Those of you who have read the other "Daddy" books know how many things Mr. Blake told his children, and what good times Hal and Mab had with him. He was always taking them somewhere, and often one or the other of the children would call out:
"Oh, Daddy is going to take us walking!"
Sometimes perhaps it might not be for a walk. It might be for a trip in the steam cars. But, wherever it was, Hal and Mab were always ready to go with their father.
In the first book I told you how Daddy Blake took Hal and Mab camping.
They went to live in the woods in a white tent and had lots of fun.
Once they were frightened in the night, but it was only because
Roly-Poly, their poodle dog—
But there, I'm not going to spoil it by telling you, when you might want to read the book for yourself.
In the second volume, called "Daddy Takes Us Fishing," I made up a story about how Hal and Mab went to the seashore cottage, and learned to catch different kinds of fish; even the queer, pinching crabs, that turned red when you boiled them.
Once Mab fell overboard, and the children nearly drifted out to sea, but they got safely back. After that they went to the big animal show. And in the book "Daddy Takes Us to the Circus," I told you how Hal and Mab were accidentally taken away in one of the circus wagons, and how they traveled all night. And the next day they rode on the elephant's back, and also on a camel's and they went in the big parade. Oh! it was just wonderful the adventures they had!
Hal and Mab lived with their papa and mamma, and Aunt Lolly, in a fine house in the city. But they often went to the country and to other places where they had good times. In the family was also Uncle Pennywait. That wasn't his real name, but the children called him that because he so often said:
"Wait a minute and I'll give you a penny."
Hal and Mab used to buy lollypops with the pennies their uncle gave them. And then—Oh, yes, I mustn't forget Roly-Poly, the funny, fat, poodle dog who was always hiding things in holes in the ground, thinking they were bones, I guess. Sometimes he would even hide Aunt Lolly's spectacles and she would have the hardest work finding them. Oh, such hard work!