The Bobbsey Twins at Home
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THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
by
LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Bobbsey Twins."
New York
Grosset & Dunlap
Publishers
[Illustration: "Oh, will she have to stay there forever?" asked Freddie.
_The Bobbsey Twins at Home_]
Copyright, 1916, by
Grosset & Dunlap.
The Bobbsey Twins at Home
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. TOMMY TODD'S STORY 1
II. A SUDDEN STOP 13
III. SNAP AND SNOOP 24
IV. HOME AGAIN 36
V. TOMMY'S TROUBLES 45
VI. SCHOOL DAYS 57
VII. THE SCHOOL PLAY 67
VIII. SNOOP IN TROUBLE 76
IX. NAN BAKES A CAKE 86
X. IN THE LUMBER YARD 98
XI. A QUEER PLAY-HOUSE 108
XII. TOMMY IS REWARDED 117
XIII. THE FIRST FROST 129
XIV. AFTER CHESTNUTS 139
XV. THE STORM 151
XVI. THE FIRST SNOW 161
XVII. ON THE HILL 171
XVIII. BERT'S SNOWSHOES 181
XIX. THROUGH THE ICE 191
XX. LOST IN A STORM 202
XXI. THE STRANGE MAN 214
XXII. HAPPY DAYS 228
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
CHAPTER I
TOMMY TODD'S STORY
"Mother, how many more stations before we'll be home?"
"Oh, quite a number, dear. Sit back and rest yourself. I thought you
liked it on the train."
"I do; but it's so long to sit still."
The little fellow who had asked the question turned to his golden-haired
sister, who sat in the seat with him.
"Aren't you tired, Flossie?" he asked.
"Yes, Freddie, I am!" exclaimed Flossie. "And I want a drink of water."
"Dinah will get it for you," said Mother Bobbsey. "My! But you are a
thirsty little girl."
"Deed an' dat's whut she am!" exclaimed a fat, good-natured looking
colored woman, smiling at the little girl. Dinah was the Bobbsey family
cook. She had been with them so long that she used to say, and almost
do, just what she pleased. "Dis am de forty-sixteen time I'se done bin
down to de end ob de car gittin' Miss Flossie a drink ob watah. An' de
train rocks so, laik a cradle, dat I done most upsot ebery time. But
I'll git you annuder cup ob watah, Flossie lamb!"
"And if you're going to upset, and fall down, Dinah, please do it where
we can see you," begged Freddie. "Nothing has happened since we got on
this train. Do upset, Dinah!"
"Yes, I want to see it, too," added Flossie. "Here, Freddie, you can
have my place at the window, and I'll take yours on the outside. Then I
can see Dinah better when the car upsets her."
"No, I want to sit here myself, Flossie. You wanted the window side, and
now you must stay there."
"No, I don't want to. I want to see Dinah upset in the aisle. Mamma,
make Freddie let me sit where I can see Dinah fall."
"Well, ob all t'ings!" gasped the fat, colored cook. "If you chilluns
t'ink dat I'se gwine t' upsot mahse'f so yo' kin see suffin t' laugh at,
den all I'se got t' say is I ain't gwine t' do it! No, sah! Not fo' one
minute!" And Dinah sat up very straight in her seat.
"Children, be nice now," begged Mother Bobbsey. "I know you are tired
with the long ride, but you'll soon hear the brakeman call out
'Lakeport'; and then we'll be home."
"I wish I were home now," said Freddie. "I want to get my dog Snap out
of the baggage car, and have some fun with him. I guess he's lonesome
for me."
"And he's lonesome for me, too!" cried Flossie. "He's as much my dog as
he is yours, Freddie Bobbsey. Isn't he, Mother?"
"Yes, dear, of course. I don't know what's the matter with you two
children. You never used to dispute this way."
"I guess the long train ride is tiring them," said Papa Bobbsey, looking
up from the paper he was reading.
"Anyhow, half of Snoop, our black cat, is mine then," said Freddie.
"Isn't she, Mother?"
"Yes. And now please don't talk like that any more. Look out of the
window and watch the trees shoot past."
"Oh, I'm going to see Snoop!" exclaimed Flossie, suddenly.
"So'm I," added Freddie. And in a moment the two children were bending
over a basket which was in the seat with Dinah. In the basket was Snoop,
the big black cat. She always traveled that way with the Bobbseys. And
she seemed very comfortable, for she was curled up on the blanket in the
bottom of the basket. Snoop opened her eyes as Freddie and Flossie put
their fingers through cracks and stroked her as well as they could.
