Three little Trippertrots

Mary and Tommy and Johnny Trippertrot were coming home from school early one day when something strange happened to them. You see, the Trippertrot children were in the kindergarten class.

“What did you learn to-day?” asked Mary of Tommy, as all three of them came along the street together.

“Oh,” said Tommy, “I learned how to cut out a paper lantern, and it’s real pretty when you hang it up.”

“That’s nice,” said Mary; “and will you show me how to make one when we get home?”

“Of course,” answered Tommy, who liked his sister very much.

“And what did you learn to make in the kindergarten class?” asked Mary of Johnny.

“Oh, the teacher showed us how to make a chain out of paper,” answered Johnny, “and you can put it around your neck for a necklace.”

“Oh, how lovely!” cried Mary. “I’d like a chain like that.”

“Then I’ll show you how to make one,” said Johnny kindly. “But what did you learn to make to-day, Mary?”

“Oh, our teacher showed us how to fold a piece of square red paper, and then cut it with the scissors, and then bend the corners over and make a pin-wheel just like the man sells at the circus, where there are lions, and tigers, and elephants that eat peanuts.”

“Lions and tigers don’t eat peanuts,” said Tommy.

“I know that,” answered Mary, “but elephants do, for once I had a whole bagful, and I was giving the baby elephant one peanut, and a big elephant behind me, when I didn’t see him, reached over with his trunk, and took my whole bag of peanuts out of my hand, and ate them up at one mouthful.”

“Oh! that was terrible!” cried Johnny. “I wish we had some peanuts now.”

“Well, let’s hurry home, and maybe mamma will give us some,” said Mary. “Anyhow, we can make the paper things which the kindergarten teacher showed us. Let’s hurry home.”

“That’s what we can,” exclaimed Johnny, and then the three little Trippertrots tripped and trotted toward their home, for they didn’t want to get lost again, you see, and have to be brought home in a trolley car.

As they were going down the street where their house was, and when they were almost at home, all at once a little birdie fluttered along the sidewalk.

“Oh, look!” cried Mary. “There’s a little birdie.”

“Yes, and it’s lame, too,” said Tommy.

“Maybe we can catch it, and make it better,” spoke Johnnie, and he hurried after the birdie, which really was lame. There was something the matter with one of its legs, so that it couldn’t hop very well, and there was something the matter with one of its wings, so that it could only flutter along.

“Wait, little birdie!” exclaimed Tommy kindly, “I won’t hurt you the least bit.”

But perhaps the bird didn’t understand Tommy’s talk. At any rate, it still fluttered on, and the three Trippertrot children kept after it, for Johnny and Mary wouldn’t let Tommy go on alone.

“Wait, birdie!” called Tommy again, “and I’ll give you my paper lantern,” for Tommy had brought one with him from his kindergarten class.

But I guess the birdie didn’t like paper lanterns. Anyway, he kept on fluttering along, just far enough ahead so that the Trippertrot children couldn’t catch him. They didn’t want to hurt him, you understand; no, indeed! They only wanted to help him.

“Oh, wait a minute, little bird!” called Johnny, “and I will give you my paper chain.”

But perhaps the birdie was afraid the paper chain might get tangled in his legs. At any rate, he didn’t wait, but kept on fluttering along the sidewalk.

“Perhaps some cat might get him,” said Mary, after a while. “We must try to catch that birdie, boys, and put him in a safe place. Wait, and I will speak to him.”

So Mary walked on in front of Tommy and Johnny, and said, in her soft little voice:

“Wait a minute, birdie, and you may have my paper pin-wheel that I made in kindergarten class, and it goes around and around as fast as anything.”

“What goes around,” asked Tommy, with a laugh, “the pin-wheel or the kindergarten class?”

“Both of them,” answered Mary quickly. “The pin-wheel goes around when you blow your breath on it, and the kindergarten class goes around when teacher plays the piano, and we march and play games. But now please keep quiet, and I may get the birdie.”

So Mary walked on ahead, very, very softly, and once more she told the lame birdie that it might have her pin-wheel. I don’t know just how it was, but perhaps the birdie thought if he had the pin-wheel he might be able to fly up in the air again. At any rate, he stopped fluttering, and a moment later Mary had him softly nestled in her little, warm hands.

“Oh, you dear, darling little birdie!” she exclaimed.

“One of his legs is hurt and so is one of his wings,” said Mary, as she looked at the little lame birdie. “Oh, boys!” she exclaimed, “I know what let’s do!”

