The Boxcar Children Read online

  “Milk and potatoes make a very good supper,” said Henry.

  “I can read,” remarked Benny.

  “What!” said Henry.

  “Yes, he can,” said Violet. “He learned this afternoon. Go and get your book, Benny.”

  Benny liked to read now. “It is not hard,” he said. “Watch can read, too.”

  “Oh, can he?” laughed Henry. “Let’s see him.”

  “Watch is too tired now,” said Benny. “I will read to you.”

  Benny read out of his new book.

  “Good old Benny,” said Henry. “Come to bed now. You must be tired with all that work, and I am tired, too.”

  XI—The Doctor Takes a Hand

  THE DAYS WENT BY happily for the boxcar children. They found more treasures in the dump, and Henry worked every day for Dr. Moore.

  One noon Henry came home with some new stockings for Benny. Benny was very happy about them and made everyone admire them. And when Jessie looked at the new stockings, she had a happy thought.

  She carefully washed Benny’s old stockings and hung them up to dry. That afternoon she and Violet sat down, with the workbag between them, to make a bear for Benny.

  “You must make a tail, too, Jessie,” begged Benny, watching her put on the arms and legs and head.

  “Bears don’t have tails,” said Jessie. “Your old bear didn’t have a tail.”

  “But this bear must have a tail,” replied Benny, knowing that Jessie would put on two tails if he asked her to.

  “What kind of tail?” asked Jessie at last.

  “Long and thin,” said Benny happily, “so I can pull it.”

  “Benny!” cried Jessie, laughing.

  But she made a tail, long and thin, just as Benny had ordered.

  “What’s his name, Jessie?” asked Benny, when at last the bear was handed over to him.

  “I haven’t thought about a name,” replied Jessie. “Why don’t you think up a nice name for him?”

  “Well, you made him out of my old stockings. Let’s name him Stockings.”

  “All right, Stockings it is,” agreed Jessie, trying not to laugh.

  And from that day on, the bear’s name was Stockings as long as he lived. And he lived to be a very old bear, indeed.

  One afternoon Jessie saw how long Benny’s hair was getting, and she cut it with Violet’s scissors. Benny stood quietly while she did it.

  But while his sisters were getting supper, he said to himself, “Jessie cut my hair. I’ll get Violet’s scissors and cut Watch’s hair. He will look better.”

  He found Violet’s scissors and made Watch lie down on his side. Then he began to cut the hair off.

  Benny said, “Good dog, Watch. You are Jessie’s dog, and so I will cut a J in your hair. Hold still now.”

  Watch lay still, and Benny began to cut a J. It was not a very good J, but it looked a little like one.

  Soon Benny had cut off all the hair on one side, with a J in the middle. He stood admiring his work, and just then Jessie came to see what he was doing.

  “Benny!” she cried. “What are you doing?” Then she began to laugh.

  “Oh, Violet, come and see!” she called. “Watch looks so funny.”

  Jessie laughed and laughed until she almost cried. Violet laughed until she did cry.

  Then she could not stop crying. She cried and cried. At last Jessie made up her mind that Violet was really sick.

  “You must go to bed, Violet,” she said. She helped her carefully into the boxcar and put pine needles all around her and under her. Then she wet a handkerchief in the cold water of the brook and laid it on her little sister’s hot head.

  “I wish Henry would come home!” said Jessie. “What shall we do?”

  When Henry came at last, he looked at Violet and said that maybe she had a cold. “Maybe she sat too long by the brook,” he said.

  “If Violet is very sick, she ought to go to the hospital,” said Jessie.

  “Yes, I know that,” said Henry. “And we don’t want her to go to a hospital if we can help it. We should have to tell her name.”

  “Yes,” said Jessie. “Then Grandfather could find us.”

  The two older children sat up with Violet. They put cold water on her head. But after dark Violet shook all over, and Jessie was frightened. She covered Violet all over with pine needles, but still she shook. They could not get her warm.

  “I’m going to get Dr. Moore,” said Henry. “I’m afraid Violet is very sick.”

