The Story of a Bold Tin Soldier
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Laura Lee Hope >> The Story of a Bold Tin Soldier
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[Illustration: "Forward--March!" Said the Bold Tin Soldier.]
THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
ILLUSTRATED BY HARRY L. SMITH
CONTENTS
I A MAKE-BELIEVE FIGHT
II SAVING THE CLOWN
III BOUGHT BY A BOY
IV A BEAN BATTLE
V THE CAPTAIN AND THE LAMB
VI SAVING THE SAWDUST DOLL
VII A SAD ACCIDENT
VIII A BUNCH OF SWEETNESS
IX BACK TO THE STORE
X THE SOLDIER AND THE RABBIT
THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER
CHAPTER I
A MAKE-BELIEVE FIGHT
"Attention!"
That was the word of command heard in the toy section of a large
department store one night, after all the customers and clerks had
gone home.
"Attention!"
"Dear me, what is going on?" asked a Calico Clown, as he looked
around the corner of a pile of gaily colored building blocks.
"Has the Sawdust Doll come back to see us?" inquired a Candy Rabbit.
"That would be good news, if it were true," said a Jumping Jack.
"But it isn't true," announced a Monkey on a Stick, as he climbed up
to the top of his perch and looked over the top of a Noah's Ark. "I
don't see the Sawdust Doll anywhere, nor the White Rocking Horse,
nor the Lamb on Wheels. It isn't any of our former friends who have
come back to visit us."
"Who is it, then?" asked the Calico Clown, reaching up to get hold
of a long string, for he thought perhaps he could turn somersaults
like the Monkey on a Stick or the Jumping Jack.
"Attention, Soldiers!" suddenly called again the first voice that
had spoken. "Ready, now! Attention!"
"Oh, it's the Bold Tin Soldier!" said the Jack in the Box, who was
the Jumping Jack's cousin. "What's the matter down there in your
barracks, my Bold Tin Soldier?" went on the Box-Jack, as he was
sometimes called for short.
"I want my men to get ready to march," answered the Bold Tin
Soldier. "We are going to have a fancy drill to amuse you, my
friends. Would you like to see me march my men around the counter?"
"Very much, indeed," answered the Candy Rabbit. "It is night now,
and there are no human eyes to see what we do. So we toys may come
to life and move about and make believe we are real as much as we
please. We haven't had very much fun since the jolly sailor came and
carried away the Lamb on Wheels."
"Has any one heard anything from her since she left us?" asked the
Calico Clown.
"Oh, yes, the Lamb has a lovely home with a little girl named
Mirabell," answered the Jack in the Box. "And Mirabell has a brother
named Arnold, and those two children live next door to Dorothy, who
has our dear friend the Sawdust Doll."
"Really?" asked the Jumping Jack.
"Really and truly," added the Box-Jack. "And Dorothy's brother,
whose name is Dick, owns the White Rocking Horse who used to be here
with us."
"Why, that is quite remarkable," said the Monkey on a Stick. "I hope
we all get homes with such nice children when we are sold and taken
away."
"You may well say that," came from the Bold Tin Soldier. "Some
children are not as kind to their toys as they might be. But now, if
you want to see me and my men march around in fancy drill, please
take your places and keep out of the way."
"Yes, indeed, we must keep out of the way," said the Candy Rabbit.
"I don't want to get pricked with a soldier's bayonet or tickled
with the Captain's sword."
"And be sure to keep well back from the edge of the counter," went
on the Bold Tin Soldier. "I don't want any of you falling off when
the guns are fired."
"Oh dear me! has any one a bit of cotton?" asked a Rag Doll, who sat
next to a picture book.
"Cotton? Why do you want cotton?" asked the Calico Clown.
"Didn't you hear what the Bold Tin Soldier said?" asked the Rag
Doll. "He spoke about guns going to be shot off, and I can't bear
loud noises. If I can find some cotton I am going to stuff it into
my ears so I won't be made deaf."