“What?” asked Johnny.

“Let’s take this bird to a doctor’s office,” went on Mary, “and the doctor will make him all better. How’s that?”

“Fine!” cried Tommy and Johnny together, and then they looked up and down the street to see a house where a doctor lived. And then, all of a sudden, Johnny cried:

“Oh, Mary! Oh, Tommy! We’re lost again! We came down the wrong street, when we followed the fluttering birdie, and now can’t find our way home again! Oh, what shall we do?”

“Oh, never mind!” spoke Mary, after a bit, when she had looked all around to see if she could find the way home, but she couldn’t. “Never mind. We’ll go to the doctor’s office first, and maybe he can tell us the way home.”

“Maybe he can!” said Tommy and Johnny, and then they didn’t feel badly any more. Well, the Trippertrot children walked on, Mary carrying the birdie, which was just as happy as it could be now. And pretty soon the children met a nice man.

“If you please, sir,” said Tommy, “can you tell us where there’s a doctor’s office?”

“Why, are you sick?” asked the man quickly.

“No, but the bird is,” said Johnny. “And we’re lost.”

“But we didn’t mean to be,” said Tommy quickly. “You see, we were coming home from school, and we kept on going after this birdie, until, all of a sudden, we were lost.”

“I see,” said the man, with a jolly laugh. “Well, I hope you will find your home again. The doctor’s office is just a few houses down this street. Right next to the candy store,” he added.

“Oh, thank you, then we can easily find it,” said Mary quickly; “we just love candy.”

“Then here is a cent for each of you,” spoke the man, and he gave them each a cent, and pretty soon the Trippertrot children ran on, and they were at the candy store. And they bought some sticks of peppermint candy, and then they rang the bell at the doctor’s office.

“Well, what is it, children?” asked the doctor, when he came to the door. “I hope you are not all sick.”

“No, but the little lame birdie is,” said Tommy, “and will you please cure him? We would give you some pennies for doing it, but we just spent them all for candy, so we have none.”

“Hum, then I’m afraid you may be sick, as well as the birdie,” said the doctor.

“We’re lost, anyhow, but we’re not sick—that is, not yet, if you please,” said Mary. “But can you cure the birdie?”

“Oh, I’m afraid not,” said the doctor kindly. “You see, I am a boy-or-a-girl or a man-or-a-lady doctor, but not a bird-doctor. You will have to take the birdie to a bird-doctor.”

“If you please, where is one?” asked Johnny.

“I don’t know,” answered the man-doctor.

“Then I guess you will have to be one yourself,” said Mary. “If you can cure a boy or a girl you can cure a bird. And then, please will you find our home for us? We’re the Trippertrots, and we’re lost.”

“Oh, my! Oh, my!” exclaimed the doctor, and he laughed and scratched his head. “I don’t know what in the world to do. But come in, and bring the bird.”

Then he took them inside and he gave the bird some warm milk, and he put some salve on the sore wing and leg, and pretty soon the birdie was all well again.

“Now what are you going to do with the bird?” asked the doctor when he had cured it. “Are you going to take it home, and put it in a cage?”

“No, indeed!” exclaimed Mary. “Birdies don’t like to be shut up in a cage. We’re going to let it go; aren’t we, boys?”

“Of course,” said Tommy and Johnny. So the doctor opened a window and out flew the little birdie, and it was so happy that it wiggled its tail and called “cheep-cheep!” to the children.

“And now can you please take us home?” said Mary to the doctor. “We are tired and we haven’t been home from school yet, and mamma may worry. Besides, we want to make some paper lanterns, and paper chains, and paper pin-wheels. Please take us home.”

“Dear me!” exclaimed the doctor. “I hardly know what to do. Where do you live?”

“We don’t know,” said Mary and Tommy and Johnny at once.

“Oh, this is worse and worse!” exclaimed the doctor.

“Don’t you know where we live?” asked Mary. “I thought doctors knew everything.”

“I only wish I did,” said the doctor kindly. “But I will see what I can do.” So he called in Bridget, his cook, and asked her if she knew where the children lived.

“Of course,” answered Bridget. “They are the Trippertrots. They live a couple of streets from here.”

“Can you take them home?” asked the doctor.

“Ah, sure I can,” said Bridget.

“Then please do,” said the doctor.

So Bridget put on her bonnet and shawl, and started to take the Trippertrots home, but on the way there something else happened.