GINSENG
What Dr. McAllister ever did before Henry began to work for him would behard to guess.
There were certainly as many duties always waiting for him as he hadtime to do. And it made no difference to the industrious boy what thejob was. Nothing was too hard or too dirty for him to attempt.
One day the doctor set him at the task of clearing out his littlelaboratory. The boy washed bottles, pasted labels, and cleanedinstruments for one whole morning. And more than one broken flask on itsway to the rubbish heap was carefully carried up the hill to the hiddenfamily.
While Henry was busy carefully lettering a sticky label, he noticed ayoung man in the outer office who was talking with the doctor.
"Can you tell me if this is real ginseng?" Henry heard him say.
"It certainly is," returned Dr. McAllister. "They will give you twodollars a pound for the root at any of the drug stores."
Henry ventured to steal a peep, and found he could readily see the plantthe man was holding. It was about a foot high with branching leaves anda fine feathery white flower. Henry knew it was exactly the same whitepuffball that he had noticed in Violet's vase that very morning.
When the young man had gone, Henry said, "I know where I can find awhole lot of that plant."
"Is that so?" replied the doctor kindly. "It's only the root, you know,that is valuable. But any one who wants the bother of digging it up cansell any quantity of that."
When Henry went home at noon he related enough of this incident to sethis sisters to work in good earnest. They started out with both knivesand two strong iron spoons, and the kettle. And with Benny to run aboutfinding every white flower he could, the girls succeeded, with a greatdeal of hard digging, in finding enormous quantities of ginseng root. Infact that first afternoon's work resulted in a kettle full, not countinga single leaf or stem. Henry was delighted when he saw the result oftheir work, and took it next day to the largest drug store, where hereceived three dollars for the roots.
Without any hesitation Henry paid a visit to the dry-goods store, andcame home with a pair of new brown stockings for Benny. That was a greatday in the woods. Benny gave them no peace at all until they had admiredhis wonderful new stockings, and felt of each rib.
There had been one other thing that Benny had given them no peace about.On the night when the children had crept so quietly away from thebaker's wife, Jess had forgotten to take Benny's bear. This bear was apoor looking creature, which had once been an expensive bright-eyedTeddy-bear made of brown plush. But Benny had taken it to bed everysingle night for three years, and had loved it by day, so that it wasnot attractive to any one but himself. Both eyes were gone, and its bodywas very limp, but Benny had certainly suffered a great deal trying tosleep in a strange bed without his beloved bear.
Jess, therefore, had plans on foot, the moment she saw Benny's newstockings. She washed the old brown stockings with their many neatdarns, and hung them up to dry. And early in the afternoon she andViolet sat with the workbag between them, each with a stocking.
With Benny sitting by to watch proceedings, Jess mapped out a remarkableTeddy-bear. One stocking, carefully trimmed, made the head and body,while the other furnished material for two arms, two legs, and thestuffing. Jess worked hard over the head, pushing the padding well intothe blunt nose. Violet embroidered two beautiful eyes in black andwhite, and a jet black nose-tip.
"You must make a tail, too, Jessy," said Benny, watching her snip thebrown rags.
"Bears don't have tails, Benny," argued Jess--although she wasn'texactly sure she was right. "Your old bear didn't have any tail, youknow."
"But _this_ bear has a tail, though," returned Benny, knowing that Jesswould put on two tails if he insisted.
And it was true. His bear finally did have a tail.
"What _kind_ of tail?" asked Jess helplessly at last. "Bushy, long andslim, or cotton-tail?"
"Long and slim," decided Benny with great satisfaction, "so I can pullit."
"Benny!" cried Jess, laughing in spite of herself. But she made a tail,long and slim, exactly as Benny ordered, and sewed it on very tightly,so that it might be "pulled" if desired. She fastened on the legs andarms with flat hinges, so the bear might sit down easily, and added atlast a pair of cunning flappy ears and a gay collar of braided redstring from a bundle.
"What's his name, Jessy?" inquired Benny, when the wonderful bear wasfinally handed over to him.
"His name?" repeated Jess. "Well, you know he's a _new_ bear; he isn'tyour old one, so I wouldn't call him Teddy."
"Oh, no," said Benny, shocked. "This is not Teddy. This has a prettytail."
"Of course," agreed Jess, trying not to laugh. "Well, you know we soldthat ginseng to pay for your new stockings. And if you hadn't had yournew ones, we couldn't have made this bear out of your old ones."
"You want his name to be Stockings?" asked Benny politely.
"Stockings? No," answered Jess. "I was thinking of 'Ginseng.'"
"Ginseng?" echoed Benny, thinking deeply. "That's a nice name. Allright, I think Ginseng will be a good bear, if Watchie doesn't bark athim." And from that moment the bear's name was Ginseng as long as helived, and he lived to be a very old bear indeed.
The Box-Car Children Page 12
