“Well,” said the General, sitting down beside the Old Soldier, “I don’t think we want to give up the old shoe house. Even if it is old, it’s a pretty comfortable place after all.” And all the little folks quite agreed with him.
The Teenie Weenies were much interested in the little girl’s doll, which sat near the doll house, and they examined it very carefully. Of course the Dunce had to climb all over the doll, although the Policeman had warned him to keep off. Finally he got his feet tangled in the doll’s hair and fell off its head right on top of the Policeman, who was so angry that he marched the Dunce home, and sent him to bed with nothing to eat but water and bread.
The little girl never knew that the Teenie Weenies had paid her a visit, but had she examined the front porch of her doll’s house she might have seen tiny foot prints in the dust.
The next morning the Teenie Weenies answered the little girl’s letter and here it is, just as the little people set it down:
“Dear Helen:
“We want to thank you for your kind invitation, but we think it would be much better for us to live in the old shoe house. Shoehurst is quite comfortable, and it is so pretty under the old rose bush we should hate to give it up. The big briars, with their sharp thorns, guard us like a sentinel and keep big feet from treading on our home, and in the summer the cool leaves shield us from the hot sun. It is beautiful in June, when the scent of roses is in the air, to lie on the cool moss and listen to the humming of the bees.
“Your kind invitation has given us a great deal of pleasure, for it’s mighty nice to know that people want us to come and live with them, even if we can’t do it.
“We can’t leave Shoehurst, for, although it’s nothing but an old shoe, it’s home.
“Again thanking you for your generous invitation, we are, sincerely yours,
“The Teenie Weenies.”