BIG JACK [Illustration: “_Jack_”] BIG JACK _And_ _Other_ True Stories _of_ Horses _By_ GABRIELLE E. JACKSON _Author of_ “LITTLE COMRADE,” “THE COLBURN PRIZE,” “LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE,” ETC. [Illustration] NEW YORK J. F. TAYLOR & COMPANY MCMIII COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY J. F. TAYLOR AND COMPANY, NEW YORK _Published September, 1903_ _Acknowledgment is due to The Editors of St. Nicholas, Our Animal Friends, New York Herald, &c., for permission to reproduce these stories_ _Gabrielle E. Jackson_ CONTENTS PAGE BIG JACK, 11 “BILLEE TAYLOR,” 37 CHARLIE & CO., 65 GRAY LADY’S ONLY SON, 83 HOW NED TOODLES WENT TO COOKING SCHOOL, 131 OLD NICK’S CHRISTMAS, 141 HOW NED TOODLES TOLD TIME, 175 BIG JACK “BIG JACK” I wonder how many of the little people in New York City have ever heard of “Big Jack”? Not many, I fancy; and yet Big Jack is quite an important character, and holds a very responsible position, which he fills with much dignity as well as credit to himself, and satisfaction to his employers. His headquarters are at Broadway and Twenty-second Street, where he can usually be found at about ten o’clock in the morning, and from that hour, off and on, until about 5 P. M. In the intervals his business affairs call him to various parts of the city, but being extremely methodical in his habits, he is usually at his office about lunch-time. You may be somewhat surprised to learn that he is strictly a vegetarian, confining his diet solely to cereals or fruit, with occasionally a few lumps of sugar. He _should_ have been a Scotchman, judging by his fondness for oats, but he was born, I am told, in our own country. Possibly his love for oats may account for his beautiful complexion, which is snowy white, with just a suggestion of pink showing through and telling of the warm, rich blood flowing underneath. I first became acquainted with Jack about five years ago. Indeed, I must confess that we _scraped_ acquaintance. It came about in this manner. I was standing with my little daughter upon the corner of Broadway and Twenty-second Street, waiting for an uptown car, when I became aware that we were being very closely regarded by a pair of unusually large and extremely beautiful brown eyes--eyes which were very eloquent, and seemed to say much more plainly than words could have done: “I am very favorably impressed with that little girl, and I should like to know her. Will she speak to me, do you think?”