missed her! He climbed right up to the second floor and right into our house. When he didn't find her in the front room, he kept looking until he did find her in bed in the back room. He sat on the edge of the bed and made funny faces at Nora. Then he hung by his tail from the gas jet for the longest time. She just screamed with laughter and clapped her hands. The more she laughed the more fancy tricks he did.
"Then, mind you, he paraded around the room bowing and nodding and finally fetched up short right on her bed. He took off his hat then for his usual reward. Well, of course, Nora didn't have any pennies near her and she couldn't get up to get one. So she took a white rose from the vase beside her, broke off the thorns, and gave it to him.
"Oh, he did look comical as he backed out of her room, bowing and scraping with the white rose in his mouth (she told us all about it afterward). And all the children cheered when he poked his head out of the window, proud as a peacock with that rose. Yes, he sat up there for the longest time, smelling his rose and smelling his rose. The more the children laughed and screamed, the more he smelled his rose. At last he put it in his mouth and climbed down and off they went, the hurdy-gurdy man playing as he left and the monkey sitting on the organ with the rose in his mouth and waving his hat at us all. Oh, he was a comical one," laughed Mama, wiping her eyes with a corner of her blue-checked apron.
Tale after tale she told him of when she was little in New York. The magic names she knew! Lillie Langtry! Ada Rehan, the sweetest of them all, acting down at the Booth! Adelina Patti at the Metropolitan Opera House! "Of course we had to sit way up, way up ... it's bigger than anything you can imagine. But we had opera glasses and could see the elegant people in the boxes in their furs and jewels. I used to go with my cousin Julius. He was a great tease and called himself Julius Hausenchausenpschutzler..." Here, roars of delight from Rufus, who never could hear that name without nearly splitting himself in the middle with laughter.
There was no end to her stories.
"Tell about when you learned to ride a bicycle, Mama," Rufus said.
"Oh, that time," laughed Mama, shaking down the potbellied stove with a firm hand.
"Tell me, tell me," called Rufus.
"Well then," said Mama, "I'd saved my money and saved my money. What shall I buy, I wondered? I'll buy a bicycle, I thought. So I did. It was very handsome, a bright blue to match my eyes. And I bought a sailor suit, a little deeper blue, to wear when I went bicycling. Oh, it was very handsome, with white braid and all. Well, those bicycles in those days were very different from Joe's. We had a big wheel in front and a tiny one behind."
"Could they go faster?" asked Rufus.
"Well, they could go fast enough, as you shall hear. Some bicycles were made for two. You know that song,
'On a bicycle built for two...'
But mine wasn't. It was a singleton, just for me. So I practiced on it around Washington Square. Then after a few days I said to myself, 'I'm good enough for Fifth Avenue now.' So I rode onto Fifth Avenue and got going fine. Indeed, I got going too fine, because as I was sailing past a traffic policeman, he yelled at me:
"'Hey, stop! You're speeding.'
"'I can't,' said I. 'I'm just learning.' And by that time I was a block away and I couldn't stop until I'd reached the old Brevoort House. Then I walked my bike back to the policeman. I didn't want to make him angry since I wanted to ride on Fifth Avenue every day."
"Did he arrest you?" asked Rufus eagerly.
"No. He just said to take it easy and he complained about the traffic problem all us bicyclists caused. I wonder what he thinks of all these newfangled automobiles? Ah, they'll never be as handsome as the horses and broughams, I tell you," she said, smoothing out his pillows.
"Now can I get up?" demanded Rufus.
"No. Not today. But soon. And see! I'm going to move your bed
"Then, mind you, he paraded around the room bowing and nodding and finally fetched up short right on her bed. He took off his hat then for his usual reward. Well, of course, Nora didn't have any pennies near her and she couldn't get up to get one. So she took a white rose from the vase beside her, broke off the thorns, and gave it to him.
"Oh, he did look comical as he backed out of her room, bowing and scraping with the white rose in his mouth (she told us all about it afterward). And all the children cheered when he poked his head out of the window, proud as a peacock with that rose. Yes, he sat up there for the longest time, smelling his rose and smelling his rose. The more the children laughed and screamed, the more he smelled his rose. At last he put it in his mouth and climbed down and off they went, the hurdy-gurdy man playing as he left and the monkey sitting on the organ with the rose in his mouth and waving his hat at us all. Oh, he was a comical one," laughed Mama, wiping her eyes with a corner of her blue-checked apron.
Tale after tale she told him of when she was little in New York. The magic names she knew! Lillie Langtry! Ada Rehan, the sweetest of them all, acting down at the Booth! Adelina Patti at the Metropolitan Opera House! "Of course we had to sit way up, way up ... it's bigger than anything you can imagine. But we had opera glasses and could see the elegant people in the boxes in their furs and jewels. I used to go with my cousin Julius. He was a great tease and called himself Julius Hausenchausenpschutzler..." Here, roars of delight from Rufus, who never could hear that name without nearly splitting himself in the middle with laughter.
There was no end to her stories.
"Tell about when you learned to ride a bicycle, Mama," Rufus said.
"Oh, that time," laughed Mama, shaking down the potbellied stove with a firm hand.
"Tell me, tell me," called Rufus.
"Well then," said Mama, "I'd saved my money and saved my money. What shall I buy, I wondered? I'll buy a bicycle, I thought. So I did. It was very handsome, a bright blue to match my eyes. And I bought a sailor suit, a little deeper blue, to wear when I went bicycling. Oh, it was very handsome, with white braid and all. Well, those bicycles in those days were very different from Joe's. We had a big wheel in front and a tiny one behind."
"Could they go faster?" asked Rufus.
"Well, they could go fast enough, as you shall hear. Some bicycles were made for two. You know that song,
'On a bicycle built for two...'
But mine wasn't. It was a singleton, just for me. So I practiced on it around Washington Square. Then after a few days I said to myself, 'I'm good enough for Fifth Avenue now.' So I rode onto Fifth Avenue and got going fine. Indeed, I got going too fine, because as I was sailing past a traffic policeman, he yelled at me:
"'Hey, stop! You're speeding.'
"'I can't,' said I. 'I'm just learning.' And by that time I was a block away and I couldn't stop until I'd reached the old Brevoort House. Then I walked my bike back to the policeman. I didn't want to make him angry since I wanted to ride on Fifth Avenue every day."
"Did he arrest you?" asked Rufus eagerly.
"No. He just said to take it easy and he complained about the traffic problem all us bicyclists caused. I wonder what he thinks of all these newfangled automobiles? Ah, they'll never be as handsome as the horses and broughams, I tell you," she said, smoothing out his pillows.
"Now can I get up?" demanded Rufus.
"No. Not today. But soon. And see! I'm going to move your bed
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