Jacko

“ Jacko no sooner heard the door shut than he jumped up from his basket, where it was supposed he was fast asleep, [32] and looked round the room to see what mischief he could be at. He first leaped upon a table where there were some beautiful prints, and unfortunately there was also an inkstand: well, Jacko peeped into this, and thinking, I suppose, what it contained would be good to drink, took hold of it in his paw and put it to his mouth, but spit it all out again a great deal faster than he had swallowed it. ”

“ At last Jacko could stand it no longer, so looking to the right and left, and finally fixing his eyes on the guests opposite, he quietly lifted up his hand behind his master’s back, and gave his tail such a tug as made the powder fly, withdrew his hand in an instant, and sat with a vacant expression of the greatest innocence. People don’t like to have their tails pulled. His master gave him a look, and Jacko gave him another, but even the eloquent expression of Hogarth’s monkey on the offending bear’s back fell short of it. ”

“ And I'm much stronger now. But I'll fix that fox."
"How?" asked Jacko.
"Why, you go close to the front door," said the doll, "and pretend that you are coming out. Rattle the knob, you know. Then I'll go to an upstairs window, right over the door, and when the fox is standing there I'll pour molasses on him and he'll be so sticky that he can't even eat a toothpick."
"Fine!" cried Jacko, so he and his brother rattled the door knob.
"Ah! Here comes my monkey dinner!" said the fox, smacking his lips hungry like. ”

“ When he is in a good temper he will say, “Poor, poor!” He will sit upon the ivy all the morning and talk to himself, and he will call the gardener, and he will cough and sneeze, and crow and cackle, in a very funny manner. If Jacko sees sparrows picking up a few crumbs, he will rush up, sweeping his great wings along the ground, and take their meal for himself. If he sees poor Pussy picking a bone, he takes great delight in creeping down from his ivy, helping himself down with beak and claws, and at a sight of Jacko's approach Pussy darts away, leaving the bone in Jacko's possession. ”

“ Jacko laughed till the tears ran down her cheeks—never, since her marriage, had Jacko laughed so much.
"Oh, Dr. Grimshaw! Don't you see she is getting worse and worse. How can you have the heart to stand there and not go for a physician?" said Mrs. Waugh, while Mary L'Oiseau looked on, mute with terror, and the commodore stood with his fat eyes protruding nearly to bursting. ”

“ They just took the organ and started off with it.
"Now we must play the very best tunes, and you must do some of your finest tricks," said Jacko, as they walked along until they came to a row of brick houses. "This will be a good place to begin," said the red monkey boy. "Rich people must live here."
Well, I just wish you could have heard Jacko play that hand organ. Really, he did as well as you could, turning the handle sometimes with his left paw, and sometimes with his right and sometimes with his tail.
"Oh, mamma!" cried a little girl at one window. ”

“ So the red monkey and his friends went to the edge of the hill and looked over. Oh! it was a very steep, dark place, and when Jacko saw how far down he'd have to go he was a bit afraid.
"I don't believe I can go down there," he said, wriggling his tail. "But I will try, because it was my fault that the ball went over. I'll climb down."
"No, don't do that," spoke Sammie Littletail. "You might fall and be hurt. See, here is a long wild grapevine. The vine is just like a rope. We can tie one end around you while we hold on the other end. ”

“ One day Jacko was perched on the top of a tall ladder in the studio, when a lad suddenly came in bringing back a large lion's skin which Tony had sent to be mounted. The boy had hung the skin over his back, and it partly covered his head; and his appearance, and the smell of the skin, so terrified Jacko, that he turned quite faint and fell down from the ladder.
He was promptly picked up and soon restored to his senses, but in the sudden fall his frozen tail had snapped right off, and Jacko had to pass the remainder of his life a tail-less monkey. ”

“ Say, I just wish you could have seen Mugsie Smugsie when Susie got through talking to him. His fuzzy face flushed all red and he dug his paw down in the dirt bashful like and then he felt very much ashamed for having made fun of Jacko when his mamma was sick.
"I—I didn't know all that," stammered Mugsie Smugsie. "I'd like to help you wash those dishes myself, Jacko, if you'll let me."
So this shows that Mugsie wasn't bad all the way through, you see. Nobody is, I guess; there are good spots in everybody, only some folks have more spots than others. ”

