STORY X
BAWLY NO-TAIL AND JOLLIE LONGTAIL
For a few days after Grandpa Croaker, the old frog gentleman, had been wound around the toadstool by the snake, as I told you in the story before this one, he was so sore and stiff from the squeezing he had received, that he had to sit in an easy chair, and eat hot mush with sugar on. And, in order that he would not be lonesome, Bawly and Bully No-Tail, the frog boys, sat near him, and read him funny things from their school books, or the paper, and Grandpa Croaker was very thankful to them.
The frog boys wanted very much to go away and play ball with their friends, for, it being the Easter vacation, there was no school, but, instead, they remained at home nearly all the while, so Grandpa wouldn’t feel lonesome.
But at last one day the old gentleman frog said:
“Now, boys, I’m sure you must be very tired of staying with me so much. You need a little vacation. I am almost well now, so I’ll hop over and see Uncle Wiggily Longears. Then you may go and play ball, and here is a penny for each of you.”
Well, of course Bully and Bawly thanked their Grandpa, though they really hadn’t expected anything like that, and off they hopped to the store to spend the money. For they had saved all the pennies for a long time, and they were now allowed to buy something.
Bully bought a picture post card to send to Aunt Lettie, the nice old lady goat, and Bawly bought a bean shooter. That is a long piece of tin, with a hole through it like a pipe, and you put in a bean at one end, blow on the other end, and out pops the bean like a cork out of a soda water bottle.
“What are you going to do with that bean shooter?” asked Bully of his brother.