Title : Jimmy Crow
Author : Edith Francis Foster
Release date : December 28, 2007 [eBook #24061]
Language : English
Credits
: Produced by Jason Isbell, Mark C. Orton, Christine D. and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was made using scans of
public domain works in the International Children's Digital
Library.)
Published by
Dana Estes & Co.
UNIQUE AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOKS
FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Charming tales told in rebus form for wee men and women
WHAT DID THE BLACK CAT DO? GUESS!
By MARGARET JOHNSON
WHERE WAS THE LITTLE WHITE DOG?
By MARGARET JOHNSON
JIMMY CROW
By EDITH FRANCIS FOSTER
Oblong quarto. Bound in cloth with separate cover design for each volume
DANA ESTES & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
Estes Press, Summer Street, Boston
IMMY CROW
By EDITH FRANCIS FOSTER
BOSTON
DANA ESTES & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1899-1900
By S. E. Casino Company
Copyright, April, 1902
By Dana Estes & Company
All rights reserved
JIMMY CROW
Colonial Press
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co
Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
| Frontispiece | |
| Contents | |
| Dedication | |
| How Jack Found Jimmy Crow | 9 |
| The Christmas Candles | 15 |
| After the Snow Storm | 21 |
| "The Rose Is Red" | 27 |
| Dropping Stitches | 33 |
| April Fool | 39 |
| Jack's Circus Money | 45 |
| Jimmy's Circus | 51 |
| A Whole Bunch of Crackers | 57 |
| Jimmy Crow's Birthday Party | 63 |
| In School | 69 |
| Nutting | 75 |
| Endpiece |
HOW JACK FOUND JIMMY CROW.
J
immy Crow belongs to Jack.
Jack is a little
. Jimmy is a big
.
Jack wears a white
. Jimmy wears black
. Jack says "Good Morning," and "Yes, sir,"
and "Thank you." Jimmy can say only "Caw, caw." Jack thinks Jimmy is a
funnier pet than a
or a
.
ne day, last
[Pg 13]
summer, Jack was picking low
in
the pasture, when he saw a young
hopping in the
bushes. The little crow was lame in one
. He had
fallen from the
. He was too young to fly far, so
caught him. He carried him home in his
berry-
. Then Jack took a
and
and
and built a
. He named his new pet "Jimmy Crow."
[Pg 14]
ack took good care of Jimmy Crow. He caught
for him to eat, and gave him fresh water in a tin
.
Jimmy's lame leg soon got well. His
grew big,
and he could fly. When Jack called, Jimmy would fly to him and perch
on his
or
.
immy Crow liked mischief. He liked to hide things and see people hunt
for them. Once when Jack was getting ready for school,
[Pg 15]
he could not
find his
. He hunted till Mama said he must put on
his rubber
and be off. One of those boots would
not go on. There was something in the toe.
held
it up and shook it, and out fell—the top!
flapped his
and cried "Caw, caw!" That was his
way of laughing. Jack laughed too, as he took his
and
and hurried off.
THE CHRISTMAS CANDLES
G
randma lives at Jack's
.
She has a bird, too.
Grandma's bird is a green
. The parrot's name is
"Pepper."
loves
, but
Jack's crow does not love Grandma's parrot.
epper can talk like a
, mew like a
,
bark like a
. She can cry
[Pg 19]
and laugh. When
Jimmy says "Caw, caw!" Pepper says "C-a-w, c-a-w!" and then laughs.
doesn't like to be laughed at. Once he flew
at Pepper, and pushed her off her
. But Pepper
scratched him with her
and pulled out a
tail-feather with her
. Now Jimmy keeps away from
her, unless he wants to steal her
.
n Christmas Eve
came
[Pg 20]
to Jack's Tree. Mama
had trimmed it with
and
, and
hung
everywhere. When she went
with a
to light the candles, they were gone!
"Where are the candles?" cried
. "Somebody has
carried them off, and I can't light the
." Betty, the littlest girl, began to cry—two
ran
down her cheeks.
sat on
her perch cracking a
. When she heard the outcry,
she dropped it and screamed
[Pg 21]
"Jimmy Crow, Jimmy Crow! Oh, oh! Oh, oh!"
"Oh, naughty
!" said Mama. "He has hidden
them. Pepper is telling tales. Run,
, and
hunt! We'll play a new game, 'Hunt the
.'"
ight pairs of
ran "up stairs, down
, in my lady's chamber." At last Betty tipped
over a
, and out rolled the
.
The littlest girl had won! So
held her
up, and she lit the Christmas Tree.
AFTER THE SNOW STORM.
J
ust after Christmas there was a great
storm.