“ It is a mistake to suppose the fox cannot be tamed. Jacko was a very clever little animal, and behaved, in all respects, with propriety. He kept Sunday as well as any day, and all the ten commandments that he could understand. He was a very graceful playfellow, and seemed to have an affection for me. He lived in a wood-pile in the dooryard, and when I lay down at the entrance to his house and called him, he would come out and sit on his tail and lick my face just like a grown person. ”

“ I'll be home after a while, and you and I will have an auto ride, Jumpo."
So Jacko stayed there by the big, black stump, while the others went on to race again. And the first thing Jacko knew was that he heard something moving in the bushes behind the stump.
"My goodness!" he exclaimed, jumping up. "I hope that isn't a bad fox or a wolf." So he got ready to run, but before he could jump out of the way, out came a big black bear. And, no sooner had the bear seen Jacko, than the shaggy creature rushed up to the monkey, and tied a rope around his neck. ”

“ Dance and make funny faces. Stand on your tail."
Then the bear pulled hard on the string about Jacko's neck and the poor monkey had to do all sorts of tricks. He made believe he was a soldier and marched around. He jumped over a stick of wood, pretended to beat a drum and ring a bell, and then he turned two somersaults, one after the other, as quick as a stick of lemon candy.
"You are doing very well," whispered the bear in Jacko's ear, after he had taken up a collection. "Keep on and I will soon be rich. Now we will go a long distance and do more tricks." ”

“ By this time all the children in the block had heard about the two monkeys with the hand organ, and the boys and girls came with so many pennies that Jumpo's cap was hardly large enough to hold them.
"Oh, Jacko, we've got as much as fifty cents!" he cried as they went on to the next block, and there they got more money until they had over a dollar. And then a big dog chased them, and the two monkey boys hurried back home.
"But we've got enough to buy our auto," said [Pg 113] Jacko, "so it's all right. Oh, won't we have fun in it!" ”

“ The captain, who never wasted words on his subordinates, pointed to Jacko, and Double Mouth at once began to give chase with an activity which proved that the captain had chosen well. As a matter of fact Jacko and Double Mouth were dear friends, the bond of sympathy which united them being one of greediness, for many a nice morsel Jacko had to thank the cook’s boy for. So when the monkey saw who was coming, instead of trying to escape him he ran to meet him, and in a few minutes the two friends, one in the other’s arms, returned to the deck where the captain awaited them. ”

“ Double Mouth did not wait to be told twice, but was up the rigging like a squirrel, only the faster he climbed the faster Jacko plucked, until when the rescuer reached the spot it was a sadly bare bird which he tore from Jacko’s vindictive hands and carried back to his master. ”

“ Briant was interrupted by a sudden roar of laughter from the men, who at that moment caught sight of Jacko, the small monkey, in a condition of mind and body that, to say the least of it, did him no credit. We are sorry to be compelled to state that Jacko was evidently and undoubtedly tipsy. Gurney said he was “as drunk as a fiddler.”
We cannot take upon ourself to say whether he was or was not as drunk as that. We are rather inclined to think that fiddlers, as a class, are maligned, and that they are no worse than their neighbours in this respect, perhaps not so bad. ”

“ Just as the Portuguese turned away to embark in their boat, Ailie’s eye alighted on her pet; at the same moment the foot of the Portuguese commander alighted on her pet’s tail. Now the tails of all animals seem to be peculiarly sensitive. Jacko’s certainly was so, for he instantly uttered a shriek of agony, which was as quickly responded to by its adopted mother in a scream of alarm as she sprang forward to the rescue. When one unintentionally treads on the tail of any animal and thereby evokes a yell, he is apt to start and trip—in nine cases out of ten he does trip. ”

“ But though they pushed and pulled and twisted and turned everything they could see or think of, the auto stood still just like a tree growing in the woods.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Jumpo, "we may have to stay here all night, and the grocery store will close before we can get to it, and we can't have any molasses cookies."
"I'll tell you what we'll do," spoke Jacko. "You skip off through the woods to the store, and get the things, and I'll stay here and see if I can fix the auto. By the time you get back with the yeast cake and flour and molasses, I may have it running." ”

