Freddie

“ Freddie said, his face very red, as he straightened up. [101]
"No, I wouldn't if I were you," returned his mother with a smile. "Never put your head or your arm in any place unless you are sure you can get it out again. Sometimes a cat will put her head in a tin can to get whatever there may be in it to eat. And the edges of the tin catch on her ears just as yours were caught, Freddie. So be careful after this."
Freddie promised that he would, and then the hiding game went on. Only Freddie, you may be sure, did not look behind the piano again, and no one hid there. ”

“ Jacqueline’s spirit fairly chittered within her. But Freddie kept on crying—and he was just a baby. She couldn’t let him suffer there alone in the storm.
“Be a sport!” she told herself, through chattering teeth, and: “Nellie, you shut up!” she said aloud, in a harsh, snappy voice.
Out of the bed she got, and she set her teeth tight, and she made herself run straight into the next room. By a flash of lightning she could see poor Freddie, with his face dark and convulsed, as he sat screaming in his crib, and she could see Aunt Martha’s bed, with the coverings turned back, and Aunt Martha—gone. ”

“ Manily, "I'm just scared to death!"
"Dinah, I want to go home," cried Freddie. "Take me right straight home."
"Hush, children, you are safe," insisted their mother. "The stage driver will be back in a few minutes."
"But what is that funny noise?" asked Freddie. "It ain't no cow, nor no dog." ”

“ But it is when the refreshments are served that Freddie reaches the top of his form. He always insists on helping to pass plates and glasses, and when he gets a big armful of them he pretends to stumble. It is as good as a play to see the hostess’ face. ”

“ So Fred and Bertie stood somewhat in awe of this Great-Aunt Patience; and when the dear old lady arrived, and papa and mamma went to the cars to meet her, the two boys were watching rather timidly for the carriage, at the parlor-windows.
As she came up the steps, leaning on papa's arm, little Bertie exclaimed, "Oh, see, Freddie! she is not great at all: she is as little as a girl."
"Yes, and she laughs too," said Fred; "and her eyes are as blue as mamma's, and her hair as white as a snowdrift." ”

“ Freddie shot an appreciative glance at his companion. Freddie, as he would have admitted frankly, was not much of a lad for the modern girl. The modern girl, he considered, was too dashed rowdy and exuberant for a chappie of peaceful tastes. Now, this girl, on the other hand, had all the earmarks of being something of a topper. She had a soft voice. Rummy accent and all that, but nevertheless a soft and pleasing voice. She was mild and unaggressive, and these were qualities which Freddie esteemed. ”

“ I'm going to be an actor man and a fireman too," replied Freddie. "I can act in a theatre when there aren't any fires to be put out."
"But what would you do if you were all dressed up as an actor man when you had to go out to put out a fire?" asked his sister.
"Oh, I'd just tell the people that I couldn't act any more, and then I'd run right out and get my engine," answered Freddie simply.
"I guess I'd like to be an actor man too," put in Laddie. "I heard a big boy tell once that they earn bushels and bushels of money." ”

“ The lumber pile with Freddie on top, was falling over. Freddie did not know what to do; whether or not to jump. He looked down, but neither James nor any other man was in sight; and the office, where Freddie's father was working, was far on the other side of the yard. ”

“ So reflected Freddie Rooke, that priceless old bean, sitting disconsolately in an arm-chair at the Drones Club about two weeks after Jill’s departure from England, waiting for his friend Algy Martyn to trickle in and give him dinner.
Surveying Freddie, as he droops on his spine in the yielding leather, one is conscious of one’s limitations as a writer. ”

“ Snap is going to be my horse," explained Freddie. "I'm going to hitch him to my express wagon, and Flossie and I are going to have a ride."
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Bert. "You won't get much of a ride with THAT harness," and he looked at the thin cord which the small boy was winding about the dog's neck.
"Why not?" asked Freddie, a little hurt at Bert's laughter. Freddie, like all small boys, did not like to be laughed at.
"Why, Snap is so strong that he'll break that string in no time," said
Bert. "Besides—"
"Flossie's gone in for our booty straps, I tell you!" ”

