, and the Righthandiron,
dancing a little jig, sang over and over again this couplet:

"He can't be very smart, I wis,
If he can't see that's what he is."

"Get him a mirror," said the Lefthandiron. "We can't blame him for
thinking he is a boy, because everybody has told him he is a boy except
ourselves, and being a Sleepyhead he believes as a rule what he is told if
it is pleasant to believe."

"Well, I can't see why he objects to being a Dormouse," said the
Righthandiron. "I think Dormice are very handsome and just too sweet and
amiable to live. They are much pleasanter mice than Windowmice and
Stairmice--don't you think so?"

"Indeed I do," returned the Lefthandiron, "and Tom is about the finest
Dormouse I ever saw, and I wish he'd let us get acquainted with him."

"So do I," said the other, "but if he doesn't it's his own loss. You and I
can go off to Santa Clausville by ourselves and have quite as good a time,
if not better, than if he were along with us. I've noticed one thing, my
dear Lefty, two's best anyhow.

"Two people in an omnibus
Where there's but one settee,
Can both be seated with less fuss
Than if the twain were three.

"If there is candy for but four,
This maxim still holds true,
Each one will get so much the more
If there are only two.

"Two boys upon a teeter board
Can have just twice the fun
That any seesaw can afford
If there's another one.

"So I say, what if he doesn't come? You and I will enjoy ourselves just as
much. There'll be more candy for us, we won't have to divide the good time
we have up into more than two parts, and, what is more, neither of us will
have to carry the Dormouse."

Here the two Andirons gave a sidelong glance at Tom, and saw that he was
smiling.

"What are you laughing at?" asked the Righthandiron. "Eh, Dormouse?"

"If I'll be a Dormouse will you take me off on your good time with you?"
asked Tom.

"Certainly, but we can't take anybody who denies that he is what he is or
who says that his name doesn't belong to him."

"But I can't tell a story," said Tom.

"Nobody asked you to," returned the Righthandiron. "All we ask is that
you'll say nothing about it. If we say your name is Sleepyhead you needn't
try to make people think we don't know what we are talking about by saying
that your name isn't Sleepyhead, but Tommy Wideawake, or Billy Lemonstick,
or something else; and when we choo