THE- SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAND, AUGUST 26, 1906. 47 CHAPTER III. m EXT morning Mr. Mima aecompa- 1 nied Feta for a mile on his route, ' and then shook bands and went his own way and the boy peddler was fairly afloat. He was not a forward boy, and he had felt all along that it would he almost too much for him to face people and answer their many questions. As he approached his first farmhouse he found himself afraid to go In, and he had passed It by 20 rods when he came upon the owner, who, was repairing a fence by the road side. There was no passing him, because he called out: "Hello, boy, which way you traveling?" "To Janeavllle," was the reply. "What you got In your trunk?" "Yankee notions." "Then you are a peddler, eh?" "I have Just started out." "Is that so? You are the youngest ped dler I ever saw. Did you stop at the house?" "N-no. sir." "I see how It was," said the farmer. with a laugh. "You are a bit afraid yet. Come along in with me. Mother was say lng this . morning that she needed some pins and needles. Nobody here Is going to bite you." i Pete not only made a sale of BO cents' worth on notions, but the farmer and his wife were so kind and Jolly that he made up his mind not to be afraid at the next house. He had been told to begin at once to ask about the lOBt trunk, and he Inquired In a careless way if any stranger had ever left a hair trunk there with a brass star on the cover. He was answered In the negative. The Way Bob and Billy THI9 Summer, when it came time for Father's vacation, he was pretty tired, and he said he wanted to get off somewhere with Just Mother, and not be bothered with us boys. I suppose we do make a little racket sometimes. Well, there wasn't a handy place to send us, so I said to Mother: "You and Father Just go along up country, and Billy and I'll keep house for ourselves. I can make coffee, so we can get our own breakfasts, and Gram Carpenter will get us lunches and dinners, and we'll get on fine." "I don't know as I dare trust you," Mother said. "Pooh!' We're trustable, all right. You'll seel" Well, she gave im . about one square mile of Instructions how to lock the doors at night and wind the clock and fasten the windows and sweep and dust in the three rooms we would use while they were gone, and order cream and eggs and butter from the bakery and bread from the cream no, it was Just the other way; and to cook only on the gas stove and not to carry matches in our pockets, and, well, there were a mil lion more things. I'd have remembered them better if there hadn't been bo many. Father and Mother got off all right, and were to stay up country for two weeks. We were to write them a postal card every day, and Mother left 14 all addressed. She looked sad when she said goodby but Billy and I we didn't feel sad. We were in for a good time. There wasn't anything to do the first day but sweep and dust andeat things over to Gram Carpenter's. She cooks bully, and she's a good fellow. We went fishing soon's the work was done, and the day wore off, all right. We forgot to lock up that night, but we slept all right and it didn't make any difference. Something pounding and yell ing at our door woke us up. It was the bakery man with the bread. The milkman had left us some things, and they were pretty hot standing in the sun. It turned out to be 10 o'clock, and we had to tumble into our clothes in a hurry. Billy set the table and I made the cof fee. I put in an egg to settle it, like Mother does, and then poured In some hot water and let her boil. It settled all nice enough there wasn't a ground came out of the snout when I poured It but it didn't come out coffee. It was nothing but yellowish water, and the coffee wa all cooked up In a bunch imilde the egg. It wasn't very good, but the bread and butter was. We boiled some eggs, but they all boiled out of the shell, and we decided to give OT DECIDED TO GET VP EARLY AND CLEA.V I.IKE5 FIRV. tartinJuiie At the next house his sales amounted to 30 cents; at the next to 20 cents: at the next 15. Every one had spoken kindly to him; and he was feeling very brave when he came to a farmhouse where the owner came down to the gate before the boy could open it and shouted: nVELl, HAXTVAH, WHAT "What do you want around here, you, young rascal?" "I am a peddler " of Yankee notions," was the answer. up eggs and eat more of Gram Car penter's lunches and dinners to make up. After breakfast we washed the dishes. They're awfully slippery when you take them out of the hot water. I dropped a cup, and Billy broke two plates. So we decided to give up washing dishes. There were heaps of clean ones, and we could have one big Job of it before the folks got home. Next morning I tried to make coffee without any egg. It came out as black as your hat and muddy to beat the band. Billy thought -afterward that maybe we 1 tell yoo I Think 'its vert- The. Doctor sy I've oot 1h$ Hive Si ft oT 1 c-Mit Jtnd ltd M oney ought to have emptied out the old grounds, but I don't know. Anyway, we decided to give up coffee. The third day we got a letter from