Part 1

A SECOND BOOK OF CHARLIE STORIES

Charlie and His Puppy Bingo

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO

CHARLIE AND HIS PUPPY BINGO

BY HELEN HILL AND VIOLET MAXWELL AUTHORS OF “CHARLIE AND HIS KITTEN TOPSY”

ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHORS

New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1923

_All rights reserved_

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1923.

DEDICATED TO A. T. M. M.

FOREWORD

The authors have made every effort to write these little stories in language that will be intelligible to very little children.

They have observed that it is much easier to hold a small child’s attention when _telling stories_, rather than when reading them aloud. So they have tried to put these stories in informal English, using frequent repetitions, with here and there an _interesting_ long word, and italicizing words on which emphasis is to be laid, their object being to write the stories as they would be told.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I BINGO COMES TO LIVE WITH CHARLIE 1

II CHARLIE LEARNS THE TRAFFIC LAWS 13

III HOW BINGO LOST HIS SPOTS 28

IV CHARLIE RIDES ON THE ENGINE OF A REAL TRAIN 41

V BINGO AND THE ANGRY ROOSTER 56

VI CHARLIE DELIVERS MAIL FOR THE STAGE DRIVER 67

VII CHARLIE MAKES A POOL AND SAILS HIS BOAT 87

VIII CHARLIE BUILDS A REAL HOUSE OUT OF BRICK 104

IX BINGO LEARNS TO COME WHEN HE IS CALLED 120

X WHAT CHARLIE DID ON A RAINY DAY 135

ILLUSTRATIONS

Charlie _Frontispiece_

PAGE

The puppy drank all the milk _Opposite_ 10

Bingo had to travel in the baggage car _Facing_ 43

The rooster kept Bingo a prisoner “ 63

Charlie blew a tremendous blast “ 77

Charlie and the stage driver talk together “ 81

The boat sailed beautifully “ 99

Charlie watched the builders _Opposite_ 107

One of the strange boys held Bingo _Facing_ 129

Charlie made three villages _Opposite_ 143

Charlie and His Puppy Bingo

TO READ FIRST

Charlie was a little boy who lived with his Mother and his Daddy and his Auntie in a house in the city. The house had a big yard all around it, where Charlie liked to play.

A cat called Jane and her kitten Topsy also lived in the house. Topsy and Charlie were great friends and they played together all day long. Jane sometimes played with them too, but Jane was a cat who loved little babies, both baby cats and baby humans, and she was sad because Charlie was growing to be a big little boy, and Topsy was a big little kitten--so big that he could wash himself and it would have been _ab-surd_ for Jane to go on washing him when he was such a big little kitten!

BINGO COMES TO LIVE WITH CHARLIE

One morning Charlie woke up suddenly because his kitten Topsy had jumped on his bed and was tickling him under the chin!

Charlie woke up, and somehow he felt different--he felt most _awfully old_--and then he remembered why!

“I’m five years old!” he shouted and jumped out of bed. With Topsy on his shoulder, he ran downstairs to the kitchen where his Mother and his Auntie were getting breakfast ready.

“I’m five years old!” he shouted again, and jumped into his Mother’s arms. “I’m a great big boy now.”

His Mother said, “Yes, indeed, you are a great big boy now, think of it! It takes _all_ the fingers of one hand to tell how old you are!” And his Mother hugged him hard and his Auntie hugged him hard too and they both wished him “Many happy returns of the day.”

Then Charlie ran upstairs again and started to dress himself. He could dress himself quite easily, but sometimes when he was lazy he would pretend that he could not and call out for his Auntie to button him up.

But as he was five years old to-day Charlie was going to show everybody what a big boy he was. So he brushed his hair and cleaned his teeth and buttoned _all_ the buttons and came out of his room at the same time as his Daddy came out of _his_.

“_Oh, what_ a big boy you are!” said his Daddy. “I can hardly lift you.” But he did lift him all the same and carried him down the stairs and into the dining room on top of his shoulder!

