Laura Lee Hope

“ Dunn had hidden in the attic until it was time for Santa Claus to come around.
"Do you, indeed?" asked the Elephant. "You must have lots of fun."
"I do," answered the Brown Rat. "But who are you?" and he stood up among the spokes of the Spinning Wheel and looked over toward the moonlight patch on the floor where stood the new toy.
"I am a Stuffed Elephant," was the answer. "And I have just had the most dreadful adventure! I was pitched out of the auto into a snow bank."
"I don't like snow!" squeaked the Rat. "It's too cold. But I am glad to see you, Mr. Elephant. ”

“ Jake asked. He was somewhere in the loft of the barn.
"It's my Elephant!" Archie answered, trying to keep from crying. "My nice, Stuffed Christmas Elephant. He's hanging on a rope!"
"On a rope!" exclaimed Jake. "Do you mean this wheel rope that I use to hoist up bags of oats to the bin here? Is it that rope?"
"I don't know—but it's some rope!" Archie answered. "Can't you save my Elephant?"
"Of course I can!" called Jake. "Don't worry! Your Elephant isn't alive—choking with a rope can't hurt him!" ”

“ But the Elephant's troubles were not over. For no sooner had he been slid clear of the chute, landing on his feet, very luckily, than more oats poured out, for Archie was still holding open the door of the grain bin up above. So many oats came sliding down the chute that they rose all around the Elephant like rising water around a rock. The oats rose to his knees, to his stomach, where they tickled him a little, and then began to rise over his back. ”

“ So all the Stuffed Elephant could do was to swing his cloth trunk to and fro, as Archie pulled him over the smooth floor, and all the Sawdust Doll could do was to wave her arms a little.
The children thought it such fun to give the smaller toys rides on the back of the big, Stuffed Elephant that they shouted and laughed with glee, making a great deal of noise. And there was more noise when Dick, who owned the White Rocking Horse, came over with his friend Herbert, who had a toy Monkey on a Stick. ”

“ A man, who happened to be passing, saw the Elephant, picked him off the board, and, seeing that he was an expensive toy, took the plaything to his home.
"What a fine Elephant!" said the man's wife. "I'll put him on the mantel, over the stove, so he'll dry out more. Some child lost this. We haven't any children small enough to want to keep it. I wish I could find out who owned this Elephant."
"I wish so, myself," thought the Elephant. "Oh, shall I ever get back to Archie?" ”

“ The snowflakes are getting in my trunk! And they tickle me and make me want to sneeze. It's no fun to be in a snowdrift. I used to like to look at them through the window in the shop of Santa Claus, but they're prettier to look at than to be in.
"If only a lot of the Nodding Donkeys and four or five of the White Rocking Horses were here now, they could pull me out of this drift," went on the Elephant. "But they aren't, and I'll have to help myself. I wonder if I gave a trumpet or two through my trunk whether that would do any good?" ”

“ The children, I believe, really think their toys are alive, and can move about!"
"Of course we can, only you don't know it, and you never see us!" whispered the Stuffed Elephant to himself.
And then he winked one eye at a China Cat—an eye that neither Angelina nor Geraldine saw blinking. Gracious! how surprised the two ladies would have been to see a Stuffed Elephant winking one eye at a China Cat. ”

“ Did you lift Sidney's Calico Clown to your Stuffed Elephant's back, Archie?"
"Oh, no, Mother!" Archie answered. "It wasn't I."
"Nor I," said Elsie.
"And I didn't, either," said the other children in turn. [Pg 55]
"Well," said Mrs. Dunn, looking from one to the other, "of course the Clown couldn't have gotten up on the Elephant's back by himself, and of course the Elephant couldn't have lifted him there with his trunk. Though I know a live clown could jump on a live elephant's back, and a live elephant could lift a live clown up in his trunk. But these are only toys. They must be moved about." ”

“ Dunn, talking to himself, a way some jolly men have. "It's snowing worse, and I don't want to be kept out here all night. I want to get back with the Christmas presents. Archie will surely like that Stuffed Elephant."
And then, never thinking that the Elephant had been tossed out of the broken window into a bank of snow, Mr. Dunn started his car off on another road, leaving the poor Elephant stuck in the drift.
"Oh, this is dreadful! Terrible!" thought the Elephant. "I am freezing to death! Santa Claus wanted me to have adventures, but none like this, I'm sure! What shall I do?" ”

