Raggedy Andy Stories Page 5

  THE TAFFY PULL

  "I know how we can have a whole lot of fun!" Raggedy Andy said to theother dolls. "We'll have a taffy pull!"

  "Do you mean crack the whip, Raggedy Andy?" asked the French doll.

  "He means a tug of war, don't you, Raggedy Andy?" asked Henny.

  "No," Raggedy Andy replied, "I mean a taffy pull!"

  "If it's lots of fun, then show us how to play the game!" Uncle Clemsaid. "We like to have fun, don't we?" And Uncle Clem turned to all theother dolls as he asked the question.

  "It really is not a game," Raggedy Andy explained. "You see, it is onlya taffy pull.

  "We take sugar and water and butter and a little vinegar and put it allon the stove to cook. When it has cooked until it strings 'way out whenyou dip some up in a spoon, or gets hard when you drop some of it in acup of water, then it is candy.

  "Then it must be placed upon buttered plates until it has cooled alittle, and then each one takes some of the candy and pulls and pullsuntil it gets real white. Then it is called 'Taffy'."

  "That will be loads of fun!" "Show us how to begin!" "Let's have ataffy pull!" "Come on, everybody!" the dolls cried.

  "Just one moment!" Raggedy Ann said. She had remained quiet before, forshe had been thinking very hard, so hard, in fact, that two stitches hadburst in the back of her rag head. The dolls, in their eagerness to havethe taffy pull, were dancing about Raggedy Andy, but when Raggedy Annspoke, in her soft cottony voice, they all quieted down and waited forher to speak again.

  "I was just thinking," Raggedy Ann said, "that it would be very nice tohave the taffy pull, but suppose some of the folks smell the candy whileit is cooking."

  "There is no one at home!" Raggedy Andy said. "I thought of that,Raggedy Ann. They have all gone over to Cousin Jenny's house and willnot be back until day after tomorrow. I heard Mama tell Marcella."

  "If that is the case, we can have the taffy pull and all the fun thatgoes with it!" Raggedy Ann cried, as she started for the nursery door.

  After her ran all the dollies, their little feet pitter-patting acrossthe floor and down the hall.

  When they came to the stairway Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, Uncle Clem andHenny threw themselves down the stairs, turning over and over as theyfell.

  The other dolls, having china heads, had to be much more careful; sothey slid down the banisters, or jumped from one step to another.

  Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, Uncle Clem and Henny piled in a heap at thebottom of the steps, and by the time they had untangled themselves andhelped each other up, the other dolls were down the stairs.

  To the kitchen they all raced. There they found the fire in the stovestill burning.

  Raggedy Andy brought a small stew kettle, while the others brought thesugar and water and a large spoon. They could not find the vinegar anddecided not to use it, anyway.

  They threw themselves down the stairs]

  Raggedy Andy stood upon the stove and watched the candy, dipping into itevery once in a while to see if it had cooked long enough, and stirringit with the large spoon.

  At last the candy began to string out from the spoon when it was heldabove the stew kettle, and after trying a few drops in a cup of coldwater, Raggedy Andy pronounced it "done."

  Uncle Clem pulled out a large platter from the pantry, and Raggedy Anndipped her rag hand into the butter jar and buttered the platter.

  The candy, when it was poured into the platter, was a lovely goldencolor and smelled delicious to the dolls. Henny could not wait until itcooled; so he put one of his chamois skin hands into the hot candy.

  Of course it did not burn Henny, but when he pulled his hand out again,it was covered with a great ball of candy, which strung out all over thekitchen floor and got upon his clothes.

  Then too, the candy cooled quickly, and in a very short time Henny'shand was encased in a hard ball of candy. Henny couldn't wiggle any ofhis fingers on that hand and he was sorry he had been so hasty.

  While waiting for the candy to cool, Raggedy Andy said, "We must rubbutter upon our hands before we pull the candy, or else it will stick toour hands as it has done to Henny's hands and have to wear off!"

  "Will this hard ball of candy have to wear off of my hand?" Henny asked."It is so hard, I cannot wiggle any of my fingers!"

