Back to School with Betsy Read Online Free

laughed very hard as he scooped up the striped fish.
    When the three little fishes were safely in a cardboard box filled with water, the salesman wrapped up the glass bowl.
    "Now be careful you don't drop these things," he said, as he took the two dollars and ten cents from Billy.
    Billy carried the box of fish, Ellen carried the bowl, and Betsy carried Father's umbrella.
    When they arrived at Betsy's house, the children unwrapped the bowl and emptied the water and the fish into it. They were delighted with the present. When they showed it to Betsy's mother, she said, "It is a very nice present indeed."
    The children wrote their names on a card and tied it around the bowl with a piece of white ribbon.
    "Do we take it to the wedding with us?" asked Billy.
    "Oh, no!" replied Betsy's mother. "It must be delivered before the wedding."
    Just then Betsy spied Mr. Jackson. He was walking around the outside of his house. "There's Mr. Jackson now!" cried Betsy. "He will take it over to Miss Grey's house for us."
    Betsy rushed out into the garden. "Mr. Jackson!" she shouted. "Mr. Jackson!"
    Mr. Jackson came over to the garden wall. "Mr. Jackson," said Betsy, "come over and see Miss Grey's wedding present. We just bought it."
    Mr. Jackson leaped over the wall. When he went into the house and saw the bowl of goldfish, he said, "Well, isn't that great! We have received a lot of presents but no one else has given us goldfish."
    "I guess we were pretty smart to think of goldfish, weren't we?" said Billy.
    "You certainly were," replied Mr. Jackson.

    "Miss Grey will be just as pleased as I am."
    "It's your present too, isn't it?" said Ellen. "Because you are marrying Miss Grey."
    "That's funny," said Billy. "We told you that we couldn't buy you a present and now you are getting a present after all."
    "And we didn't have to spend any more money," said Betsy.
    "Well," said Mr. Jackson, as he went out with the bowl, "we will name the goldfish after the three of you—Billy, Betsy, and Ellen."
    "Well, I'm the one in the striped bathing suit," shouted Billy.

4. How Mr. Kilpatrick Blew His Whistle

    Betsy and Ellen could hardly wait for the wedding day to arrive. Betsy's mother made Betsy a pink taffeta dress and Ellen's mother made Ellen one just like Betsy's. The little girls had never had long dresses before and they felt very important and grown up in their long full skirts.
    Betsy's dress was finished just two days before

    the wedding. When Betsy tried it on with her silver slippers, Father said she looked like a fairy. When she put on her pink bonnet that tied under her chin with blue velvet ribbons, Father said she was almost as beautiful as Mother.
    "Well, at the wedding," said Betsy, "I guess I'll be just as beautiful as Mother, 'cause I'm not going to wear my hair in braids. Mother's going to brush it all out, fluffy-like."
    When Betsy took her dress off, Mother laid it on the guest room bed. "Betsy," said Mother, "will you get a hanger, please, and hang your new dress in the closet?"
    "Yes, Mother!" replied Betsy.
    Mother went off to put the baby to bed and Betsy went to her own room to get a hanger. When she reached her room, she heard Billy calling to her from the garden. Betsy went to the window.
    "Hello, Billy!" she called.
    "Hey, Betsy!" shouted Billy. "Come on down and see what I just found."
    Without thinking of the hanger, Betsy ran downstairs and out into the garden. Billy was stooping down in the garden path.
    "What is it?" said Betsy.
    "It's a great big worm," said Billy.
    Betsy stooped down to look at the worm. It was big and fat and bright green. There were colored spots, like jewels, all over it.
    "Oh," said Betsy, "that will be a beautiful big butterfly some day."
    "How do you know?" asked Billy.
    "I had one once and kept it in a box and it wove itself inside of a cocoon. Then one day it came out of the cocoon and flew away. It was beautiful."
    "Do you think if I kept this one it would do the same thing?" asked