And when they got into the dining room Charlie scrambled all down his Daddy without waiting to be put down--for there were the most ex-cit-ing looking parcels on the table beside his plate, and one of them was so e-nor-mous that it took up half the room on the table!

Charlie could not wait _one_ minute, he started right away to take the wrapping paper off the great, e-nor-mous parcel.

It was tied with blue ribbons just like the other parcels, for all that it was so e-nor-mous. Charlie pulled and he tugged and at last the wrapping paper was all off. And what do you think it was? You never can guess! _No one_ could ever guess that such a thing could be on the breakfast table beside a little boy’s plate, even though it was the little boy’s birthday and he was five years old. It was an automobile! Yes, it was an automobile that Charlie could sit in and pedal with his feet, and it would go just like a real automobile. Charlie’s Daddy lifted it to the floor and Charlie ex-am-ined it all over. It had real lights and a wind shield and a steering gear. It was the most beautiful automobile that any little boy ever had!

There were a lot of other parcels beside his plate, and they were _all_ interesting. There was a new suit for Charlie, and it was a sailor suit, just like those that big boys wear. It had a lanyard and a whistle, and it had a red stripe and an emblem on the sleeves. Then there were two new cars for his electric train, and a pair of scissors with blunt edges, so that Charlie could cut things out himself and not always have to ask his Mother or his Auntie to do it for him. There was an express wagon that he could haul stones and grass in, and there was a new battery for his flashlight!

Charlie was still looking at all his beautiful presents, when there came a ring at the door and a loud whistle. It was the postman! Charlie ran to the front door and opened it. And he said to the postman, “I am five years old, and I’ve got an automobile and a whistle just like yours, and a lot of other things.”

And the postman said, “I _thought_ that you had grown a lot taller since I saw you yesterday. It’s fine that you have got a whistle like mine. There is nothing to prevent you from being a postman yourself now, is there? Then you can carry your own mail. Look what a lot of letters I have brought this morning--and they are all for you!”

Yes, indeed, the postman was right, _all_ the letters were for Charlie, and every letter had a beautiful card in it wishing him “Many happy returns of the day.” And there was a letter from Uncle Jim; it had a whole dollar bill in it, and the dollar bill was for Charlie! Yes, the dollar bill was all for Charlie, and his Mother said that she would take him down to the stores and he might buy whatever he liked with it.

Then his Daddy said, “What are you going to buy with the dollar?”

And Charlie said, “I am going to buy a present for Mother and a present for Auntie and a present for _you_, then we will all have presents on my birthday!”

Well, it took such a long time opening all his presents and looking at all his birthday cards that it seemed as if Charlie would not get any breakfast at all that day. But at last he had all his presents spread out on the table in front of him, so that he could look at them while he was eating his breakfast; that is, all except the automobile, and that was on the floor beside his chair.

At last he finished his breakfast and he went into the kitchen to give Jane and Topsy _their_ breakfast, when--what do you think? Jane wasn’t there! No, Jane was not in the kitchen at all, or in the dining room, or upstairs in any of the bedrooms, nor was she in the yard. Jane had ab-so-lute-ly disappeared!

Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie called, “Jane, Jane, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!” all over the house and all over the yard, but no Jane came.

Never before had Jane been late for breakfast, but now that she did not come Topsy had to have breakfast all by himself.

Charlie felt very sad that Jane had disappeared on his birthday. He loved Jane very much, nearly as much as he loved Topsy. He sat down on the floor and began to play with his new toys, but every few minutes he got up and went to the window to see if Jane was coming back. Yes, Charlie went to the window three, four, _five_ times, and there was no Jane. The _sixth_ time that Charlie looked out of the window, what do you think he saw? He saw Jane coming down the garden path, and she was carrying something in her mouth. It was something big and heavy, four times as big as a mouse! It was so big and heavy that Jane had to drag it along the ground.

Charlie rushed to the door and called out, “Mother! Auntie! Come quick! Jane has come back and she has something e-nor-mous in her mouth AND IT’S ALIVE!”

