Bobbsey Twins

“ Bobbsey began to talk about ways of helping poor children, and Flossie and Freddie did not listen any more. Besides, just then the train was passing along a field in which were many horses, some of which raced alongside the cars, and that interested the twins.
"Oh, look at 'em run!" cried the fresh air boy who sat in front of the smaller Bobbsey twins. "Don't they go fast?" ”

“ Then with the playing of more games, and the singing of songs, the affair came to a close, and good-nights were said.
"We've had a lovely time!" said the boys and girls to Flossie and Freddie, as they left.
"Glad you did—come again," invited the small Bobbsey twins.
Even Snap seemed to have enjoyed himself. And when the house was settling down to quietness for the night, and when Dinah and Mrs. Bobbsey were picking up the dishes, the circus dog marched around like a soldier, with a stick for a gun, and one of the fancy caps, that came in the "surprise" packets, on his head. ”

“ Bobbsey. “He wants you and me, Mary, to come to him at once. I think we’ll have to go. It may be his last illness. We’d better start in the morning.”
“Oh, will you take us with you?” begged Nan. “I remember Uncle Rossiter. Can’t we go with you?”
“Take us! Take us!” begged Flossie and Freddie.
Mr. Bobbsey shook his head.
“No,” he answered slowly, “it would be out of the question to take you twins. You’ll have to stay at home and keep house by yourselves. Mother and I will need to leave in a hurry. We can’t take you.”
Sad looks were on the faces of all the Bobbsey twins. ”

“ This was a large city not far from Lakeport, a smaller city where the Bobbsey twins lived. "Others are from Lakeport," went on the lady, speaking to Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Indeed!" exclaimed Freddie's mother. "I did not know there was a fresh air society in our city."
"It has only just been formed," said the lady, who was a Miss Carter. "We haven't much money left, I'm sorry to say."
"Then you must let me give you some," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And I will get some friends of mine to give money also. Our own children enjoy it so much in the country that I want to see others have a good time, too." ”

“ Flossie and Freddie were in bed and asleep when Mr. Bobbsey and Bert and Nan reached the hotel again, and, after a little talk with their mother, telling her what they had seen, the two older Bobbsey twins "turned in," as Bert called it, having used this expression when camping on Blueberry Island, and taking the voyage on the deep, blue sea.
Because they were rather tired from their trip, none of the Bobbseys arose very early the next morning.
"It's a real treat to me to be able to lie in bed one morning as long as I like," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a happy sigh as Flossie crept in with her. ”

“ Bobbsey, for she saw Bert lifting Freddie up into the small wagon, while Nan was doing the same for Flossie.
"They won't hurt it, ma'am," said the foreman. "I brought that pony cart around on purpose, so you could give it to the children. It's been here some time, but as there weren't any children it hasn't been used much. The boys got the cart out and mended it when they heard the Bobbsey twins were coming."
"That is very kind of them, I'm sure," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Is the pony safe to drive?" ”

“ With so much to think about, the few weeks that were left between vacation and the country passed quickly for the Bobbseys. As told in any first book, "The Bobbsey Twins," this little family had a splendid home in Lakeport, where Mr. Bobbsey was a lumber merchant. The mother and father were both young themselves, and always took part in their children's joys and sorrows, for there were sorrows sometimes. Think of poor little Freddie getting shut up all alone in a big store with only a little black kitten, "Snoop," to keep him from being scared to death ”

“ In a minute more the Bobbsey twins were at the barn where the sugar and molasses cookies Dinah had given them were put in a safe place.
"There are the ropes!" exclaimed Bert, as he pointed to some dangling from a beam near the haymow.
"They're too high to climb!" Nan said, for some of the ropes were fast to the rafters of the barn.
"Oh, we won't climb 'em!" Bert quickly returned, for he knew his mother would never allow this. "We'll just swing on 'em, low down near this pile of hay, so if we fall we can't hurt ourselves." ”

“ Never had the Bobbsey twins had as much fun as they did the day of their visit to Mr. Whipple's store. They were sorry when the late afternoon gave the signal for starting back home.
"But we'll have fun to-morrow," said Bert to Nan, as they reached their hotel.
"How do you know?" she asked.
" 'Cause I heard Daddy tell Mother he was going to take us to Bronx Park to see the animals."
"Oh, will we see the monkeys?" cried Flossie, who heard what her older brother had said.
"Well, there are plenty of them there, so I've read," went on Bert. "Big ones, too." ”

