Twinkle Toes and His Magic Mittens

<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br/> <span class="smaller">NAMING THE FLAG</span></h2> <p>Uncle Mouser and Twinkle Toes went home next day, and the Three Little Kittens called “Good bye, good bye, good bye, come again soon to visit us.”</p> <p>“Clip, clip, clip,” went Old Uncle Mouser’s cane as he went down the path.</p> <p>He called back, “I will come again, if I may sleep in my red plush-lined basket.”</p> <p>Twinkle Toes went off waving his Magic Mittens and he waltzed round and round.</p> <p>Old Mother Kit-Cat put on her sun-bonnet and took her market basket and went to town.</p> <p>The Three Little Kittens wanted to go<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_67"></SPAN>[67]</span> out sliding on the ice, but Mother Kit-Cat had told them they must keep house while she was gone.</p> <p>It was very quiet in the house with company gone.</p> <p>It was very lonesome with Mother Kit-Cat away.</p> <p>They missed Twinkle Toes and said, “How we do wish Twinkle Toes would come back.”</p> <p>The Little Old Man of the Fire suggested,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“Three Little Kittens I think you’d better</div> <div class="verse indent0">Sit right down and compose a letter,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Ask him to come back, wherever he goes,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Your queer little, dear little, Twinkle Toes.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_68"></SPAN>[68]</span></p> <p>The Three Little Kittens did not know much about letter writing, but they thought they would write a letter to Twinkle Toes and drop it in the first mail that went out.</p> <p>They were going to ask him to come back and visit them.</p> <p>The Three Little Kittens drew their three little stools up to the table, and they got out pen, paper and ink.</p> <p>Dot cried, “Oh, oh, oh, my pretty white fur.”</p> <p>Tot cried, “I am drowning in ink.”</p> <p>Trot cried, “Help, help.”</p> <p>Now what do you suppose had happened?</p> <p>They had upset the bottle of ink and it had splashed over their fur and whiskers.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_69"></SPAN>[69]</span> The Little Old Man of the Fire cried,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“Get a tub and rub-a-dub,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Get one this minute and put kittens in it.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>The Three Little Kittens were not fond of a bath, but they got water and filled the tub and jumped in.</p> <p>Such a rubbing and scrubbing you never saw.</p> <p>Soon they were out and drying by the fire.</p> <p>They sat down to start their letter over again when the Little Old Man of the Fire cried,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“For shame, you left a dirty tub,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Go clean it now, go rub and scrub.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>They got cloths and tumbled into the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_70"></SPAN>[70]</span> tub, head-first and began to rub and scrub, until they had it clean.</p> <p>They were so tired that Dot and Tot sat down then by the table, and began to cry until they had cried a little stream of water, but Trot said, “Will you cry a bowl full? Will you cry a tub full?”</p> <p>The Little Old Man of the Fire sputtered again and said,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis pleasanter anyway, I think,</div> <div class="verse indent0">To write with pencil instead of ink!”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>At that very minute three little pencils sailed right down into the paws of the Three Little Kittens.</p> <p>They did not write that letter that day.</p> <p>They did not write that letter the next day.</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_71"></SPAN>[71]</span></p> <p>They did not write that letter at all, for “rap a tap,” sounded on the door, and Twinkle Toes and Uncle Mouser appeared, Old Mother Kit-Cat right behind them.</p> <p>They said,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“Don’t say you feel afraid,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Come out and join the big parade.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>Sure enough, there was a big parade, and all the animals were marching, right foot, left foot.</p> <p>The Three Little Kittens lost no time joining them, you may be sure.</p> <p>Because many of the animals had flags, they cried, “Oh we wish we had a flag too.”</p> <p>Twinkle Toes did not think of his Magic Mittens that minute, they were all so excited.</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_72"></SPAN>[72]</span></p> <p>They marched a mile through the woods and back again, and went with a hop, and a skip, and a bound, back to their little wee house at the edge of the woods.</p> <p>To their surprise they found Old Mother Kit-Cat had gotten back ahead of them, and there she sat rocking to and fro crying, “Oh dear, oh dear.”</p> <p>“Get the doctor,” shouted Uncle Mouser.</p> <p>Twinkle Toes said, “Get the camphor.”