“ He is never at a loss for a{6} screaming crack. If the hostess asks him to have a chair Freddie comes right back at her with “No, thanks; we have chairs at home.” If the host offers him a cigar he will say just like a flash, “What’s the matter with it?” If one of the men borrows a cigarette and a light from him Freddie will say in that dry voice of his, “Do you want the coupons too?” Of course his wit is pretty fairly caustic, but no one ever seems to take offense at it. I suppose there is everything in the way he says things.
And he is practically a whole vaudeville show in himself. ”

“ Really I couldn’t!” protested Freddie, as he tried to climb out of the box of soft peaches.
“I know you couldn’t help it, my dear,” his mother said, as she and Bert helped him to climb over the edge of the box. “But you should never lean too far to one side when you are up on a ladder. Oh, Freddie, you are a [Pg 126] sad sight!” she sighed as she looked at his soiled garments. “And Mr. Watson’s peaches! Oh, dear!”
“Freddie looks like a peach short-cake,” remarked Nan. ”

“ But no Freddie was in sight near the shingle pile.
"Humph! He got tired of waiting, I guess," thought James, "and went back to his father's office. Well, if he comes back I'll help him. He's a queer little chap, wanting to build a ship. A queer little chap."
And James never thought of going to look for Freddie, for the lumber pile, which had fallen and made itself into a sort of play-house was some distance away from the bundle of shingles. So James sat there in the sun, waiting, and, far off, Freddie was calling for help. For he wanted to get out, very much. ”

“ My Freddie, you didn't do it!" But a dire, fateful fear clamped upon her heart, doubting not her boy directly, but herself. Because he was hers, he had been fated; he would never be let to live, prosperous and honorable. ”

“ But the next second she saw Freddie himself, with a crowd of men around him, and they were all laughing.
"Oh, Freddie! where did you go and what have you been doing?" cried his frightened mother as she caught him up in her arms.
"I've been having rides in the elevator," announced the small boy. "And it went as fast as anything! I rode up and down lots of times!"
"Yes, that's what he did," said the elevator man, with a laugh. "I didn't pay much attention to him at first, but when I saw that he was staying in my car trip after trip, I asked him at what floor he wanted to get out. ”

“ How would you like it?"
"Oh, please take us!" begged Laddie.
"Where is it?" Freddie asked, ready to go at once.
"In my store," said Mr. Whipple.
"A store is a funny place for a camp in the woods," said Freddie. He and Flossie had often pretended to camp out in a tent made from a blanket or quilt, and they knew what it meant.
"Well, you just come and see it," laughed Mr. Whipple. "If your folks say it's all right, I'll take you all to-morrow."
"Oh, we'll come!" cried Freddie. "I love a camp!" ”

“ Crow ever took, Freddie at last reached the railroad, where he promptly sat himself down between the rails to wait for a train. And there Freddie Firefly stayed all alone, in the dark, with nothing to keep from feeling forlorn except the croaking of a band of noisy frogs in a pool near-by.
After a while Freddie began to grow so weary of his new task that he wished he had never taken Mrs. Ladybug's advice.
"I don't believe I like working," he said with a sigh, as he thought of the good time his family was having at that very moment, dancing in Farmer Green's meadow. ”

“ The last act of the show proved to be uproariously funny, and Freddie laughed and laughed until he was in danger of rolling on the floor again. But he was held fast in his seat, and so that danger was averted.
"Say, Freddie, wouldn't you like to be an actor man?" questioned Flossie, during a brief interval in the play.
"Sure, I'm going to be an actor man when I grow up," responded her brother quickly. "But you're going to be a fireman too, ain't you?" ”

“ When you have seen him do this it will be small surprise to you that Freddie is in such demand for social functions.
But Freddie is not one of those humourists who perform only when out in society. All day long he is bubbling over with fun. And the beauty of it is that he is not a mere theorist, as a joker; practical—that’s Freddie all over.
If he isn’t sending long telegrams, collect, to his friends, then he is sending them packages of{11} useless groceries, C. O. D. A telephone is just so much meat to him. ”

