The Story of a Lamb on Wheels | Page 5

Candy Rabbits, a Monkey on a Stick, and a
Lamb on Wheels, and lots of things."
"Hum! those are all very nice toys," said the jolly sailor. "But I think I'd
like to look at the Lamb on Wheels."
"There she is, right in front of you, on the floor," said the girl.
"Oh, ho! So this is the Lamb on Wheels!" cried the jolly sailor as he
picked her up. "Well, this seems just the toy I want. I'll take her! I'll
buy this Lamb on Wheels!"
"Oh, dear me!" thought the Lamb, for she knew what was going on,
even though she dared not move by herself, or speak, "if this sailor
buys me he'll take me on an ocean trip and I'll be seasick! Oh, dear, this
is going to be dreadful!"
CHAPTER III
A HOME ON SHORE
The jolly sailor held in his hands the Lamb on Wheels. He looked her
over carefully, and rubbed her warm, woolly sides. Though his hand
was not as soft as was that of the little girl who had stroked the Lamb
the day before, yet the sailor was gentle in his touch.

"Well, I suppose there is no use thinking any longer of having a home
like the one the Sawdust Doll got, with her little girl mistress to love
her," said the Lamb on Wheels to herself. "I am to be taken away by
this sailor--away out to sea. I never could stand sailing, anyhow. Oh,
dear! why do I have to go?"
"Does she squeak?" asked the sailor of the clerk, as he held the Lamb in
his hands.
"Oh, no. She isn't that kind of Lamb," answered the clerk, with a laugh.
"She is just a Lamb on Wheels, and she has real wool on her back and
sides and legs. She does not squeak or go baa-a-a-a, and if you want her
to move you have to pull her along."
"Well, I was going to get a Lamb that squeaked," went on the sailor,
"but I suppose this one will do just as well."
"We have a Calico Clown who bangs his cymbals together when you
press on his stomach or chest," said the girl. "See this toy! Maybe you
would like this!"
She picked up the Calico Clown in his gaily colored suit, and, pressing
on him in the middle, she made him bang his cymbals together.
"That is a jolly toy," said the sailor. "Let me see it."
He took up the Calico Clown, and did as the girl clerk had done.
"Bing! Bang! Bung!" went the cymbals.
"Oh, I hope he buys me," thought the Clown. "I should love to go to sea
on a ship."
But the sailor appeared to like the Lamb on Wheels best. He took her
up again, and the Lamb, who had begun to hope that she might not
have to go to sea, felt sad again.
"I'll take this Lamb on Wheels," said the sailor. "How much is it?" and
he pulled out his pocketbook, as he tucked the lamb under his arm.

"Oh, I must wrap it up for you," said the girl. "You are not supposed to
take things from the store unless they are wrapped. I'll get a large piece
of paper for the Lamb."
And while the clerk was gone the sailor walked about, looking at some
bicycles and velocipedes at the far end of the toy department. Thus the
Lamb and her friends were left by themselves for a moment or two,
with no one to look at them. This was just the chance the Lamb wanted.
She could talk now.
"Oh, just think of where I am going to be taken!" she said to the Calico
Clown. "Off to sea!"
"Real jolly, I call it!" said the Clown. "I wish he had picked me for the
trip."
"And I wish he had taken me," put in the Bold Tin Soldier. "I have
always longed for a sea trip."
"Well, I wish either of you had gone in my place," said the Lamb on
Wheels, a bit sadly. "Now I shall never see the Sawdust Doll or the
White Rocking Horse again."
"You must make the best of it," said the Monkey on a Stick. "I know
what sailors are--I have heard of them. They like to have monkeys and
parrots for pets--that is, real ones, not toys such as we are. But sailors
are kind, I have heard."
But the woolly Lamb only sighed. She felt certain that she would be
seasick, and no one can have a good time thinking of that.
"Well, if you go on an ocean trip we may never see you again," said the
Monkey on a Stick. "Ocean travel is very dangerous."
"Nonsense! It isn't anything