Henny and Penny

Front matter

COPYRIGHT DEPOSHi

-Vr-

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Contents

CHAPTER PAOB

I. The Birthday l

II. The Chicken Pox .... 20

CHAPTER I H ENNY and Penny were twins

they were four years old on the same day. Their birthday was exactly the same, their clothes were just the same and their toys were the same, yet they themselves were very different.

Henny’s real name was Henrietta, while Penny’s right name was Penelope, still no one ever dreamed of calling them

by those long names. They were too 1 little and cunning and round and dimpled for that! They had just xme brother. His name was David and he was seven years old. He was ever so much taller than Henny and Penny and they thought he was quite grown up.

This story begins on the twins’ birthday. It was a cold March day and of course the first thing to happen was that when they woke up they were kissed and spanked by every one in the house. They ran around in their nighties with feet in them, looking like two little blue bears, and I can tell you they felt much bigger and older than they did the day before when they were only three.

Father said “Are you four years old this morning? Well, you are big girls. Let me see if you have grown any taller than you were last year,” and he took them in the bathroom and stood them up against the door, making marks with a pencil on the door just above their heads, so that when they turned to look, sure enough, this year’s mark was higher than last year’s, which was made on their third birthday. They had grown all that distance in one year and they hadn’t felt it a bit!

Soon the whole family was dressed, brushed and combed, and went trooping down the stairs — Father, Mother, David, Henny and Penny. When they got in the dining-room and the twins were lifted up into their high-chairs, there they found their plates turned upside down with packages under them, sticking out in all directions. “Oh-o-o-o, I’ve got a doll,” said Henny, taking the paper off the top package under her plate.

“So have I,” said Penny, undoing hers as quickly as she could.

“Oh, a ball !” squealed Henny.

“I’ve got a ball, too,” squealed Penny.

“A kitchen stove!” cried Henny, getting more and more excited.

“Eve got a kitchen stove, too. Now we can cook for our dollies,” cried Penny, jumping up and down in her high-chair.

“A na’kin ring,” Henny was taking it out of the box. She meant napkin ring, but couldn’t say it.

“So have I got a na’kin ring,” and Penny took hers out of the box.

“Here’s a nice penny in this box.” The “penny” was a five-dollar gold piece from Grandfather.

“And here’s my penny. Oh-o-o-o!” said Penny, kissing it because it was so shiny.

“I gave you the balls. Do you like that kind?” asked David, who was enjoying it as much as they were. In a second the twins slipped down from their chairs, ran to the other side of the table, and as they squeezed him cried “Oh thank you, Davy.” And Father said “J gave you the kitchen stoves.” At that they ran to Father and nearly smothered him with hugs and kisses.

Mother said “Mother gave you the dollies and Nayno (she was their grandmother) sent the napkin rings and Baydo f (he was their grandfather) sent the gold pieces.” By this time the twins were both on Mother’s lap.

“There is something in the hall closet from Dootsie,” said Mother. “Go open the door and see what is there.”

They flew to the hall closet and opened the door and dear, oh dear, what do you think was there? Two doll carriages, side by side! Two doll carriages with tops that moved up and down and straps to keep the babies from falling out, and brakes on the wheels. “Dootsie sent you those. Aren’t they lovely?” said Mother. Dootsie was Mother’s aunt, so she was the twins’ aunt, too.

By this time the two little girls could hardly speak. Mother said they must come and eat their breakfast, so they wheeled the carriages out, backed them around by their high-chairs and Mother put all the presents in them. The twins ate their oatmeal and other things, but between every mouthful they hc^d to look around at those darling carriages. It took a long time for breakfast, because Mother made them eat as much as usual and would not let them jump down after drinking their orange juice (which was what they wanted to do, for they didn’t feel a bit hungry with all those new things to look at) .

The whole morning was spent wheeling the carriages, just full of dolls, up and down the sidewalk, but just after dinner there was some trouble. First — Penny spilled a bottle of red ink all over her dress and white stockings, and while her clothes were being changed, Henny, who was waiting for her alone in the living-room, happened to turn around and see a box of chocolates on the table! When she reached up to feel of it, over it went, scattering candies all over the floor. They looked perfectly delicious and Henny thought if she ate the ones that were under the table no one would know about it. Just as she was enjoying herself Mother came in and said, “Henny dear, you know you are not allowed to eat candy without permission. Now I will have to shut you up in the Naughty Closet, and on your birthday, too!” So she did. It wasn’t a dark closet, but the window was small and very high up, and there was nothing interesting in it — nothing but shelves full of sheets and towels and pillow-cases, with a chair to sit on when you were being punished.