Mother, and then we remembered about those old postal cards. So we sent them three of themall at once. Bill wrote one and - I wrote two, ai I we put the same thing on all of them: "Everything O. K.," so the folks wouldn't worry. . That night we found that the beds slept Just as well when they hadn't been made up, so we gave up making beds. We'd a great deal to attend to anyway, with all the other housework. Afgj j! it rr ''''' - 2 r . "Well, you peddle right along, and don't stop here. You may be a spy for a gang of tramps or robbers' for all I know. Hurry along with you or I'll whistle to my dog." ' Blteer MIms had warned Pete that he would meet with all sorts of people, and that he was not to talk back to those who were cranky and crusty. The boy therefore pursued his Journey without a word of reply, and at the next house, after making quite a sale, he was Invited to dinner. He was asked many ques tions, and he had a frank and ready an swer to all. When night came he had made a dis tance of 12 miles and had called at 15 houses. This was the first time Pete ever had trunk by the time he reached Janesville, and upon reaching that city he had to go DO YOU THINK!" been outside his own village, and "aefore a week had passed he had learned con- slderable about human nature. He had sold more than half the contents of his Kept House We found out, too, that it didn't do a bit of good to dust. Things got dusty right oft again', so we gave up dusting. The same with the sweeping up it's all foolishness. Women don't need to 6pend half the time they do pottering round and cleaning up. It takes a man to find out what is really necessary. Well, we had the housework simplified, but the eating was getting the better of us; . There was -a - lot of butter turned bad and the milk and cream we left in the bottles turned sour, and there was a bunch of them, too, I can tell you. So we decided to give up hutter and milk and cream. The two weeks were most gone when we decided to give up bread. You see the breadbox. was piled full of loaf-enda, and they were all getting moldy. We gave up winding the clock long before this, because it reminded us how late it was when we got up. We found It was easiest to Just sleep till most time for lunch, and by getting Gram Carpen ter to give us a bite before we went to bed we could give up breakfasts alto gether and not feel It. So, you see, we had our housekeeping reduced down to locking up at night, and we remembered to do that only twice. It didn't make a particle of difference. Billy and I crawled in one night near the end of the fortnight and decided to get up early and clean like fury before the folks got home. Would you believe it, when we woke up it was nearly noon and Mother was shaking us. You may bet we were glad to see her and Father, but we had to apologize for the looks of things. We explained hqv It was, and she Just laughed and hugged us and said: "Never mind about the dirt. I'm ma thankful to find you here at all. When we came home the front door stood wide open, and I thought you might have been robbed and kidnaped." . That's Just Mother's foolishness. Father roared when he saw the way things looked, and said . something about the luck of the lucky. It did seem good, though, to eat off a clean tablecloth, and get into a clean straight bed at night. Billy and I aren't so sure but Mother knows more, after all, than we do about housekeeping. The Party. Beth and Molly were neighbors, and there was a high wall between their fathers' gardens. Molly had her play house' on one side of the wall and Beth had her's on the other side. Molly's house was full of pretty pink dishes, and Beth had a little stove, with ket tles and saucepans. "I ll be Bridget, the cook," said Beth, "and you be Mrs. Spreadeagle, and give a party." "Oh, yes," said Molly, arranging her cups and saucers. "And you must call through the dumb waiter," went on Beth, "and say, "Bridget, make some tooty-frooty cream and a charlotte ruche immediately.' " "I'll be the dumb waiter anH nam Kover your things," said Jack, seating nimsen on me waiL "All right," said Molly. "Oh, Bridg et." she shouted, "make some two-footed cream." "Yes, mum," answered Bridget, put ting a cake In her little basket She handed the basket to Jack, and Jack handed it to Molly. But alas! When Mrs. Spreadeagle looked into the baskec it was empty, and on top of the wall sat the dumb waiter, munching the cake. Naughty Jack was a little ashamed. "Your cream must have melted, mum," he suggested. "Better try again." So they sent Up the basket again, and this time it brought down three enormous red and yellow apples from Jack's big pockets. So Mrs. Spreadeagle, Bridget and the dumb waiter Bat down together, and a Jollier party never was seen. Mending- Day. Everybody's Magazine. How quickly children's clothes win rip and tear! Each time I put off mending till so late, I re'llze that a family of eight Can give & loving mother lota of care. If more get born I really do declare I'll put 'em Into bed and make 'em wait. Darning, aewlng from early morn till la.te But there la