Watermelon Pete and Others

	PAGE
Watermelon Pete	11
Piggy’s Thistle Whistle	25
Lady Bug Goes Shopping	33
Little Baby Elephant and his New Clothes	36
Little Brown Hen	55
The Little Brown Dog and the Little White Cat	64
The Woodpecker Bird and the Owl	70

Once there was a little darky boy, and his name was Watermelon Pete. They called him Watermelon Pete because his mouth was just the shape of a big, slice of ripe watermelon.

One night when old Mr. Moon was looking in Watermelon Pete’s window, and shining so bright that he couldn’t go to sleep at all, all at once he began to feel hungry. And he said, “Oh, dear, I wish I had a nice big piece of watermelon to eat!”

And then a naughty little Blackie, who was sitting on Watermelon Pete’s bedpost, just hoping that he would want to get out of bed and get into mischief, said, “I know where there are some watermelons. Farmer Brown has some down in his watermelon patch.”

And Watermelon Pete listened to what the naughty little Blackie said, and then he crawled out of bed, and ran, oh, so fast, down to the fence, and scrooged through a hole in the fence, and ran—pitter-patter, with his little bare black feet—down the path to the watermelon vines.

Then he ate, and he ate, and he ate, so many watermelons! And by and by he went to sleep under a watermelon vine. And Mr. Moon went to bed.

Then pretty soon old Mr. Rooster woke up and said, “Cock-a-doodle-doo-oo! Farmer Brown, I’m calling you-oo-o! It’s time to get up!”

So Farmer Brown got up and dressed himself, and went out of doors. And then Farmer Brown said, “Well, I guess I’ll go and see my watermelons.” And when he got there he said, “Why!” just like that. “Why, where are all my lovely watermelons?”

Then little Mrs. Hoppy Toad came out from under a burdock leaf where she lived, and said in her funny little way-up-high voice, “Farmer Brown, I know who ate your watermelons!”

“Do you, Mrs. Hoppy Toad?” said Farmer Brown. “And will you tell me who it is?”

“Oh, yes, Farmer Brown,” said little Mrs. Hoppy Toad, in her little way-up-high voice. “Watermelon Pete ate your watermelons, and he is asleep under your vines.”

And then Watermelon Pete woke, and he was so frightened, because he had been naughty, that he ran pitter-patter, pitter-patter, up the path, and what do you think?

He was so full of watermelon that he could not get back through the hole in the fence, and Farmer Brown caught him! And the naughty Blackie just sat on a fence post and laughed because he had made Watermelon Pete get into mischief!

And Watermelon Pete said, “Please, Farmer Brown, please don’t punish me, and I will never eat your watermelons any more!”

And Farmer Brown said, “All right, Watermelon Pete, I will let you off this time. But you must never listen to that naughty Blackie again. Now go and get the cow and milk her, and then come to breakfast.”

And Mrs. Farmer Brown gave Watermelon Pete a whole plate full of brown cakes for his breakfast, with crinkly cronkly sirup on them.

But the naughty Blackie couldn’t have any.

Once there was a Daddy and a Mammy Elephant, and they had a little Baby Elephant.

When Daddy Elephant came home one day he found his dear little Baby Elephant crying great big tears!

And Daddy Elephant kissed him, and said, “Why, what’s the matter with my little Baby Elephant?”

And Baby Elephant said, “Why, Daddy, I’ve worn my stockings all out, and I haven’t any more to put on.”

“Is that all?” said Daddy Elephant. “Well, come along, and we will go and see if we can find some stockings for you.”

So they went a long way, through the Jungle, until they came to Mrs. Lion’s store, and they went in.

“Good morning, Mrs. Lion,” said Daddy Elephant, very politely. “Have you some stockings that you will sell me for my little Baby Elephant?”

“Well, now, Daddy Elephant,” said Mrs. Lion, “I don’t believe I have any that would fit him; they are all so small. But if you’ll take a seat, I will ask my little Lions to make him some.”

So she called four of her little Lions, and asked them if they would make some stockings for Baby Elephant. They said they would be pleased to do it, and so they got some balls of wool and began knitting so busily with their shiny knitting needles, click, click! click, click! that pretty soon there they were, four nice long new stockings, one for each foot.

Then Daddy Elephant paid for the stockings and put them on Baby Elephant. And Baby Elephant said, “These are perfectly lovely new stockings, Daddy, but now, do you know, I believe I ought to have some new shoes, so I won’t spoil my nice new stockings.”

And Daddy Elephant said, “Why, what a funny little Baby Elephant you are! Just as soon as you get one thing you think of something else. But come along, and we will see if we can find you some shoes.”

So they went a long, long way through the Jungle, until they came to Mrs. Tiger’s store.

“Good morning, Mrs. Tiger,” said Daddy Elephant, very politely indeed. “Have you some shoes that you could sell me for my little Baby Elephant?”

“Why, no, Daddy Elephant,” said Mrs. Tiger, “I haven’t any big enough for him. But if you will take a seat and wait, I will call my Tiger shoemakers, and have some made for him.”

So they waited patiently while the Tiger shoemakers made some shoes. “Tip-a-tap, tip-a-tap, tip-a-tap-too!” went the hammers, until pretty soon there they were, four nice new red shoes with one for each foot.

Then Daddy paid Mrs. Tiger for them, and put them on and buttoned them up, and Baby Elephant said, “My! These are lovely new shoes, Daddy, and I thank you, but now I look so nice, shouldn’t I have a hat?”

