Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel Read Online Free PDF

Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, a beautiful red steam shovel. Her name was Mary Anne.

    Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne had been digging together for years and years.

    It was Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others who dug the great canals for the big boats to sail through.

    It was Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others who lowered the hills and straightened the curves

    to make the long highways for the automobiles.

    And it was Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne and some others who dug the deep holes for the cellars of the tall skyscrapers in the big cities. When people used to stop and watch them, Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne used to dig a little faster and a little better.

    Then along came the new gasoline shovels and the new electric shovels and the new Diesel motor shovels and took all the jobs away from the steam shovels.

    Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne were VERY SAD.

    All the other steam shovels were being sold for junk, but Mike loved Mary Anne. He couldn't do that to her.

    Then one day Mike read in a newspaper that the town of Popperville was going to build a new town hall. "We are going to dig the cellar of that town hall," said Mike to Mary Anne, and off they started.

    They left the canals and the highways and the big cities where no one wanted them anymore and went away out in the country.
    They crawled along slowly till they came to the little town of Popperville.

    When they got there Mike Mulligan spoke to Henry B. Swap, one of the selectmen. "I heard," he said, "that you are going to build a new town hall. Mary Anne and I will dig the cellar for you in just one day."
    "What!" said Henry B. Swap.
    "It would take a hundred men at least a week."
    "Sure," said Mike, "but Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as a hundred men can dig in a week."
    Though he wasn't quite sure that this was true.

    They started in early the next morning. Soon a little boy came along.
    "Do you think you will finish by sundown?" he said to Mike Mulligan.
    "Sure," said Mike, "if you stay and watch us. We always work faster and better when someone is watching us."

    Then Mrs. McGillicuddy, Henry B. Swap, and the Town Constable came over to see what was happening, and they stayed to watch.
    Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne dug a little faster and a little better.

    This gave the little boy a good idea. He ran off and told all his friends in town and they stopped and stayed to watch. That made Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne dig a little faster and a little better.

    Clang! Clang! Clang! The Fire Department arrived. They had seen the smoke and thought there was a fire. Then the little boy said, "Why don't you stay and watch?" When they heard the fire engine, the children in the school across the street couldn't keep their eyes on their lessons. The teacher called a long recess and the whole school came out to watch.

    Now the girl who answers the telephone called up the next towns and told them what was happening in Popperville. All the people came over to see if Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel could dig the cellar in just one day. The more people came, the faster Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne dug.

    Never had Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne had so many people to watch them; never had they dug so fast and so well; and never had the sun seemed to go down so fast. Dirt was flying everywhere, and the smoke and steam were so thick that the people could hardly see anything. But listen!
    BING! BANG! CRASH! SLAM!
LOUDER AND LOUDER,
FASTER AND
FASTER.

    Then suddenly it was quiet. Slowly the dirt settled down. The smoke and steam cleared away, and there was the cellar, all finished. The sun was just going down behind the hill.

    "Hurray!" shouted the people. "Hurray for Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel! They have dug the cellar in just one day!"

    Suddenly the little boy said, "How are they going to get out?"

    Mike Mulligan looked around at the four square walls and four square corners, and he said, "We've dug so fast and we've dug so well that we've quite