not a child that I would spare. Brothere borrowed three that he pretends are dead. But I won't even think of auch a thin'! And yet-at mending time I've often said I almost wlahed though p'rapa it is a sin That God had sent some paper-dolls lnstoa. Whose dotnea are only painted on their akin. to a store to replenish his stock. He had met good and had people as he traveled along. Some had been kind, some indif ferent and some had told him to take himself along. The boy had had a pretty good time of it, taken altogether, and when he set his face toward Johnsonville he was feel ing in good spirits. He was no longer afraid to talk to people about his goods, and he saw that he was making a fair profit as a peddler. Many women told him that if he would come along once a month they would make some purchase, and only a few men had spoken to him harshly. Day by day Pete made his way back by the other road. There were two half days when it rained so hard- that he could not travel, and he therefore reached Johnsonville one day behind Miser Mims. The old man was there to give him welcome, and after they had shaken hands he said: "I suppose you have learned nothing of the trunk? It may be a year before you do so. In fact, I shan't blame you if you never hear of it. Think how long I have been searching and not the least bit of information yet. I want you to keep on peddling, however;- and keep on making Inquiries. You have been some 16 days, and you are J15 ahead. That is fair wages for a hoy of your age. I don't know any other way you could do as well. We will get some more goods and then I shall send you out by another road. Pete was allowed one day to rest and buy his goods, and then he was off again. The money he had made was left In the hands of Mr. Mlms. The boy had come ' to have great confidence in the man. His route led him through farming country, same as before. He was to tramp to a point named and then come back on another road. It was fig ured that it would take him 20 days to do this. His first five days out were without ad venture. Then he heard something that gave him a start. As he was selling a farmer's wife some notions another wom an called at the house and was ad dressed as Aunt Mary. She paid little attention ,to Pete, but said to the other woman: "Well, Hannah, what do you think? Don't you remember that Jim Cumerford bought an old hair trunk at an express sale in' Milwaukee several years ago?" "Why, yes, I think I do,' was the reply. "It was full of clothes, but when he got it homo they were found to be moth eaten. He put the old trunk out in the barn, and I guess the hens used It to nest in for a long time." VBut what about it,. Aunt Hannah?" "Only this, that a feller came along yesterday looking for such a trunk and saying he would give ten dollars to find it." (To he continued.) pTHB STORY OF, CHAPTER 23 U (dGOf! f I RAISE" 5a (M0R ... (wtth sournw cy cmpzbJ '60XOTI03 037 CHAPTER XIV. j "Shut Ok door, dear. I sn Afraid of -catc&lxtc cold. sfclxa pert-J ttts woif- "Yea appear to be a bit hoarse . - said Red Riding Hood. "Tat oft your cloak and hood and ret Into bed. that I may talk to yo." commanded th'e wolf. And littlsV Ending. Hood ohejnsl. 1 eS ft 2f$U (UrT5TK?l' ? v V Dog's Story of the Great Earthquake (THOUGHT I knew all about earth quakes, for I'm a native son born a puppy of an illustrious San Francisco kennel and every California dog has had his day of little shakes, when it seemed that the earth involuntarily shivered in its sleep as if dreaming of a flea tickling its spinal cord. But the April 18th quake was different. The earth suddenly awoke. It sprang up, leaped on its hind legs, pawed air. TWO HAJiDS OUTSTRETCHED THROUGH THE OPEXISTO GRABBED THE NAPE OF MY KECK. lashed its tall, and rolled over and over. The fit ended. I crawled out from a heap of broken glass, brushes and combs that had drifted Into a corner where I had been flung from Miss Alice's bed. At first everything blurred before my blinking eyes, but litle by little details took shape. Misa Alice's book shelves, having tossed off bric-a-brac as your ear does a fly, were leaning upon the shoulder of a mahogany davenport; the bureau had run' Into the middle of the room for. safe ty. A longing for the back yard steadied my trembling paws to action and I made for the door. It had banged to. Where was Miss Alice, who always anticipated her little Skye's every need? Suddenly I remembered; the quake had stupefied eVen the brains of a thorough bred. Miss Alice had not slept with me, having gone to spend the night with the Stafford pug's mistress. In their fright Billy and the rest of the family had forgotten me. I was helpless, desert ed, trapped I, Victor Fauntleroy Smith, whose slightest wish used to be law! I tried to scratch down "the door,- but I was as weak as a cat. I attempted to call for help, but my yelp wouldn't work. Hours dragged by before I heard steps and voices in the hall. "Oh, Billy." wailed Miss Alice, "I don't hear any howls! He's been crushed to death, my dear little Vlcl" Not even fright could keep down & bark The Story