CHAPTER XL

BOUNCING BET AND HER FRIENDS

“YOUNG ladies,” began Jack-in-the-Pulpit, “Bouncing Bet and I have arranged a little play for you. It’s to be this way: after finishing a few introductory remarks, I will call the names of various flower families. Bet has been around to see certain members of each family, and although they are very busy, they have promised to come when she calls—that is, the fairy of each flower or plant that she calls will come to this grassy slope which is to be the stage for our play.”

“How perfectly lovely!” cried the girls.

“But they will have little time to talk,” warned Jack. “So,” he went on, “let me tell you a few facts about—

PLANT FAMILIES

“It may surprise you to learn that certain plants belong to certain plant families.

“You know that certain animals belong to certain animal families and can easily recognize that gentle Pussy Cat is a near relative of fierce Mr. and Mrs. Tiger, and of Mr. and Mrs. Lion, and of Mr. and Mrs. Panther and all the young panthers, and lions and tigers. They all have some similarity: they all have pointed teeth, and sharp claws, and can lap liquid food with their tongues. They all tread with light, soft-padded toes. There are other members of the Cat Family of which you can think. Even though Mrs. Puss is of near relation, she’s mightily afraid of her big relatives.

“Now, I wonder if you know that faithful Mr. Dog is own cousin to terrible Mr. and Mrs. Wolf. Indeed, I may be mistaken, perhaps he is their own brother, they are so much alike in some ways.

“Just as animals belong to certain families so do plants. They resemble each other in certain points which you may not notice at first, but which you would readily see if pointed out to you.”

Jack drew quite a long breath.

“Now we are ready for the play, Bet,” he announced, and Bet bounced down to the grass-carpet stage.

Said Jack, “The first plant family called upon will be the Rose family.”

Bouncing Bet blew a long musical whistle by using two fingers at her tiny mouth, and out from some shrubbery stepped a dainty little lady dressed in pink rose petals.

“My name is Rose,” she said, smiling and throwing the girls a kiss; “and I’ll introduce some of my cousins in the—

ROSE FAMILY

“_Cherry_,” she called. Out stepped a red ripe cherry with a white cap trimmed with green leaves. Of course, the legs were very tiny, nearly like pins. Cherry smiled and bowed and took a place beside Rose.

“_Peach_,” Rose called, and out stepped a beautiful peach, with a pink cap, trimmed with green leaves.

“_Strawberry_,” called Rose, and surely enough, out came a red ripe strawberry with a white cap trimmed with green leaves.

“_Blackberry_,” called the little Rose lady once more, and before the word left her mouth, a big blackberry came tumbling in, on his head a white cap, trimmed with green.

“Oh, pardon me,” said Blackberry, picking himself up. “I was afraid I’d be late.”

Rose smiled and motioned the blackberry into place beside the strawberry.

Once again Rose called a name.

“_Apple_,” she called, and roly-poly, “head-over-tin-cups,” came a round rosy-cheeked apple into their midst.

“Excuse me,” puffed Apple. “Please excuse my manners, Cousin Rose, but I am so fat that hurrying gets me all out of breath,” and he fell in line.

“That will do,” interrupted Jack-in-the-Pulpit, “that will do for the Rose family; we will now—”

“Excuse me,” interrupted Mary Frances, “but may I ask—if all these are members of the Rose family?”

“There’s no mistake,” replied Jack. “Now, if you stop to think, you’ll realize how very much the blossom of the cherry, and the strawberry, and the blackberry, and the peach, and the apple resemble a wild rose.”

“Oh, I do!” said Eleanor.

“And I remember also,” added Mary Frances, beaming, “that the seed pods of the roses look like fruit.”

“Good!” cried Jack, dancing around.

“Good!” cried Bet, bouncing around, and all the members of the Rose families who were present formed a “ring-around-a-rosy,” and danced around and around, and at length formed into line near the bush through which they had come.

“Their caps are their blossoms!” exclaimed Eleanor.

