II. At the Dentist’s
“Ah, here is a little girl whose mouth looks as though she brushed her teeth regularly,” said Doctor Harrison, as he raised the big comfortable arm chair in which Ruth was sitting.
“She certainly is good about that, doctor,” said Mrs. Duwell.
“Even so,” said the doctor, “I think I shall give her one of my little picture cards.”
Ruth looked so pleased that he handed her two.
“One is for Wallace,” Ruth said.
“That picture is to remind forgetful children,” said the doctor. “Now let us look at the twenty-odd pearls in your mouth, little girl.”
“Oh, Wallace, Doctor Harrison didn’t hurt me a bit,” cried Ruth, running into the living-room after they had reached home. “He said that he didn’t often hurt people who came to him in time. Here is a card, he gave me for you.”
“Thank you,” said Wallace, looking at the card. “Oh, it’s to remind me to brush my teeth. I wonder if he thought I needed it.”
“No, Doctor Harrison didn’t say that, Wallace; but he did say that we wouldn’t want to eat anything with dirty hands, and that really dirty teeth are worse than dirty hands.”