"B" Is for Betsy (8 page)

After school Betsy started on her way home. She stopped to scratch Curly's ears and pat her head. With Mr. Kilpatrick and a group of children, she crossed the street.

Between the street and the station there was a great big stone house that stood on the top of a hill. It was far back from the street and hidden by great trees. Betsy had never been able to see just what the house looked like. The grounds were surrounded by a low stone wall. Betsy loved to walk on the stone wall, so she scrambled to the top. She looked at the grass. It was fresh and green after the long rain. She saw some violets peeping up between green leaves.
Violets,
thought Betsy.
What fun to pick violets!
Betsy ran over to the little clump of violets and began picking the flowers. There was a little sign sticking in the ground. Betsy could not read the sign but she knew what it meant. It meant that you were not to pick the flowers. Betsy paid no at-

tention, but went right on picking, more and more. Her schoolbag felt heavy, so she took it off and laid it by the trunk of a tree. The further she went the more violets she found. She picked them until she had a large bunch. Then she ran back to the stone wall and started for home.

When Betsy reached the corner of her street, she remembered her schoolbag. She had left it lying under the tree. She turned around and ran all the way back to the stone wall. She climbed up on the wall and ran across the grass. She
looked under all the trees where the violets grew. Her schoolbag was not there. Her beautiful plaid schoolbag and her shiny black pencil box! They were gone!
What shall I ever do without them?
thought Betsy.

Betsy hurried home. She was very hungry. She had been so busy picking violets that she had forgotten all about her lunch. When she turned the corner of her street she saw Mrs. Beckett at the front gate. "Where have you been, Betsy?" said Mrs. Beckett. "You are very, very late."

"I stopped to pick some violets," said Betsy.

"And look at your shoes!" cried Mrs. Beckett. "They are covered with mud. You have ruined your new shoes."

Betsy began to cry. "I lost my schoolbag too, and my nice shiny pencil box."

Mrs. Beckett looked very cross as she led Betsy into the house. "Come and have your lunch," she said.

Betsy ate every bit of her lunch. She was so hungry! Every once in a while a big tear would drop on her plate.

After lunch she got undressed and Mrs. Beckett tucked her into bed for her nap. Betsy's eyes were red from crying.

"Mrs. Beckett," said Betsy, "I'm sorry I was a naughty girl."

Mrs. Beckett took Betsy in her arms and the little girl put her head on Mrs. Beckett's big, broad bosom. "It's been an awful day. I spoiled my new shoes and I lost my schoolbag," sobbed Betsy. "I don't like being a naughty girl, Mrs. Beckett."

"I know," said Mrs. Beckett. "You're really a very good little girl, Betsy. You just got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Betsy lifted her head and looked at her little white bed. "Why, I couldn't do that," said Betsy, "because there is only one side to get out of. The other side is against the wall."

"Well, never mind," said Mrs. Beckett. "I know that it will never happen again."

"You won't tell Mother that I was a naughty girl, will you?" asked Betsy.

"No, indeed," said Mrs. Beckett. "I wouldn't think of it."

After Betsy had her nap she played in the yard with Thumpy. She helped Mrs. Beckett set the table for supper and dried the knives and forks and spoons.

The next morning, Betsy woke up very early.
She ran to the window and threw sunflower seeds out to the birds. Then she scrambled back into bed and pulled up the covers. She thought of her schoolbag and of the violets she had picked. Mrs. Beckett had put them in a little bowl. She remembered the sign that was stuck in the ground.
It was wrong to pick violets that belonged to someone else,
thought Betsy.
I wouldn't like someone to come into my yard and pick my flowers.

When Betsy went downstairs for breakfast, she said, "Mrs. Beckett, I am going to take those violets back and give them to the lady who lives in the big house."

"Why, Betsy, the violets are all wilted," said Mrs. Beckett. "You can't take them back now."

Betsy drank her milk and ate all of her oatmeal. Then she went out into the little garden. There were pansies growing in the flower beds. Betsy picked a little bunch of pansies. "I am going to take these pansies to the lady," said Betsy.

