Johnny Gruelle

“ Fido whined and cried because he could not get to the rabbit and bite him.
"You should be ashamed of yourself, Fido!" cried Raggedy Ann. "Just see how the poor bunny is trembling!"
"He should not come scratching around our house if he doesn't care to be chased!" said Fido.
"Why don't you stay out in the woods and fields where you really belong?" Raggedy Andy asked the rabbit.
"I came to leave some Easter eggs!" the bunny answered in a queer little quavery voice.
"An Easter bunny!" all the dolls cried, jumping about and clapping their hands. "An Easter bunny!" ”

“ When the children had passed out of sight, the dolls climbed down from the window.
"That was lots of fun!" said the French doll, as she smoothed her skirts and sat down beside Raggedy Andy.
"I believe Raggedy Andy must have a candy heart too, like Raggedy Ann!" said Uncle Clem.
"No!" Raggedy Andy answered, "I'm just stuffed with white cotton and I have no candy heart, but some day perhaps I shall have!"
"A candy heart is very nice!" Raggedy Ann said. (You know, she had one.) "But one can be just as nice and happy and full of sunshine without a candy heart." ”

“ Raggedy Andy and the two penny dolls ran after the wagon and, with the assistance of Uncle Clem and Raggedy Ann, climbed up in back.
When the wooden horse finally stopped the dolls all said, "This is the most fun we have had for a long time!"
The wooden horse, a thrill of happiness running through his wooden body, cried, "It is the most fun I have ever had!"
And the dolls, while they did not tell him so, knew that he had had the most fun because he had given them the most pleasure.
For, as you must surely know, they who are the most unselfish are the ones who gain the greatest joy ”

“ Aren't we?" he asked, turning to the rest of the dolls.
"Yes, indeed!" came the answer from all the dolls, even the tiny penny dolls.
"That is why the shell is so beautiful inside!" said Raggedy Ann. "Those who are unselfish may wear rough clothes, but inside they are always beautiful, just like the shell, and reflect to others the happiness and sunny music within their hearts!" ”

“ So Raggedy Ann stayed at Daddy's studio for three or four days.
She was missed very, very much at home and Marcella really longed for her, but knew that Daddy was borrowing some of Raggedy Ann's sunshine, so she did not complain.
Raggedy Ann did not complain either, for in addition to the sunny, happy smile she always wore (it was painted on) , Raggedy Ann had a candy heart, and of course no one (not even a rag doll) ever complains if they have such happiness about them. ”

“ When Raggedy Andy came to the place where he expected to find the penny dolls lying, they were nowhere about.
"Perhaps you scooted them farther than you thought!" Uncle Clem said.
"Perhaps I did!" Raggedy Andy said, "We will look around the bend in the eave!"
"Oh dear!" he exclaimed when he had peeped around the corner of the roof, "the gutter ends here and there is nothing but a hole!"
"They must have scooted right into the hole," Henny, the Dutch doll said.
Raggedy Andy lay flat upon the shiny tin and looked down into the hole.
"Are you down there, penny dolls?" he called. ”

“ When anyone puts his ear to me and listens, he hears the reflection of his own heart's music, singing; so, you see, while I say that I am singing all the time, in reality I sing only when someone full of happiness hears his own singing as if it were mine. ”

“ THE TAFFY PULL
"I know how we can have a whole lot of fun!" Raggedy Andy said to the other dolls. "We'll have a taffy pull!"
"Do you mean crack the whip, Raggedy Andy?" asked the French doll.
"He means a tug of war, don't you, Raggedy Andy?" asked Henny. ”

“ Marcella had not played with the dolls all that day, for she had gone visiting; so when the men hammered and made a lot of noise, the dolls could talk to each other without fear of anyone hearing or knowing they were really talking to each other.
"What are they doing now?" Raggedy Andy asked.
He was lying with his head beneath a little bed quilt, just as Marcella had dropped him when she left the nursery; so he could not see what was going on.
"We can only see the men's legs as they pass the window," answered Uncle Clem. "But they are putting new shingles or something on the roof!" ”

“ As you say in your Raggedy Ann book, "Fairyland must be filled with rag dolls, soft loppy rag dolls who go through all the beautiful adventures found there, nestling in the crook of a dimpled arm." I truly believe there is such a fairyland and that rag dolls were first made there, or [Pg 6] how else could they bring so much sunshine into a child's life? ”

“ It was nice to lie and watch the tiny things curl their little tails about the sea weed and talk together, for the sea horses like one another and are gentle and kind to each other, sharing their food happily and smoothing their little ones with their cunning noses. ”

