eplied the Chief.

"But some are just children, poor things! Don't they ever run around and
play and laugh, and have a good time?"

"No, indeed," said the Chief. "That would be improper in young ladies,
as well as in those who will sometime become young ladies. My daughters
are being brought up according to the rules and regulations laid down by
a leading bachelor who has given the subject much study and is himself a
man of taste and culture. Politeness is his great hobby, and he claims
that if a child is allowed to do an impolite thing one cannot expect the
grown person to do anything better."

"Is it impolite to romp and shout and be jolly?" asked Scraps.

"Well, sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't," replied the Horner,
after considering the question. "By curbing such inclinations in my
daughters we keep on the safe side. Once in a while I make a good joke,
as you have heard, and then I permit my daughters to laugh decorously;
but they are never allowed to make a joke themselves."

"That old bachelor who made the rules ought to be skinned alive!"
declared Scraps, and would have said more on the subject had not the
door opened to admit a little Horner man whom the Chief introduced as
Diksey.

"What's up, Chief?" asked Diksey, winking nineteen times at the nineteen
girls, who demurely cast down their eyes because their father was
looking.

The Chief told the man that his joke had not been understood by the dull
Hoppers, who had become so angry that they had declared war. So the only
way to avoid a terrible battle was to explain the joke so they could
understand it.

"All right," replied Diksey, who seemed a good-natured man; "I'll go at
once to the fence and explain. I don't want any war with the Hoppers,
for wars between nations always cause hard feelings."

So the Chief and Diksey and Scraps left the house and went back to the
marble picket fence. The Scarecrow was still stuck on the top of his
picket but had now ceased to struggle. On the other side of the fence
were Dorothy and Ojo, looking between the pickets; and there, also, were
the Champion and many other Hoppers.

Diksey went close to the fence and said:

"My good Hoppers, I wish to explain that what I said about you was a
joke. You have but one leg each, and we have two legs each. Our legs are
under us, whether one or two, and we stand on them. So, when I said you
had less understanding than we, I did not mean that you had less
understanding