The Box-Jack and the Jumping Jack stood side by side as cousins
ought; the Candy Rabbit found a place near the Noah's Ark; the
Monkey on a Stick found a place as near the parade grounds as the
Bold Captain would let him come; and the Calico Clown moved over
close to the Rag Doll.
"If the guns should, by accident, shoot too loudly," said the Clown.
"I will hold my hands over your ears, Miss Rag Doll."
"That is very kind of you," she answered with a smile. "But please
do not bang your cymbals, as they make almost as much noise as the
soldiers' guns."
"I'll be careful," promised the Calico Clown, who wore a gay suit of
many colors, one leg being red and the other yellow, while his shirt
was spotted, speckled and striped. On the end of each arm was a
round disk of brass. These were called "cymbals," and when any one
pressed on the Clown's chest he moved his arms and banged his
cymbals together with a clanging sound.
"Attention!" called the Bold Tin Soldier again, and at this word of
command the other Tin Soldiers in the box with their Captain stood
up and began to move into line, each one carrying his gun over his
shoulder.
As I have told you in my other books, the toys could pretend to come
to life and move about after dark, when no one was in the store to
see them. The toys could also move about by themselves in the day
time, if no human eyes watched them. But as there was nearly always
some one--either clerk or customer--in the store during the day,
the toys seldom had a chance to do as they pleased during daylight
hours. So most of their fun took place after dark, as was happening
now.
"Attention!" once more called the Captain. "Get ready, my brave men!
Forward--March!"
And then while some of the Soldiers who had fifes, drums, trumpets
and horns played a lively tune, the others, led by their Captain,
marched along. They went down the toy counter and paraded past the
place where the Candy Rabbit sat watching them. Straight and stiff
marched the Tin Soldiers, the music of the tin band becoming more
and more lively.
"Left, wheel!" called the Captain, and the Tin Soldiers turned to the
left.
"Right, wheel!" shouted the Captain, and the Tin Soldiers turned to
the right.
Then they marched around in a circle, and they marched in a square,
and they marched in a triangle, and in all sorts of fancy figures.
They swung around the Rag Doll, and the Captain waved his shiny
sword so fast that the Calico Clown cried:
"Oh, it is so dazzling bright that it hurts my eyes!"
And then the Bold Tin Soldier Captain led his men up a hill made of
a pile of building blocks.
"Oh, I hope they do not fall off!" said the Rag Doll.
"No, they won't fall," answered the Candy Rabbit. "I guess the
Captain knows what he is doing."
Straight up the building-block hill the Bold Tin Soldier led his
men, and when they reached the top he cried:
"Jump!"
"Oh mercy me!" screamed the Rag Doll, "they'll all be killed!"
And those Tin Soldiers, who, like other soldiers, must always obey
their officers, jumped right off the top of the building-block hill.
But they were not killed, nor was one of them hurt, I am glad to
say. For at the bottom of the pile of blocks was a rubber football,
and the Soldiers landed on this, bounced up and down, and then
gently landed on the counter. The Captain knew the football was
there, or he would not have told his men to jump.
"My, that was a fine drill!" said the Rag Doll. "How exciting!"
"Hush! They are going to do something else," said the Monkey on a
Stick.
And it did seem so, for part of the Soldiers, shouldering their
guns, marched to one end of the toy counter, and the others, with
their Captain at their head, remained near the pile of blocks.
"Are you ready?" asked the Captain of a Sergeant who had charge of
the second half of the tin soldiers.
"All ready, sir!" was the answer.
"Load! Aim! Fire!" suddenly cried the Captain.
"Oh, they are going to shoot! Oh, it's going to be war! There is
going to be a battle!" cried the Rag Doll.
"Nonsense! It is only going to be a make-believe battle!" said the
Calico Clown. "Our Captain told me about it. It is to be a sham
battle to amuse us. See, they are aiming their guns at one another!"