</p> <p>Old Mother Kit-Cat rocked to and fro, crying, “Oh me, oh my.”</p> <p>Dot and Tot said, “What is the matter, Ma.”</p> <p>Trot said, “I believe she wanted to march beneath her own flag of red, white and blue.”</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_73"></SPAN>[73]</span></p> <p>Old Mother Kit-Cat said,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“We’re too poor to buy a banner ’tis true,</div> <div class="verse indent0">We have no banner of red, white and blue.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>At that very minute Twinkle Toes thought of his Magic Mittens, and he wished that every one of their little travelling bags might be full of red, white, and blue bunting.</p> <p>“Snip-snap,” they unclasped their little travelling bags.</p> <p>Out rolled yards and yards of bunting.</p> <p>The bunting was red, white and blue.</p> <p>Uncle Mouser said, “Thirteen stripes and forty-eight stars.”</p> <p>They begged him to tell a story about<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_74"></SPAN>[74]</span> the flag, but he only said again, adding a line to make a real verse,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“Thirteen stripes and forty-eight stars,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Come, make this glorious flag of ours.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>In less time than it takes to tell it, Old Uncle Mouser and Mother Kit-Cat, and Twinkle Toes, were measuring the bunting to make a great big flag.</p> <p>The Three Little Kittens got scissors that went “snip, snip, snip.”</p> <p>Now what do you suppose they were doing?</p> <p>They were making a flag of red, white, and blue.</p> <p>They were making a flag to wave outside the door.</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_75"></SPAN>[75]</span></p> <p>The Little Old Man of the Fire was so happy he kept singing patriotic verses over and over,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“Hurrah for the flag and our country too,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Hurrah for the flag red, white, and blue.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>They cut out white stars and sewed them to the field of blue.</p> <p>The Little Old Man of the Fire said,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“We’re true to the colors, the flag is ours,</div> <div class="verse indent0">With thirteen stripes and forty-eight stars.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>When the flag was finished the Three Little Kittens begged to take it out and Mother Kit-Cat said,</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_76"></SPAN>[76]</span></p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“I must say “yes,” for you’ll beg any way,</div> <div class="verse indent0">To carry this flag for a year and a day.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>Twinkle Toes marched ahead of the Three Little Kittens and they took turns carrying the flag.</p> <p>All the animals bowed to them as they passed, and saluted the flag.</p> <p>When they got home again Old Mouser told them stories about the flag as Twinkle Toes waved it to and fro.</p> <p>They all sang a little song that you can sing to the tune of “Lightly Row.”</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“Bring the flag, bring the flag,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Wave it ever high above,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Bring the flag, bring the flag,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Flag that we all love,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_77"></SPAN>[77]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Bonnie red, and white and blue,</div> <div class="verse indent0">To the colors we are true,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Bring the flag, bring the flag,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Wave it high above.”</div> </div></div> </div> <p>When night came, the Three Little Kittens dreamed that they were sailing away in a sailboat with Uncle Mouser and Twinkle Toes, and that the sailboat had a sail like our flag red, white, and blue.</p> <p>They thought that Mother Kit-Cat stood in the doorway to bid them good bye, and that Uncle Mouser said he would come again if his red plush-lined basket was waiting for him.</p> <p>If you close your eyes you may join them too and sail away, away, away.</p> <p>You may even hear the bell that Twinkle Toes wears “tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.”</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_78"></SPAN>[78]</span></p> <p>I can hear the little bell sing,</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">“Who goes to the home of the Three Little Kittens?</div> <div class="verse indent0">Twinkle Toes with his new Magic Mittens,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Who has kind friends as everyone knows?</div> <div class="verse indent0">Our dear little, queer little, Twinkle Toes.”</div> </div></div> </div> <hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG 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