"But you want to remember the wind blows pretty hard on that back
road," said Sam. "If you think you're going to be the least bit
chilly, you'd better put plenty of newspapers around you."
"You think you can tease me, but you can't," Twaddles told him
scornfully. "Paper isn't warm."
"That's just where you make your mistake," declared Sam gravely.
"There is nothing warmer than paper--fold two or three newspapers under
your sweater and you can face the stiffest wind and be comfortable."
Twaddles looked unconvinced. But when he went back to the house and
asked Norah, she, too, said that newspapers kept out the cold.
"Say, Dot," said Twaddles to his twin two minutes later. "Sam and
Norah say newspapers will keep you warmer than--than anything. Let's
fix some."
Dot thought he was playing a joke on her, but when he finally made her
understand, she was willing to wear a newspaper or two and be cozy.
"Oh, we want more than one or two," said Twaddles, who liked a heaping
measure of everything. "Come on down cellar and you fix me and I'll
fix you."
Norah kept all the old newspapers in the cellar, in a corner, and every
three weeks a man came around and bought them.
"I don't know exactly how to do it, but you stand still and I'll tie
them on," directed Twaddles.
He had brought a ball of cord with him and now he went to work to wrap
the papers around the plump Dot. He opened them out wide and she held
them around her by using her arms till he had a quantity of the sheets
rolled about her. Then he took his string and wound that around her
several times and tied it in a strong knot.
"I don't see how I can get my sweater and coat on over this," objected
Dot when she was declared "finished."
"Oh, they'll go on all right," the cheerful Twaddles assured her. "Now
do me--put on lots of papers, so I won't be cold."
Dot obediently wrapped papers around him till he was twice his usual
chubby size and looked very odd indeed. Then she tied several
thicknesses of the cord about him and he too was ready for the long
drive.
"We rattle when we walk," said Twaddles, "but I guess that is all
right."
They found some pictures that interested them, in the papers remaining
on the floor and they stayed in the cellar till, to their surprise,
they heard quick feet running overhead and Meg's voice in the kitchen.
"It must be noon!" said Dot, "Come on, we have to hurry."
And as they started upstairs, Norah opened the door and called down:
"Lunch is ready--are you still playing in the cellar?"
Mother Blossom and Aunt Polly were just sitting down at the dining-room
table and Meg and Bobby, who had been upstairs to wash their hands,
were in the hall, when the twins marched through the kitchen and
slipped into their chairs. That is, they tried to sit down, but
something seemed to be wrong.
"What on earth--" began Aunt Polly, staring.
"My dears! What have you been doing?" Mother Blossom gasped.
And Norah glanced in from the kitchen murmuring:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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