Cheery and the Chum/Chapter 8

by Katherine Merritte Snyder Yates

Chapter VIII

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The Last Day

RS. CANN was dyeing carpet-rags, out in the shed-kitchen; and Cheery and The Chum were looking on, fascinated by the beautiful shades of red, blue and yellow which came out of those wonderful dye-pots. At last she had finished, and all of the rags were hung in brilliant festoons along the clothes line. Then she began to clear up. "I mixed too much of the color this time," she said, as she lifted a pail of red liquid, and bent to pour it into a pail of blue, so as to carry the whole to the drain at once.

"Oh, wait a minute!" cried Cheery, eagerly. "Please, mayn't we have what is left? Aunt Beth gave me some silk pieces this morning, and I'd just love to dye them."

Mrs. Cann looked doubtfully at the children. "You'd get it all on your clothes," she said.

"Oh, that's all right," said Cheery. "We're going away tomorrow, you know, and Mamma has packed everything but our traveling clothes and these faded things that she isn't going to take along at all. She said we looked like two little ragged-robins this morning, when she dressed us;—so it won't do any harm at all if we get these spotted."

"Well," said Mrs. Cann, setting down the pail, "you may have it if you choose; but you must take it out to the barn to do your dyeing, so as not to muss things around here. I'll put it into some little pails that you can carry."

And so, in a few minutes, Cheery and The Chum were seated just inside of the wide back door of the barn, while the silk pieces and their fingers were turning red and blue and yellow, and Winkie Baby stood by and watched, and tried to poke his funny nose into the dye-pails.

By and by, when all of the pieces were dipped and hung up to dry, there still remained quite a good deal of the dye-stuff in the bottoms of the pails. The children looked at it thoughtfully; for it was entirely too interesting to throw away. "I'll tell you!" exclaimed Cheery, suddenly; "Let's paint pictures, great big pictures, instead of just little ones in books! Wouldn't it be fun?"

"Goody, goody!" cried the Chum. "Where's the brushes?"

"You go and ask Uncle Rob to lend us some," said Cheery, "and I'll get some big Sheets of paper to paint on. Come on, hurry!" and away they ran with Winkie Baby at their heels.

Cheery got back first, with the paper, and had spread two big sheets on the floor and set the paint pails between them; when The Chum returned, trying the strong bristle brushes against the palm of his hand. "Uncle Rob gave me the biggest ones he had," he said; "'cause I told him they were for big pictures; an' my, but they're hard and scratchy!"

Cheery started her picture first by painting a very large blue tree, and The Chum watched her, eagerly. "Why don't you have a bird in your tree?" he asked, as she began to paint a big yellow sun beside it.

"You can paint a bird in yours," said Cheery, making the sun bigger and bigger, in an effort to make it round and smooth, instead of scallopy.

So The Chum began, and painted first a fine large blue bird with a yellow top-knot, and then a red tree below him;—at least, he said it was a bird and a tree;—and just then along came Winkie Baby and walked right across the red tree and stuck his nose into the yellow dye-pot.

"Oh, oh!" cried The Chum, waving his paint-brush wildly; "Get off of my picture, you bad Baby,—an' take your nose out," and at that, Winkie Baby turned around and rubbed his nose right across the red paint-brush,—and then Cheery and The Chum burst out laughing; for his chin was all covered with yellow dye-stuff, and there was a big red spot right on the end of his nose, and he certainly was a very funny looking pig.

Then Cheery had an idea. "Oh, I know!" she cried. "Let's dress him up in paint! You hold hin."

And so The Chum put his arms about Winkie Baby and held him fast, and Cheery proceeded to clothe him in a fine coat of paint. First she put a yellow jacket on him, with red buttons down the front; and then a blue neck-tie. She scrubbed the dye-stuff in well, with the stiff brushes, so that not only was his thin white hair colored, but so was his pretty pink skin, as well. Then she painted big yellow rings around his eyes, for gold spectacles,—and then a blue moustache. And then she painted one ear red and one ear blue, and put a big blue paint bow on the top of his head;—and then The Chum said that it was his turn.