“ Jacko got his example all twisted up, and the answer wouldn't come right. And Jumpo's numbers got all snarled up, until the figure six looked like a nine and the figure eight like a brown cruller which his mamma sometimes made in the lard kettle.
"Oh, dear!" cried both the monkey boys. "We'll never get done in time to go auto riding before dark."
"Never mind," spoke their mamma, "I'll help you." And she did; but even then it was dark before they were finished, and quite too late to go out in the auto, for they might have hit a lamp post and bent the rubber tires into a figure forty-'leven. ”

“ Jacko himself was rather stiff, but he soon recovered his circulation and wonted activity, except in his tail, which remained frozen, and which, having frozen whilst curled round Michette's tail, retained a corkscrew form—a shape unknown amongst monkeys, and which had the funniest appearance you can imagine. ”

“ Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, suddenly rushed at Jacko, trying to kick the ball before the monkey boy could do so, but Jacko was too quick for Johnnie, and kicked it first. Away sailed the ball, farther than ever, and then something happened. The football went right over a high, steep, straight-up-and-down hill, and fell into a big hole on the other side.
"Oh, there goes my ball!" cried Jimmie Wibblewobble, and he tried not to cry, though he felt very much like it.
"Never mind, we can get it again," said Billie Bushytail. "You oughtn't to kick so strong, Jacko." ”

“ STORY V JUMPO AND THE ICE CREAM
It was a few days after Jumpo Kinkytail, the little green monkey boy, had been taken ill with the sniffle-snuffles, and now he was all better, for the hot peanuts had made him well. He and his brother Jacko, the red monkey, were hurrying along the road together to get to school before the last bell rang.
"For we must not be late," said Jumpo.
"No, indeed," agreed Jacko. "Shall I carry your books for you, Jumpo? You are not yet strong from having been ill." ”

“ Jacko took the erasers and a cloth and so did the teacher and they began work. The red monkey boy could hear the other animal chaps playing ball outside, and getting ready to fly their kites, and the girls were shouting and giggling and screaming like anything, and they didn't know why they did it, either, but girls most always scream, you know.
"They are having lots of fun," said the owl teacher to Jacko, "aren't you sorry you stayed in to help me?" ”

“ It is commonly observed that, among men, the ruling passion comes out strongly when they are under the influence of strong drink. So it is with monkeys. Jacko’s ruling passion was thieving; but having, at that time, no particular inducement to steal, he indulged his next ruling passion—that of affection—by holding out both arms, and staggering towards Phil Briant to be taken up.
A renewed burst of laughter greeted this movement. “It knows ye, Phil,” cried Jim Scroggles. ”

“ But they did.
"All right, then, we'll earn the money," said Jacko. "Come on, Jumpo."
"Don't stay away too long," cautioned their mamma, and she smiled as the two little monkey boys slid down the tree in which the house was built, and hurried away.
"How are we going to make money?" asked Jumpo, as he followed after his brother. "Are you going to gather up old rags, bones and bottles, and sell them?"
"Come on, I'll show you," spoke Jacko, as he tied his tail in a bow knot to keep it from dragging in the dust. ”

“ It was almost time for school to be out, and Jacko and Jumpo, the red and green monkey boys, could hardly wait, as they wanted to run home and go for another ride in their little auto. Of course, all the other animal children also wished school was over, for Jacko and Jumpo had promised to let all of them have turns riding in the gasoline car. ”

“ One side can be Indians, and the other white men."
"Fine! Fine!" cried Jacko. "You go get the fellows, and I'll whittle out the make-believe wooden guns."
Off Jumpo started, and it wasn't long before he had met a lot of his boy friends. Of course they thought it was great fun to play soldier, and they hurried back with him. By this time Jacko had a lot of guns made, and then the boys divided into two parties.
Jacko was captain of one side, and he and his friends were to pretend to be white soldiers, and the others, of which Jumpo was captain, were to be the Indians. ”