Howard Roger Garis

“ This is too bad!” said the kind lollypop man. “How did it happen?”
“Nicknack, our goat, lost us,” declared Ted. “He’s over there under the trees. But we heard you singing and came to you.”
“And I’m glad you did,” said Mr. Sander. [233] “I was singing because I’ve sold most of my lollypops. But I have a few waffles left and you hungry ones shall eat them. Oh, ho! I don’t love a goat if he loses little children!” he sang. “I don’t love bad goats!”
“Oh, it wasn’t Nicknack’s fault,” said Jan earnestly. “We had him out, giving rides to make money for the Home, and we got seventy-five cents!” ”

“ I meant Trouble. But we’ll take the goat home, too. He may belong to somebody else, but maybe we can keep him a little while and have some fun. Wonder what his name is?”
“Bossy,” said Trouble. “Him’s a bossy!”
“No; that’s a cow’s name, and this is a goat,” explained Jan. “We’ll have to think up a name for him. But, oh, Trouble! how are we ever going to get you clean? Those eggs are so messy!”
“That’s what I meant by letting him ride the goat,” went on Ted. “Most of the whites and yallers would come off on the goat.” ”

“ Ted questioned, before his mother had a chance to answer his sister.
To the Curlytops Cherry Farm meant a great deal. Ever since they could remember they had heard it talked of at home, and more than once they had gone there for visits, sometimes in winter and again in summer. Grandpa was Daddy Martin’s father, and Cherry Farm was the nicest place in the whole world, so the Curlytops thought.
There was a big white house. There were red barns, broad, green fields, shady trees, horses, cows, sheep, a little brook, a lake—oh, so many delightful things! ”

“ But the Curlytops did not think long about this sadness, for they were too eager to have fun; though they would have done anything in the world, if they could, to help their own dear daddy and their mother, and, of course, grandpa and grandma.
“Just wait until the cherries are ripe,” said Ted, as he put the finishing touches to the harness. “Then we’ll help pick them and cart them to market. As soon as we hitch up Nicknack we’ll go over to the cherry grove and see how big the green ones are.”
The goat seemed very willing to be hitched to the queer wagon Jan and Ted had made from odds and ends. ”

“ Feeling quite happy now that they were going to have a real goat for their very own, and feeling very glad at the chance of having some rides in a wagon that Nicknack would pull, Ted, Janet and Trouble started for the barn.
“Do you really think you can make a wagon?” asked Janet of her brother.
“Course I can,” he answered. “Didn’t I make a house, lots of times—a playhouse that we had fun in?”
“But a wagon is different,” said the little girl. “A playhouse stays in one place, but a wagon has to go around and around on its wheels.” ”

“ Ted thought they might find some ripe cherries on the trees, but they were all still so green that they did not taste good.
“And now let’s start for home,” proposed Janet. “Come on.”
“All right,” agreed Ted.
But they had walked only a little way when Trouble lived up to his name and suddenly sat down on the grass.
“What’s the matter?” asked Jan. “Get up and walk along. I’d carry you, only I’m not big enough. Come on!” and she pulled him by the hand.
“I’se tired,” Trouble declared. “Don’t want to walk—want ride. Go bring Nicknack an’ give Trouble ride in wagon.” ”

“ The Curlytops tried to mend the broken wagon, but it was too badly smashed. Ted bruised his fingers with the hammer, and Jan ran a sliver in her thumb “tinkering” over the broken wheels and things, but they could make nothing that would be safe for Nicknack to pull.
“I know what we can do,” said Ted to his sister one day.
“You mean to have fun?”
“I mean to get a goat wagon. Let’s go down to the blacksmith shop and see if the blacksmith man hasn’t got some old wheels or something.” ”

“ One day the Curlytops, taking Trouble with them, set off for a little ride in the new goat wagon. Grandma Martin stuffed in many, many cushions, so if anyone fell out or the cart overturned no one would be hurt. In spite of the number of pillows, there was still room for at least five small children.
“If we see anybody who wants a ride we can give it to them,” explained Ted, as he saw the extra room in the wagon. ”

