"B" Is for Betsy Read Online Free PDF Page A

When they went into the library and Ellen saw a donkey game pinned on the wall, she cried, "Why, it's a party! I am having a birthday party!"
    The children had a merry time trying to pin the tail on the donkey. Billy pinned it right on the donkey's nose. Christopher pinned it on his ear, which made the donkey look very funny indeed. Betty Jane pinned it on the donkey's hind leg, and everyone agreed that Betty Jane had come nearer to putting the tail in the right place than anyone else. So Betty Jane won the prize. It was a box of paints with two brushes and a lot of pictures to color.
    After the children had played games, Betsy's mother took them into the playroom. There were a table and eight little chairs. In the center of the table there was a birthday cake. It was covered with white frosting and decorated with pink roses. It had six lighted pink candles. Ellen thought it was the most beautiful birthday cake she had ever seen. The children sat down and Betsy's mother brought them plates of pink ice cream. Then Ellen blew out the candles and cut her cake. She was too little to cut the slices, so Betsy's mother cut each of the children a slice of birthday cake.

    That night, when Ellen's father went into her room for a goodnight kiss, Ellen was very sleepy. When her father leaned over her bed, he heard her say, "I had a birthday party. Pink candles and—donkey—tails—and—dishes."

6 Grandma Pretzie

    Every morning at recess time an old lady came to the schoolyard gate. The children called her Grandma Pretzie. On one arm she carried a big basket of fresh pretzels, and on the other arm a little stool. She sat on the stool and sold the pretzels for a penny apiece. They were big, thick pretzels, golden-brown, and sprinkled with coarse salt. The children loved
the pretzels and they loved Grandma Pretzie. She was very, very old. Betsy thought that she must be a hundred years old, but she really wasn't quite as old as that. She was very poor and she lived in a tiny wooden house near the school. Her face was wrinkled like a dried-up apple. She always wore a little black bonnet that tied under her chin with black ribbons. On very cold days she would pull her woolen shawl up over her head.
    Grandma Pretzie knew the most wonderful fairy stories and the children would gather 'round her at recess and shout, "Tell us a story, Pretzie, tell us a story." Pretzie would always say, "Go 'long with you, I don't know any stories today. I have to sell my pretzels." But the children would coax and tease until at last the old lady would begin—"Once upon a time," and she would tell them a story. It was wonderful, the way Pretzie could tell stories and sell pretzels at the same time.
    One day in November, Miss Grey told the children that it would soon be Thanksgiving Day. She asked them if they knew what Thanksgiving is. Billy said, "I know, Miss Grey; it's the day you eat turkey." Betsy said it was a day when
    you said thank you to God, and Miss Grey said that Betsy was right.
    Then Miss Grey told the children about the first Thanksgiving which was hundreds of years ago. She told them about the people who had come to America from away across the ocean, and how they had to cut down the trees to build their houses and dig big rocks out of the ground before they could plant their seeds. Miss Grey said that these people were called Pilgrims. The Pilgrims were so thankful to God for His care that they decided to have a special day just to say thank you to Him. "And that is the reason," said Miss Grey, "that we have a Thanksgiving Day every year."
    Miss Grey asked the children if they would like to fill a basket with food for someone who did not have enough money to buy a Thanksgiving dinner.
    "Yes, yes," cried the children.
    "I can bring some eggs," said Billy. "My father has chickens and we have lots of eggs."
    "Who will we give the basket to?" asked Ellen.
    "Let's give it to Grandma Pretzie," said Betty Jane; "she would like to