"I wish Snap was in here with us," said Freddie, after a bit. "I hope he
gets a drink of water."
"Oh, I want a drink of water!" exclaimed Flossie, suddenly. "I forgot I
was thirsty. Mother, can't I have a drink?" she went on.
"Oh, yes, dear. I suppose so. I'll get it for you."
"No, let Dinah get it so she'll upset," begged Flossie.
"I'll get it for you, Flossie," offered Freddie. "Dinah might get hurt."
"Dat's de li'l gen'man," said the fat cook, smiling. "He lubs ole
Dinah."
"I love you too, Dinah," said Flossie, patting the black hand that had
done many kind acts for the twins. "But I _do_ want a drink, and you
know you _would_ look funny if you upset here in the car."
"Yes, I spects I would, chile," laughed Dinah.
"May I get Flossie a drink?" asked Freddie.
"You may both go down to the end of the car where the water-cooler is,"
said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The train is slowing down now, and going to stop, I
think, so you won't fall. But be careful."
Flossie and Freddie started toward the end of the long car, but their
sister Nan, who with her brother Bert was a few seats away, went with
them, to make sure nothing would happen.
"I'm not thirsty any more," Flossie said, after having had two cups of
cold water.
"No, but you will be in half an hour, I'm sure," laughed Nan. "Every
one seems to get thirsty on a railroad journey. I do myself," and she
took some water after Freddie had had enough.
The train now came to a stop, and Flossie and Freddie hurried back to
their seat to look out at the station. Hardly were they both crowded
close to the window before there was the sound of shouting and laughing,
and into the car came rushing a number of children. With them were two
ladies who seemed to be in charge. There were boys and girls--about
twenty all together--and most of them made rushes for the best seats,
while some hurried down to the tank to get drinks of ice-water.
"I had that cup first!" cried one.
"You did not! I had it myself," said another.
"That's my seat by the window!" shouted a third.
"It is not! I had it first, you can see where I left my hat! Oh, my
hat's gone!" a boy exclaimed.
"I threw it on the floor, I wanted to sit here myself," said a big girl
with red curls.
"Children! Children! You must be quiet!" called one of the ladies.
The train started again, all the other passengers watching the queer
children who were making such a confusion.
"Oh, see the cow!" cried a tall boy. "It's the last cow you'll see for a
year, fellows, so take a good look at her," he added as the train passed
along a field.
"No more good times for a long while," sighed a boy who had a seat near
Freddie and Flossie. "I wish I could live in the country always."
Flossie and Freddie looked at him. His clothes were patched here and
there, but they were clean. And his face and hands were clean, which
could not be said of all the other children, though some of them showed
that they had tried to make themselves neat.
"The country is the best place," he said, and he looked at the two
smaller Bobbsey twins as though he would like to speak to them. "I'm
going to be a farmer when I grow up," he went on, after a pause.
"He--he's a nice boy," whispered Flossie to her brother. "I'm going to
speak to him. We can talk about the country."
"Wait a minute," advised Freddie. "Maybe mother wouldn't want us to talk
to strangers."
Flossie looked back to where her father and mother were sitting. Mrs.
Bobbsey was speaking to one of the ladies who had come in the car with
the noisy children.
"Are you taking part of an orphan asylum on an outing?" Flossie heard
her mother ask.
"No. These are some 'fresh air' children. They have been out in the
country for two weeks, and now we are taking them home. Poor things! I
wish we could have kept them longer out in the green fields and woods,
but there are others waiting for their chance to go.
"You see," she went on, and Flossie and Freddie listened carefully,
"some kind people give us money so that the poor children of the city
may have a little time in the country during the hot weather. We board
them out at different farmers' houses. This company of children has been
on two different farms near Branchville, where we just got on the train.
Some of the little ones are from Sanderville." This was a large city
not far from Lakeport, a smaller city where the Bobbsey twins lived.
"Others are from Lakeport," went on the lady, speaking to Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Indeed!" exclaimed Freddie's mother. "I did not know there was a fresh
air society in our city."
"It has only just been formed," said the lady, who was a Miss Carter.
"We haven't much money left, I'm sorry to say."
"Then you must let me give you some," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And I will get
some friends of mine to give money also. Our own children enjoy it so
much in the country that I want to see others have a good time, too."
Then he and Mrs. Bobbsey began to talk about ways of helping poor
children, and Flossie and Freddie did not listen any more. Besides, just
then the train was passing along a field in which were many horses, some
of which raced alongside the cars, and that interested the twins.
