Charlie and His Puppy Bingo

by Helen Hill; Violet Maxwell

Mr. Armstrong said that they had better drive downtown as there was such a lot of traffic there and Charlie would be able to watch the policeman handle the traffic. On the way Mr. Armstrong told Charlie all about the traffic laws and the reason for every one. He told him how an automobile must never pass a street car when it has stopped to let off passengers, and how an automobile driver must always hold his arm out when he is going round a corner, so that people crossing the street can see in which direction he is going.

It was all very interesting and Charlie kept a strict lookout to see if all the automobiles they passed were observing the traffic laws.

At last they reached the business section of the city, where there are so many automobiles and street cars and carts that a policeman has always to stand in the middle of the road to direct the traffic; otherwise people would never be able to cross the street in safety at all.

Charlie thought that the policeman looked very grand standing all by himself in the middle of the road. And whenever he blew his whistle, either the crosstown traffic or the uptown and downtown traffic in turn was stopped, as if by magic, to let the other have the right of way. Then the people on the sidewalk all crossed together in a crowd, for they knew that the automobiles and street cars would not go on again until the policeman blew his whistle.

When Mr. Armstrong wanted to stop outside a shop and it was on the left side of the street, he drove all the way to the next corner and he waited there until the policeman could let him turn his car around and drive back so that the shop was on his right and he could stop his car close to the sidewalk just in front of the shop. It was a confectioner’s shop and they both went in and Mr. Armstrong ordered chocolate and sponge cake for them both. It was delicious! While they were in the confectioner’s Bingo was left tied up in the automobile. He did not like it at all and he called out “Yap, yap, yap!” at the top of his lungs until Charlie and Mr. Armstrong came back.

At last it was time to go home. When they had driven into the main street again and Charlie was turning his head this way and that, so as not to miss a single thing that was going on, he was so interested that he forgot all about Bingo. Indeed, he almost let go of his leash, he was holding it so loosely—when, suddenly, what do you think? Bingo gave one yank at the leash and jumped right out of the automobile! Yes, he did!

All the automobiles were slowing up for the crossing, and the policeman was standing quite close, but at any moment he might signal for them to go on again.

It was dreadfully dangerous for Bingo to be all by himself in the middle of that crowded street with automobiles and street cars, and carts and trucks all moving along. Charlie was so frightened that he called out, “Mr. Policeman, Mr. Policeman!” and the policeman looked at him, and he saw Bingo at the same moment and guessed what had happened.

He blew his whistle three times, and all the automobiles stopped, those going uptown and downtown, and those going crosstown, they all stopped immediately. Then the policeman tried to catch Bingo, but he was so frightened that he crawled right under an automobile, and he would not come out when the policeman called him.