Henny sat very still licking the chocolate off her fingers. Pretty soon she heard a little rustling noise. “I fink that’s a bear,” she thought, but just then her bright eyes spied a tiny mouse running close to the wainscoting.

“Here, Mousie, Mousie,” she whispered. The mouse stood still. Henny felt in her wee pocket for some cake crumbs left over from a cake some one had given her that morning. She threw them on the floor but the mouse took no notice of them. “That’s nice cake, Mousie. Eat some,” she urged, still in a whisper.

She sat so quietly that her patience was soon rewarded. The mouse stuck his head out and his whiskers began to move back and forth as he smelled of the nearest crumb. Then, to Henny’s delight, he ate it. He looked at her and she looked at him. Neither one moved. He grew bolder and made a quick run for the next crumb. Henny never stirred. Then Mr. Mouse lost all his fear and ran about from crumb to crumb, eating every one.

“That mouse is as good as a carpetsweeper/’ thought Henny.

When Mother put her hand on the door knob outside, the little fellow scuttled away and disappeared without a sound. “Are you sorry, Henny?” came Mother’s voice through the door. “Yes, Mother.” Henny had almost forgotten what she ought to be sorry for, she was so delighted with her new friend, and as soon as the chocolate was washed off her face and hands, -she ran to find Penny and tell her all about it. Penny was just as pleased and excited, and they agreed to keep it for their Secret.

“Let’s go see the mousie now, Henny,” said Penny. They tried to get the door open but the handle was too high for them to turn it when they stood on the floor, and they dared not get a chair, for fear Mother would come up the stairs and discover their Secret. “We’ll have to io wait until we get punished,” whispered Penny. They soon forgot the mouse, for they were going to have a Birthday Party that afternoon and it was time to get dressed.

“Please, Mother, I want my sugar wibbon,” begged Henny, meaning her white hair ribbon.

“Why do you call it your sugar ribbon, Henny?”

“Because I like it so much,” replied the happy child.

“I call mine my salt wibbon because it looks like salt,” said Penny, who had never thought of naming it before.

“Now you look like two little white angels,” said Delia, coming in at the door when they were all dressed.

“I am going to be a angel, Delia, and plant flowers in God’s garden. I’ll plant sweet peas like the ones on your Sunday dwess, and eating peas, too, so you can eat them for your dinner, Delia.”

“Thank you, darlin’, but I’m thinkin’ it will be a good while before such mischievous children as you are will turn into angels. There goes the door bell. The party must be coming!”

Delia hurried down the stairs with the twins close behind, and David slid down the banister and beat them all. Sure enough, it was the beginning of the party. David’s friend, John Pepper, stood outside with a package in each hand. When he had come in and taken •off his coat, he held the packages high above his head and said, “I’ll give you each three guesses, and if you guess right you can have these to open and keep for yourselves.”

This was great fun.

“I guess it’s a canary baid ,” said Henny, for she had wanted one a long time.

“How could a canary bird be shut up in a paper without air? It would die.

No, you’re wrong. Now you guess, Penny.”

“A dollie’s bed.”

“Now you know that isn’t the shape of a doll’s bed. Guess again.

“A tea set.”

“No, it isn’t a tea set. One more guess.”

“A — a mouse !” said Penny, thinking of what Henny had told her before they were dressed.

“No, you silly baby, it isn’t a mouse. Now you try, Henny.”

“I know — a popgun for Davy.”

“I wouldn’t bring David a popgun on your birthday. It’s something for you — something girls like. Henny tried once more. “It’s a dolly,” she whispered. And so it was. Out of each package came one of those funny French peasant dolls with wool hair and bright red spots on their cheeks. The twins jumped up and down for joy. Often they had seen those same dolls in the toy-shop window and wished they could take them home. They lifted all the other dolls out of the carriages, putting the new ones in, and I don’t doubt that the French dolls felt very grand indeed sitting up in those elegant carriages, each one with a nice new mother to take care of her.

The bell rang again and the rest of the party came right along. First Jamie, the lame boy who lived next door, hobbled in on his crutches, and with him was his little brother George. Then Mrs. Steadman who lived at the Old Ladies’ Home and did most of Mother’s plain sewing. She was a great favorite with the twins. After her came the dog from across the way — Gyp. The maid brought him on a leash, but as soon as he saw his playmates she let him loose, asking what time she should call for him. He bounded in, licking the children’s hands, almost knocking them down in his delight at seeing them.