"Very well," said Mrs. Beckett. "Don't stay too long."

Betsy trotted off with her bunch of pansies. She looked very tiny as she walked through the big gate of the house on the hill. She followed
the long drive that led to the big porch. She walked up to the great white door. It had a shiny brass knocker. The knocker was so high, Betsy had to jump to reach it. She jumped several times. At last she managed to raise it a little bit. "Thump!" went the knocker. Betsy waited. In a few moments a man opened the door. "Yes, Miss?" said the man.

"Is there a lady?" asked Betsy.

"Yes, Miss," said the man, "right this way."

The man led Betsy through the big hall and up the widest stairway Betsy had ever seen. He took her into a room filled with sunshine and books. In a chair by the window sat a very old lady. On her snow-white hair she wore a lace cap with a lavender ribbon. She was reading.

"A young lady to see you, Madam," said the man.

The old lady laid down her book and looked at Betsy. "Come in, my dear," she said.

Betsy went up to the chair and held out the pansies. "I brought you these pansies," she said, "because yesterday I picked some of your violets."

"You did?" said the old lady. "Then I suppose that is your schoolbag," she said, pointing to a chair in the corner. "My gardener found it."

"Yes, it is," said Betsy. She was so glad to see her schoolbag again.

"Thank you, dear," said the old lady as she smelled Betsy's pansies. "I like pansies much better than violets."

"Do you?" said Betsy. "I'm glad I brought you pansies."

Early in the month of May, great big circus pictures appeared. Gay with colors, they were pasted on signboards and fences all over the town. Betsy and her little friends were delighted when they saw the pictures because it meant that the circus was coming. There was a picture of ten huge elephants, standing on their hind legs and raising their great trunks and long
white tusks high in the air. There was one of a beautiful lady. She was dressed all in pink with a tiny ruffly skirt that made Betsy think of her Christmas Fairy dress. The lady was riding on a snow-white horse. Father called her a "bareback rider." When Betsy asked why, Father said it was because the horse didn't wear any saddle. Betsy said that she wanted to be a bareback rider when she grew up, and Father said that would be very nice, because he thought that when he grew up he would be a lion tamer and they could both be in the circus together.

"What will Mother be?" asked Betsy.

"Oh, I think Mother would just love to be the Fat Lady," said Father.

"What about Koala?" said Betsy. "Do you think he will be able to get in the circus too?"

"Yes, indeed," said Father. "The Great Koala! The only Koala bear in captivity! Please do not feed peanuts to Koala."

Betsy laughed and said that she thought circuses were fun.

One morning, Miss Grey asked the children if they knew what was coming to town and they all shouted, "The circus!"

Miss Grey said, "Yes, but it would be nicer if you didn't all shout."

So they all whispered, "The circus."

Nearly all of the children had seen the circus the last time it had come to town. So they had a long talk about the circus. First they talked about the barker. Billy said that the barker is the man who stands outside of the big tent and tells the people what they will see inside.

Betsy told about the bareback rider and Ellen told about the trained seals that play ball and bounce the ball right on the tips of their noses.

They talked about the elephants and the lions, the clowns and the trained dogs. Christopher

said, "I always buy a balloon from the balloon man."

Miss Grey asked the children what else you could buy at the circus and Betty Jane said, "Lemonade," and Kenny said, "Peanuts."

"I wonder," said Miss Grey, "if you boys and girls would like to make believe that you are the animals and the people in the circus and give a performance!"

"Yes," cried the children, "let's give a circus.

"Who will come to see it?" asked Betsy.

"We could invite Miss Foster's class," said Miss Grey. The children were delighted and so it was decided that the first grade would give a circus performance the next morning and invite Miss Foster's sixth-grade boys and girls.

"Kenny," said Miss Grey, "you can be the barker and little Peter can be the balloon man."

"Who would like to take charge of the lemonade and peanuts?" asked Miss Grey. The children's hands waved in the air. Miss Grey selected Betty Jane, and Betty Jane looked all around and grinned.

"The rest of you can be anything you wish," said Miss Grey, "and bring costumes if you have them."