“GENERAL,” said the Doctor, walking into the Teenie Weenie sitting room where the General sat before the fireplace, “I need some help.”
“What’s the trouble, Doc? