"Oh, no, brother," rejoined Midge, "it's because your mouth is so tiny you can't smile very well!"
But whatever the reason, there was a good two inches difference in the aggregate, so Flip Henderson's side was the winner.
"As all the Chessy Cats grinned nobly, you must all have prizes," said Mr. Maynard, and so to the winning side were given boxes of candy with a funny figure of a grinning Chessy Cat on top. Both boxes and cats were bright red, and gay little prizes they were.
"But as the other side were too sad and solemn to grin broadly, we'll give them black cats," said Mr. Maynard, and all of Gladys' line received prizes exactly like the others, except that the cats were black. Of course, they were equally pretty and desirable, and were really souvenirs of the party instead of prizes.
Then they all went to the dining-room for supper. Miss Hart played a merry march on the piano, and King, escorting Gladys, went first, Marjorie and Flip followed, and then all the children came, two by two.
To carry out the idea of an "animal party," the table had been cleverly arranged to represent a farmyard. All the middle part of it was enclosed by a little fence that ran along just inside the plates, and in the enclosure were toy animals of all sorts. Downy yellow chickens, furry cats, woolly sheep, and comical roosters stood about in gay array. Also there were Teddy Bears, and possums and even lions and tigers, which though not usually found in farmyards, seemed amicably disposed enough. A delightful feast was eaten, and then, for dessert, Sarah brought in a great platter of ice cream in forms of animals. And with these animals crackers were served, and many merry jests were made as the children bit off the heads of ferocious wild beasts, or stabbed the ice cream animals with their spoons. As they left the table, each guest was invited to take one animal from the "farmyard," to carry away.
Rosy Posy announced frankly, "Don't anybuddy take de Teddy Bear, 'cause me wants it."
They all laughed, and needless to say, the bear was left for the baby, whose turn came last.
Delight chose a little white kitten, with a blue ribbon round its neck, and Gladys took a fierce-looking tiger.
Everybody agreed they had never attended a jollier party, and the smiles, as they said good-bye, were indeed of the Chessy Cat variety.