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The last one to come was pretty Miss Frances, looking so sweet with her red cheeks and brown eyes. Then the fun began. Even Gyp loved playing Hide the Thimble , and barked excitedly at the uproar when it was found. London Bridge was a great favorite, too, and Penny would say “So, farewell my gemplum,” when it was a gentleman instead of a lady. Going to Boston came next, then The Farmer in the Dell. After that it was time to go into the dining-room. Was this their dinine-room? They could hardly believe it. It was all trimmed up with smilax, with little twinkling lights and flowers, and looked very much like Fairyland. Instead of Father’s and Mother’s big chairs at the ends of the table, the twins’ high-chairs were there. In the very centre was a great Jack Horner pie (not a real pie you know, but a pink paper one with ribbons hanging out of it, and each ribbon reached to some one’s plate) .

“First you must eat your sandwiches and cocoa, children,” said Mother. She did not have to tell them to eat the forms of ice-cream which came next — ice-cream engines and automobiles and boats and cupids — and the delicious little cakes with pink and green and chocolate icing on them. They liked these so much they ate them without being told.

Then the pantry door was held open, a bright light shone through, and riding high up on Delia’s tray, side by side, came two birthday cakes, each with a wreath of flowers around it, each with five candles on top — four for their four years, and one to grow on. How thrilled everybody was from Mrs. Steadman down! First the twins blew the candles out and then Mother lighted them over and over again so that every one could try blowing them i6 out with one breath. Then the twins cut the cakes and each guest had a piece of each cake (one had orange icing on it and the other was chocolate) .

“Now it is time to open the pie,” said Mother. “You pull your string first, Mrs. Steadman.” Mrs. Steadman pulled as if she were fishing and had a big bite. “What can it be?” she wondered. The twins had been shopping with Mother to buy all the contents of the pie, so they knew what was on the end of Mrs. Steadman’s ribbon.

“Guess,” cried Henny, jumping up and down.

“It’s a book,” Mrs. Steadman guessed as she drew it up to her.

“It isn’t a reading book. It’s a needle book with lots and lots of needles for you to sew buttons on with.”

“Why, so it is. Just what I wanted. How did you know?” asked their old friend.

“Oh, I knowed you b’woke your needle last time when you sewed buttons on my wompers,” said Penny.

“Now you pull, Miss Fwances,” cried Henny. Miss Frances had a flat package tied with her favorite green ribbon. “What can this possibly be?” she asked.

“It’s me and Penny,” said Henny, who couldn’t wait for the paper to be taken off. “We looked pleasant, like the man said.”

“And he gave us two candies. He said we were good gails to sit still,” added Penny. Miss Frances was so pleased with her photograph of the twins that she had to jump up and kiss them both. “I shall keep it on my bureau where I can see it ever so many times a day,” she told them. Jamie’s ribbon had a big mouth organ on the other end, George’s a bright red ball. John Pepper’s had a knife with three blades in it and so did David’s, just like John’s.

They tried to make Gyp pull his, but he couldn’t understand what they wanted, so Henny pulled it for him, and what was tied fast to it but a chocolate mouse !

“Look at your Happy Birthday present, Gypsy,” said Henny, holding it close to his nose. Gyp took one smell, one look — and swallowed it whole! At that very moment the door bell rang. It was the maid after Gyp, and the cab for Mrs. Steadman. Miss Frances said she must go, too, and Jamie and George and all of them went with many thanks to Mother and the twins for asking them to such a lovely party.

That night after Henny and Penny had been put to bed and were left alone in their cribs, side by side, each holding a new doll in her arms, Penny whispered “Come over here.” Henny moved over and put her little face close to the bars of her crib.

“God gave us a happy birthday, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” said Henny, “I said thank you, did you?”

“Yes I did,” replied Penny. “Henny, what is our mouse’s name?”

“John Henry,” answered Henny, making it up on the instant. Penny thought that was a good name for a mouse, and wished it could have had some crumbs of the birthday cakes, so in a few minutes both little children were fast asleep with the cool night air blowing in on them through the wide-open windows.

CHAPTER II BOUT a week after their birthday, a

A night came when the twins could scarcely sleep. They were hot, calling for drinks of water every few minutes, and by morning their foreheads were dotted all over with spots. Mother telephoned for the doctor and after breakfast he came in, big and smiling, looked them over, and said they had the chicken pox.

“Did a chicken peck Henny’s face full of spots in the night, Doctor?” asked Penny.”

“Yes, it did,” said the feverish Henny eagerly. “It flewed in the windoo and sat on my pillow and pecked me all night and I couldn’t make it go away. It was a white chicken. It pecked you, too, — - Penny.”

