Grandma Harden waddled out on the front porch of the Happy Home where Nat and Weezie were playing with Rodney and Addie, the boy and girl from next door. Nat, whose real name was Nathaniel, and Weezie, whose real name was Louisa, called their house "Happy Home," because they had so much fun and so many jolly adventures in it.
Thump, who was Rodney's dog, was sitting on the bottom step of the porch, waiting for some one to throw a stone, so that he might run after it to bring it back.
But Rodney and Nat were too busy, talking about going fishing, to think of throwing stones for Thump. And Weezie and Addie were trying a new dress on Addie's doll, so, of course, they couldn't play with a dog.
Thump wagged his tail and whined softly. That was his way of saying:
"Oh, please, somebody, throw a stone! Let me show you how fast I can run after it!"
But Grandma waddled farther out on the porch—she just had to waddle like a duck because she was so jolly and fat—and Grandma said again:
"Come, my dears, it's time to go to school!"
"Oh, I wish there wasn't any school!" exclaimed Nat.
"So do I!" echoed his chum. "Then we could go fishing now, instead of waiting until after school!"
"You'll have a lot more fun fishing, if you go to school first," said Grandma. "Then you won't be worrying over the lessons you missed."