“ Raggedy Andy replied, "I mean a taffy pull!"
"If it's lots of fun, then show us how to play the game!" Uncle Clem said. "We like to have fun, don't we?" And Uncle Clem turned to all the other dolls as he asked the question.
"It really is not a game," Raggedy Andy explained. "You see, it is only a taffy pull.
"We take sugar and water and butter and a little vinegar and put it all on the stove to cook. When it has cooked until it strings 'way out when you dip some up in a spoon, or gets hard when you drop some of it in a cup of water, then it is candy. ”

“ Quite often, too, Marcella forgot to wash their faces after a "tea," and Fido would do it for them when he came into the nursery and found the dolls with sweets upon their faces.
Really, Fido was quite a help in this way, but he often missed the corners of their eyes and the backs of their necks where the "tea" would run and get sticky. But he did his best and saved his little Mistress a lot of work.
No, Raggedy Andy did not speak; he merely thought a great deal.
One can, you know, when one has been a rag doll as long as Raggedy Andy had. Years and years and years and years! ”

“ The dolls, in their eagerness to have the taffy pull, were dancing about Raggedy Andy, but when Raggedy Ann spoke, in her soft cottony voice, they all quieted down and waited for her to speak again.
"I was just thinking," Raggedy Ann said, "that it would be very nice to have the taffy pull, but suppose some of the folks smell the candy while it is cooking."
"There is no one at home!" Raggedy Andy said. "I thought of that, Raggedy Ann. They have all gone over to Cousin Jenny's house and will not be back until day after tomorrow. I heard Mama tell Marcella." ”

“ Fido laughed.
"May we go with you and watch you color the Easter eggs?" Raggedy Andy begged.
"Indeed you may!" the Easter bunny answered. "Can you run fast?"
Then down through the garden and out through a crack in the fence the Easter bunny hopped, with a long string of dolls trailing behind.
When they came to the Easter bunny's home, they found Mama Easter bunny and a lot of little teeny weeny bunnies who would some day grow up to be big Easter bunnies like their Mama and Daddy bunny. ”

“ It was not because it hurt him, for you know Santa Claus always sees to it that each doll he makes in his great workshop [Pg 21] is covered with a very magical Wish, and this Wish always keeps them from getting hurt.
Henny could talk just as well as any of the other dolls when he was standing up, sitting, or lying down, but if he was being tipped forward and backward, all he could say was, "Mama."
This amused Henny as much as it did the other dolls, so when he jumped to his feet he laughed and threw the pillow back at Raggedy Andy. ”

“ Finally Raggedy Andy suggested that all the dolls lie down upon the floor directly before the shell and keep very quiet.
"If we don't make a sound we may be able to hear what it says!" he explained.
So the dolls lay down, placing themselves flat upon the floor directly in front of the shell and where they could see and admire its beautiful coloring. ”

“ Raggedy Andy laughed.
"Yes, I pulled and I pulled until I pulled one of Raggedy Andy's arms off," Raggedy Ann said. "And then I pulled and pulled until finally his feet came out of the wheel and we both tumbled to the floor!"
"Then we ran downstairs as fast as we could and climbed into bed, didn't we!" Raggedy Andy laughed. [Pg 25]
"Yes, we did!" Raggedy Ann replied. "And when we jumped into bed, we remembered that we had left Raggedy Andy's arm lying up on the attic floor, so we had to run back up there and get it! Remember, Raggedy Andy?"
"Yes! Wasn't it lots of fun?" ”

“ But when Marcella and I went out to Gran'ma's, last week, Gran'ma met us with a sleigh, for the ground was covered with starry snow. The pretty pond was covered with ice, too, and upon the ice was a soft blanket of the white, white snow. It was beautiful!" said Raggedy Andy. [Pg 82]
[Pg 83]
"Gran'ma had a lovely new sled for Marcella, a red one with shiny runners. ”

“ As Daddy walked out of the front gate, he turned to wave good-bye to Mama and Marcella and then he saw something.
Daddy came right back into the house and called up the men who had put in the new shiny tin gutters.
"The drain pipe is plugged up. Some of you must have left shavings or something in the eaves, and it has washed down into the pipe, so that the water pours over the gutter in sheets!"
"We will send a man right up to fix it!" the men said. ”

“ It would cure the most stubborn case of croup, measles, whooping cough or any other ailment the dolls had wished upon them by their little Mistress.
Some days all the dolls would be put to bed with "measles" but in the course of half an hour they would have every other ailment in the Doctor book.
The dolls enjoyed it very much, for, you see, Marcella always tried the medicine first to see if it was strong enough before she gave any to the dolls. ”