  "It will either have to wear off, or you will have to soak your hand inwater for a long time, until the candy on it melts!" said Raggedy Andy.

  "Dear me!" said Henny.

  Uncle Clem brought the poker then and, asking Henny to put his hand uponthe stove leg, he gave the hard candy a few sharp taps with the pokerand chipped the candy from Henny's hand.

  "Thank you, Uncle Clem!" Henny said, as he wiggled his fingers. "Thatfeels much better!"

  Raggedy Andy told all the dolls to rub butter upon their hands.

  "The candy is getting cool enough to pull!" he said.

  Then, when all the dolls had their hands nice and buttery, Raggedy Andycut them each a nice piece of candy and showed them how to pull it.

  "Take it in one hand this way," he said, "and pull it with the otherhand, like this!"

  When all the dolls were supplied with candy they sat about and pulledit, watching it grow whiter and more silvery the longer they pulled.

  Then, when the taffy was real white, it began to grow harder and harder,so the smaller dolls could scarcely pull it any more.

  When this happened, Raggedy Andy, Raggedy Ann, Uncle Clem and Henny, whowere larger, took the little dolls' candy and mixed it with what theyhad been pulling until all the taffy was snow white.

  The taffy pull]

  Then Raggedy Andy pulled it out into a long rope and held it while UncleClem hit the ends a sharp tap with the edge of the spoon.

  This snipped the taffy into small pieces, just as easily as you mightbreak icicles with a few sharp taps of a stick.

  The small pieces of white taffy were placed upon the buttered platteragain and the dolls all danced about it, singing and laughing, for thishad been the most fun they had had for a long, long time.

  "But what shall we do with it?" Raggedy Ann asked.

  "Yes, what shall we do with it!" Uncle Clem said. "We can't let itremain in the platter here upon the kitchen floor! We must hide it, ordo something with it!"

  "While we are trying to think of a way to dispose of it, let us bewashing the stew kettle and the spoon!" said practical Raggedy Ann.

  "That is a very happy thought, Raggedy Ann!" said Raggedy Andy. "For itwill clean the butter and candy from our hands while we are doing it!"

  So the stew kettle was dragged to the sink and filled with water, thedolls all taking turns scraping the candy from the sides of the kettle,and scrubbing the inside with a cloth.

  When the kettle was nice and clean and had been wiped dry, Raggedy Andyfound a roll of waxed paper in the pantry upon one of the shelves.

  "We'll wrap each piece of taffy in a nice little piece of paper," hesaid, "then we'll find a nice paper bag, and put all the pieces insidethe bag, and throw it from the upstairs window when someone passes thehouse so that someone may have the candy!"

  All the dolls gathered about the platter on the floor, and while RaggedyAndy cut the paper into neat squares, the dolls wrapped the taffy in thepapers.

  Then the taffy was put into a large bag, and with much pulling andtugging it was finally dragged up into the nursery, where a window facedout toward the street.

  Then, just as a little boy and a little girl, who looked as though theydid not ever have much candy, passed the house, the dolls all gave apush and sent the bag tumbling to the sidewalk.

  The two children laughed and shouted, "Thank you," when they saw thatthe bag contained candy, and the dolls, peeping from behind the lacecurtains, watched the two happy faced children eating the taffy as theyskipped down the street.

  When the children had passed out of sight, the dolls climbed down fromthe window.

  "That was lots of fun!" said the French doll, as she smoothed her skirtsand sa
t down beside Raggedy Andy.

  "I believe Raggedy Andy must have a candy heart too, like Raggedy Ann!"said Uncle Clem.

  "No!" Raggedy Andy answered, "I'm just stuffed with white cotton and Ihave no candy heart, but some day perhaps I shall have!"

  "A candy heart is very nice!" Raggedy Ann said. (You know, she had one.)"But one can be just as nice and happy and full of sunshine without acandy heart."

  "I almost forgot to tell you," said Raggedy Andy, "that when pieces oftaffy are wrapped in little pieces of paper, just as we wrapped them,they are called 'Kisses'."

  All sitting together]

  Fido in a basket]

  Raggedy Andy and Fido]