"Oh, look at 'em run!" cried the fresh air boy who sat in front of the
smaller Bobbsey twins. "Don't they go fast?"
The other fresh air youngsters crowded to their windows to look out, and
some tried to push their companions away so they might see better. Then
a number all wanted a drink of water at the same time, and the two
ladies who were in charge of the children were kept busy making them
settle down.
The quiet, neat boy about whom Flossie had whispered to her brother,
turned around in his seat and, looking at Freddie, asked:
"Were you ever on a farm?"
"Yes," answered Freddie, "we just came from our uncle Dan's farm, at
Meadow Brook. We were there 'most all Summer. Now we're going back
home."
"Where do you live, and what's your name?" asked the strange boy.
"My name's Freddie Bobbsey, and this is my sister Flossie," was the
answer. "We're twins. Up there, in that other seat, are my brother and
sister, Bert and Nan. They're twins too, but they're older'n we are. We
live in Lakeport."
"You do?" cried the boy in surprise. "Why, that's where I live! My name
is Tommy Todd."
"That's a nice name," put in Flossie politely. "I don't know any one of
that name in Lakeport though. Where does your father live?"
Tommy Todd did not answer at once, and Freddie was surprised to see
tears in the eyes of the strange boy.
"I--I guess you folks don't ever come down to our part of Lakeport," he
said. "We live down near the dumps. It isn't very nice there."
Freddie had heard of the "dumps." It was on the farther side of the
city, a long distance from his nice home. Once, when he was very little,
he had wandered away and been lost. A policeman who found him had said
Freddie was near the "dumps."
Freddie remembered that very well. Afterward, he heard that the "dumps"
was a place where the ashes, tin cans, and other things that people
threw away were dumped by the scavengers. So Freddie was sure it could
not be a very nice place.
"I live out near the dumps, with my grandmother," went on Tommy Todd.
"We've a grandmother too," said Flossie. "We go to see her at Christmas.
We've two grandmas. One is my mother's mother, and the other is my
father's mother. That's my papa and my mother back there," and Flossie
pointed to where Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were talking to the fresh air
lady.
"Doesn't your father live with you and your grandmother?" asked Freddie.
"I--I haven't any father," said Tommy, and once more the tears came into
his eyes. "He was lost at sea. He was a captain on a ship, and it was
wrecked."
"Oh, please tell us about it!" begged Freddie. "I just love stories
about the ocean; don't you, Flossie?"
"Yes, I do."
"I'm going to be a sea captain when I grow up," said Freddie. "Tell us
about your father, Tommy."
So while the train rushed on Tommy Todd told his sad little story.
CHAPTER II
A SUDDEN STOP
"I don't remember my father very well," said Tommy Todd. "I was real
little when he went away. That was just after my mother died. My
grandmother took care of me. I just remember a big man with black hair
and whiskers, taking me up in his arms, and kissing me good-bye. That
was my father, my grandmother told me afterward."
"What made him go away from you?" asked Flossie. "Didn't he like to stay
at home?"
"I guess maybe he did," said Tommy. "But he couldn't stay. He was a sea
captain on a ship, you know."
"Of course!" cried Freddie. "Don't you know, Flossie? A sea captain
never stays at home, only a little while. He has to go off to steer the
ship across the ocean. That's what I'm going to do."
"I don't want you to," returned Flossie, as she nestled up closer to her
brother. "I want you to stay with me. If you have to go so far off to be
a sea captain couldn't you be something else and stay at home? Couldn't
you be a trolley-car conductor?"
"Well, maybe I could," said Freddie slowly. "But I'd rather be a sea
captain. Go on, Tommy. Tell us about your father."
"Well, I don't know much," went on Tommy Todd. "I don't remember him so
very well, you know. Then my grandmother and I lived alone. It was in a
better house than we have now, and we had more things to eat. I never
get enough now when I'm home, though when I was on the fresh air farm I
had lots," and, sighing, Tommy seemed sad.
"My father used to write letters to my grandmother--she is his mother,"
he explained. "When I got so I could understand, my grandmother read
them to me. My father wrote about his ship, and how he sailed away up
where the whales are. Sometimes he would send us money in the letters,
and then grandma would make a little party for me.
"But after a while no more letters came. My grandmother used to ask the
postman every day if he didn't have a letter for her from my father, but
there wasn't any. Then there was a piece in the paper about a ship that
was wrecked. It was my father's ship."
"What's wrecked?" asked Flossie.
"It means the ship is all smashed to pieces; doesn't it?" asked Freddie
of Tommy.