Then he opened the front door just as Jane reached it, and Jane dropped the thing that she was carrying in her mouth. What do you think it was?

You never can guess. IT WAS A LITTLE, TINY PUPPY! Yes, a little baby puppy, so little that it could hardly walk!

Jane had been so sad at not having any baby kitten to play with any more, now that Topsy had grown to be such a big kitten, that she had found a baby puppy instead, and she had brought it home on Charlie’s birthday so that it could be Charlie’s puppy too.

Oh, but Charlie and his Mother and his Auntie were excited! They picked up the baby puppy and they stroked Jane and told her what a good cat she was.

Then Charlie’s Auntie took the puppy into the kitchen and tried to feed him with some warm milk, but he was _so_ little that he had not learned how to drink yet!

So Charlie’s Mother said, “I will go to the toy shop, and I will buy a doll’s baby bottle. Perhaps the puppy will be able to drink out of that.”

And she did. Yes, Charlie’s Mother put on her hat and coat and she went to the toy shop. She was not gone five minutes. She hurried so fast, because she was afraid that the puppy might be hungry.

When Charlie’s mother came back with the doll’s baby bottle his Auntie heated some nice warm milk and put it in the bottle, and the puppy sucked and sucked just like a baby. Yes, he sucked and sucked until he had drunk all the milk that was in the bottle!

Then Charlie’s Mother put the puppy into Jane’s basket and Jane got in also and the puppy snuggled up close to her and went to sleep.

Topsy was so interested in the baby puppy that he tried to get into the basket also, but there was no room for him. So he sat outside the basket and every now and then he patted the puppy with his paw, but very gently so as not to wake him.

When Charlie’s Daddy came home in the evening, he was most interested and most excited to hear that Jane had brought a puppy home to live with them.

He said to Charlie, “What are you going to call the puppy? Of course, he is really Jane’s puppy, but I think Jane means him to be partly yours, as she brought him home to you on your birthday. Anyway, Jane cannot choose a name for him that _we_ would understand.”

So Charlie thought for a minute. Then he said, “I think I will call the puppy Bingo. The iceman has a dog and _his_ name is Bingo. I think he is such a nice man, and Bingo is a _beautiful_ name.”

Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie and his Daddy thought it a beautiful name too, so the puppy was called Bingo. He slept in a basket with Jane and Topsy, for Charlie’s Auntie got another basket that was big enough for the three of them. And he took his meals out of the doll’s baby bottle. Jane washed him all day long and she was as happy, as happy could be, now that she had a darling little baby of her own again. In fact she was as happy as if it was _her_ birthday instead of Charlie’s.

CHARLIE LEARNS THE TRAFFIC LAWS

Now that Charlie had an automobile, you may be sure that he drove in it every single day--that is every day that the sun was shining, for, of course, he could not drive in the automobile when it was raining!

In the mornings, when his Mother and his Auntie were busy in the house, Charlie used to drive up and down the garden path; but in the afternoons, when his Mother and his Auntie went for a walk, he drove beside them in his automobile, and Bingo always came too.

Bingo was growing to be a big little puppy--he no longer drank his milk out of a bottle. Oh, dear, no! Bingo could lap up his milk as well as any grown-up dog. He had a saucer to himself just like Topsy and Jane, and Charlie gave him his breakfast every morning and his dinner and his supper at the same time that he gave Jane and Topsy theirs.

You may be sure that Charlie enjoyed driving in his automobile with Bingo prancing beside him. But though Charlie drove his automobile every morning and every afternoon, he did not really know how to drive it at all! No indeed! Charlie always wanted to pedal so fast that he paid no attention to his steering, and the automobile went _wiggly, wiggly_ all over the place. When he was driving in the garden Charlie never could keep to the path, he would pedal so fast that the automobile would run up on the grass and into the flower beds. And when he was out on the sidewalk with his Mother and his Auntie, the automobile would zigzag from left to right and from right to left in a most _pe-cul-iar_ way.