“ Here you are,” and as nimble as a cat when she’s jumping over a fence to get away from the dog, the fat man ran from his wagon, coming out of the little door in the back, and stood bowing before the children with the plate of hot waffles in his hand.
“Here you are,” he cried. “Two for a penny.”
“Let’s see,” said Ted slowly. “There’s three of us. Trouble can eat two, I guess. Three times two is seven——”
“No, six,” corrected Jan, for she was better in number-work than was her brother. ”

“ Ted and Jan were growing excited.
“To make this candy lots of cherries are needed. The manufacturer is in the market for bushels and bushels of ’em, and so far hasn’t been able to get half of what he wants. I told one of his men about the big crop up here and especially about this grove on Cherry Farm, and I’ve come now to buy up all I can. He’ll pay big and he’ll give me a good commission and he’ll get plenty of the finest cherries in the world, so everything is all right for everybody and the world is a fine place.”
“Well, that certainly is good news!” cried Grandpa Martin. ”

“ This was what William wanted, so away he toddled, leaving the chickens in peace. The children went out to the barn, where some of the horses, which the men were not using at different places on the farm, were eating hay or grain in their stalls. Ted and Jan always liked to look at the horses. Sometimes one would put its head over the lower half of the closed stall door and look at the little boy and girl, letting them rub its velvety nose. ”

“ It took the rest of that day to make the kite without a tail, and then it was time for Hal to go back to the Home. But he promised to come the following day and see the others fly it.
“I can hold it, while one of you runs with the string,” explained the lame boy. “Sometimes, if the wind is just right, you don’t have to run with these kites at all. They’re easier to fly than the others. You’ll like ’em.”
“We’re glad you came over,” said Jimmie, and he and Ted felt that, after all, it was not so bad to be lame when one could make such fine kites. ”

“ And while the surprised Curlytop children, with Jan holding Trouble in her lap, stopped their goat, and looked at the funny fat man in his funny red wagon, he looked at them and laughed until his face was as wrinkled as a toy circus balloon when the wind hisses out of it. And then the fat man cried again:
“Oh, ho! I love a goat! I will give you my white horse and red wagon for your goat and a million gumdrops besides. Come, let us trade. Are you simple Simons with a penny, or, indeed, have you any? Oh, ho! I will sing!”
And then he began to sing ”

“ He could not understand that.
“Because if there are too many cherries they don’t bring a good price in the market. Maybe, even, I can’t sell them all, and they’ll spoil,” grandpa explained.
“We’ll help eat ’em,” promised Jan.
“Yes, I guess between you and the birds you’ll get rid of some. But don’t you Curlytops worry about the farm. You are here to have vacation fun, and I want you to enjoy every minute, though it’s good of you to look after my cherries,” and Grandpa Martin caught Trouble up in his arms to kiss him.
“And can we help pick some and bring them in with our goat wagon?” asked Ted. ”

“ He was telling Hal how he had lassoed the calf, which, by this time, had managed to get the rope off its neck, when a voice called to the children:
“What have you been doing?”
“Oh!” they exclaimed, like the chorus of [191] a song; and, looking up, they saw Grandpa Martin smiling at them from the other side of the fence.
“Did anything happen?” asked the farmer.
“I—I rode one of your calves,” answered Ted. “But I—I didn’t mean to.”
“Hum!” said grandpa, and there was a twinkle in his eyes. “Calves aren’t made to ride. You might get hurt. Don’t do it again.” ”

“ Oh, ho! I love a goat. Come see my white coat, and get some cherry candy! Oh, ho! Oh, ho! Come get cherry candy!”
This the Curlytops did, and they said the new cherry chewing candy was the best they had ever eaten. Perhaps it was because it had in it some of Grandpa Martin’s cherries.
At any rate Grandpa Martin was given quite a sum of money for his cherry crop, and he could afford to give the hundred dollars to the Home for Crippled Children.
“Is Hal going to be cured?” asked Ted one day, after he, with Jan and Trouble, had been for a ride with Nicknack. ”

“ That was the way the goat cart swayed, up and down and sidewise.
But the wheels stayed on, which was more than Ted’s father and grandfather had dared to hope at first. And the harness, though much patched and made from many bits of straps and ropes, stayed on the back of Nicknack. So that the goat pulled the cart along after a fashion.
“And he guides good, too,” said Ted, as he pulled first on the left-hand cord and then on the right. “See how easy it is, Jan.” ”