"That's it; yes. My father's ship was in a storm and was smashed on the
rocks. Everybody on it, and my father too, was drowned in the ocean, the
paper said. That's why I like the country better than the ocean."
"I used to like the ocean," said Flossie slowly. "We go down to Ocean
Cliff sometimes, where Uncle William and Aunt Emily and Cousin Dorothy
live. But I don't like the ocean so much now, if it made your father
drown."
"Oh, well, there have to be shipwrecks I s'pose," remarked Tommy. "But,
of course, it was awful hard to lose my father." He turned his head away
and seemed to be looking out of the window. Then he went on:
"After grandmother read that in the paper about my father's ship sinking
she cried, and I cried too. Then she wrote some letters to the company
that owned the ship. She thought maybe the papers were wrong, about the
ship sinking, but when the answers came back they said the same thing.
The men who owned the ship which my father was captain of, said the
vessel was lost and no one was saved. No more letters came from my
father, and no more money. Then grandmother and I had to move away from
the house where we were living, and had to go to a little house down by
the dumps. It isn't nice there."
"Does your grandma have any money now?" asked Flossie.
"A little. She sews and I run errands for the groceryman after school,
and earn a little. But it isn't much. I was glad when the fresh air
folks took me to the farm. I had lots to eat, and my grandmother had
more too, for she didn't have to feed me. She is going to the fresh air
farm some day, maybe."
"That will be nice," said Flossie. "We're going to Uncle Dan's farm
again next year, maybe, and perhaps your grandma can come there."
"I don't believe so," returned Tommie. "But anyhow I had fun, and I
weigh two pounds more than 'fore I went away, and I can run errands
faster now for Mr. Fitch."
"Why, he's our grocery man!" cried Freddie. "Do you work for him,
Tommy?"
"Sometimes, and sometimes I work for Mr. Schmidt, a butcher. But I don't
earn much. When I get through school I'll work all the while, and earn
lots of money. Then I'm going to hire a ship and go to look for my
father."
"I thought you said he was drowned in the ocean!" exclaimed Flossie.
"Well, maybe he is. But sometimes shipwrecked people get picked up by
other vessels and carried a long way off. And sometimes they get on an
island and have to stay a long time before they are taken off. Maybe
that happened to my father."
"Oh, maybe it did!" cried Freddie. "That would be great! Just like
Robinson Crusoe, Flossie! Don't you remember?"
"Yes, mother read us that story. I hope your father is on Robinson
Crusoe's island," she whispered to Tommy.
"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Freddie to the new boy. "When I get
home, I'll take all the money in my bank, and help you buy a ship. Then
we'll both go off together, looking for the desert island where your
father is; will you?"
"Yes," said Tommy, "I will, and thank you."
"I'm coming, too," said Flossie.
"No. Girls can't be on a ship!" said Freddie.
"Yes they can too! Can't they, Tommy?"
"Well, my mother was once on the ship with my father, I've heard my
grandma say."
"There, see!" cried Flossie. "Of course I'm coming! I'll do the cooking
for you boys."
"Oh, well, if you want to cook of course that's different," said
Freddie, slowly, as he thought about it.
"I'm going to ask my father how much I got saved up," he went on to
Tommy. "And how much it costs to buy a ship. He'll know for he sells
lumber. You wait here and I'll ask him."
Freddie slipped from the seat into the aisle of the car. Flossie stayed
to talk to Tommy. Bert and Nan were looking at a magazine which Mrs.
Bobbsey had bought for them, and she and her husband were still talking
to the fresh air lady. Scattered about the car, the fresh air children
were talking and laughing, telling each other of the good times they had
had in the country. All of them were sorry to go back to the city again.
"Papa," began Freddie, as he reached the seat where Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey
sat, "how much money have I saved up? And how much does a ship cost?
'Cause Tommy Todd and I are going off to look for his father who is lost
on a desert island, and we want to bring him home. Does it take much
money?"
Mr. Bobbsey looked at his little boy, wondering what he meant, and he
was just going to answer him, and say it took much more money than
Freddie had saved to buy a ship, when, all at once, the train came to
such a sudden stop that Freddie was nearly thrown off his feet. His
father caught him just in time.
"Oh!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "I hope there has been no accident!"
"If dey is I'se gwine t' git out quick!" cried Dinah. "Come on,
chilluns. I'se got de cat!" and she started to run for the door,
carrying the basket holding Snoop.
"Be quiet," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Nothing much seems to have happened. We
didn't hit anything, anyhow."
Some of the fresh air children were excited, and the two ladies in
charge hurried here and there quieting them.