And as he spoke the Rag Doll looked and saw the two companies of Tin
Soldiers ready to take part in a battle.
"Oh, hold me! Hold me!" whispered the Rag Doll to the Calico Clown.
"I know I am going to faint!"
CHAPTER II
SAVING THE CLOWN
"Ready! Take aim! Fire!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier Captain.
"Bang! Bang!" cracked the tin guns, some in the hands of one "army"
and some shot off by the other "army." The Soldiers had divided
themselves into two "armies," to give a make-believe fight to amuse
the other toys.
"Crack! Crack! Bang! Bang!" rattled the tin guns.
But the guns were so small and there was such a little bit of the
make-believe powder in each one that the noise they made would not
have broken an egg, to say nothing of hurting the ears of a Rag
Doll.
"Are you going to faint?" asked the Calico Clown of the Doll. He
stood with his arms stretched out, ready to catch her in case she
did.
"No! No, I don't believe I shall faint!" she answered. "Ha! Ha! Ha!"
she suddenly laughed.
"What is so funny?" asked the Calico Clown. "I didn't tell a joke or
ask a riddle, did I?" For that is what he sometimes did to make the
toys in the department store laugh.
"No, you didn't do anything," answered the Rag Doll. "It is just
that you look so funny, standing there ready to catch me with those
brass things on your hands. Ha! Ha!"
"Those are my cymbals," said the Clown. "I can't let go of them.
They are fastened on. Sometimes I get tired of them, but I cannot
get rid of them."
"I know it, and it was too bad of me to laugh at you," answered the
Rag Doll. "I did not mean to make fun of you, and it was very kind
on your part, to be ready to catch me if I fainted. But you did look
so funny!"
The Bold Tin Soldiers were doing their best to make some
entertainment for the other toys.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!" cried the Captain to his men, again and again.
"Ready! Aim! Fire!" shouted the Sergeant to his men, for he had been
given command of half the toy Soldiers for this sham fight.
The guns popped, the Soldiers rushed back and forth on the toy
counter. Some pretended to be hit and fell down as natural as
anything.
But at last the Bold Tin Soldier Captain and his men seemed to be
winning. Most of the Captain's Soldiers were up on their feet, while
quite a number of the Sergeant's men had fallen over.
"Surrender! Surrender! Give up!" shouted the Captain, as he rushed
with his men toward the Sergeant and his men. "Surrender! Hoist the
white flag!"
"All right, it is hoisted!" answered the Sergeant, and he tied his
handkerchief on the end of his gun, where the stickery thing, called
a bayonet, was fastened. "We surrender!" said the Sergeant.
"All right! Stop firing!" called the Captain to his men. "We have
captured the enemy and the battle is over."
"I'm so glad it was only a make-believe one, and no one was hurt,"
sighed the Rag Doll.
"It was very jolly, all right," said the Candy Rabbit. "This is the
first make-believe fight I ever saw. Are you going to have another,
Captain?"
"Not to-night," was the reply. "My men are tired, but we are glad if
you toys enjoyed our efforts."
"We certainly did," declared the Monkey on a Stick. "I wish I had
joined the army instead of going through life on a stick, climbing
to the top and climbing down again," he added, with a sigh.
"Oh, well, we cannot all be soldiers," said the Jack in the Box.
"No, indeed," agreed the Candy Rabbit. "If I had a gun I should not
know what to do with it. It is only brave men, like our Bold Captain
and his men, who know how to use swords and guns," he concluded.
"Thank you," said the Captain, waving his shiny sword. "We are glad
you liked our drill and make-believe fight. Form in line, ready to
go back to your box, my men," he went on.
Led by the Sergeant, under whom some of them had fought in the
pretended battle, the Tin Soldiers formed in line, ready to march
back to the box in which they were kept on the toy counter.
"I wonder what will happen to-day," remarked the Calico Clown, as he
looked out through a distant window. "It will soon be morning," he
went on. "I can see the sun beginning to redden the sky in the east.