“ So Jan had her kite, and it was a good flier, too.
“It’s more fun to play with this than with a doll,” said the little Curlytop girl after she and Ted had gone back to Cherry Farm. “A kite does something, and a doll can’t unless you do it for her.”
“If you hide a ham bone under her dress a dog will carry her off,” said Grandpa Martin, and the children laughed.
The Curlytops and their friends had fun flying kites and doing many other things during the vacation days at Cherry Farm. ”

“ Now I’ll have good luck—I’ve made my first sale!” and he [200] laughed so that he shook all over as if he were a jelly lollypop.
“Do you go around selling hot waffles like the man in our town?” asked Jan, as she gave Trouble and Ted each one of the sugar-covered cakes.
“Well, I don’t know the man in your town, but I do go about selling them here—also lollypops, popcorn balls, candy and other things. Sometimes ice-cream when I’m in a city where I can sell it before it melts. But in the country like this I sell mostly waffles.”
“And did you really want to take our goat?” asked Jan anxiously. ”

“ Some one will take care of him. But we’ll have to walk back. That’s the worst of it.”
“That isn’t so bad,” came from Hal cheerfully. Ted had been worried about the lame boy for fear he could not take the mile-long walk back to the Home. “I can manage all right.”
“Are you sure you can?” asked Jan.
“Oh, sure. It will be fun. We’ll go slow on account of your baby brother.”
“Yes, we’ll have to. Trouble isn’t very fond of walking, though he is pretty good sometimes. My, but Nicknack did run!”
“Guess you would, too, if you were a goat and a bee bit you,” put in Ted. ”

“ When I came from the Home, and saw the sheep in my field, I thought they might make trouble, as I hadn’t seen any around here before. I call this my field,” he went on, motioning to the one where the Curlytops had first seen him. “Though, of course, I don’t own it. But it’s just as nice as if I did. For I can hop along in it, and see the daisies and buttercups and dandelions in the green grass.
“They’re just like the jewels the Princess Blue Eyes wears around her neck,” he went [128] on. “The flowers are, I mean. And they’re much nicer than real diamonds, for nobody wants to take them. ”

“ Teddy looked a little ashamed of himself.
“I—I won’t do it any more,” he faltered. “But it was awful funny being rolled along over and over inside the rake.”
“It’s a wonder you weren’t hurt,” said Grandpa Martin. “It’s a good thing the teeth of the rake are so big and curved, and not sharp. Now go back and sit down until we load the wagon.”
Grandpa and his men finished gathering up the hay, and when the big wagon was loaded he called:
“Come now, Curlytops! Up with you!”
Jan and Ted were tossed up on the very top of the load. ”

“ The sheep were crowding more closely than ever about the children. Perhaps the woolly animals meant no harm, and were only wondering what the Curlytops were doing in the pasture. But the sheep certainly did crowd too much, and Jan and Ted had all they could do to save themselves from being pushed over. They tried to keep Trouble between them, for Baby William was much frightened.
“Whose sheep are they?” asked Jan, as she tried to walk out from the flock toward the fence. “They weren’t here the other day.”
“I guess they belong to the man who owns the farm next to Grandpa Martin’s,” said Teddy. ”

“ The rooster had been quietly feeding with the hens when the weed, which Jimmie had pulled up, roots and all, had flopped down on him as the kite made a dive through the air, [176] and then had come the sail upward, the rooster getting a free ride.
With many a crow, and other queer noises, the ruffled fowl ran away as soon as Jimmie had untangled him. And such a cawing and cackling as there was among the hens! If chickens talk, as some people think they do, they must have had lots of questions to ask old Mr. Rooster about what had happened to him when he was ballooning. ”

“ It’s lots nicer to ride in the wagon.”
“Couldn’t I ride on Nicknack’s back if you holded me on?” Trouble wanted to know.
“Well, maybe. We’ll see,” said Janet, who did not want to make any promises. Baby William was always sure to remember them no matter if everyone else forgot.
“I ’ikes a goat,” murmured the little fellow, as he walked along beside his brother and sister. “I ’ikes a goat—much!”
“Yes, Nicknack is a fine goat. I hope he’ll always live with us,” said Ted.
They were almost at the barn now, when, all at once, the children heard someone shouting. ”