“ That game will be as good as any to play, and I can do it sitting down, which is a comfort."
"Oh, but it's going to be a real ship!" declared Freddie. "I've got the nails to put it together with, and string for the sails. I can use a stone for a hammer," and he began to look about on the ground for one.
James scratched his head as he saw the bent and crooked nails Freddie had piled up on a bundle of shingles near by. Then the watchman glanced at the tangle of string.
"As soon as I find a stone for a hammer we'll start," Freddie said. "You can get out the boards." ”

“ Punch, young feller," said a deep voice from the shop door.
Freddie looked, and in the doorway, leaning against the doorpost, with his hands in his trousers' pockets, [Pg 3] and one foot crossed over the other, stood a little man, not so very much taller than himself, and certainly no taller than the figure on the stand, who stared at Freddie as if he knew all about human boys and did not trust them out of his sight. Freddie looked at him and then at the wooden figure beside the door; they might have been brothers. The little man had a hump on his back, and his breast stuck out in front ”

“ Uncle Robert looked into the bag, and sure enough Freddie was "all packed."
"Well, Freddie," said his uncle, "I am not going now. When you are older you shall go."
Freddie did not at first want to give up the idea. Uncle Robert talked kindly, and gave him a gold dollar. So Freddie behaved like a good little boy, and waited until he was older.
—ELIZABETH ORR WILLIAMS.
MAKING MAPLE SUGAR. Let's go down in the wood-lot," said John to his little brother Tim, one day, "and tap a tree and make maple sugar. I can't find the gimlet, but I've got a big nail and the hammer." ”

“ Jill darted forward. Always a girl who believed that, if you want a thing well done, you must do it yourself, she had applied to Freddie for assistance merely as a matter of form. All the time she had felt that Freddie was a broken reed, and such he had proved himself. Freddie’s policy in this affair was obviously to rely on the magic of speech, and any magic his speech might have had was manifestly offset by the fact that he was wearing white spats and that Henry, apparently, belonged to some sort of league or society which had for its main object the discouragement of white spats. ”

“ SNOOP IS GONE
"Papa, do you think a tiger would come in here?" asked Freddie, remembering all the stories of wild animals he had heard in his four years.
"Or a lion?" asked Flossie.
"Of course not!" exclaimed Nan. "Can't you see that all the wild animals are still in their cages?"
"Maybe some of 'em are loose," suggested Freddie, and he almost hoped so, as long as his father was there to protect him.
"I guess the circus men can look after them," said Bert. "May I get off, father, and look around?" ”

“ And all this time Freddie and Flossie were quite unconcerned playing on the island.
"Oh, there's a man!" shouted Freddie, seeing someone in the woods. "Maybe it's Friday. Say there, Mister!" he shouted, "Say, will you help us get to land?"
The man heard the child's voice and hurried to the edge of the lake.
"Wall, I declare!" he exclaimed, "if them babies ain't lost out there. And here comes their boat. Well, I'll just fetch them in before they try to swim out," he told himself, swinging into the drifting boat, and with the stout stick he had in his hand, pushing off for the little island. ”

“ There must have been people above them, and they must certainly have all been boys; for from up there Freddie heard a clapping of hands and a stamping of feet, all in a regular time, which spread to the whole house, and in the midst of it the boys up there began to shout and call and whistle, and in a few minutes there was such a hubbub as only boys could make, with whistling between the fingers leading the riot. Toby nudged Freddie again with his elbow, and to Freddie's surprise began to clap his hands and stamp his feet with the rest ”

“ Elephants don't eat anything but hay," said Freddie, who, of course, did not mean to be impolite, speaking to his aunt that way. "Frank told me so," he went on, "and I saw them eat hay. They eat a awful lot, and one of them took all my peanuts."
"Well, I'll buy you some more," said Uncle Daniel with a laugh. "You deserve it after the trouble you have had—getting lost and all that."
"I—I wasn't losted!" declared Freddie again. "I knew—"
"Oh, look at the balloons!" cried Flossie, as she saw a man outside the circus grounds selling the red, green and yellow gas-bags. "I want one, mamma!" ”