of DOROTHY had come that very day to spend part of her vacation with her grandmother, and when, after lunch eon, in her fresh white dress, she came down the long: staircase, the minister and his wife were Just being shown into the beautiful drawing-room. Grandmother took Dorothy in and introduced her to the visitors. Dor othy shook hands shyly, for the great roorri, with its stately furnishings, and the portraits of her ancestors looking down at her from the white and gold walls, always rather overpowered her. Presently Phoebe, the maid, brought in the tea things and some of grand mother's famous fruit cake. Dorothy v had equally famous seed cakes, which Phoebe brought her on a pink-luster plate, that had one of Poor Richard's proverbs around the edge. "Silks and Satins Put Out the Kitch en Fire," read Dorothy. It sounded verytjueer; she longed to experiment with it, and she touched grandmother's black satin gown with her hand. Grandmother looked down at the little girl, who sat on a low Btool near'her chair, and smiled. Dor othy smiled back again, but grand mother, thinking she looked tired, said: "You can go out in the kitchen, if you like, dear, and ask Phoebe or cook to show you the kittens." So Dorothy excused herself and ran down the hall. There was no one in the kltohen, however, for cook and Phoebe were down in the laundry. There was a bright fire in the range, and Dorothy was reminded of the proverb. "I don't think grandmother would care if I brought down a few gowns out of the closet upstairs to try with," she thought. So she slipped up the back stairs, and presently came back with her arms full of silk and satin gowns, which she hung around the fire. When the callers had gone, grand mother found a very sober and tear stained Dorothy curled up in the win dow seat in the library. "What Is the - matter, deary?" she asked anxiously, scenting home-sickness in the air. "I have been a very bad girl, grand mother," sobbed Dorothy. "You know the Franklin plates? well, mine said that 'bout silks and satins, you know. I tried it; I hung some of yours around to see, and it didn't go out at all no indeed it scorched the sleeve a little, and I know now I ought not to have done it without asking you. You prob'ly won't want me to stay here any longer, and I shouldn't think you would." "Oh, dear child!" said grandmother, trying not to laugh, "did you think it meant that? No, it means, I think, that if you Wear better things than you can afford, you must go without things you really need." "But tne scorched placet said Dor othy. "What oloset did you g-et them from V "The East-room closet." "Well, those are old ones, hunr away there to use for patchwork, said grandmother, "bo there is no great harm done.'" - But Dorothy knew better. "It might have been, and it isn't my fault that it isn't," she said, in a peni at that! As for the bang I made dash ing against the door well, it would have given pointers to a mastiff. But the earthquake had Jammed the door 60 that neither Miss Alice nor Billy could open it. Would they leave me alone again a little dog shut in with a big fear? There was a whispered discussion, then a scornful ejaculation from Billy. "Afraid of nothing! Only give a fellow a boost." At that the transom over the door had an earthquake of Its own, and the next moment Billy's long little legs wriggled through the opening into my room. "Do hurry!" called Miss Alice. "You know the house Is condemned, and may fall 1n at any moment." Billy pushed a table under the tran som, and with me tucked under one arm Jumped upon it. Two hands outstretched through the opening grabbed me by the nape or my neck; a tug, a choking sensa tion, and I was on the other side of the door in Miss Alice's dear arms. We groped our way downstairs torn loose from the wall and plunging toward the front door. Out in the street the earthquake had come through a deep crack and twisted the side of the house, the curb and ttxe corner lamp post. We walked several blocks to a vacant lot where, huddled about a couple of mattresses and a heap of blankets, we found the rest of the family. They all hugged me, as on the day I came home from the dog show. I had recovered my nerve sufficiently to be hungry. My imagination sniffed the savor of Uver, a chicken wing, mashed potatoes in gravy. Miss Alice offered me 'a. bit of salt leather called bacon. Soon they said It was night, but it wasn't, for the sky was a blaze of light. Miss Alice explained that It was a great fire not a library fire to stretch out in front of on the (bear rug, but a con-fla- Dorothy and the tent voice, "it might have been your bestest one." "Yes, you can always ask, you know," suggested grandmother, in her gentle voice. "Yes, I always will after this." said YSTANDJ "ASKIT- AND JJ7TEN IT MTA5 PR fi A LT P- TWIT -GRPl PLK3 THINK" ARt 2IILY; Dorothy, "and I will get a plate to eat on that says something that I can un derstand, so I won't want to try things, for I do love to do that, grandmother." uranamouier always iiKea co minK ftL THE HAPFY TRAMPS. "We're tacky blrdav" the sparrow trams