r-lily fever," said Grandpa
Croaker. "A few days of swimming will make him all right again."

Bawly got up very early the next morning, and without telling any one
where he was going he hopped over to the woods, and gathered a lot of
flowers.

Oh, such a quantity as he picked! There were purple violets, and yellow
ones, and white ones, and some wild, purple asters, and some blue
fringed gentian, and some lovely light-purple wild geraniums, and
several Jacks-in-the-pulpit, and many other kinds of flowers. And he
made them into a nice bouquet with some ferns on the outside.

Then, just as he was hopping to school, what should happen but that a
great big alligator jumped out of the bushes at him.

"Ha! What are you doing in my woods," asked the alligator, crossly.

"If--if you please, I'm getting some flowers for my teacher, because I
whispered," said Bawly.

"Oh, in that case it's all right," said the alligator, smacking his
jaws. "I like school teachers. Give her my regards," and would you
believe it? the savage creature crawled off, taking his double-jointed
tail with him, and didn't hurt Bawly a bit. The flowers made the
alligator feel kind and happy.

Well, Bawly got to school all right, before any of the other children
did, and he put the flowers on teacher's desk, and he wrote a little
note, saying:

"Dear teacher, I'm sorry I whispered, but I'm going to help you to-day,
and not talk."

And Bawly didn't. It was quite hard in school that day, but at last it
was over. And, just when the children were going home, the robin lady
teacher said:

"Boys and girls, you have all helped me very much to-day by being good,
and I thank you. And something else helped me. It was these flowers that
Bawly brought me, for they remind me of the woods where I used to play
when I was a little girl," and then she smelled of the flowers, and
Bawly saw something like two drops of water fall from the teacher's eyes
right into one of the Jacks-in-the-pulpit. I wonder if it was water?

And then school was over and all the children ran out to play and Bawly
thought he never had had so much fun in all his life as when he and
Bully and some of the others had a ball game, and Bawly knocked a fine
home run.

Now, in case the cuckoo clock doesn't fall down off the wall and spatter
the rice pudding all over the parlor carpet, I'll tell you in the story
after this one about Bully and Sammie Littletail.

STORY XXVIII

BULLY AND