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“No, not a white one didn’t. I had a black chicken that pecked me and I said, ‘Go away,’ and it said, ‘Cut-cut-cut-aw’ — ‘No, I won’t, no, I won’t.’ ”

The doctor laughed. He said, “You must be good children and take the medicine I give you so those chickens won’t come back and peck you any more.”

Like all children when they are not well, the twins were perfectly darling the first few days, so patient, so good and quiet. Every time Mother did anything for them they would put their hot little arms around her neck and say, “I love you, Mother. Do you love me?” She had a cot put in the nursery so she could sleep on it and hear them if they asked for anything in the night, staying near them all the time. Father and David came in sometimes, but the twins took very little notice of them, looking at them silently with fever-bright glistening eyes, while they breathed as quickly as panting dogs.

Mother’s cot was between the two cribs so that she could reach out and take hold of a little hand on each side if they wanted comforting, or put back the covers they kicked off so frequently. On the fourth morning as she was awaking she heard a small voice in the dark — “Mother, wouldn’t it make you laugh to see a cow walking on his tail?” And then another voice on the other side — “Mother, wouldn’t it make you laugh to see a elephant standing on his trunk?” Then Mother knew they were better.

By afternoon they were lots better and asking for their “Play Boxes,” so Mother went up in the garret to get them. The twins sat propped up in bed against big pillows, eagerly waiting for her to come down again. When she brought in two large pasteboard boxes, exactly alike, they clapped their hands for joy. “Oh, I love to be sick,” said Henny.

“I love to be sick, too,” echoed Penny, hardly able to wait to have her box set down on her legs, and to get the lid off. The “Play Boxes” were full of playthings that the children were never allowed to have except when they were sick in bed, and that is what made them so much fun. One was marked HENNY in big black letters on the top, and the other was marked PENNY.

“Oh, here’ s my moo cow.” Henny pounced upon a small red cow with a bell around its neck and hugged it affectionately.

“Here’s my Ba Ba Black Sheep,” said Penny, kissing it on the nose. In Henny’s box there were a couple of bears, a lion, a tiger, an alligator, a horse and wagon, some Japanese men and houses and ever so many other things.

Penny had a flock of chickens and ducks, a panther with green eyes, some small dolls, a pointed cap made out of cocoanut fibre, which she put on her head, and dozens of trinkets of different kinds. Mother said, “Now that you have all these things to play with and are feeling so much better, I will go in my room and take a little nap.”

“Mother,” said Penny, “I know how you sleep a cat nap.”

“How 1 ?” asked Mother.

“Why, you sleep with one eye shut and one eye open.”

“Well, I am going to sleep with both eyes shut, and you must be good children and not call me unless you really need me.”

“All right, Mother, we’ll be good.”

Mother went in her room and shut the door, and the twins played with their newold toys a long time. Then they heard David shut the hall door and come up the stairs on his way home from school.

“Davy, come and play with us,” they cried when he opened the door. It was raining and he could not go out of doors, so of course he accepted their invitation.

“Shall we make a bridge?” he asked, ‘Til get a board and put one end on Henny’s crib and one on yours. You can live on this side of the river and Henny on the other.”

“Oh, yes” they said, “get a board quick, Davy.” So he found a small board in the Playroom and put it across from one crib to the other. Then straightway the animals began to troop across it with the help of six little hands. “I never saw a bridge unless it was over water,” said David, pretty soon. “Oh, I know what we can do!” Off he darted to the bathroom, returning very slowly with a heavy china wash-bowl filled with water. This he set down on the floor underneath the bridge, and it made an excellent pond. Henny’s cow got sick and died and David had to make a coffin to carry it away in.

“It is too bad that cow died,” said Henny regretfully, as she saw it being

3 ° carted off with the horse and wagon, “because I meant to save him to make mutton out of him.”

“My sheep is sick, too. He ate too much jam,” Penny announced solemnly. Every single one of the animals died and it kept David very busy finding enough boxes for coffins, and going back and forth on his knees across the nursery floor, pulling the horse and cart along with one hand on the horse’s back. Soon the grave-yard behind the door was filled to overflowing with dead animals, and they all had to come alive again and be put back in the cribs.

Then David made tents of the sheets and they played circus, the twins getting so much better every minute that they soon stopped looking on and began to act in the circus, themselves. “There goes the pigeon overboard!” screamed Henny.

Sure enough! The unlucky bird was crossing the bridge and it fell off into the water underneath. “Oh, he’s drownding, he’s drownding,” cried Penny, leaning over the railing of her crib to get a better view of the poor pigeon lying at the bottom of the bowl. Mother had told Penny over and over to say drowning instead of drownding, but she never could remember.

