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"Children," he said to the little clouds, "there's a boy down below who wants to earn money to buy mittens for a boy who hasn't any. I want you to help him."
"We will, Father Sun," cried the little clouds. Then the sky began to grow so dark that the earth people looked up and said, "I do believe it's going to snow!" And it did.
Soon the air was filled with great fluffy, whirling flakes, tumbling eagerly down to help Teddy.
"Not so close!" cried the first flake as the others came down on top of him. "We'll make it too hard for Teddy if we pack tight together."
"That's so!" cried the others. And so they settled very, very gently.
All night the snowflakes fell. In the morning Father Sun poked his head out from behind a cloud.
"My, my! How fine the earth looks!" he exclaimed. "I think that's about enough, children." And Father Sun smiled so broadly that the earth people said, "How dazzling the sun is!" and squinted, and rubbed their eyes.
When the last flake had settled in its place, Teddy b.u.t.toned on his leggings to go out.
"Are you keeping your eyes open this morning, Teddy?" asked his mother.
Teddy laughed. "Of course," he said. "I couldn't see if--" Then he stopped abruptly. "It _is_ a way, isn't it, mummie!" he cried.
"Yes," she said. "I think I hear twenty-five cents dropping into the apple. I will give you that much if you will shovel a path to the gate."
"Goody!" cried Teddy. Then he hunted up the snow shovel and fell to work.
"Teddy! Teddy!" Teddy looked up. The old lady across the way was standing in her door. "I'll give you a quarter if you'll clean my walk."
"All right!" Teddy shouted back. And then how the snow did fly as he dug and sc.r.a.ped and shoveled!
"My, my!" said Father Sun. "What an industrious boy!" And he smiled till Teddy grew quite warm, and the busy hands in the red mittens were never once cold.
When the day was over, four bright quarters lay snugly in the apple bank.
The day before Christmas Teddy emptied the bank and went shopping. And that night, when the washerwoman's boy came for the clothes, on top of the basket lay, not mittens, but a pair of thick gloves lined with wool.
Father Sun was so happy about it that he smiled all Christmas Day. And so did Arthur. And so--more brightly than either--did Teddy.
THE RED-LETTER DAY
"What's a red-letter day, Nora?" asked Betty, coming into the kitchen where Nora was doing the Sat.u.r.day baking.
"It's a day when something 'specially nice happens," answered Nora.
"Why?"
"Mamma just said it would be a red-letter day if she got _all_ her mending done by night. I wish," added Betty wistfully, "that I could make it a red-letter day for her!"
"You can!" cried Nora. "I'll show you how to make a cake, and then she won't have to make it. She can have the time to mend."
"Goody, goody!" cried Betty, when her mamma said she might try.
"I didn't tell her about the red-letter part," she explained, as she and Nora measured and beat and stirred. "That will make it another kind of red-letter day--S for S'prise."
The cake came out of the oven light and flaky and beautiful.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "I didn't tell her about the red-letter part," she explained, as she beat and stirred]
"Wouldn't it be nice," sighed Betty, "if it could _only_ have a red S right in the middle?"
"It can," said Nora. "Make it of those tiny red candies of yours. You'll have to work fast before the icing dries."
When the S was finished it was pretty crooked, even for an S. But there was no doubt at all about what it was.
When dinner was on the table Betty brought in the cake and set it before her mother.
"Well, well, well!" cried Mrs. Arnold. "What a fine little cook I have!
But what is the S for, Betty?"
"It stands for Sat.u.r.day, mamma," said Betty. And then she told all about the red-letter plan.
"It was a dear plan," said her mother. "And I did finish the mending.
And now I'll tell my little girl something else. S stands for Sat.u.r.day, but it stands for another word, too--it stands for my Suns.h.i.+ne," she finished, giving Betty a loving kiss.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TURN OVER]
THE GOODY-NAUGHTY BOOK
THE NAUGHTY SIDE
By SARAH CORY RIPPEY
With ill.u.s.trations by BLANCHE FISHER WRIGHT
RAND McNALLY & COMPANY CHICAGO--NEW YORK
Copyright, 1913, By Rand McNally & Company
All rights reserved
Edition of 1927
Made in U.S.A.
THE CONTENTS PAGE