The drifts were higher than the
. When it cleared
off,
put on
and reefer,
and rubber boots, and went out.
went with him. First, Jack took
and
and made a wide clean path to the
.
This
[Pg 25]
was "working for Mama." Jack likes to work for Papa and
Mama.
hen
came to play with him, and they had
a fine frolic. They rolled big
, and built a
. They put an old
on his
head and the
over his shoulder. Then Jack rang
the
, and Mama came to the door. "Here is a man
with a shovel," he said. "Don't you want him to shovel paths for
you?"
[Pg 26]
might," laughed
, "but somebody has been ahead
of him—and here are four hot
for that smart
somebody." Jack gave the other boys
, and they
all sat down on the
to eat them.
sat on the
. He begged till each
boy gave him a
.
hen they made a pile of
to throw at the
snowman. Just as Bob threw one, Jimmy Crow lit on the shoulder of the
,
[Pg 27]
and the
knocked him
off into a deep drift!
was not hurt, but he
was angry. He flew at
, and carried off his
in his
, and dropped it into
that same deep
. Then
had
to wade through snow over his
, to get his cap
again. And Jimmy Crow perched on Jack's
, flapped
his wings, and laughed "C-a-w, c-a-w, c-a-w!"
"THE ROSE IS RED"
T
omorrow is St Valentine's day," said
.
"Whom can
I send a
to, Mama?" "Who is the nicest little
you know?" asked
. Jack tried
to think. "I guess it's the one in the big brick
,"
he said. "Her hair is curly, and she gave me an
when I climbed the
for her
. Her name is Kitty,
[Pg 31]
too, and that's a pretty
name."
o Mama took a sheet of
and painted
all around it, with two little
at the top; and Jack wrote a verse in the middle, with
pictures—like this story. "Dear Kitty; The
is
red, the
blue—I like
so I like you. Yours truly, J." Then he put it in an
and went out to send it.
went
too.
f course Jack could not carry it himself, or Kitty
[Pg 32]
would know who
sent it. So he tied it around
's neck. When
they reached Kitty's house he set him down on the
and rang the bell. Then he ran and hid behind the
.
he
opened quickly, for Kitty was just coming out
with her sled. She looked all around but she could only see
, busy picking a bone her
had left there. Then she caught sight of the
,
and untied
[Pg 33]
it. She dropped her
and the
slid down the steps and away to the gate.
Jack jumped out and caught it. "Oh, what a pretty
!"
cried Kitty. "Thank you, Jack." "No, no!" said
in a
hurry. "You mustn't know it's me." "Well, then, thank
you
,
Jimmy," laughed
. "Now let's go sliding." "All
right," said Jack. He put
on the sled and
off they all went.
DROPPING STITCHES.
O
ne day,
sat down to knit on Jack's
, and found one
was
gone.
"Oh dear, that's too bad!" said she. "All the stitches dropped!"
Pepper giggled, "Too bad, too bad!"
randma looked into her
, and under the
—and when she got up
were gone. "Dear, dear!" said
[Pg 37]
she. "Where do they go?"
giggled louder, and called, "Dear, dear! Too bad!"
randma looked behind her
, and under the
—and when she came back
were gone. "Dearie me!" she cried, and held up both
. Pepper giggled and giggled, and shrieked,
"Dearie me! Jimmy Crow!" "Why, yes," cried Grandma, "
is the thief, of course. Now where has he hid them?"
ust then he flew
[Pg 38]
down and tried to pull out the last
.
Grandma saw him, and called Jack.
looked
in the
, he crawled under the
, he climbed on a
and
reached into the
on the
.
Jimmy Crow hopped about him and chuckled softly, "Caw, caw!"
hen
giggled and cried out, "Jimmy-Jimmy wants
a
!" "Oh, yes," said Jack, "let's give Jimmy a
, and see where he takes it."
[Pg 39]
Jimmy carried
the cookie to the top of the
. "That's the
place. I'll get the
," Jack laughed. When he had
climbed to the top, he shouted, "Grandma! Here are the
—and
all the other things we have lost—your
, and the
, and my
—and—lots of things!"
As he came down with both hands full,
Jimmy fluttered about his
, and Pepper giggled and
shrieked.
APRIL FOOL!
J
ack's Mama was making
.
"Please, Jack," said she,
"get me some cold water." Jack took his
and went
out to the
. Jimmy Crow went too. He sat on Jack's
, bouncing up and down as Jack worked the
.
hen
took the
which hung on a
and filled it at
[Pg 43]
the
. But
as it touched his
, Jimmy reached round and
snatched it, and flew up into the big cherry
.