Said to his ragged neighbor; "Just think. If we were watbaraxav How v would hsv to labor!" gra-shun where flames' leaped from build ing to building, burning up the city like kindling wood. The rest of the family slept on one mattress; Miss Alice, Billy and I lay down on the other. For a long time I watched the sky. Would the hre reach the Burton's Angora? Would the- Staf ford pug make his escape? I dozed at last -to have awful dreams of docaich ers in red automulaavs chafing ma across the redhot sky. In the morning, muffled clouds of smoko curtained the horizon, and through them were flashes cf ligut called spurks. We decided to move on to the Fort Mason military reservation, where some cf the soldiers live, at whose heels I used to majk so gaily when troops marched on Van Ness ave nue. The rest of the family had a trunk. They strapped bedding on its top, and Billy and nis father hauled it with a clothes line, while Miss Alice and Billy's mother pushed. I walked be hind. A crowd swept down the street with, us, all carrying things. Once 1 barked at any one witn a bundle, but I knew I hand't enough barks to go around, so I did not begin. Besides the trunks, chairs, pictures and beds that people were trundling, there were buckets with cats, cages with canaries and par rots. One shrieked so jftud rib' in iu my ear that I turned tail and ran. Then a dreadful thing happened. When I had screwed up my courage to pause, I could not Bee Miss Alice any where, nor Billy, nor the rest of the family. I called at the top of my bark. I pattered to the right, to the left. My feet were four blisters my body ail ache. My swallow wouldn't swallow. I could only pant. "Why doggie, are you lost?" A strange, boy patted me, and 'al though I generally snarled at such an Impertinence, I gratefully licked his hand. "You look played out. Guess you're one of them lapdog swells that ain't accustomed to trotting it," he grinned. "Hike up on the wagon; I'll give you a, lift." He tossed me on top of a pile of clothes and bonnet boxes heaped on a top wagon, and in this undignified manner I thumped down the boulevard I, Victor Faultleroy Smith. When the wagon stopped and I wrig gled off, I overheard a woman say wo had reached Fort Mason. For vain hours I searched for Miss Alice. Again and again I thought I had a clew, dashing wildly after some man, woman or child, only to catch up with a heartrending disappointment. At last I dropped down exhausted. No one noticed me at first. Then a yel low scrubby mongrel came up, wagging his tall. I, Victor Fauntleroy Sinitn, the thoroughbred, wagged mine, and in five minutes we were chums. He had lived south of Market street, and told thrilling tales of the fire and his escape. By and by his master came with a crust of bread in his outstretched hand. "Hello, Fido, got company for sup per?" he said, cheerily. "We must all be willing to divvy now, old boy." And breaking the crust In halt, he threw us each a piece. It was the most delicious morsel that I ever had eaten. Afterward, Fldo and I were fortunate enough to get a drink of dirty water out of an empty salmon can. Then we snuggled up close to gether and slept. But the dog-catcher in the red auto mobile again chased after me across the sky, and I sprang up with a yelp. Panic-stricken, I ran to the outskirts of the campiner ground. Suddenly a dark figure silhouetted against the flame-swert Bky arrested my attention. It was that of a boy with very long, little legs, standing guard over a pot of coffee cooking in an emergency oven. I bounded to him; sniffed his heels: pawed at his ankles, my heart beating1 time to my uproarious barks. He turned with a start and a shout. "Aunt Alice, It's Vic little Victor Fauntleroy Smith!" ' Franklin Plates Dorothy was like herself when she was a little girl; so now she laughed. "Ah.'so did I, Dorothy, w lien I was your age," she said. "Oh, tell me, please?" said Dorothy. And giandmother told stories until the bell called them into the dining room. Dorothy ran ahead and chose a plate, this time, which instructed her not to pay too dear for her whistle, which was comparatively safe. How Kuth Filled ller Cup. "Can I help, too, gTandma?" asked Ruth, as she sat down in the old-fashioned kitchen. Grandma was making pudding 'for company, and Hannah was stuffing a big fat goose. Aunt Katie and mamma were setting the long table, and every body was busy. "Yes, my dear, you can pick me a cup of raisins," said grandma. Ruth went to work with a will and picked the raisins very fast, but some how the cup didn't seem to get full. Grandma looked up Just as Ruth was putting a great Juicy raisin into her mouth, and then she discovered the reason. "When you pick raisins, Ruth, you must always whistle," said grandma, solemnly. "Why, grandma!" exclaimed Ruth, "mamma says It's not well bred for girls to whistle." "If you whistle you can't eat, my dear, and the cup will get full quicker; but singing is every bit as good, and I would like to hear you sing about Little Jack Horner." And wasn't it queer? When Ruth began to sing that cup was full la a Jiffy.