Betsy and Billy (9 page)

Betsy could hardly wait to receive an answer to her letter. Every morning she ran to meet the mailman at the door. Billy waited at the corner for her every morning. "Did you get the letter?" he would say.

After several days the letter came. Granddaddy's answer was "Yes." Betsy raced up the street to Billy. "Granddaddy says we can have the lamb and the pig," she cried.

"Oh, boy!" shouted Billy. "That's fine! When do we get them?"

"Granddaddy says he'll send them by express in plenty of time," said Betsy.

Billy and Betsy trotted along to school feeling very happy. Soon they met some of the other children.

"What do you think?" said Billy. "I'm going to have a real live pig."

"And I'm going to have a real lamb," said Betsy. "My grandaddy is sending them."

"Well, I could have a real live spider if I wanted one," said Betty Jane, who was to be Little Miss Muffet. "But I don't want a real live spider. My mother is going to make me a big one out of colored paper."

"Aw, you're afraid of spiders," shouted Billy.

"I am not," said Betty Jane.

The children hurried along to school calling out, "Betty Jane's afraid of spiders! Betty Jane's afraid of spiders!"

When they reached Mr. Kilpatrick, Billy shouted, "I'm going to have a pig for May Day, Mr. Kilpatrick."

"Well, see that you hold on to it," said Mr. Kilpatrick. "We don't want any pigs running loose on the highway."

Two days before the first of May the expressman drove up to Betsy's door and left two wooden crates. Inside of the crates were the little white lamb and the little pink pig.

Betsy's father had fenced off a part of the yard with chicken wire. There Betsy put the lamb and the pig. Betsy loved the little lamb. It was so gentle and it sounded a little bit sad when it said "Baa." She petted it and pulled up handfuls of grass for it to eat.

Billy spent all of his time at Betsy's looking at his pig. It was a little bit hard to hold and it squealed most of the time, but Billy was very gentle with it.

At last May Day arrived. Betsy was up bright and early and Billy arrived long before breakfast. They were both wearing their costumes. Billy wore a Scottish kilt and Betsy wore a long pink dress with a hoop skirt and ruffled pantalettes.

Betsy's father put the pig and the lamb into the crates. Then he put the crates in the automobile. Billy and Betsy and Betsy's mother got in the car and they all drove to the school.

It was a beautiful day and the maypole looked very gay with the bright ribbons blowing in the breeze. Mr. Windrim had put the pole in the center of the playground across the street from the school. Near the pole he had built a platform. Then he had made a throne for the May Queen. When all of the fathers and mothers were seated on the chairs around the platform, Ellen walked out and took her seat on the throne. Sally put a wreath of flowers on her head while all of the children sang a Spring Song. Then the children took hold of the ribbons and danced around the maypole.

After the maypole dance was over the children gave their Mother Goose performance. When Betsy's turn came, she lifted the lamb out of the crate. She put it down on the ground and coaxed it very softly. The little lamb said, "Baa!" and wandered off. Betsy went after it. "Come, come, Baby," she coaxed, but the lamb wouldn't follow Betsy.

Everyone was waiting for Betsy to appear, but the lamb would not budge a step. "You will have to carry it," said Miss Grey.

Betsy picked up the lamb and carried it out onto the platform. As she held it in her arms, she said,

"Mary had a little lamb
With fleece as white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go."

Just then the lamb began to go, for it slipped lower and lower in Betsy's arms.

Betsy went on:

"It followed her to school one day,
That was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school."

"Baa! Baa!" said the lamb. Betsy took a deep breath.

"And so the teacher turned it out,
But still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear."

By this time the lamb had slipped so low that Betsy decided to put it down. She thought it would be better if she sat down too, so she squatted down beside the lamb and finished her piece.

" 'Why does the lamb love Mary so?'
The eager children cry.
'Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know!'
The teacher did reply."

Everyone clapped as Betsy led the lamb away.

Then it was Billy's turn. Billy picked up his pig and tucked it under his arm. He ran out on the platform and said in a very loud voice,

"Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig and away he run."

Just then the pig slipped from under Billy's arm. It dropped to the ground and away it ran as fast as it could go. Billy jumped down from the platform and raced after the pig. It flew across the green grass and down the street. Billy sped after it.

Mr. Kilpatrick was standing in the center of the big wide street. Just as he blew his whistle, he looked up the street. He saw the little pig coming towards him and Billy pounding along behind the pig. The pig was making straight for Mr. Kilpatrick. The big policeman stooped down and caught it just like a football. Billy was all out of breath when he reached Mr. Kilpatrick.

"Didn't I tell you not to let this pig get away?" said Mr. Kilpatrick, as he handed the pig to Billy. "Haven't I got enough to do without having to catch runaway pigs?"

"Oh, gee, Mr. Kilpatrick, I couldn't help it," said Billy, "it slipped."

The week before school closed was the busiest week that Betsy had ever known. All of the children were as busy as bees. In every room they hammered and sawed and painted and pasted. Rolls and rolls of brightly colored crepe paper were piled up on tables. The whole school was getting ready for a bazaar.

At first the children in the second grade didn't know what a bazaar was. Billy said he thought he had seen one at the zoo.

Miss Grey said, "No, Billy, a bazaar is not an animal."

Betsy said that she had been to a bazaar once. "They had tables trimmed with pretty colored paper," she said. "And they sold all kinds of things. They sold cakes and dolls and flowers

and preserves and everything you could think of."

"When are we going to have the bazaar?" asked Kenny.

"The last day of school," said Miss Grey.

"And are we going to sell things?" asked Billy.

"Yes, Billy," answered Miss Grey.

"What will we do with all of the money?" said Billy.

"The money is going to be spent for new things for our school playground," said Miss Grey. "It will buy a new sliding board, some new basketballs, a football, baseballs, and bats. Of course it depends upon how much money we earn."

"What will the second grade sell?" asked Ellen.

"I haven't decided yet," said Miss Grey.

Betsy raised her hand. "Yes, Betsy," said Miss Grey.

"At the bazaar that I went to, they had a wishing well. You put ten cents in the bucket and when the bucket came up there was a surprise package in it. It was fun. I got my bank in the wishing well."

"Couldn't we have a wishing well?" asked Kenny.

"I believe we could, Kenny," said Miss Grey, "but we would have to build it ourselves."

The children thought it would be wonderful to have a wishing well. Christopher said that his father had a grocery store and that he could get a big sugar barrel to make the wishing well.

A week before the bazaar Christopher and Billy brought the sugar barrel to school in an express wagon. The children set to work at once. They cut a big piece out of the side of the barrel

down near the bottom. This made an opening where someone could reach in and put the surprises in the bucket. They covered the rest of the barrel with large sheets of paper. With gray and white and black paint they made the paper look like stones. Across the top of the barrel they fastened a rod with a handle. Billy tied the bucket on the end of a piece of rope. Then he tied the rope to the center of the rod.