“Davy, get him out. He’s drownding!” David ran to the rescue, fished out the poor unfortunate bird and dried it off on his trousers. And then, somehow or other, the animals, one by one, began to fall in with loud splashes. Some of them sank to the bottom, like the pigeon, and some floated on top. The excited children laughed at every fresh splash. David was obliged to bring towels out of the bathroom to lay on the floor around the bowl, and when the water was all splashed out, he had to fill it a second time. Shortly after that Mother awoke from her nap, and came in to see how they were getting on. It did make them feel as if everything was not quite as it should be when they saw Mother looking at the wet towels on the floor and the wet animals in the cribs and the paint that had come off the colored toys on Davy’s trousers.

Mother thought at first that it was pretty bad, but then she thought, “They don’t know why those towels can’t be used again. The bowl of water did make it more real, and they are very happy and I am so glad they are well enough to play again,” so instead of scolding them, she explained why they ought not to get everything wet. Afterward she and Davy cleared away the mess. Then she gave the twins nice warm baths, and they looked too sweet sitting up in their cribs and eating their suppers on trays. David ran up and down stairs waiting on them, and after he had carried the trays down,

Mother took him on her lap and rocked him.

“Please tell us a story now, will you, Mother? Please? Tell about when you were a little girl.”

“Well,” began Mother, “once there was a little girl who spent all her summers in the country. She had no children to play with, so she had to do everything by herself. One summer she had twenty-five cats and kittens. Most of the kittens were in nests in the hay-mows, where the little girl visited them every day. She had a cat house made out of an old turkey coop. Inside it she put soap boxes to make dining-room tables for the old cats, and that was where they had their meals. Sometimes she took long walks with her grandfather and his dogs. Then the dogs would run sniffing around in the grass, killing dozens of field mice which the little girl picked up to carry home in a basket for her cats. She put grape leaves around on the soap-box tables and laid a mouse on each leaf. After that she knocked on a plate with a spoon, calling the cats — “Kit-ty, Kit-ty, Kit-ty!” They came running from all directions, but when she tried to make them sit properly at the table, they weren’t at all well-mannered. They seized their mice, growling, and ran off a little way so that the other cats could not touch them.

“One summer the little girl had a pet blue-eyed goose. He used to like to stand near her while she rubbed his long white neck and talked to him. Another time she had a tame duck. She used to put that in a basket and set it on top of the piano when she had to practise. Sometimes the duck, hearing the piano playing, would put its head over the top of the basket and answer back in soft little quacks, thinking the music was other ducks.

“One summer day the little girl went for a ride with her grandfather to a farm where they had the darlingest baby lambs. She was wild with delight over them, so when the farmer’s mother very kindly offered to give her one, Grandfather couldn’t resist her begging, and let her take it home in the carriage.

“The little girl and the lamb were always together, except when she ate and slept. It even came in the house and upstairs sometimes, but usually she stayed out of doors with it, and rainy days they spent in the summer house together. The lamb’s name was Molly. The very next summer Molly had a little lamb of her own, named Tommy, so there were three playmates instead of two. Another thing that little girl owned was a fat yellow pony, named Dandy, and a dog cart with seats on the side and a canopy top with fringe on it.

“But the cunningest of all the pets she ever had was a tiny pink pig, as soft as velvet. One of the farm hands brought it in from the pigpen. He said the old mother could only feed ten, so she would kill all over that number. It was a runt, he said, and would never grow very big.

“You can imagine how delighted the little girl was with that mite of a pink thing. Her aunt fixed a bottle of warm milk and water which the pig drank just like a baby. It slept in a box of hay, and had its milk every two hours. In a short time it followed every step the little girl took — in the house and out. Pigs do not seem to see very well, but they have quick ears, and this pig knew the instant his young mistress spoke, and would answer her with grunts or squeals. When they went to the Post Office after the mail, if the pig stopped to root in the ground with his funny, blunt nose, while the little girl walked on ahead, he would look up, but couldn’t see her. Then he stood still and squealed. At that she laughed and said,

£ Come, Pig, come Pig/ and when he heard her voice he ran toward her as straight as an arrow.

“Every few days she gave him a bath. She put him in a small tub, lathered him all over with soap, and scrubbed him with an old hair-brush, but he squealed and struggled so, she always had somebody give him his bottle, to keep him still, while she washed him. If he finished the bottle before she was through scrubbing him, there was an awful time ! After his bath, she dried his silky fur and rocked him to sleep with his head on her shoulder. Then she laid him carefully across her lap where he would sleep for an hour or two while she read a book. Now that’s all I can think of, and you must go to sleep.”