The Story of a Candy Rabbit | Page 6

the eggs?" inquired Dick. "Dorothy and
I got up early to hunt for ours."
"I think I found every one," replied Herbert. "But last year, I remember,
I missed one big candy egg, and I didn't find it until a week later."
The children showed each other their holiday presents, and the Candy
Rabbit was much admired. Dorothy and Dick took him up in their
hands so they might see him better.
"Goodness! I hope they don't drop me," thought the Rabbit. "There isn't
any rubber ball here for me to fall on, as there was in the store. I
certainly hope they don't drop me!"
But Dorothy and Dick were very careful, and, after they had looked at
and admired the Rabbit, he was put down on a chair not far from
Dorothy's Sawdust Doll. The Candy Rabbit kept wishing that the
children would go out of the room for a while, so he might talk to the
Doll, whom he had not seen for a long time.
And, after a while, Madeline's mother called the children to show them
an Easter present which she had received. Out of the room trooped the
four children, leaving the Candy Rabbit and the Sawdust Doll together,
with no one to watch what they said or did.
"Now I have a chance to talk to you!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll.
"I've just been waiting to ask how all my friends are at the toy store.
And how are you? How did you get here? Do you like living in a house

with children more than in the store? Tell me all about it!"
"Goodness!" laughed the Candy Rabbit. "You talk as fast as a
phonograph Doll when she has been wound up tight."
"Well, we'll have to talk fast if we want to tell each other anything
before those children get back," said the Sawdust Doll. "Now you tell
me your adventures, and then I'll tell you mine."
The two toy friends talked for some time, the Candy Rabbit relating the
latest news of the toy store, and the Sawdust Doll speaking of the nice
home she had with Dorothy, and how kind Dick was to the White
Rocking Horse.
Then the Rabbit wanted to know about the Lamb on Wheels and the
Bold Tin Soldier, and, as the Sawdust Doll had heard from them lately,
she told some of their adventures.
"I do wish I could see the Calico Clown and the Monkey on a Stick
once more," sighed the Sawdust Doll. "They were certainly the jolliest
toys I ever knew."
"Yes, they were," agreed the Candy Rabbit. "And I don't believe the
Clown has yet found any one to answer his riddle about what makes
more noise than a pig under a gate."
"Hush! Here come the children!" exclaimed the Sawdust Doll in a low
voice. Madeline and Herbert, Dorothy and Dick, having seen the
present Madeline's mother had received, had come back into the room
again.
"What shall we do now?" asked Madeline.
"Let's play with your Rabbit and my Doll," suggested Dorothy.
Madeline thought this would be nice, but as Dick did not care much
about such fun he said he and Herbert would go back home and get out
his Rocking Horse.

"And I'll get Arnold and his Tin Soldiers and we'll have some fun," he
added. "Come on, Herb."
"If you see Mirabell, send her over here to play with us," called
Dorothy to her brother, and Dick said he would do so. "Tell her to bring
her Lamb on Wheels," she added.
The two little girls had good times playing with the Sawdust Doll and
the Candy Rabbit, and, after a while, Madeline's mother brought in a
plate of cookies for the little girls to eat.
"We'll have a play party," said Madeline. "I'll set my Candy Rabbit up
here on the goldfish stand where he can watch us, for he can't eat
anything, you know."
"And I'll set my Sawdust Doll over in this chair where she can see us,"
said Dorothy. "My Doll can eat make-believe things when I have a play
party, but we won't pretend that now. We'll just eat the cookies
ourselves."
"Yes," agreed Madeline. So she put her Candy Rabbit on the goldfish
stand.
This was a round table on which stood a bowl of real, live goldfish. The
fish swam around in the water, and now and then they stopped
swimming to look out through the glass with their big, round eyes. The
top of the goldfish globe was open, and sometimes Madeline was
allowed to feed the fish when her mother stood by. The fish ate tiny
bits of biscuit bought for them at the fish, bird and dog store.
Dorothy's Sawdust Doll was propped up in a chair