  Then Henry started to run. He ran even faster than he had run in the race. Down the hill into the town he ran, until he came to Dr. Moore’s house.

  “Please come!” he cried. “Violet is very sick!”

  The doctor said, “Come and get into my car.”

  He did not ask Henry which way to go, but the car went up the right road. When they came to the woods, he said to Henry, “Stay here in the car.”

  He ran alone up the hill to the boxcar. It seemed like magic that he knew where to go.

  When Dr. Moore came back, he was carrying Violet in his arms. Jessie and Benny and Watch came, too. They all got into the car.

  “Are you going to take her to a hospital?” asked Henry.

  “No,” said Dr. Moore. “I’m taking her to my house.”

  When they stopped at last, Dr. Moore carried Violet into the house and said to his mother, “Violet is very sick. We must put her to bed.”

  Mrs. Moore hurried around, opening beds and bringing pillows, and Mary came from the kitchen with hot-water bottles. After awhile Violet began to get warm.

  Then Mrs. Moore came to get the other children. “You must stay here all night,” she said.

  She gave Henry and Benny a big bed, and Jessie slept in a little one. But Violet was so sick that the doctor did not go to bed all night. He would not leave her. He sat by her side until ten o’clock in the morning.

  Before ten o’clock a man came to see the doctor. Mary told him he could wait. So he sat down in the living-room. Soon Benny came in.

  “Where is the doctor?” asked the man, crossly.

  “He is up in Violet’s room,” answered Benny.

  “This means five thousand dollars to him if he will come down,” said the man.

  “Oh, he can’t come now,” said Benny.

  “What do you mean, boy?” asked the man. “What is he doing?”

  “He’s taking care of my sister Violet,” said Benny. “She is sick.”

  “And you mean he wouldn’t leave her even if I gave him five thousand dollars?” asked the man.

  “Yes,” answered Benny. “That’s what I mean.”

  Then the man said, “You see, I have lost a little boy, and I think the doctor knows where he is. My little boy is just about as old as you are.”

  “Well, if you don’t find him, maybe you can have me,” remarked Benny. “I like you.”

  “You do?” cried the man. “Come and get up in my lap.”

  Benny climbed into the man’s lap. “Have you got a dog?” he asked.

  “No,” said the man. “He is dead now. But you can see him in my watch. Here it is.”

  Benny looked at the dog. “He looks like a very good dog,” he said. “I have a dog, too. His name is Watch.”

  Just then Watch came in with Dr. Moore.

  “Good morning,” said Dr. Moore. “Benny, you can go and play with Watch.”

  Benny ran out, and the man said, “Dr. Moore, where are my grandchildren?”

  “That little boy is one of them,” said Dr. Moore quietly.

  “That beautiful little boy!” said the man.

  “Yes,” said Dr. Moore. “They are all good children. But they are afraid of you. They are afraid you will find them.”

  “How do you know that?” asked the man.

  “They have changed their name,” said the doctor. He looked at the man in a queer way. “The big boy changed his name on Field Day. You saw him then.”

  “I saw him? What did he ch
ange his name to?” asked the man.

  “Henry James,” said the doctor.

  “The running boy!” cried the man. “The boy who won the free-for-all! I liked that boy. So I am his grandfather.”

  XII—James Henry and Henry James

  DR. MOORE WENT to get his mother. “Mother,” he said, “this is Mr. James Henry Alden. He wants to take his grandchildren to live with him,”

  “I’m afraid they won’t want to go with you,” said Mrs. Moore, “until they learn to like you. And they won’t want to go while Violet is so sick.”

  “Can’t I see them?” begged Mr. Alden. “I won’t tell them who I am.”

  “That would help,” agreed the doctor. “If they grow to like you before they know who you are, things will be easier.”

  “Yes,” said Mrs. Moore. “Stay here with us for awhile. The children will learn to like you, and then we can tell them that you are their grandfather.”

  “Thank you,” said Mr. Alden. “I will go home and get some clothes and come back. And I will give you the five thousand dollars.”

  But Dr. Moore would not take the money.