I wonder if any of us will be sold and taken away."
"It might happen," said the Bold Tin Soldier. "If I have to go I
hope my men may come with me."
"Oh, of course they'll go with you," said the Rag Doll. "Who ever
heard of a Soldier Captain without some men under him? You will all
go together, for you belong in the same box."
"I'm sure I hope so," went on the Captain. "I suppose I shall be
bought and given to some boy. Girls, as a rule, don't care very much
for soldiers. They would rather have a Sawdust Doll or a Lamb on
Wheels. And if I am given to some boy, I hope he will be like the
boys we have heard about--Dick, the brother of Dorothy, and Arnold,
the brother of Mirabell."
"Yes, they are nice boys, from what I have heard," said the Calico
Clown. "Well, it will soon be bright daylight, and then we shall see
what happens," he added.
"Yes, we'll see," said the Captain. Then, turning to his men, he
commanded:
"Ready--March."
Off to their box marched the Tin Soldiers led by the Sergeant, who
was next in command to the Captain. There ought to have been a First
and Second Lieutenant, but the man who made the tin toys had
forgotten them.
So the Sergeant led the Tin Soldiers back to their box after the
make-believe battle. And, like good and proper soldiers, they stood
themselves in straight rows. No standing around in a crowd, or lying
down in hammocks, or stretching out under trees for these Tin
Soldiers!
No, indeed! They stood up as straight and stiff as their own guns!
"Did you like our drill and sham battle?" asked the Bold Tin Soldier
Captain of the Rag Doll, strolling over to speak to her before going
back to join his men.
"Very much, indeed," she answered. "At first I thought I might faint
when the guns shot off, but they were fired so gently that I did
not, and the Calico Clown did not have to catch me in his arms."
"I don't let my Soldiers use too much powder in their guns,"
answered the Captain. "It is a sort of tooth powder we use in these
make-believe fights, and then no one is hurt."
"It will be lonesome if you go away from us," said the Rag Doll,
with a sigh, as she looked at the Bold Tin Soldier.
"Thank you for being so kind as to say that," said the Bold Tin
Soldier. "But I have no notion of going away until I have to."
However, he little knew what was going to happen nor that he was to
be taken away much sooner than he expected.
"I had better be getting over to the box with my Soldiers, I think,"
said the Captain, as he thrust his shiny sword back into the
scabbard at his side. "Our fun for to-night is over."
"No, not quite yet," said the Calico Clown. "The sun has not yet
risen, and it will be ten minutes before the watchman comes in to
turn out the lights and get the store ready for the day's trade."
"But what can be done in ten minutes?" asked the Rag Doll.
"I can do a funny trick for you," said the Clown. "I have not yet
done my share towards the night's fun, so I will do my trick now."
"Are you going to tell a joke or ask a riddle?" inquired the Candy
Rabbit. "If you are, I wish you'd tell that one about what makes
more noise than a pig under a gate."
"No, I am going to do a funny trick. Do you see that string there!"
he asked the other toys, pointing upward.
"Do you mean the one hanging near the gas jet?" asked the Box Jack.
"Yes," answered the Clown. "Well, I am going to climb that string
and hang by my toes."
He quickly walked over to a long string that hung down from the
ceiling. At Christmas time it had held some wreaths of holly, but
now nothing was fast to it.
"Up I go!" cried the Clown.
It was hard work for him to climb the string with the cymbals fast
on the ends of his arms, but he managed to get up nearly as high as
the flaming gas jet which lighted the store at night, so the
watchman could see his way around.
"That's high enough--don't go up any farther!" cried the Bold Tin
Soldier.
"Yes, I am high enough now," said the Clown. "Watch me hang by my
toes!"
He began turning over as he clung to the string, and, as he did so,
he began to sway to and fro, like the pendulum of a clock.