His Mother and his Auntie said to him again and again, “Don’t pedal so fast, Charlie. Go slower and try to steer properly, some day you will crash into a lamppost and maybe break your automobile all to pieces.” But Charlie did not listen. He just went on pedaling as fast as ever he could and paid no attention to his steering at all.

One day his Mother and his Auntie were walking along the sidewalk and Charlie was driving in front in his automobile, while Bingo pranced along, sometimes beside Charlie, and sometimes running back to see what Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie were doing. Charlie was pedaling away as fast as ever he could and his automobile was going _wiggly, wiggly_ all over the sidewalk.

Quite a little way in front, an old gentleman was walking, and he was on the outer edge of the sidewalk, as was right and proper for him to be. He was looking at his newspaper and he did not know that Charlie was driving toward him, paying no attention to his steering and zigzagging from left to right and from right to left again--when suddenly, Charlie’s automobile went crash! Bang! straight into the old gentleman! That was dreadful!

The old gentleman stopped short, and, when he had got his breath, he said, “Don’t you know that automobiles should keep to the right? Or is it possible that you are driving an automobile and don’t know the traffic laws?”

Of course Charlie apologized very politely to the old gentleman for bumping into him, and then he had to say that he knew nothing about the traffic laws at all. This made Charlie feel very much ashamed.

“Dear me!” said the old gentleman. “That is the most extraordinary thing I ever heard! To own an automobile, and not to know the traffic laws!”

By this time Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie had come up and it was very surprising--the old gentleman seemed to know them both very well. He shook hands with them both and said, “This young man has just been telling me that he does not know the traffic laws, though I have often watched him out of my window driving his automobile, and the way he zigzags up and down the pavement would be enough for him to have his license taken away if a policeman were to see him!”

Charlie felt very sad when he heard this. He had a beautiful license number on the back of his automobile and he thought it would be a dreadful thing if a policeman were to take it away because he did not know the traffic laws.

Then the old gentleman said, “I have an automobile of my own, and it is a big one that runs with gasoline. I would be very glad to take you for a drive this afternoon and teach you every traffic law there is, if your Mother will let you come with me. I live quite near here, so we could start right away.”

Of course Charlie’s Mother said at once that she would be delighted if the old gentleman, whose name was Mr. Armstrong, would take Charlie for a drive in his automobile.

Suddenly Bingo, who had been jumping around as usual, went straight up to Mr. Armstrong and stood up on his hind legs as if begging to go too.

Then Mr. Armstrong said, “Is that your puppy?” And Charlie said, “NO, that is my _dog_. His name is Bingo! He does not like to be called a puppy. May he come with us too?”

Mr. Armstrong looked doubtful. He said, “Bingo looks very much like a puppy to me, and puppies are apt to get into mischief; but if you are careful to keep him on his leash and hold on tightly to him, you may take him with us.”

You may be sure that Charlie felt very much excited at the thought of driving in a real automobile and learning the traffic laws just like a grown-up person.

He and his Mother and his Auntie went home and put Charlie’s automobile in the back hall while Mr. Armstrong went round to his garage to get his automobile. Soon he drove up in it and Charlie climbed in, holding Bingo firmly by the leash so that he should not get into mischief.

Mr. Armstrong said that they had better drive downtown as there was such a lot of traffic there and Charlie would be able to watch the policeman handle the traffic. On the way Mr. Armstrong told Charlie all about the traffic laws and the reason for every one. He told him how an automobile must _never_ pass a street car when it has stopped to let off passengers, and how an automobile driver must _always_ hold his arm out when he is going round a corner, so that people crossing the street can see in which direction he is going.

It was all very interesting and Charlie kept a strict lookout to see if all the automobiles they passed were observing the traffic laws.

At last they reached the business section of the city, where there are so many automobiles and street cars and carts that a policeman has always to stand in the middle of the road to direct the traffic; otherwise people would never be able to cross the street in safety at all.

