After that, Uncle Wigwag helped the little bear boy bring in the rest of the wood, and never again did Neddie let his work go until dark. And on the next page, if the coffee grinder doesn’t take a bite out of the gas stove and make it sing in its sleep, I’ll tell you about Beckie and her cough medicine.
STORY XX
BECKIE AND HER COUGH MEDICINE
“Ker-choo! Ker-choo! Ker-choo!” sneezed little Beckie Stubtail, the bear girl, as she sat up in her bed of straw one night. “Ker-choo! A-ker-choo! Boo-hoo!”
“My goodness me sakes alive and some castor oil!” cried Aunt Piffy, the nice old bear lady, waking up from a sound sleep in the next room. “What ever is the matter, Beckie?”
“Oh, dear! I don’t know!” cried Beckie, as she rubbed her eyes in the dark. “But I feel so queer! My nose is all stopped up, and I can’t breathe and my throat tickles and I’m cold——”
“Oh my goodness!” cried Aunt Piffy, jumping out of bed so quickly that she almost stepped on the pussy cat’s tail.
Mrs. Stubtail, the mamma bear, had also heard her little cub girl sneezing and coughing, and Mamma Stubtail jumped up too, and ran to Beckie’s room, turning up the night light so she could see what was the matter.
“What is it, Beckie? What has happened?” asked mamma.
“Oh, dear! I’m so miserable,” said poor Beckie, crying.
“Oh, no wonder!” remarked Aunt Piffy. “See, she is all uncovered, and she has taken cold. We must put her feet in hot mustard water at once, and send for Dr. Possum. Oh, the dear child is going to be ill!”