corn. Then he turned the wheel. There was a grinding noise, and out of one spout ran the yellow kernels of corn in a stream, while from another hole dropped the shelled cob, with nothing left on it.

   "That's how I shell the corn cobs for the chickens," said the hired man. "But be careful not to put your hands down the spout where I drop the ears of corn."

   "Why not?" asked Rose, who was catching Vi's trick of asking questions.

   "Because if you do that it might shuck the fingernails off your hand," answered Tom. "Keep away from the corn-sheller."

   It was later that same afternoon when Rose, who had been out to the barn with Russ and Laddie, came running back, tears streaming from her eyes.

   "Oh, Mother! Come quick!" she cried, "Come quick!"

   "What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Bunker.

   "Oh, it's my doll!" answered Rose. "Laddie and Russ are shucking off all her buttons! Come quick!"

   When Rose, with tears streaming from her eyes, came running to her mother, Mrs. Bunker felt sorry for her little girl; but she was just a little puzzled to understand what was wrong. "Shucking off all her buttons" certainly sounded queer.

   "What is it, Rose?" she asked. "What are Russ and Laddie doing?"

   "They're shucking all the buttons off my doll."

   "Shucking the buttons off your doll?"

   "Yes. In the corn shucker, where Tom shucks the ears of corn for the chickens."

   Mrs. Bunker didn't yet quite know what Rose meant, for the mother of the six little children had not been out to the corn crib, and did not know what was there.

   "It's my middle-sized doll," explained Rose. "Please come and take her away from

   Russ and Laddie 'fore they shuck off all her buttons. Don't you know—she's got yellow shoe buttons on her dress—rows of 'em down the front and in the back. It's my messenger girl doll."

   Mrs. Bunker followed Rose out to the corn crib. She began to understand what had happened. Among the many dolls Rose 

 Prev. P 70/124 next