PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN THE TWINKLE TALES Six Volumes MR. WOODCHUCK BANDIT JIM CROW PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN PRINCE MUD-TURTLE SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAIN TWINKLE'S ENCHANTMENT THE TWINKLE TALES BY LAURA BANCROFT PRAIRIE-DOG TOWN [Illustration] With illustrations by Maginel Wright Enright CHICAGO The Reilly & Britton Co. Publishers. List of Chapters PAGE I The Picnic 5 II Prairie-Dog Town 13 III Mr. Bowko, the Mayor 18 IV Presto Digi, the Magician 26 V The Home of the Puff-Pudgys 34 VI Teenty and Weenty 42 VII The Mayor Gives a Luncheon 49 VIII On Top of the Earth Again 57 Copyright, 1906, by The Reilly & Britton Co. Chapter I The Picnic On the great western prairies of Dakota is a little town called Edgeley, because it is on the edge of civilization--a very big word which means some folks have found a better way to live than other folks. The Edgeley people have a good way to live, for there are almost seventeen wooden houses there, and among them is a school-house, a church, a store and a blacksmith-shop. If people walked out their front doors they were upon the little street; if they walked out the back doors they were on the broad prairies. That was why Twinkle, who was a farmer's little girl, lived so near the town that she could easily walk to school. She was a pretty, rosy-cheeked little thing, with long, fluffy hair, and big round eyes that everybody smiled into when they saw them. It was hard to keep that fluffy hair from getting tangled; so mamma used to tie it in the back with a big, broad ribbon. And Twinkle wore calico slips for school days and gingham dresses when she wanted to "dress up" or look especially nice. And to keep the sun from spotting her face with freckles, she wore sunbonnets made of the same goods as her dresses. Twinkle's best chum was a little boy called Chubbins, who was the only child of the tired-faced school-teacher. Chubbins was about as old as Twinkle; but he wasn't so tall and slender for his age as she was, being short and rather fat. The hair on his little round head was cut close, and he usually wore a shirt-waist and "knickers," with a wide straw hat on the back of his head. Chubbins's face was very solemn. He never said many words when grown folks were around, but he could talk fast enough when he and Twinkle were playing together alone. [Illustration: CHUBBINS]