  “I just want these children to be happy,” he said.

  When Mary learned that she was to cook for Mr. Alden, she was frightened. “How can I cook for him?” she cried. “He has everything. He is a very rich man.”

  “You can cook for anyone,” said Dr. Moore, kindly. “Just get one of your good chicken dinners and make some cherry dumplings.”

  At dinner Mr. Alden saw all his grandchildren but Violet. He smiled with delight when he saw Jessie come into the room in her quiet way.

  “Children,” said Mrs. Moore, “this is Mr. Henry.”

  Benny laughed. “Henry and Mr. Henry,” he remarked. “That is funny.”

  Henry shook hands with Mr. Alden before he sat down at the table.

  “Where have I seen that man before?” he thought.

  The children liked to hear Mr. Henry talk. He told them about a big cucumber in his garden. The cucumber was growing inside a bottle, and he couldn’t get it out.

  “Why not?” asked Benny.

  “It is too big,” said Mr. Alden.

  “How did it get in?” asked Benny.

  “It was a little cucumber when it went in,” said Mr. Alden. “A cucumber will grow just the same in a bottle. It will grow so big you can’t get it out.”

  “I’d like to see the cucumber,” said Benny, stopping in the middle of his cherry dumpling.

  “Would you really?” asked Mr. Alden, delighted. “Some day you and I will go over and pick it.”

  “And we can bring it to Violet,” said Benny.

  “Yes, we’ll bring it to Violet,” agreed Mr. Alden.

  Henry thought again, “Where have I seen that man before? I wish I could remember.”

  He could not remember, but he liked Mr. Alden very much. All the children liked him because he was kind to them.

  At last, one day, Mr. Alden could see Violet and went softly into her room with some beautiful flowers from his garden. The children loved him when he patted Violet’s dark head and told her that he was sorry she had been sick.

  He told her, too, about his garden, where the flowers came from.

  “I’d like to see your garden,” said Violet. “I love flowers.”

  “How long are you going to stay, Mr. Henry?” asked Benny.

  “Sh, Benny!” said Jessie.

  “I want to stay here as long as I can, my boy,” said Mr. Alden quietly.

  Henry looked at the man again. He knew that he had heard him say “my boy” before. Now where was it? He could not remember.

  After dinner Mr. Alden sat under a tree, reading. Henry was working in the flower garden in front of the house. He looked at Mr. Alden again and again.

  Suddenly it came to him, as the man smiled over his book. “It is the same man who gave me the twenty-five-dollar prize and the silver cup!” he said to himself. “I didn’t remember him at first because I was so excited when he shook hands with me.” He took another look and said again, “It’s the very same man!”

  Henry sat thinking for a little while. Then he got up and went to find Dr. Moore.

  “Do you know who gave me the prize on Field Day?” he asked the doctor. “Do you know what his name was?”

  “James Alden, of the mills,” replied the doctor. “J. H. Alden, over at Greenfield.” He did not look at Henry while he was saying it.

  Poor Henry was so surprised he almost fell over! That kind man his grandfather! He went out and sat on the steps to think it over.

  To begin with, this man was too young. Henry had thought of his grandfather as being an old man with white hair. And Mrs. Moore had called him “Mr. Henry.” Could it be that the man knew he was their grandfather and hadn’t told them?

  Then he saw that Mr. Alden was getting out of his chair under the trees.

  “It’s now or never,” thought Henry. “I have to know!”

  He walked eagerly after the man, who was going toward the garden with his back to Henry. Then the man turned around and saw how excited Henry was.

  “Are you James Henry Alden of Greenfield?” Henry asked.

  “I am, my boy,” replied Mr. Alden, with a smile. “Does that mean you know that I know you are Henry James Alden?”

  “Yes,” said Henry quietly.

  Then James Henry Alden shook hands again with Henry James Alden.

  Jessie and Benny came across the grass just in time to hear Henry say, “But, Grandfather—”

  “Grandfather?” cried Jessie. “What do you mean, Henry?”

  “Yes, Jessie,” said Henry eagerly. “He’s the man we have been running away from all this time.”

