Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

STORY AND PICTURES
BY
VIRGINIA LEE BURTON

TO
MIKE

Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, a beautiful red steam shovel. Her name was Mary Anne.

Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne had been digging together for years and years.

It was Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others who dug the great canals for the big boats to sail through.

It was Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others who lowered the hills and straightened the curves

to make the long highways for the automobiles.

And it was Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others who dug the deep holes for the cellars of the tall skyscrapers in the big cities. When people used to stop and watch them, Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne used to dig a little faster and a little better.

Then along came the new gasoline shovels and the new electric shovels and the new Diesel motor shovels and took all the jobs away from the steam shovels.

Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne were VERY SAD.

All the other steam shovels were being sold for junk, but Mike loved Mary Anne. He couldn't do that to her.

Then one day Mike read in a newspaper that the town of Popperville was going to build a new town hall. "We are going to dig the cellar of that town hall," said Mike to Mary Anne, and off they started.