Short Stories » Ben and Bob

Ben and Bob

ONE day Ben did go up to his papa, and say :

"pa-pa ! my cap is so old, it is not fit to be put on; do buy me a new one!"

His pa-pa did say : " If you are not bad all day, I can say' yes ' to you, but if you are bad, the old cap will do for a bad boy."

But Ben was not bad ; so his pa-pa got him the cap. It had fur on it. Ben put it on ; and as it fit him, he ran out in the air, and did cry as he ran : " See my new cap ! see my new cap!"

Far off, by an old log, he saw a fat hen. She was by her nest. In it was an egg. Ben ran up to her, and he did cry, " Sho ! sho ! sho 1" till she did fly off. So he got the old hen's egg, and put it in the top of his cap. As he did so a boy ran up to him. It was Bob. " Hal-lo," Bob did say. " How do you do, Ben ?" and he hit him a tap on the top of his cap. He did not see Ben put the egg in his cap ; and, my ! the egg did go pop ! ! and it ran in his ear and his eye, and all on him from top to toe. His new cap was all egg too.

So you see how bad it was in him not to let the old fat hen and her egg be. But he did not care a bit ; for he and Bob ran off to see the men mow the hay. It lay in the hot sun to dry.

Bob lay on the hay, and the sun was so hot, that the end of his nose got red, and a big dog who was by the men saw the end of his nose, and ran and made a snap at it to eat it. But Ben did hop up, and he and Bob ran off.

Ben did go in to his mamma and say : " mam-ma ! we are so hot and so dry ! do let us get a pie to eat and a big tin mug of wa-ter ; and oh ! may we put a big bit of ice in the tin mug ?"

His mam-ma did say, Yes ; and so Ben and Bob did eat the pie and had a lot of fun ; for Ben bit his pie to look like a cat who had one leg, and Bob bit his pie in-to a dog who had one ear. He ate it all up; and Bob did say he had a dog-pie, and Ben had a cat-pie. Was it not fun?

But his pa-pa did say to him : " Why, Ben, how did you get all the egg on you?" O how red Ben was! But he did not say a lie. no ! He did say : "Pa-pa, I got an egg and put it in the top of my new cap, but Bob did not see it, and he did tap the top of my cap, and the egg did go pop ! all on me, and the top of my new cap is all egg. How can I get it off?"

His pa-pa was full of joy, as his son did not say a lie, and he did try to get all the egg off of the new cap. And now Ben and Bob ran off, and Ben had a lot of fun, for he was not bad ; no ! he was a boy who did not say a lie, and so he had joy and fun all day. If you are not bad, you can have joy and fun too. You are my pet, so I get all the wee wee w-o-r-d-s I can, to put in-to this book for you ; and if I can see you one day and kiss you, I can have joy

Too, too, too;
If I can see you, you, you:
Will you come ? Oh ! do, do, do !

I will let you hop, hop, hop,
Run or spin your top, top, top,
Get a gun and pop, pop, pop,

Go out in the sun, sun, sun,
With my kit to run, run, run :
"Will we not have fun, fun, fun ?

You can see my cat, cat, cat,
And her soft fur pat, pat, pat
She is on the mat, mat, mat.

Out on the old rug, rug, rug,
Is my pet dog Pug, Pug, Pug
Give him a good hug, hug, hug.

If you stub your toe, ttoe, toe,
When to him you go, go, go,
You will come to woe, woe, woe.

It will hurt you so, so, so,
You will cry : " Oh oh ! oh oh !
Is my toe off?" "No, no, no;

" For I see it yet, yet, yet ;
Here it is, my pet, pet, pet ;
But your face is wet, wet, wet.

U O my dear! don't cry, cry, cry;
Kiss me now, and try, try, try
To be good as pie, pie, pie.

" I will wipe your eye, eye, eye,
Make it nice and dry; dry, dry,
Just like the blue sky, sky, sky.

"Do not look so shy, shy, shy,
As your hat I tie, tie, tie ;
O dear me ! oh ! why, why, why

" Must you go ? O my ! my ! I
Want you till I die, die, die.
Mam-ma, let me buy, buy, buy

"My dear pet." "O fie! fie! fie!
How you talk ! Can I, I, I
Give her up, and hie, hie, hie

"To my home, to sigh, sigh, sigh,
With no dear pet nigh, nigh, nigh,
In my arms to lie, lie, lie 3

" No ; come, pet, be spry, spry, spry ;
Give a jump up high, high, high ;
Kiss, and say, Good-by, by, by."

* Some of the words in rhyme have four letters.