ed Brighteyes, who had to go back to
the store for another bottle of blueing. But the nutmeg and the yeast
cake were all right.

Then Alice Wibblewobble poured the rest of the molasses out of the can
into an empty acorn cup and Brighteyes took it home to Buddy, who liked
it very much, and I almost wish I had some molasses candy; don't you?

Now, in the next story I'm going to tell you about Dr. Pigg and the
firecracker; that is if the mosquitoes don't sing so loudly that they
wake up the baby's rattle box.

STORY XII

DR. PIGG AND THE FIRECRACKER

Once upon a time it happened that, as Buddy Pigg was coming home from
having played baseball with Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and all his
friends, he saw, lying beside the road, something long and round and
red, with a little string dangling from it.

"Aha!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg; "there is a stick of red candy? Oh, fine!
Oh, dandy! I'll take it home, and give Brighteyes some."

That was because she had managed to bring him home some of the molasses
that was in the can, in which the little girl guinea pig got stuck fast.
So Buddy picked up the long, round, red thing, with a string dangling
from it, and took a big bite. That is, he tried to, but he found his
teeth wouldn't go through it.

"Wow!" he cried. "That isn't a stick of candy at all."

And the funny part of it was that it wasn't a stick of candy. No, not in
the least, I do assure you. What it was Buddy couldn't guess, though I
suppose some of you children can.

Well, anyhow, he picked it up, and carried it in one paw, and his bat
and catching glove in the other. And pretty soon whom should he meet
hopping along but Bawly, the frog--Bully's brother, you know. And Bawly
was singing away for dear life, this little song, which you will have to
get some one to sing for you, as I am as hoarse as two crows and a
cricket. Well, anyhow, this is the song:

"As I was hopping along one day,
Hi diddle um diddle I!
A grasshopper sat in a greenwood tree,
Tum-tum-tum tiddle di!
"Oh, where are you going?" the grasshopper asked.
"Oh, not very far," I said.
"May I go along?" asked the funny bug.
And he stood right up on his head.

"Why yes," I told him, "come along,"
Tu ri lum diddle day.
"The weather is certainly fine just now,"
Fum lum dum skiddle fay.
But the grasshopper fell in a deep, dark bog,
And I pulled him out on a sunken log,
And then came along a bad, sa