Charlie thought that the policeman looked very grand standing all by himself in the middle of the road. And whenever he blew his whistle, either the crosstown traffic or the uptown and downtown traffic in turn was stopped, as if by magic, to let the other have the right of way. Then the people on the sidewalk all crossed together in a crowd, for they knew that the automobiles and street cars would not go on again until the policeman blew his whistle.

When Mr. Armstrong wanted to stop outside a shop and it was on the left side of the street, he drove all the way to the next corner and he waited there until the policeman could let him turn his car around and drive back so that the shop was on his right and he could stop his car close to the sidewalk just in front of the shop. It was a confectioner’s shop and they both went in and Mr. Armstrong ordered chocolate and sponge cake for them both. It was delicious! While they were in the confectioner’s Bingo was left tied up in the automobile. He did not like it at all and he called out “Yap, yap, yap!” at the top of his lungs until Charlie and Mr. Armstrong came back.

At last it was time to go home. When they had driven into the main street again and Charlie was turning his head this way and that, so as not to miss a single thing that was going on, he was so interested that he forgot all about Bingo. Indeed, he almost let go of his leash, he was holding it so loosely--when, suddenly, what do you think? Bingo gave one yank at the leash and jumped right out of the automobile! Yes, he did!

All the automobiles were slowing up for the crossing, and the policeman was standing quite close, but at any moment he might signal for them to go on again.

It was _dreadfully_ dangerous for Bingo to be all by himself in the middle of that crowded street with automobiles and street cars, and carts and trucks all moving along. Charlie was so frightened that he called out, “Mr. Policeman, Mr. Policeman!” and the policeman looked at him, and he saw Bingo at the same moment and guessed what had happened.

He blew his whistle three times, and all the automobiles stopped, those going uptown and downtown, and those going crosstown, they all stopped _immediately_. Then the policeman tried to catch Bingo, but he was so frightened that he crawled right under an automobile, and he would not come out when the policeman called him.

So the policeman came up to Charlie and said, “You had better come along with me. If you call your dog, he will know your voice and come out when you call him.”

Charlie took the policeman’s hand and they went in and out among the automobiles and carts and trucks and busses, which were all standing perfectly still, till they came to the automobile under which Bingo was hiding. When Bingo saw Charlie and heard him call “Bingo, Bingo!” he came crawling out and he was so glad to see Charlie that he jumped high in the air, wagging his tail and barking, “Yap, yap, yap!”

As soon as Charlie and Bingo were safe in Mr. Armstrong’s automobile, the policeman blew his whistle and all the traffic, which had been held up to rescue Bingo, started again. And Charlie held Bingo as tight as ever he could, so that he should not jump out again. But I don’t think that Bingo would have done so, even if he could have, he had been so frightened when he was hiding under the automobile, with so many trucks and carts and cars around him. And he was right to be frightened, for he would have been in great danger if the policeman had not blown his whistle just at the right moment.

And now Charlie knew for himself how _very_ important the traffic laws are, for if one single automobile had disobeyed the policeman when he blew three blasts on his whistle and had not stopped _immediately_, Bingo might have been run over!

So, ever after that, when Charlie was in his automobile he was _always_ careful to follow every one of the traffic laws that he had learned.

He _never_ pedaled faster than he could steer, and he _always_ kept on the right side of the pavement so as not to run into people by accident. When he came to a corner, he _always_ stretched out his arm to show the direction he was going in. And, when a street car stopped in the middle of the road to let off passengers, Charlie always stopped too, until it had gone on again.

Yes, Charlie followed the traffic laws so carefully that the policeman, who always stood at the Park gate, noticed it; and he said to him one day, “As soon as you are sixteen years old, you can come to me, and I will see that you get a license to drive a _real_ automobile. If everybody obeyed the traffic laws as well as you do, there would never be any accidents at all.”

HOW BINGO LOST HIS SPOTS

Bingo was a nice little puppy and a dear little puppy. He played with Charlie and Topsy all day long. He frisked around and barked “Yap, yap,” for though he was getting to be a big little puppy, he could not yet say “Bow-wow,” though you may be sure he tried to over and over again.