The twins no doubt would have had more fun had they not been hampered with so much finery, but they strutted about before their admiring parents and managed to be very proud of themselves. ”

“ But as the guinea pig remarked, one meets with so many shams in society that it really doesn’t pay to be too censorious, even if one does know alligator hide from papier-mache.
Meanwhile Bedelia, stiff and sore from her ducking was not nearly as sore and stiff as she made herself out to be. The loss of Little Breeches had rendered her even more furious than had the disappearance of the twins. Only in this case she was unable to vent her feelings on the head of her husband, for which he sincerely thanked his lucky stars. ”

“ The Teddy bears immediately made a rush for the table, falling over each other in their eagerness to get to the chairs, into which they climbed, pulling the napkins out of the rings and confident that a fine meal was awaiting them. Great, therefore, was their dismay, when they were unable to discover the smallest evidence of anything to eat.
[61]
This was more amazing than their experience in the library. If people did not eat in the dining-rooms where on earth did they eat?
Bedelia could find no answer for this conundrum propounded by her husband with a tragic gesture. ”

“ He never wanted to grow up and so he ran away and lived with the fairies. His name was Peter Pan. At least her name was.”
[25]
“Fairies! What are fairies?” exclaimed the bear. And then, before Sally had time to answer, demanded severely, “How can his name be her name?”
Now Sally was really a very sweet tempered little girl, but to be constantly contradicted and corrected by a stuffed Teddy bear was decidedly getting on her nerves. So she replied quite sharply, “Oh, you see it was a play, and the boy, Peter Pan, was really a girl. ”

“ A great pan of bread had been put to rise on a table near the range and this the hungry bears sampled first, upsetting the pan and pushing their paws and noses into the dough in their impatience to taste it. However, they did not like it at all, as it was much too raw and sticky, and not at all unlike the library paste on Sally’s school [86] room desk, which Peter Pan had once upset in order to taste it and from which he had retired in disgust. ”

“ The Teddy bears were greatly delighted to get home again. They had been hugely bored by the visit to the farm where there was not very much for them to do in the way of making mischief. Nor did they delay their plans for a single night, but that evening, as soon as everything was quiet in the nursery, Peter Pan proceeded to put into execution the scheme that he had concocted one afternoon, while being carried through the house in Sally’s arms, when he had been seized with a great curiosity to investigate the whole place. ”

“ Peter Pan and his wife, however, were called from their interesting still-hunt by the yells of the baby cub and now hastened to his rescue, and having dragged him out, a miserable little bunch of draggled fur, Bedelia proceeded to rub him dry, using as a towel Bob’s white silk blouse, that she found folded carefully on a chair with the rest of his belongings, while Peter Pan, having soundly smacked the twins, returned to his congenial task of turning out Bob’s closet. ”