AUNT KIPP `` Children and fools speak the truth . '' I `` What 's that sigh for , Polly dear ? '' `` I 'm tired , mother , tired of working and waiting . If I 'm ever going to have any fun , I want it now while I can enjoy it . '' `` You should n't wait another hour if I could have my way ; but you know how helpless I am ; '' and poor Mrs. Snow sighed dolefully , as she glanced about the dingy room and pretty Mary turning her faded gown for the second time . `` If Aunt Kipp would give us the money she is always talking about , instead of waiting till she dies , we should be so comfortable . She is a dreadful bore , for she lives in such terror of dropping dead with her heart-complaint that she does n't take any pleasure in life herself or let any one else ; so the sooner she goes the better for all of us , '' said Polly , in a desperate tone ; for things looked very black to her just then . `` My dear , do n't say that , '' began her mother , mildly shocked ; but a bluff little voice broke in with the forcible remark , -- `` She 's everlastingly telling me never to put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day ; next time she comes I 'll remind her of that , and ask her , if she is going to die , why she does n't do it ? '' `` Toady ! you 're a wicked , disrespectful boy ; never let me hear you say such a thing again about your dear Aunt Kipp . '' `` She is n't dear ! You know we all hate her , and you are more afraid of her than you are of spiders , -- so now . '' The young personage whose proper name had been corrupted into Toady , was a small boy of ten or eleven , apple-cheeked , round-eyed , and curly-headed ; arrayed in well-worn , gray knickerbockers , profusely adorned with paint , glue , and shreds of cotton . Perched on a high stool , at an isolated table in a state of chaos , he was absorbed in making a boat , entirely oblivious of the racking tooth-ache which had been his excuse for staying from school . As cool , saucy , hard-handed , and soft-hearted a little specimen of young America was Toady as you would care to see ; a tyrant at home , a rebel at school , a sworn foe to law , order , and Aunt Kipp . This young person was regarded as a reprobate by all but his mother , sister , and sister 's sweetheart , Van Bahr Lamb . Having been , through much anguish of flesh and spirit , taught that lying was a deadly sin , Toady rushed to the other extreme , and bolted out the truth , the whole truth and nothing but the truth , at all times and places , with a startling abruptness that brought wrath and dismay upon his friends and relatives . `` It 's wicked to fib ; you 've whipped that into me and you ca n't rub it out , '' he was wont to say , with vivid recollection of the past tingling in the chubby portions of his frame . `` Mind your chips , Toady , and take care what you say to Aunt Kipp , or you 'll be as poor as a little rat all the days of your life , '' said Polly , warningly . `` I do n't want her old money , and I 'll tell her so if she bothers me about it .
I shall go into business with Van and take care of the whole lot ; so do n't you preach , XXXXX , '' returned Toady , with as much dignity as was compatible with a great dab of glue on the end of his snub nose .
America KIPP Mary Polly Snow days hour knickerbockers second spiders