"What is it, Rose?" she asked. "What are Russ and Laddie doing?"
"They're shucking all the buttons off my doll."
"Shucking the buttons off your doll?"
"Yes. In the corn shucker, where Tom shucks the ears of corn for the chickens."
Mrs. Bunker didn't yet quite know what Rose meant, for the mother of the six little children had not been out to the corn crib, and did not know what was there.
"It's my middle-sized doll," explained Rose. "Please come and take her away from Russ and Laddie 'fore they shuck off all her buttons. Don't you know—she's got yellow shoe buttons on her dress—rows of 'em down the front and in the back. It's my messenger girl doll."
Mrs. Bunker followed Rose out to the corn crib. She began to understand what had happened. Among the many dolls Rose had was one she called her "messenger girl" doll It was about a foot tall, and the doll wore a blue dress, in color something like the suits worn by the telegraph messenger boys in the cities. To make the doll's dress more like a uniform, Rose had sewed on the back and front several rows of yellow shoe buttons, which she had cut from old tan shoes at home. The doll really had on her dress more buttons than she needed, but as some messenger and elevator boys in hotels and apartment houses have the same, I suppose Rose had a right to decorate her doll that way if she liked.
"How did it happen?" asked Mrs. Bunker, as she followed her little girl out to the corn crib.
"It was after we saw Tom shuck some corn to feed the chickens—he showed us how he did it," Rose answered.
"But what did Russ and Laddie do?"