other was blue,
And how he could shuffle and prance!

"One day he was kicking so high
That a breeze blew him up in the sky;
The breeze was so strong
It blew him along
Till the Flapdoodle just seemed to fly.

"He flew 'way up into the stars,
And, somehow, he landed on Mars.
Said the Flapdoodle: 'I
Do not like to fly;
I think I'll go back on the cars.'

"So a railroad was rapidly built,
And they wrapped him all up in a quilt;
For the Flapdoodle said:
'If I stick out my head
I fear that I'll somehow get kilt!'

"The railroad train whizzed very fast,
But they landed him safely at last;
And through future years
He related, with tears,
The dangers through which he had passed."

"Oh, that's the best of all!" said Midget; "I love that kind of funny
verses. Isn't Uncle Steve clever to write like that! Any more, King?"

"Yes, one more. It isn't about animals, but it's a sort of a nonsense
poem, too. It's called 'A Queer Hospital.'

"There's a hospital down on Absurdity Square,
Where the queerest of patients are tended with care.

"When I made them a visit I saw in a crib
A little Umbrella who had broken his rib.

"And then I observed in the very next bed
A bright little Pin who had bumped his poor head.

"They said a new cure they'd decided to try
On an old Needle, totally blind in one eye.

"I was much interested, and soon I espied
A Shoe who complained of a stitch in her side.

"And a sad-looking patient who seemed in the dumps
Was a Clock, with a swell face because of the mumps.

"Then I tried very hard, though I fear 'twas in vain
To comfort a Window who had a bad pane.

"And I paused just a moment to cheerily speak
With a pale Cup of Tea who was awfully weak.

"As I took my departure I met on the stair
A new patient, whom they were handling with care,
A victim perhaps of some terrible wreck--
'Twas a Squash who had fatally broken his neck."

"This is the nicest _Jolly Sandboy_ paper we've had yet," said Tom, as
King finished.

"Yes, it is," agreed Marjorie. "But I thought Kit wrote some of it,
King."

"She did. I'll read hers now. It's an alphabet, all about us down here.
Kitty wrote it, but she says Uncle Steve helped her a little bit with
some of the lines. It's called 'The Seacote Alphabet.'

"A is the Automobile we all lo