"April-Fool!" called out Pepper from Grandma's window.
ack was vexed. "Bring that back!" he shouted—but
only chuckled. Jack jumped on a
,
and began to climb the tree. Just as he reached up to grab Jimmy's
Jimmy hopped to the next
[Pg 44]
higher, tipping the
, and all the water splashed
down into Jack's
. "April-April-Fool!" cried
from the
. Jack felt more
vexed than ever. He dropped his
and hurried, but
Jimmy hopped as fast as
climbed, till they
reached the top of the tree. Then, just as Jack thought he had him,
dropped the
, bang! on
his
, and flew off to the
of the
.
h, you bad Jimmy!"
[Pg 45]
cried Jack, and started to climb down again. And
all the way Pepper screamed, "April-April-Fool!" and giggled and
giggled till
had to laugh too.
hen he carried in the
of water, and told
all about it. "I didn't mean to get fooled once
today," said he, "but
has fooled me three
times already."
hey both laughed, and Mama gave him a whole little apple
, baked in a
.
JACK'S CIRCUS MONEY.
hall I give you twenty-five cents now," asked
as she took out her
, "or will you earn it?"
"I'll earn it, with my own
," said
.
"It's more fun to spend money you have worked for." "Then you
[Pg 49]
may weed the
and
for
me," said Mama.
ack put on his
and went into the garden. Jimmy
Crow went too.
ate
and a
, and then perched on the
and watched
work.
hen the job was done Mama paid him his quarter. First he sat on the
and spun the coin like a
.
Then he began to toss it up in the air, and catch it in his
as it fell.
[Pg 50]
he second time he didn't catch it—but
did, and flew off with it.
ran after him,
shouting, "Stop thief!" He chased him through the
-bushes
and across the
-bed, to the
orchard
. There Jimmy sat till Jack came up, then
he dropped the quarter into a
between the
stones. Jack heard it rattle down to the ground.
en
had to work hard! He pulled away the
[Pg 51]
till he could see it, between two big rocks,
but couldn't get his
in. So he took a
and poked. At last, out rolled the quarter—and
out hopped a
! Jack laughed, but
was so surprised he flapped his
and
croaked.
ust then Bob came up. "Did your mother give you that?" he asked.
"No," said
, "I earned it, for the circus—and
made me earn it over again!"
JIMMY'S CIRCUS.
S
uch a fine circus!
Jack and Bob went, but
was left at home. The
bought
and fed the
and
. Jack put his
full of
nuts between the bars, and a little brown
pulled his
open and picked out the
.
hen they saw the grand parade in the big
—the
[Pg 55]
, the
, the
, the
, the
with
, and
, the
and the
. Then a
pretty
rode a white
,
standing up on the
and waving a
.
Other horses ran races, and jumped, and walked upright. The
funny
tried to ride a little
,
and kept tumbling off.
t the last, all the animals marched round again, and a funny thing
happened. A big black
[Pg 56]
came flying into the
and lighted right on the
's
back. He spread his
, and danced up
and down in time to the
. The people
thought he was part of the circus, and clapped their
and laughed, but
ran out into the ring,
crying, "Oh, he's mine, he's mine! Please let me have him!"
he
got a
and climbed up
the elephant, but
kept out of his reach,
and everybody laughed. So
[Pg 57]
he came tumbling down again, and told Jack
to try it.
climbed up and crept along to the
elephant's head—and then Jimmy flew up on his shoulder, and the
clapped louder still.
hen Jack came down,
the
fished a penny out of his pocket, and
offered to buy Jimmy Crow. "No, sir!" said
. "Not
for a hundred dollars! I'd rather have my crow than this whole
circus."
A WHOLE BUNCH OF CRACKERS!
H
URRAH
for the Fourth!
Jack was out of
before the
rose. He could not wait for breakfast, but drank a
of milk, and ran out to find the other
. Jimmy Crow went too. Bob and Russell came up
just then, with their pockets full of
,
and they all began firing
[Pg 61]
them on the lawn.
liked the little red things, and begged for some, but the boys
only laughed at him.
retty soon
lighted a whole
,
and threw it down, and all the
ran away. Then
saw his chance, and he
seized the bunch of crackers and flew in at Grandma's open window!
e lighted on Pepper's
.
tried to bite him, but bang! went a
!
[Pg 62]
Both
jumped, and Jimmy dropped the bunch on the
carpet. Bang! went another
, and bang!
bang! went
. Then a dozen flew out,
banging, over the floor.
aw! Caw!" screamed
. "Fire! Fire!"
screamed
. "Jack! Jack!" screamed
.
She was trying to pick up the bunch with the
, when
ran in. He threw a
over the
,
gathered them up in it, and threw all out
[Pg 63]
of the
.
sat down in her arm-
very pale.
