How Freckle Frog Made Herself Pretty

How Freckle Frog Made Herself
Pretty, by

Charlotte B. Herr This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: How Freckle Frog Made Herself Pretty
Author: Charlotte B. Herr
Illustrator: Frances Beem
Release Date: September 7, 2006 [EBook #19197]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration]
[Illustration]

HOW FRECKLE FROG MADE HERSELF PRETTY

By CHARLOTTE B. HERR
Designs FRANCES BEEM

Published in the Shop of P. F. VOLLAND & CO. CHICAGO U.S.A.
* * * * *
THIS LITTLE STORY IS TOLD AND THE LITTLE PICTURES
WERE DRAWN FOR A GOOD LITTLE CHILD NAMED
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COPYRIGHT 1913 P F. VOLLAND & CO CHICAGO, U. S. A.
* * * * *

[Illustration]
HOW FRECKLE FROG MADE HERSELF PRETTY
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Marian, and she had a
doll called Big Mary. Marian loved Big Mary, and meant to be very
good to her. But sometimes she was not.
Santa Claus had brought Big Mary one snowy Christmas night, and he
had brought also a great many pretty clothes for her to wear. There
were three dresses, a warm red one for winter, and a white one, very
thin, for summer, and still another, of beautiful blue silk with lace on it,
for best.
Then, also, there were little skirts, and tiny stockings, and pretty little
shoes with shiny buckles and real heels, and there was a pink parasol,

and, best of all, a dear little muff, made of soft white fur, to keep Big
Mary's hands warm in cold weather.
At first little Marian loved to dress Big Mary in all these pretty things,
and she would put on first the warm red dress, and then the thin white
one, and then the one of blue silk with the beautiful lace. And she
would raise the big parasol and put it over Big Mary's head. But she
hardly ever gave Big Mary the little white muff to hold, because that
was for very, very best. Little Marian's own mamma had said so.
But when Marian's birthday came, grandma gave her a doll's trunk, and
after that the days were not so pleasant for Big Mary. It was so much
fun to pack the trunk that little Marian often took off all the clothes Big
Mary had on to put them away in the trunk. Many a time poor Big
Mary had to sit for hours all undressed, and she would shiver and shake,
until at last one time when little Marian had left her lying all night on
the floor without any clothes on, she took a dreadful cold and became
very ill.
Then little Marian was very sorry for what she had done, and she put
Big Mary to bed and sent for Dr. Prince. When the doctor came he
looked at Big Mary's tongue, and felt her pulse. And then he shook his
head and looked very grave. He said that Big Mary must take some
medicine every day, and must sit out in the fresh air, and always wear
her best clothes all the time; for she was a very sick doll indeed.
So little Marian dressed Big Mary in the blue silk trimmed with lace,
because that was her very best dress, and she raised the pink parasol
and put it over her head and she gave Big Mary the white muff to hold,
because that was for very, very best. Then she carried Big Mary out to
the gray rock in the back yard where the nasturtiums grow, to sit in the
fresh air all day long.
Now little Miss Freckle Frog lived under the big rock. She was ugly, as
all frogs are, but she loved pretty things, perhaps because she was not
pretty herself. But although she was not pretty, she was a kind-hearted
little body, and all her friends liked her.

[Illustration]
Every day when Big Mary sat in the sunshine, Freckle Frog crept out
from under the rock, and hid in the grass, and watched her. She thought
Big Mary was wonderful, but she thought that the blue silk dress and
the pink parasol were more wonderful still, and the little soft
muff,--that was the most wonderful of all! And poor little Freckle Frog
wished that she had a blue silk dress with lace, and a pink parasol like
Big Mary. But most of all she wished that she had