Wallie is his mamma's only child, so sometimes he has to play all by himself. But he is a happy boy, and does not mind. When his papa comes home at night, Wallie has a big boy to play with. They have great fun. One day his mamma had to do some work up stairs. "It is too cold for you, Wallie," she said. "Stay here and play until I come back." Wallie was in the front hall at the foot of the stairs. First he played the stairs were a train of cars, and called out, All aboard! Change cars for Concord. Next station is Portland." Then he saw his papa's shoes. "I won't play train any more. I'll put on papa's shoes. Then I shall be a man." He put them on, and had fine sport trying to walk about. "I am not quite a man till I have a hat and a cane," he said. So he stood up in a chair and got his papa's hat. It was so large it came down over He could not see to move about. his eyes. Puss lay on the floor curled up like a ball. Wallie put the hat over her as she lay asleep. “You may have the hat, and I will keep the cane and boots," he said. Puss woke, and did not like her dark house. She began to move about. That made the hat walk. What a funny sight it was! You could not see kitty at all. Wallie had never seen a walking hat. laughed so that he woke old Bruno, his dog. He He and Bruno had been playing horse that morning. They had a chair for a carriage. Bruno was tied to the chair. He When Bruno woke he forgot he was tied. saw the hat move, and ran at it, chair and all. Puss flew out and ran at Bruno with her back up as high as it could be. hat rolled, Bruno barked. The chair fell, the To crown all, Wallie fell over the cane and cried as loud as he could. His mamma heard the noise, and came down stairs to see what was the matter. It was such a funny picture that she saw. She had to stop on the stairs and laugh. Then she picked up her little man, and set Bruno free from the chair. "I was playing be a man," said Wallie. Hat and cane and boots do not make a man," she said. 66 The best way to be a man is to be brave. Papa never cries like that at anything." Think of stations you could call out if you played train, and tell ways of being manly. |