Jack kissed her. "I'm sorry we scared you so," he
said. "Now you rest while I clear up."
e brought the
and
, and
swept up the litter. Then he gave
a
and took
under his
. "Pepper didn't 'want a
cracker
,' that time, did
she, Grandma?" said he. "Now we'll go further away." But just then the
breakfast
rang.
JIMMY CROW'S BIRTHDAY PARTY.
I
t was a year ago today I found
," said Jack.
"He must have a 'birthday' party." So
invited the
he and Jimmy liked best to
"Jimmy's picnic."
hey all went up to the
-pasture where Jack found
. First there was little Ibelle, carrying
Jimmy Crow in her
. Next came her big brother
Alden, who had a
[Pg 67]
with
in it. Louise had
in a
, and Bob brought
in a
. Russell carried
in a
, and last came Jack with a tin
.
Nobody knew what was in it. That was Mama's "surprise."
ey sat down under a shady
and divided the
goodies.
sat in the middle, and they each
gave him a piece. After they had all eaten a
and
and
and
,
Jack opened the
. The
children all put
[Pg 68]
their
close together to see,
and as the
came off they shouted, "Oh, oh!
Ice-cream!"
hen they sat down again in a circle,
in the
middle, with a
. He gave each one a
in turn. Oh, how good it tasted!
ut
wanted some, and when Jack would not
let him eat from the spoon, he grabbed it in his
and flew away. The
chased him until he
dropped it, and then gave him a taste of
[Pg 69]
the ice-cream. He didn't
like it, so the
ate it all.
hen they picked
, until Alden's
and Bob's
and Louise's
were all full.
ust as they were starting home, a little tired after all the
fun—"Hurrah!" shouted Russell. "Here comes Uncle Charlie, with his
. He will give us a ride." So kind
tossed them up into the hay, one by one—little Ibelle
first—and they all rode home on the
.
IN SCHOOL.
T
he first day Jack went to school in the fall,
was very lonesome.
The
was near by, and
about noon he flew over and hopped in at the open
.
ll the
were bending over their
, writing, but Jimmy knew Jack's
as well as his
, and lighted on his
. The children laughed at
[Pg 73]
that, and the
laughed too.
hen she said, "If Jimmy Crow
does not disturb anyone, he may stay, as it is nearly noon." The
children promised not to be disturbed, and the
went to work again.
behaved beautifully,
though at first he tried to walk on Jack's
and
to bite his pencil. Jack pushed him away, and he flew to the teacher's
where he walked about quietly, looking
[Pg 74]
at the
and
of
.
hen the lesson was finished, the teacher said, "Jack may
collect the
." He got the
and began, but Jimmy flew ahead of him, and picked up a pencil.
Jack took it, and put it in the box. Then
brought another. The
were delighted. They
held their pencils in their
, and
Jimmy Crow collected them all.
hen the
rang and the children marched out for
[Pg 75]
and
.
When they came back, Jimmy Crow was gone!
looked
under the
and in the
.
Then the
looked in her closet,
and there he sat on a
. He had found her
lunch-
, and eaten a whole
.
Jack was very sorry, but the teacher only laughed.
hat afternoon Jimmy did not go to school, but
brought her a big red
and said it was from
.
NUTTING.
O
ne bright, frosty, October morning Jack went up to the walnut
in the pasture to gather
.
Jimmy Crow went too. Jack drew his little
, and
rode on the
.
picked up all the nuts on the ground, then
climbed the tree and shook down more, still in their thick, green
.
hen he came
[Pg 79]
down,
was busily picking up
the nuts and dropping them into a
in the tree.
"Stop that!" cried Jack. "These are
my
. The
can pick for themselves." "Caw, caw!" said
Jimmy Crow.
ack took home a
-load. Then he brought a
and spread the nuts out on the
of the
to dry the husks.
oward night Jack took
out to look at his
. Half of them were gone! "Oh dear!"
[Pg 80]
said Jack,
"It is
again. Now where has he put them
all?" Just then he saw Jimmy's
disappear into the
. He ran after, but could see no
nuts—only an old
. He climbed up on the
, but found no nuts inside—only a
,
lying on its side. He reached into the barrel and felt
nothing but a
. He pulled it out and peeped into
it—and at last he had found the
! And Jimmy Crow
perched
[Pg 81]
on his
and laughed, "Caw, caw!" When
the nuts had all been carried back to the
, and
had praised Jack's work, she said, "Now we must
hurry in to supper. The
has set and it is getting
late and cold. Let us run, to keep warm." So she and
took
and ran all the way back to the
. Then they went in to their supper—and
went too.
[Pg 82]
"AND JIMMY CROW WENT TOO!"
for
and a
.