And Daddy Elephant laughed and said, “Well, you are a funny little Baby Elephant. But come along, and I will see if I can find a hat for you.”

So they walked and walked a long way through the Jungle, and after a while they came to Mrs. Monkey’s millinery store.

And Daddy Elephant said, oh, very politely, “How do you do, Mrs. Monkey? Have you your new spring hats in? My little Baby thinks he’d like a hat.”

And Mrs. Monkey said that she didn’t believe she had a hat that would quite fit Baby Elephant, because they were very small this season, but that she would make him one. So she sent her little Monkeys out into the Jungle, and pretty soon they came back with some palm-tree leaves. And she sewed them into the prettiest hat you ever saw.

But Baby Elephant wanted trimming on his hat. So she found some ribbon grass, and made some bows, and rosettes, and put them on and Daddy Elephant paid her for it, and they started out again.

Then Baby Elephant laughed. “Daddy, don’t I look funny with my stockings and shoes and nice new hat, and no coat on?”

And Daddy said, “Oh, you funny baby! Well, come along, and we’ll see if we can find you a coat.” And they walked and walked, and nobody could make a coat until they came to where the Tailor Bird lived. And he said he could make a coat, “Just as easy!”

So he took a big piece of cloth, and spread it on the ground, and laid Baby Elephant down on it, and cut a coat just like him, but he got it a good deal too big, and it has wrinkled ever since.

But Baby Elephant liked it, and was very proud of his pretty new things, and promised his Daddy he would keep them all very nice. And when he got home he ran and kissed his Mammy Elephant, who had just begun to wonder where he and Daddy had been all day.

And then they all had supper.

Elizabeth Gordon’s sympathetic understanding of the child mind has placed her in the front rank as a writer of children’s books. It is an art not to be acquired; but, when natural and inborn, children are the first to recognize it. This tribute they have paid to Elizabeth Gordon, a proof of which lies in the steadily growing demand for her books.

Here are four of her books a child would love to own. There are fourteen illustrations in color by well-known artists in each book. Prettily bound, 32 pages.

DOLLY AND MOLLY AT THE SEASHORE
DOLLY AND MOLLY AT THE CIRCUS
DOLLY AND MOLLY AND THE FARMERMAN
DOLLY AND MOLLY ON CHRISTMAS DAY

35 cents net each

With 28 illustrations in color by the authors
Square 16mo, boards. 80 pages. 50 cents net

Very young people, for whom the book is gotten up, cannot fail to enjoy the pranks of the Kewpie Dolly, the Toy Soldier, and the Cat, who are among the guests of the frolicsome party.

WRITE FOR OUR CATALOGUE OF JUVENILE
BOOKS ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR

With 40 illustrations in color by WARNER CARR
Square 12mo. Cloth, 80 pages. 65 cents net

No child can fail to follow with keenest delight these sketches of the happenings of four days in the life of a little prairie dog. In the story there is no perilous element, no fierceness or taking of life in fields or woods. The gentler side of animal life is pictured, yet the story is full of spirit and action. The illustrations show that command of technique and that originality which, combined, hold young readers spellbound.

With 6 illustrations in color by FRANCES BEEM
64 pages. 75 cents net

The Little Strawman suddenly finds himself alive when the wind blows a wisp of straw into a raspberry bush and caps it with a berry head. There is throughout the rhymed narrative the breezy call of the out-of-doors; the gurgling of brooks and the singing of birds unite with the sweet fragrance of clover bloom and violet bank. The imagination of the child is led out into varied channels, and a wholesome love for birds and flowers and animals is instilled.

WRITE FOR OUR CATALOGUE OF JUVENILE BOOKS ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR

With 8 illustrations in color and 30 in black and white
by FRANCES BEEM. 144 pages. $1.00 net

This is an attractive fairy tale. The king of the fairies sends his son, Trixie, in search of the rare gifts of Health, Work and Love, to be bestowed upon a baby girl. The ways that are found to convey the mite of a princeling to his far-away goals are so novel, and his adventures so spirited, that no child can fail to be delighted while reading them.

With 10 illustrations in color and 47 in black and white
by NORMAN P. HALL. Cloth, 8vo. 288 pages. $1.20 net

Betty, aged six, wanting a playhouse, her brother Bobby determines to dig one in the out-of-doors. A few feet underground their experiences begin, and they find themselves, along with their pet monkey Utz, in a palace with revolving and dissolving walls. An imaginative child will revel in the book which holds one with the charm of “Alice in Wonderland.”

With illustrations in color by M. T. (“PENNY”) ROSS
80 pages. Boxed. $1.00 net.

The idea of the verses, in such simple form that they can easily be committed to memory, is to instruct the child in butterfly lore, near which shrubs, flowers or trees each is likely to be found, etc. The butterflies, beautified with baby faces and figures, seem to flit from page to page. To children they will be both an inspiration and a joy.

With illustrations in color by M. T. (“PENNY”) ROSS
80 pages. Boxed. $1.00 net.

In these dainty and novel pictures, beautifully printed in art colors, exquisite baby faces appear in the flowers. Each verse contains its own plea for preservation—the rose, the lily, the daisy, and others—and will make a lasting impression on the child’s mind.

With 30 illustrations in color by FRANCES BEEM
Boards, 80 pages. 65 cents net

A fanciful little tale which will add to the large circle of Elizabeth Gordon’s youthful admirers. In response to Granddad Coco Nut’s invitation, nuts from all over the world come to attend his birthday party. The sort of story to keep the little ones amused.