“ And at night, when Archie and Elsie were in bed, of course the Elephant, and the other toys in the Dunn house, had their usual fun. They would make believe come to life and talk and play about in the nursery or in the closet—wherever they happened to be left at the close of the day. ”

“ Dunn went to the toy store, and now he was having hard work to make his machine plow through the drifts on the way home.
"They took me away in such a hurry I had no time to say good-bye to any of my toy friends," thought the Elephant, as he snuggled down in the blanket in the rear of the auto. For elephants need to be kept warm, you know—that is, real ones, and this Stuffed Elephant made believe he was real. ”

“ Mugg's store, where I came from, there was a toy Merry-Go-Round, but it spun like a top."
"I'm not a regular Merry-Go-Round," said the Spinning Wheel. "I just make believe I'm one up here in the attic. Time was when I used to spin yarn for the grandmother of Mr. Dunn. But now all yarn is spun in factories by machinery, and spinning wheels are out of fashion. So I am up here in the dust, and it makes the time pass more quickly to pretend I am a Merry-Go-Round."
"Yes, and we Rats and Mice have good times!" ”

“ The haymow was a big place in the barn where the dried grass (which is what hay is, you know) was stored away. While the other children were having fun with their toys, Archie climbed to the mow to get some hay for his Elephant.
Now dried hay is slippery, as you know if you have ever tried to climb up a pile of it in a barn. And no sooner was Archie at the top of the mow than down he slid, on the hill of hay. ”

“ He is well made and strong, and he has heaps and heaps of cotton stuffing inside him. Even if he fell over on a little baby, this big Elephant would do no harm, as he is so soft." [Pg 25]
"He is, indeed," said the man, feeling the toy. "I suppose he doesn't bite?" he added, looking at Miss Angelina and smiling.
"Oh, of course he doesn't bite!" laughed Miss Mugg. "Shall I have him sent to your house so your son Archie will get him for Christmas?"
"Thank you, it is so near Christmas that I think I had better take the Elephant with me," said Mr. Dunn. ”

“ What child does not love to hear again and again these charming and thrilling tales that have been handed down through the ages from generation to generation—the best liked and the most famous of the world's myths, legends and fairy lore about animals, birds, witches, fairies, giants, dwarfs and beloved heroes and heroines from many different countries. ”

“ Wait a minute!" trumpeted the Elephant. "I have not fin [Pg 98] ished. It is also true," he went on, "that the Rake is very useful. Before the Shovel can be used the ground must be raked clean, and after the Shovel has spaded the earth, it must be raked smooth."
"There! I knew it! Oh, what a fine Judge! He is going to say I am entitled to the prize!" exclaimed the Rake, laughing.
"Not yet! Wait a minute!" cried the Elephant. "I have not finished! I want to say that the Pick used very good arguments. He is right when he says without him, in case the ground is hard, nothing can be done. ”

“ It's a toy Elephant that is lost," Mr. Dunn explained.
"Oh, that's different!" laughed the man. "I was wondering how a real elephant could get inside your car—unless he was a baby one."
"No, this was a toy one," said Mr. Dunn. "And I think I know where he [Pg 34] must have slipped out—back at the big drift where I broke the glass of the door, trying to smash my way through. I'll go back there and see if I can find Archie's Christmas present."
Back through the storm drove Mr. Dunn. The snow was coming down thicker and faster, and the wind was piling it into more drifts. ”

“ But Nip held Archie's Christmas plaything in his mouth, and you know a dog can't even bark when he has anything in his mouth. He can only growl.
Now, Nip was not a bad dog. And though he was playing a trick on the Stuffed Elephant, still Nip was not cross enough to do any growling. So he just kept still, and trotted along the barn floor, carrying the Elephant. [Pg 88]
Nip, being a big dog, had no trouble in carrying the Stuffed Elephant, though the toy was rather large. Stuffed with cotton, as the Elephant was, he was not very heavy, you see. ”

“ He had two white tusks sticking out on either side of his trunk, and at first you might have thought these tusks were toothpicks. But they were not. An elephant's tusks are really teeth, grown extra long so he can dig up the roots of trees and the plants on which he feeds.
But a Stuffed Elephant doesn't dig with his tusks, of course. He never has to eat, being already stuffed, you know. And the Elephant in this story was well stuffed with cotton. ”