“They are,” said Bouncing Bet. “Oh, you will always be on the lookout now to find other members of that family, for there are many more. I wanted to call _Bridal Wreath_, but there wasn’t time.”

“No time, indeed,” interrupted Jack. “Now, Bet, call the Night Shade family. They are not so pretty as the Rose family,” he whispered, “but just as useful.” Bouncing Bet blew upon her fingers.

“Indian file,” she called, and out filed several members of the—

NIGHT SHADE FAMILY

There were:

_Common Night Shade_, a tiny round black pill-like berry with a tiny white cap.

_Sand Burr_, in a buff coat full of prickles. And what do you think? There was—

_Common White Potato_, with a ridiculously small bell-shaped green and white cap.

“Oh,” Mary Frances could not help exclaiming; “is White Potato a member of the Night Shade family? I thought night shade was poison!”

“I ain’t poison—I ain’t! Not after I’m cooked!” growled Potato. “You’ve ate up enough of my brothers and sisters to know that!”

“Hush!” admonished Bouncing Bet. “Keep still! That’s terrible grammar, even though you are a common ‘Tater,’ you ought to speak more correctly than that.”

“Excuse me, but we’ve fed hundreds and thousands of people, and that’s more than any of the rest of you can say, even if you don’t like my grammar.”

“Mercy!” cried a _Tomato_, running in. “Did you forget me?” He was dressed in a bright red, and wore a tiny yellow cap trimmed with green. “I belong to the Night Shade family, too, and I have fed hundreds and hundreds of people.”

“Oh, you Love Apple!” broke in Potato. “Your relatives haven’t fed people as long as mine have.”

“That must be so,” said Mary Frances. “I remember that my grandma told me that when her mother was young, tomatoes were called love apples, and were thought to be poisonous. Grand-mothers raised them in their gardens, though, because they were pretty.”

“Poisonous!” Tomato’s face turned redder than ever. “Poisonous! Well, I should say! But then, you know how good we are, and that we are excellent for people who eat too much meat.”

“Indeed we do know, don’t we, Mary Frances? We have some of you in our lunch basket,” laughed Eleanor. “Mary Frances has a lot of you growing in her garden, too.”

“Has she any of my brothers and sisters growing in her garden?” asked a new voice.

The girls saw the funniest, fattest brown fellow waddling along.

“Hello, Humpty Dumpty!” cried out Tomato.

“Nonsense,” declared the new-comer, “I’m not Humpty Dumpty! I can prove it; I can fall and you can pick me up again. See?”

With that, over he went, smash!

The other Night Shade people all ran to help him up. “How’s that, young ladies?” said he when they had set him on his tiny legs. “Doesn’t that prove I’m not an egg? Humpty Dumpty, indeed!”

“Oh, you _Egg Plant_!” cried Potato. “Welcome, cousin. You’re another useful member of the Night Shade family.”

“Perhaps ‘you-all’ don’t like me as well as those other Night Shades, but some folks do.”

“Who’s that?” asked Eleanor.

“It looks like Lucinda Marguerite, my colored paper doll,” replied Mary Frances, laughing.

No wonder she thought so, for the owner of the new voice looked like a little darky, dressed in green, with a long-pointed white cap.

“Some folkses likes me bettah than food,” went on the speaker. “You can just put that in your pipe an’ smoke it!”

“_Tobacco!_” guessed Mary Frances.

“Oh, how funny!” cried Eleanor, and they burst into gales of laughter.

“I didn’t know tobacco had such a pretty blossom,” said Mary Frances, examining the pointed cap more carefully.

“That will—-” Jack-in-the-Pulpit began.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” cried a new voice, and in danced a beautiful little lady, dressed in a fluffy-ruffly skirt made of flower petals.

“Guess quickly,” smiled Bouncing Bet. “Quickly!”

“_Petunia_,” guessed Eleanor. “We have them in a window-box at home.”

“What a pretty member of the Night Shade family,” said Mary Frances.

“Fall in line,” Jack commanded, leaning far out of his pulpit, and pointing out a place where the Night Shade family took their position.