Betsy and the Boys

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Book: Read Betsy and the Boys for Free Online
Authors: Carolyn Haywood
it there while she did her problems.
    When Miss Pancake looked at her, she said, "Is there anything the matter with your nose, Ellen?"
    "I think maybe it would be better if I sat by the window too," replied Ellen.
    "Very well," said Miss Pancake. And Ellen moved.

    It wasn't long before Betty Jane, who sat in front of Billy, held up her hand.
    "What is it, Betty Jane?" said Miss Pancake.
    Betty Jane got up and walked up to the teacher's desk. She whispered something to Miss Pan-cake. Miss Pancake moved a chair over to the table beside Sally and Betty Jane sat down.
    By this time Billy, who was busy working out his problems, looked like an island completely surrounded by empty seats.
    Miss Pancake stood up and walked down the aisle. She stopped beside Billy's desk. She sniffed. Then she walked to the back of the room and up the other aisle. When she reached Billy's desk, she stopped again. Then she took out her handkerchief. She looked puzzled.
    Just then Christopher looked up from his paper. He wrinkled up his nose and looked around. Then he said, "Gee, Miss Pancake! Something stinks!"
    "Christopher!" said Miss Pancake. "I'm surprised at you. That is very vulgar."
    "Well, it does, Miss Pancake," said Christopher. "It sure does st—I mean, smells awful. Worse than Limburger cheese."

    By this time all of the children were sniffing. "Whew!" they exclaimed.
    "Be quiet, children," said Miss Pancake. "Does anyone know what this strange odor is?"
    "Oh!" cried Billy, his face as bright as a dollar. "Maybe it's my soap. It's a new kind of flea soap, Miss Pancake. The football team is selling it. Only twenty cents a cake. It makes dogs happy."
    "Well, perhaps," said Miss Pancake. "But it certainly is not making this room happy. So suppose you put the soap on the windowsill outside the window."
    "All right," said Billy.
    "Say!" said Christopher. "I'm not going to sell anything that st—I mean, smells like that. Skunks!"
    "Aw, the dogs will like it," said Billy.
    Billy put the cake of soap on the windowsill and the little girls returned to their seats around Billy.
    "Sissies!" said Billy. "That soap smells good. I would like to take a bath with it myself."
    "Well, if you do I hope you'll take it Saturday night," said Ellen.
    The soap sat on the windowsill until recess. Then Billy took it and ran off to meet the football
team. Soon the boys were gathered together.
    "The soap came," cried Billy as soon as Rudy appeared. "I have a cake here. The rest of it is in our garage. My daddy paid for it."
    "Gee! That's great!" interrupted Rudy. And the faces of the team lit up.
    "But my daddy wants the two dollars and forty cents," said Billy. "So you'll have to collect the dues, Rudy."
    The faces of the team grew long.
    "OK, OK," said Rudy. "Fellas, hand over your dues."
    Eight hands went into eight pockets and all kinds of things came out. Marbles, screws, nails, bits of string, bottle tops, thumbtacks, rubber bands, bits of colored glass, pebbles, seashells, balls of tinfoil, golf balls, wheels from broken toys, and seventeen cents in all.
    "Seventeen cents isn't enough," said Billy.
    "Well, I don't think we can sell that soap anyway," said Christopher. "It st—you know."
    "That's right," said Henry. And Richard, who was Henry's twin, said, "That's right."
    "My father says I can't sell soap," said Kenny. "He says he won't allow it."
    "Well, say! What am I going to do with all that soap and what about my father's two dollars

    and forty cents?" said Billy. "What about that?"
    "And what about our football?" said Rudy.
    Just then little Eddie appeared. "Whatcha doin'?" said Eddie. "What's up?"
    As usual nobody paid any attention to Eddie, so Eddie just hung around trying to pick up the news. It wasn't very long before he understood that Billy was stuck with two dollars and forty cents' worth of flea soap.
    Nothing had been settled when the bell rang for the children to return to their classrooms. But it didn't look as though the boys

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