"Look out! Look out for the blazing gas light! You'll be burned!"
suddenly called the Rag Doll.
And as she spoke, the Clown on the dangling string came too near the
gas flame. His baggy trousers, one leg red and the other yellow,
began to smoke.
"Oh, the Calico Clown is burning! He will catch fire!" cried the
Candy Babbit. "Will no one save him?"
"Yes, I'll save the Calico Clown!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier, and
he drew his shining sword. "I will save him!"
CHAPTER III
BOUGHT BY A BOY
The toys were very much excited when they saw the Calico Clown
beginning to burn, because he had swung too near the gas jet.
"Oh, I can't bear to look at him!" cried the Rag Doll, covering her
eyes with her hands.
"He'll be all right! The Bold Tin Soldier is going to save him,"
said the Monkey on a Stick.
"But how can he?" asked the Jumping Jack." How can the Captain get
up there and save our Clown? The string will not hold two!"
And, indeed, the Bold Tin Soldier himself was beginning to wonder
how he could save his toy friend. He could not scramble up the
string, as the Clown had done, and, if he did, the Bold Captain
might catch fire himself.
Of course a tin soldier will not burn as quickly as a Clown with a
suit of cloth, but the gas flame was very hot and dangerous.
"Come down! Come down!" cried the Rag Doll. "Come down, Mr. Calico
Clown!"
And that, you would have thought, would have been the easiest way
for the comical chap to save himself--just to slide down the string
to the counter. But something had happened.
"I can't get down!" the Clown exclaimed. "The string is twisted
around my leg and caught on one of my cymbals! I can't get loose to
come down!" And that is what had happened.
"But still I will save him!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. He looked
around the toy counter and saw a sofa cushion that belonged to a
large doll's parlor set. "Quick!" shouted the Captain. "Put that
cushion right under the Clown who is dangling by the string. Then
when he falls he will not hurt himself. Over with the cushion!"
"But he can't fall!" said the Jack in the Box. "He's all tangled up
in the string. He can't get loose!"
"I'll get him loose!" declared the Captain. "Some of you shove that
soft cushion over under our Clown!"
The two Jacks, the Candy Rabbit and the Monkey on a Stick pulled and
hauled until the cushion was just where the Clown would land if he
let go of the string and fell. But he was still tangled in the
string, and every time he swung, like the pendulum of the clock, he
came close to the burning gas jet. And each time he did this his red
and yellow trousers were scorched.
"Oh, will no one save me?" cried the Clown.
"Yes, I will!" shouted the Bold Tin Soldier. "I am going to cut the
string with my sword. Then you will fall down, but you will not be
hurt because you will fall on the sofa cushion. I'll cut the string
with my shiny tin sword, and then you won't be burned."
Near the string which dangled from the ceiling was a Japanese
Juggler with a long ladder, which he could climb, balancing a ball
on the end of his nose. Just now the Juggler was resting at the foot
of the ladder that stood upright. The Juggler did not speak English
very well, and that is why he did not understand all that was going
on. He had not said a word since the Clown had climbed the string
and had swung too near the blazing gas jet.
"Will you allow me to use your ladder, Mr. Japanese Juggler?" called
the Bold Tin Soldier to the chap with the ball on the end of his
nose.
"Without waiting for an answer, which he hardly expected, the
Captain sprang up the ladder, holding his sword ready. In an instant
he stood near the swaying, swinging Clown who waved to and fro on
the string.
"Swish! Swash!"
That was the shiny tin sword sweeping through the air. The string
was sliced in two pieces.
The Clown was cut loose, and down he fell on the soft sofa cushion,
not being hurt at all. He was saved from burning.
"Hurray! Hurray for our brave Captain!" cried all the toys, clapping
their hands, and the China Cat clapped his paws, which were just the
same as hands.
"Are you all right?" asked the Bold Tin Soldier after he had climbed
down the ladder and hurried over to where the Clown was getting up
off the sofa cushion.