Bert Bobbsey, who was with his sister Nan, looked out a window.
"Oh, see!" he cried. "A lot of men with guns are standing along the
track. They stopped the train, I guess. They must be robbers! I'm going
to hide my money!"
Several women heard Bert speak of robbers, and they screamed.
"Bert, don't be foolish!" said Mr. Bobbsey. "I dare say it isn't
anything. I'll go out and see what it means."
"I'll come with you," said a man in the seat behind Mr. Bobbsey. Several
other passengers also left the train. And while they are out seeking the
cause of the sudden stop I'll tell my new readers something about the
Bobbsey twins, so that they may feel better acquainted with them.
Those of you who have read the other books in this series, beginning
with the first, "The Bobbsey Twins," know enough about the children
already. But others do not.
There were two sets of Bobbsey twins. Bert and Nan were about ten years
old. Both were tall and slim, with dark hair and eyes. Flossie and
Freddie, who were about five years of age, were short and fat, and had
light hair and blue eyes.
The Bobbseys lived in an Eastern city called Lakeport, near Lake Metoka,
on the shore of which Mr. Bobbsey had a large lumber yard. Once this had
caught fire, and Freddie had thought he could put the blaze out with his
little toy fire engine. Ever since then Mr. Bobbsey had called the
little chap "fireman."
Dinah Johnson was the Bobbsey's cook. She had been with them many years.
And Sam, her husband, worked around the house, carrying out ashes,
cutting the grass, and such things as that.
Besides these, the Bobbsey family consisted of Snap, the big dog who
once had been in a circus and could do tricks, and Snoop, the black cat.
These pets were taken along wherever the Bobbsey twins went on their
Summer vacations. For the Bobbseys used to spend each Summer either in
the mountains or at the seashore. The second book tells about the good
time they had in the country while the third one tells of their
adventures at the shore.
"The Bobbsey Twins at School," is the name of the fourth book, and in
that I had the pleasure of telling you the many good times they had
there. Later on they went to "Snow Lodge" and helped solve a mystery,
while on the houseboat, _Bluebird_, where they spent one vacation, they
found a "stowaway," and, if you want to know what that is, I advise you
to read the book.
"The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook," is the name of the book just before
this present one. On the farm of Uncle Daniel Bobbsey the twins had had
a most glorious time, and they were on their way home in the train when
the fresh air children got aboard, and Tommy Todd told the story about
his lost father. Then had come the sudden stop, and Bert had seen the
men with guns outside the train.
"I tell you they _are_ robbers, Nan," Bert whispered to his sister.
"Look, one of 'em has a mask on his face."
"That's so," agreed Nan. "Oh, I wonder what it is!"
"Don't be afraid!" exclaimed Bert. "I guess they won't come in this car.
Father won't let them."
By this time Flossie and Freddie had also seen the masked men with their
guns standing along the track, and Freddie cried:
"Oh, look! It's just like Hallowe'en. They've got false faces on!"
Many in the car laughed at this.
CHAPTER III
SNAP AND SNOOP
The train on which the Bobbsey twins were coming back from the country
had now been stopping for several minutes. There was no sign of a
station on either side of the track, as could be told by those who put
their heads out of the opened windows. And Mr. Bobbsey had not come
back.
"I wonder if anything has happened," remarked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I'll go and find out, Mother," offered Bert, getting up from his seat.
"No, indeed, I can't let you!" his mother answered. "Your father would
not like it. He may be back any moment."
"I don't believe anything much has happened, ma'am," said a man across
the aisle from Mrs. Bobbsey. "I can see some men up near the engine, but
they are talking and laughing."
"Then they aren't robbers," said Freddie to his older brother Bert,
"'cause robbers wouldn't laugh."
"Well, if they're not train robbers why have they guns and false faces
on?" asked Bert.
"Maybe they're just making believe--same as when we have pretend-plays,"
put in Flossie.
"Do you pretend, and make believe?" asked Tommy Todd, of the two younger
twins.
"Oh, yes, lots of times," Freddie said. "We have heaps of fun that way;
don't you?"
"Sometimes," answered Tommy in a low voice. "Sometimes I pretend I have
gone off in a ship, and that I've found my father. I make believe that
he and I are sailing together. And oh! how I wish it would come true!"
"Maybe it will--some day," said Flossie softly, as she patted Tommy's
hand which was on the back of the seat in front of her.
"I must go out and see what is keeping your father," said Mrs. Bobbsey
at last. "Something must have happened. You children stay here with
Dinah. Nan and Bert, you look after Flossie and Freddie."