| IN COLOR | |
| “I did not call you over to give me a bath,” cried Squeaky | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| It was inspiring to hear this chorus accompanied by full orchestra | [24] |
| The house was left dangling above ground to receive an airing out | [46] |
| “Bears should not talk when their mouths are full of food,” said Santa Claus kindly | [128] |
| IN BLACK AND WHITE | |
| PAGE | |
| His father would stand on one hand and his mother on the other | [5] |
| Like mothers the world over she knew how to sacrifice herself | [13] |
| His feet projected out of the window in the butler’s pantry | [19] |
| Snythergen cried, “Don’t do that!” | [33] |
| To die in her arms would have been a happier lot than leaving her | [41] |
| “At least I can relieve his headache” | [59] |
| “Stick out your tongue!” | [75] |
| He would strike a tree-like pose | [83] |
| Then went around again to see if he had overlooked any crumbs | [91] |
| “Some unusual weight behind” | [101] |
| “The only kind of humming-top to have” | [105] |
| “Stop the top, stop the top!” bellowed Squeaky | [109] |
| “Squeaky, who is a voice with a pig’s body” | [117] |
| The door-man, turning his head sideways, wiggled his left ear | [125] |
| A traffic butler stood at hall intersections | [141] |
| And squeezed him almost as tightly as the farmer’s wife had done | [151] |
CHAPTER I
SLENDER FOODS AND ROUND FOODS
Snythergen’s mother was poor—so poor that she did not feel able to support her baby boy. So she put him in a basket—it had to be a large one—and left it on the doorstep of a little old couple who had long wished for a child.
The pair were very much surprised, not only at finding Snythergen, but at his unusual appearance. He was thin as bones and very long—so long that he appeared to be wearing stilts. His body was very ungainly and the couple’s first feeling was one of disappointment—until they looked into his eyes. These were bright and roguish and something else not easy to name—something that made them know he was their child, and they loved him.
The new papa and mamma were very proud. First of all they wanted their boy to fill out into a healthy well-fed child, so they stoked his neglected stomach with the richest of farm foods. The effect was prompt. It was amazing how Snythergen changed from day to day. His cheeks rounded, his shoulders broadened, and the layers of flesh spread over his lean trunk until he was as bulging as a rubber ball. He was getting enormous and his parents were beginning to sense a new danger.
“He will burst if he keeps on getting fatter,” said his mother anxiously.
“I must study the question,” said his father, who was a philosopher.