Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bells | Page 4

Laddie.
"I can't," answered Laddie. "My leg's all twisted up in the soap-box."
And so it was. A box had been put on one of the chairs, and Mun Bun
and Margy had been sitting on that. This box had fallen on Laddie's leg,
which was twisted up inside it.
"But what happened?" asked Mother Bunker again. "You really mustn't
make so much noise when you play."
"We couldn't help it, Mother," said Rose, who, being the oldest girl,
was quite a help around the house, though she was only seven years old.
"The steamboat turned over and broke all up, Mother," she went on.
"The steamboat?" repeated Mrs. Bunker.
"I made one out of the flour-barrel you let me take," explained Russ.
"But Laddie rocked inside it, and it all fell apart, and then the chairs fell
on top of us and Mun and Vi and Margy all fell out and--"
"Oh, my dears! Some of you may be hurt!" cried Mrs. Bunker, as she

heard a little sob from Mun Bun. "I must come up and see what it is all
about," and, dropping her sewing, up the stairs she hurried.
There were six little Bunkers, as you have probably counted by this
time. Six little Bunkers, and they were such a jolly bunch of tots and
had such good times, even if a make-believe steamboat did upset now
and then, that I'm sure you'll like to hear about them.
To begin with, there was Russ Bunker. Russell was his real name, but
he was always called Russ. He was eight years old, and was very fond
of "making things."
Next came Rose Bunker. She was only seven years old, but she could
do some sweeping and lots of dusting, and was quite a little mother's
helper. Rose had light hair and eyes, while Russ was just the opposite,
being dark.
Violet, or Vi, aged six, was a curly-haired girl, with gray eyes, and, as I
have told you, she could ask more questions than her father and mother
could answer.
Then there was Laddie, or Fillmore, a twin of Vi's, and, naturally, of
the same age. Just how he happened to be so fond of asking riddles no
one knew. Perhaps he caught it from Jerry Simms, who had served ten
years in the army, and who never tired of telling about it. Jerry was a
not-to-be-mistaken Yankee who worked around the Bunker house--ran
the automobile, took out the furnace ashes and, when he wasn't doing
something like that, sitting in the kitchen talking to Norah O'Grady, the
jolly, good-natured Irish cook, who had been in the Bunker family
longer than even Russ could remember.
Jerry was a great one for riddles, too, only he asked such hard
ones--such as why does the ginger snap, and what makes the board
walk?--that none of the children could answer them.
But I haven't finished telling about the children. After Laddie and
Violet came Margy, aged five, and then Mun Bun, the youngest and
smallest of the six little Bunkers.

Of course there was Daddy Bunker, whose name was Charles, and who
had a real estate office on the main street of Pineville. In his office, Mr.
Bunker bought and sold houses for his customers, and also sold lumber,
bricks and other things of which houses were built. He was an agent for
big firms.
Mother Bunker's name was Amy, and sometimes her husband called
her "Amy Bell," for her last name had been Bell before she was
married.
The six little Bunkers lived in the city of Pineville, which was on the
shore of the Rainbow River in Pennsylvania. The river was called
Rainbow because, just before it got to Pineville, it bent, or curved, like
a bow. And, of course, being wet, like rain, the best name in the world
for such a river was "Rainbow." It was a very beautiful stream.
The Bunker house, a large white one with green shutters, stood back
from the main street, and was not quite a mile away from Mr. Bunker's
real estate office, so it was not too far even for Mun Bun to walk there
with his older sister or brother.
The six little Bunkers had many friends and relatives, and perhaps I had
better tell you the names of some of these last, so you will know them
as we come to them in the stories.
Mr. Bunker's father had died when he was six years old, and his mother,
Mrs. Mary Bunker, had married a man named Ford. She and "Grandpa
Ford" lived just outside the City of Tarrington, New York. "Great
Hedge Estate" was the name of Grandpa Ford's place, so called because
at one side of the house was a great, tall hedge, that had been growing