Madge A. Bigham

Joe-Boy's House

O NE day Mother Gipsy said, "Do see here, Father Gipsy, Joe-Boy has his eyes open to-day. They are large and black like mine and merry and glad like yours. And he is growing so fast! I think we shall have to stop living in tents now, and build a real truly true house to live in, just like what the town people have. If we do not, I am afraid Joe-Boy will get cold and sick when the winter time comes."

"Yes, yes," said Father Gipsy, "I have been thinking about that very thing myself, but then, I knew how much you loved our pretty gipsy tent here in the woods and I thought you would not wish to leave it."

"Oh yes," said Mother Gipsy, "we both love our tent home very much, but we love Joe-Boy more. When he grows larger he will have to go to Kindergarten, you know, and there is none in the woods. And when he gets to be a big boy he will have to go to school and when he gets to be a great  big boy, why he will have to go to college. So you see we will have to build a house in the town for Joe-Boy if he is to grow into a strong, wise man."

"That is true," said Father Gipsy, "but I can't build a house all by myself, so I must find someone to help me, and the new house will be ready for Joe-Boy when the cold winter time comes."

"You can find plenty of helpers, I am sure," said Mother Gipsy, "and we will pay them some of our money for helping us work. First we must find an architect to give us a plan for the house and then some carpenters and stone cutters and brick masons to build it for us."

"How many rooms do you think we should have in the new house?" said Father Gipsy.

"Not very many," said Mother Gipsy,—"let me see; a kitchen, a dining room, a parlor, a bed room and a play room for Joe-Boy, all his very own, so that when he grows large enough to have toys and other things he will have a nice place to keep them in. Then, of course there must be a broad porch all around the house, for when the weather is bright we shall stay out there a great deal—close to the air and sunshine and the beautiful, beautiful woods, that we love so much."

"All right," said Father Gipsy, "it shall be just as you wish, and to-morrow I will find the workmen who are to do the building—the very best ones that can be found, because we want Joe-Boy to have a strong, well-built house to live in."

Then Mother Gipsy smiled and Father Gipsy smiled, and I am sure Joe-Boy would have smiled too, had he only known how much they loved him. But he only closed his pretty black eyes, nestled up close to Mother Gipsy's heart, and went fast asleep.