  “I thought you were old,” said Benny. “And cross. Jessie said so.”

  “I didn’t know, Benny,” said Jessie. Her face was red. To think of running away from this kind man!

  But her grandfather did not seem to mind. He patted her on the head and said, “Let’s go up and see Violet.”

  There was no stopping Benny. He hurried into Violet’s room, holding Mr. Alden by the hand and shouting, “It’s Grandfather, Violet! And he isn’t cross after all!”

  “What do you mean?” asked Violet. “Isn’t he Mr. Henry?”

  “My name is James Henry Alden,” replied her grandfather.

  “And my name is Henry James Alden,” cried Henry.

  “Well, well!” said Dr. Moore.

  Violet held on to her grandfather’s hand and listened to the rest talking excitedly.

  “Where have you been living?” asked Mr. Alden at last.

  They all looked at each other, even Dr. Moore and his mother. Then they all laughed as if they never would stop.

  “You just ought to see!” said Dr. Moore.

  “What!” cried all the children at once. “You never saw it in the daytime.”

  “Is that so?” laughed the doctor. “I have seen it many times in the daytime.”

  “Seen what?” asked Mr. Alden.

  “Our house,” said Jessie. “We have been living in a boxcar in the woods.”

  Then they all began to tell him about the dump and the dishes and the brook and the swimming pool.

  “They have four beds of pine needles in the car,” said Dr. Moore.

  “How do you know?” asked Jessie.

  “Well,” said Dr. Moore, “the first day Henry worked for me, I walked after him as far as the hill.”

  “Why did you do that?” asked Mr. Alden.

  “I liked him. I saw he was a fine boy, and I wanted to see where he lived.”

  “But you can’t see the boxcar from the hill,” said Jessie.

  “No, but I came back that night and looked around,” said Dr. Moore.

  “About ten o’clock!” cried Jessie.

  “Yes,” said the doctor. “I stepped on a stick, and you heard me.”

  “Our rabbit!” cried Jessie and Henry. “Watch barked.”

  “Yes, I hea
rd the dog bark. So I knew you were in the boxcar. Then I went home.”

  “But you came back?” asked Jessie.

  “Oh, yes. When you were picking cherries, I went up to see your house. I wanted to see if you had enough to eat and enough dishes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Mr. Alden. “Didn’t you know they were my grandchildren?”

  The doctor laughed. “Yes, I did. But they were having such a fine time that I didn’t want to tell. They got along very well until Violet got sick. Then I told you.”

  “I’m glad you did,” said Mr. Alden.

  “I have seen your house, too,” said Mrs. Moore. “I went up one day and saw all your dishes. I liked your big pitcher and teapot.”

  “All of you have seen it but me!” said Mr. Alden.

  “We’ll show it to you!” cried Benny. “I’ll show you my cart made out of wheels, and my pink cup.”

  “Good for you, Benny,” said his grandfather, much pleased. “When Violet gets well, we’ll all go up there. If you will show me your house, I’ll show you my house.”

  “Do you have a house?” asked Benny in surprise.

  “Yes. You can live there with me if you like it. I have been looking for you children for a long time.”

  Violet was soon well again, and one afternoon they all started out to see the boxcar. The doctor took them in his car. Many people looked out of their windows to watch Mr. Alden and his grandchildren. They were glad that the children had found such a kind grandfather at last.

  When they arrived at their old home, they ran around, all talking excitedly. Watch sniffed and sniffed all around, looking for the bone he had buried. Everything was the same.

  “Here is the dam for the pool,” said Henry to his grandfather.

  “See our ‘building’!” shouted Benny, for that was what he called the fireplace. “It really burns, too. And this is the refrigerator in the waterfall, and here is my pink cup!”

  They all stepped on the stump and climbed into the car. They looked at the four beds and the dishes.

  “Here is the same old pitcher and teapot,” said Jessie, laughing.

  They found the blue tablecloth, and they all sat down by the brook and ate chicken and bread and butter and cookies. Benny drank milk from his pink cup.