Dora gave him an old red scarf; and it certainly did make the image look very much as if it were alive. People who rode by turned to gaze at it, and said,—
"There's the doctor's baby. I'm glad her mother has wrapped her up so well: it's pretty cold weather for this time of year."
But you must know Flaxie Frizzle was surprised when she saw the scarecrow! She had climbed the sofa, and was looking out of the window. What did she see, standing there in the corn-field? It was her own self! She rubbed her eyes, and looked again.
"O mamma, mamma," called she. "Come here just as kick! You s'pose, mamma, who's playing coop out there? It's ME! And here's ME, right here! Have I got a little sister?"
It was some time before she could be made to understand that the scarecrow was not herself, was not alive, and was only a rag-baby made of sticks and straw and old clothes. The next day it rained from morning till night; and everybody who went by the house thought it too bad that poor Flaxie Frizzle should be in the corn-field, getting so wet.
At least a dozen times the door-bell rang; and a dozen people told Dora to be sure and let Mrs. Gray know her baby was out in the rain!
Dora laughed, and assured the kind people that "that baby in the field was neither sugar nor salt, and water wouldn't hurt her a grain."
But she told Crawford "it did her good to see how much the neighbors thought of Flaxie Frizzle, for all she was such a curious-acting child."
"And, Crawford, you'll have to take down that 'scarecrow sister,' and put up something else; for I can't spend my time running to the door to explain to folks that it isn't Flaxie Frizzle."