So then Cheery held the Baby, and The Chum went to work. First he painted the curly tail in rings, blue on the end, and then red, and then yellow; and then he painted a beautiful big red rose on one side of him, and a lovely blue violet on the other side. One could tell that it was a rose and a violet, because one was red and the other was blue;—but of course you know that it would be very hard to paint on a wiggly pig, and make things look exactly as you wish them to. And then The Chum painted on some red and yellow striped stockings, and some blue shoes; and then—they let Winkie Baby go, and stood back to look at him, shouting with laughter.

Winkie Baby didn't seem to mind it in the least; but stood and blinked at them through his yellow spectacles, as much as to say: "Well, I'm glad if you're having a good time; but I don't know what it's all about. Keep on laughing if you want to. It doesn't bother me."

"Come on, let's go and show him to Mrs. Cann!" cried The Chum, as soon as he could get his breath from laughing.

"All right," said Cheery, "only we must clear up here first," and she was just beginning to gather up the papers and brushes, when they heard Mr. Cann's voice, coming from near the pig-pen, just outside of the open door.

"I have only three pigs of the size you want," he was saying. "That is the best I can do."

"I wanted four," said a strange voice. "What about the white one that I saw in the yard as I came through?"

"No," said Mr. Cann. "The Children have raised that one by hand. I wouldn't like to sell that."

"It's just what I want," said the other voice.

"Still," said Mr. Cann, thoughtfully; "the children are going away tomorrow,—and it has come to be rather troublesome about the place."

"Better let me have it," said the other.

"Well," said Mr. Cann, slowly, "perhaps they wouldn't miss it this afternoon and—" and the two walked away, out of hearing.

Cheery and The Chum stood looking at each other with big eyes. Could it be that Winkie Baby was to be taken away somewhere, where no one would pet him or love him? The tears were very near,—and then, suddenly, Cheery's face brightened. "Don't you worry, Chum!" she exclaimed. "Winkie Baby will be taken care of,—come on,—we'll forget we heard it. I can beat you to the horse-trough!" and away they romped, Winkie Baby galloping after them.

Just outside of the barn door they almost ran into Mr. Cann and a strange man. The two smiled as the children ran past them;—hbut when their eyes fell upon Winkie Baby dashing after them, in all the glory of striped tail, mismated ears and yellow jacket, they burst into a roar of laughter.

"There's your white pig?" said Mr. Cann, as soon as he could speak, pointing his finger after the flying Baby. "Is that the sort of pork you're looking for?"

The man shook his head, ruefully. "Won't it wash off?" he asked.

"Indeed it won't," said Mr. Gann: "That's dye-stuff. The genuine article, warranted not to fade. It's what was left from my wife's carpet-rags this morning;—and it's scrubbed into his very skin,—I could see that as he passed. Think you want him?"

The man shook his head. "Nope!" he said. "If I hung that in front of my store, folks would think I kept a barber shop. I guess three pigs will have to be enough this time," and the two men turned away.

Half an hour afterward, Mrs. Cann came and kissed Cheery. "We came very near to losing Winkie Baby," she said; "but his new clothes saved him."

And Cherry heaved a big, happy sigh, and ran to tell The Chum. *****

And next morning, when they climbed into the carriage which was to take them to the station, Winkie Baby—yellow jacket, blue shoes, roses, violets and all—stood on the steps beside Mrs. Cann and grunted a cheerful farewell.

"We've had such a good, good time!" said Cheery, leaning out of the carriage for a last look around.

"Yes," said Uncle Rob, from the horses' heads; "Some one has said 'If you want to have a good time,—bring a good time with you;' and you two certainly brought yours along this trip, and some to spare for the rest of us."

"We surely did," said Cheery, happily; "and we're going to bring it with us again next year, aren't we, Chum?"

And The Chum, holding the mouse-cage tightly in his arms, nodded his head approvingly and echoed: "Surely, surely!" and away rattled the carriage down the hill.