Charlie and His Puppy Bingo

by Helen Hill; Violet Maxwell

Well, the very minute that Charlie had finished his dinner he went back to his villages, because he had thought of several new ideas while he was eating his dinner.

Yes, he remembered a little tiny horse and wagon that his Mother had given him. When his Mother had given it to him there was some candy tied to the wagon, and of course Charlie had eaten the candy long ago; but he had kept the horse and wagon because it was so cunning and little, though he thought that it was too little to play with. But now Charlie was going to use it for his village.

I wonder if you can guess what he was going to use it for? I will tell you. Charlie decided that the little wagon should be the stage, and he put a lead soldier in it and pretended that he was the stage driver. Then he loaded the stage with little parcels made out of paper which he pretended were sacks of apples that the farmers of the villages were sending to the city; and he loaded them on to the train, and blew his whistle—and off it started!

Charlie played all the afternoon with his train and his stage and his villages; he played with them for hours and hours. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining but Charlie did not notice that—until he heard a little hoarse “Wow-wow!” outside the door.

It was Bingo. Yes, Bingo had wakened and wanted Charlie to come and play with him. So he opened the door and Bingo came jumping into the room, and the very first thing he did was to knock over three houses in Charlie’s village. And Topsy came chasing after Bingo and he knocked over four more with his tail. They would have knocked all the houses over if Charlie had not stopped them. But Charlie took Bingo and Topsy out of the room and he shut the door behind him so that they should not spoil his village.

Then Charlie’s Mother called to him and she said, “Why don’t you and Topsy and Bingo run out and play in the yard? The sun is shining, but you must put on your rubber boots, as the grass is still wet.”

Charlie thought that it would be fun to run around a little as he had been so busy all day. He called Topsy and Bingo, and they had a grand time chasing each other around the garden and in and out of Charlie’s little house that he had built of the bricks that the builders had given him. Sometimes Charlie would catch Bingo, and, when Bingo was caught, always he rolled over on his back and stuck his four legs in the air—so that he looked ridiculous!

But Charlie never could catch Topsy. Whenever he nearly caught him, Topsy would just climb up a tree, and he’d climb way up and peek down at Charlie through the branches.

So Charlie and Topsy and Bingo played together in the garden till Charlie’s Daddy came home. Then, of course, Charlie had to show his Daddy the beautiful villages he had made, and the way each one had a railway station, and how his train ran up and down the line between the stations, just like a real train, and carried packages and mail and passengers.

His Daddy was most interested and de-light-ed. He was so interested and de-light-ed that he sat straight down on the floor, and began to play with the villages himself. But Bingo and Topsy had to be left in the garden while Charlie and his Daddy were playing with the villages, because they wanted to play also, and their idea of playing with the villages was to knock down all the houses and all the trees!