“ Won't we have the best times ever was!" And this proved to be a fact. What happened to the Bobbsey twins at Meadow Brook will be told in another book which I shall call, "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country." The country is a lovely place, especially in the summer time, and all of my young readers can rest assured that the twins enjoyed themselves at Meadow Brook to the utmost.
"I'll be so glad to see Cousin Harry again," said Bert.
"And I'll be glad to see Aunt Sarah," piped in Freddie. "She makes such beautiful pies!" ”

“ CHAPTER V THE STRANGE BOY The Bobbsey twins looked at one another, and then at their mother, as Mr. Bobbsey went out of the living room of the houseboat, toward the stairway that led up on deck.
Bert tried to look brave, and as though he did not care. Nan moved a little closer to her mother. As for Flossie, she, too, was a little frightened, but Freddie did not seem at all alarmed.
"Is it somebody come to take the boat away from us?" he asked in his high-pitched, childish voice. "If it is—don't let 'em, papa." ”

“ Bobbsey. "Your father had a letter from the miner uncle to-day, saying he was going to make a miner of Will. He gave up the idea of going to sea."
"And will he dig gold?" asked Flossie.
"I suppose so, dear!"
"Oh, I'm going to dig gold when I grow to be a man," said Freddie. "May I have another marshmallow, Nan?" "Yes, little fat fireman," she laughed.
A few days later, after making a trip around the lower end of the lake, the Bobbsey twins started for home, reaching there safely, and having no more trouble with Mr. Hardee and his wire fence. ”

“ Keep away from 'em!"
"Yes indeed they must!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Are there any other dangers out here?"
"Well, not many, no, ma'am. And rattlers aren't to be feared if you let 'em alone. Just keep clear of 'em. They'll run away from you rather than fight."
Up and down little, rolling hills went the wagon, drawing the Bobbsey twins. They dipped down into a hollow, and for a time nothing could be seen but green fields.
"Where are the cows?" asked Nan.
"And the cowboys?" Bert wanted to know. ”

“ As for Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah, they said they would go to the fair another day.
"Will you ask Mr. Blipper about your coat and the missing robe?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, on the way to the fair grounds.
"Yes. And I'll ask him about Bob Guess, also," her husband answered. "There is something strange about that boy."
The Bobbsey twins and Harry were talking among themselves, while Nan also looked after Flossie and Freddie.
"They're going to put the big balloon up to-day," said Harry.
"They are if the wind doesn't blow too much," Bert agreed. "And I'm afraid it's blowing too hard. ”

“ Out into the storm again went the Bobbsey twins. It was snowing as hard as ever, but they were not afraid now, for they each had hold of the man's hands, and they felt sure he would get them safely home.
"Are you all right now?" asked the man, as he walked along in the snow, kicking away the flakes in a cloud such as a plow might throw on either side.
"Yes, we're all right now," Freddie said. "But we'll be righter when we get home."
"So mamma won't worry," added Flossie. "Mothers worry when their children are lost."
"That's too bad," said the man. "It isn't good for mothers to worry. ”

“ It isn't cold. I can ride home without a coat."
"There's a lap robe in the auto," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "You can wrap that about you if you get chilly on the way home."
"Yes," agreed Mr. Bobbsey, "I can do that. Trot along, Bobbsey twins. Get into your picnic truck, and we'll see who gets home first."
"Like Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf," laughed Flossie.
While Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey walked over to where Mr. Bobbsey had left the runabout auto in which he and his wife had come to the picnic grounds, Bert, Nan, and the other children took their places in the big truck. ”

“ Bert asked.
"Well, hardly, I think," his father answered. "But if we don't like the play, after we get there, we can come home," he added, his eyes twinkling.
"Oh, Daddy!" cried all the Bobbsey twins at once. ”