“ Of course you know how the dust got on the Elephant's back. It came from the toys who rode him along the shelf. And, though neither of the Mugg sisters knew it, the Elephant had moved from his place on the shelf. He had walked all about it.
People began to come into the store to look about for Christmas. As Santa Claus is so busy nowadays he has to let some of [Pg 24] the toy buying be done by the grown folks, and a number of them came in to see what their little boys and girls would like. ”

“ Yes! The prize! The prize!" cried the Rake, the Shovel and the Pick, and away they scurried.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed another voice in the corner whence had come the three tools.
"What silly chaps!" came in another voice.
"To forget the most important thing of all—the prize!" added another.
"Who are you, if you please?" asked [Pg 100] the Elephant, stepping down off the onion crate.
"I'm the Hoe," was the answer of the first. "If I had wished I could have told how useful I am. In fact, I think I will have a try for the prize." ”

“ Mugg, as he and his daughters began dusting the toys, ready for the day's business, "Christmas is coming, and we shall soon be losing some of our toys."
"You mean people will come in to buy them," smiled Geraldine.
"Yes," her father answered.
"Well, I hope this lovely, big Stuffed Elephant goes to some one who will take [Pg 23] good care of him," remarked Angelina, as she moved the big toy farther front on the shelf. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "His back is all dusty!" ”

“ They might make my seams come open and the cotton stuffing puff out."
For the Elephant was made of gray cloth, you know, and he was sewed together, his tusks of wood being stuck in on either side of his trunk.
"I thought Elephants were always afraid of mice," said the Celluloid Doll, when she was having her ride.
"Pooh! Me afraid of a little mouse!" laughed the big Elephant. ”

“ Mugg mended it for me," went on the Donkey, proudly. "This Sawdust Doll here," he went on, "has also had many adventures. Tell him about them, Sawdust Doll."
"Oh, it would take too long," replied Dorothy's plaything. "But they are all in a book. And Dorothy's brother Dick has a White Rocking Horse, and his adventures are in a book, too."
"For that matter I have had a book written about me," said the Donkey. [Pg 51]
"So have I!" declared the Calico Clown, jumping up and down. "It tells about my trousers catching fire."
"I wonder if I'll ever have a book written about me," sighed the Elephant. ”

“ Archie played with his Elephant and Elsie with her Doll, and their boy and girl friends brought over their toys to have fun with. Often they amused themselves in the big, warm barn, [Pg 85] though never again did Archie go near the grain bin.
Sometimes Nip, the big dog, would go to the barn to play with the children, and once, though not meaning to, the Elephant gave the dog a scare. ”

“ And he was a very finely made toy, only the best cotton and cloth having been used.
"Does he squeak?" asked Geraldine, as she saw her sister set the creature with trunk and tusks on a broad shelf.
"Squeak? Goodness, of course not! What made you think that?"
"Well, some of the toy animals have a squeaker inside them, and make a noise when you press it. I was thinking perhaps the elephant had a squeaker."
"No. If he had anything he would have [Pg 7] a sort of trumpet in him," said Angelina. "Real elephants make a trumpeting noise through their trunks, but of course a stuffed one can't!" ”

“ Oh dear!"
"Can't you get yourself loose?" asked the Donkey. "I wish I could climb up and help you, but I can't." [Pg 67]
"And I'd help you, for I am a good climber, only I can't get off my stick. I'm fastened on tight just now," chattered Herbert's Monkey.
"Well, something will have to be done, if I am to be saved!" called the Elephant, of course not speaking loudly enough for the children, in another part of the barn, to hear.
Archie and his friends were still having fun sliding down the slippery hay, and they were making a great deal of noise. ”

“ But the children were having too much fun to leave the room. Mirabell with her Lamb and Joe with his Donkey looked at [Pg 49] the presents Santa Claus had brought for Elsie and Archie. Then there came a ring at the door bell, and in came a boy named Sidney, with a Calico Clown, and a girl named Dorothy with a Sawdust Doll. These toys were not new Christmas presents, for Dorothy and Sidney had brought only their old toys, since it was snowing again.
The Stuffed Elephant was getting excited. He had heard these other toys spoken of by his friends in Mr. Mugg's store, and wanted to talk to them. ”