"Yes, thank you! I am all right," was the answer. "I should not have
tried to swing by that string so near the burning gas. But I did not
think. Now, oh dear! Look at my trousers!"
Well might the clown say that, for his fine yellow and red trousers
were scorched and burned. It was lucky the Clown himself was not
burned, but it was too bad his suit was spoiled.
"Oh dear me! no one will ever buy me now," said the Clown sadly,
looking at his legs. "I am damaged! I'll be thrown into the waste-
paper basket!"
"Perhaps I could make you a new suit," said the Rag Doll. "I can sew
a little, and if I had some cloth I might at least put a patch over
the burned places if I shouldn't have time for a whole suit."
"Thank you," answered the Clown. "But I would never look the same.
And thank you, Captain, for cutting me down before I was burned," he
went on to the Bold Tin Soldier. "It was very brave of you."
"Oh, it was nothing," the Captain modestly said. "We soldiers are
here to do just such things as that."
"Hush!" suddenly called the Monkey on a Stick. "Here come the
clerks. The store is going to open!"
And so all the toys had to be quiet and go back to their places.
They could not make believe be alive until night should come again.
One by one the girl clerks took their places behind the toy counters
near the shelves on which the different playthings were stored. One
girl picked up the Calico Clown.
"Well, I do declare!" exclaimed this girl. "Look at my fancy Clown,
will you, Mabel?"
"What's the matter with him, Sallie?" asked the clerk whose name was
Mabel.
"Why, his red and yellow pants are scorched," answered Sallie. "I
wonder what happened to him. Some customer who was smoking must have
dropped a match or some hot cigar ashes on him. I must tell the
manager about this. I can't sell a damaged toy like that."
"No, you can't," agreed Mabel, after she had looked at the poor
Calico Clown.
"Oh, but I know what we can do!" the girl clerk suddenly exclaimed.
"What?" asked Sallie.
And "what?" wondered the Clown.
"We can make him a new pair of trousers," was the answer. "Up in my
locker I have some pieces of silk I had left over when I dressed my
little sister's doll for Christmas. I'll get my needle and thread
and the pieces of silk, and this noon, at lunch hour, we'll make a
new suit for the Clown. Then he won't be damaged, and you can sell
him."
"Oh, that will be fine!" cried the other girl, and the Clown,
hearing this, felt much better.
By this time customers were coming into the store to buy toys and
other things, and the toy counters and shelves were busy places. The
Bold Tin Soldier had gone back to his box with his men, and there he
and they stood, straight and stiff as ramrods, waiting for what
might happen to them.
All the toys wished to talk about the brave rescue of the Calico
Clown by the Captain, but of course they had to keep still.
"But we can talk about it to-night," thought the Candy Rabbit to
himself. "We'll have a grand time when the store is once more
closed. But I hope the Clown does no more of his tricks. The next
time his jacket might burn, as well as his trousers."
The girl who had promised to make a new pair of gay silk trousers
for the Clown was kept very busy that morning waiting on customers.
She had just sold a little Celluloid Doll to a small girl when a boy
and a man came walking past the counter behind which she stood.
"There's what I want, right over there!" said the boy, pointing.
"What is it?" asked the man, who seemed to be his father.
"That set of soldiers," went on the boy. "I want that Bold Tin
Soldier Captain, who carries a sword, and I would like a set of his
tin men. Then Dick and I can play war and battle and have lots of
fun."
"I'm afraid that set of toy soldiers will cost too much," replied
the man. "You know I said you could have a toy, but not one that is
too expensive."
"Well, let's ask how much the tin soldiers cost," suggested the boy.
"That set costs two dollars," answered the girl behind the counter.
"And I said you could have only a dollar, Arnold," said the man.
"I have a dollar of my own pocket money that I have been saving,"
said the boy. "If I put that with your dollar I'll have two! Then
couldn't I get the Captain and his men?"
"Yes, I suppose you could," answered the man slowly.