“ Bobbsey's lumber yard for a long time.
One day, about a week after this, the Bobbsey twins hurried home from school without stopping to play with any of their friends.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" asked Grace Lavine of Nan.
"We expect our cousins to-day," Nan answered. "Then we are going to get ready to go away in our houseboat."
Surely enough, when the twins reached home, there the cousins were to greet them—Dorothy and Harry, one from the seashore, and the other from the country. ”

“ The Bobbsey twins were too wide-awake, their mother thought, to go to sleep so soon after the excitement, so she let them sit up a while to get quiet.
Going to the end of the car, in the little passageway near the wash room, Bert and Nan could look out of the window. They saw men with flaring oil torches hurrying here and there. These were the railroad workers getting ready to put the train back on the track. ”

“ While this happy meeting and reunion was taking place on Hemlock Island and while the smaller Bobbsey twins were thus made happy by finding their father and mother again, Bert and Nan were very unhappy back at Meadow Brook Farm. They had safely reached the home of their uncle and aunt, being taken there in Mr. Blackford's automobile.
"Oh, dear me, what dreadful news!" exclaimed Aunt Sarah, when told about Flossie and Freddie having been carried away in the balloon. "Shall we ever see those dear children again?" ”

“ Hickson of Lakeport, saying he was sure the ranch and lumber foremen were his two missing boys. Mr. Bobbsey sent the old man money to come out to the ranch, where Bill and his brother were still staying. And on the day when Hiram Hickson was to arrive the Bobbsey twins were very much excited indeed.
"Maybe, after all, these won't be his boys," said Nan.
"Oh, I guess they will," declared Bert.
And, surely enough, when Hiram Hickson met the two foremen he held out his hands to them and cried:
"My two boys! My lost boys! Grown to be men! Oh, I'm so glad I have found you again!" ”

“ Bobbsey, when told of the news, "must we stay here all night?"
"Unless I hire another auto, or you and the children go on by train," said her husband. "I shall have to stay here to bring our car on."
"Oh, I don't want that! No, we'll stay at the hotel. But what about him?" she asked in a low voice, pointing to Bob Guess, who was talking to the twins.
"That's so. We can't turn him adrift," Mr. Bobbsey agreed. "Well, I'll get a room for him at the hotel. In the morning I can decide what to do. I don't like to send him back to Blipper. But if the man has adopted him he has a claim on the boy. ”

“ But I am going to the fair again with the children, and I'll get at Blipper sooner or later."
"Well, if you go to the fair again, please keep an eye on Freddie!" begged the mother of the Bobbsey twins. "He's a little tyke when it comes to slipping away and doing strange things."
"Yes, he is," agreed her husband. But the next day was to prove that Flossie could also "slip away," when there was a chance. ”

“ The smaller twins were delighted to hear the account of the adventures of Nan and Bert in the night, and Freddie declared that the next time his father went on a trip like that he was going too.
“Well, so you didn’t find the old woman after all?” remarked Mrs. Bobbsey, after she had talked matters over quietly with her husband.
“No. And it begins to look as if we never should. She is more of a mystery than ever. I have notified the police of Hankertown, though, and they said they would keep a lookout for her.” ”

“ A baby! A darling baby!” gasped Mrs. Bobbsey.
“Whose is it?” asked Mr. Bobbsey. “Some one must have lost it!”
“They don’t lose babies!” declared his wife. “It was left here!”
“Left here! On purpose, do you mean?” cried her husband.
Mrs. Bobbsey nodded her head solemnly. Nan had stooped over and was lifting the tiny creature from its nest in the basket.
“Oh, Mother! may we keep it?” begged Flossie.
“Is it a boy or a girl?” demanded Freddie. “If it’s a boy, keep it!”
“Bring it in, Nan,” said Mrs. Bobbsey. “The poor little dear! It must be almost perished with the cold—and hungry, too! ”

“ Watson. “It’s very pretty when the water is high; and in winter, when it freezes, it is even more beautiful. But I know some one who is sleepy!” she went on in a singing voice.
“I’m not!” quickly cried Flossie. “I didn’t come here to sleep.”
“She means Jenny,” whispered Nan, and, sure enough, the little one’s head was nodding and her eyes were closing. Her mother wrapped Jenny in a blanket and put her down under a tree, while Mr. Bobbsey got out the lunch baskets and the Bobbsey twins scattered here and there to play. ”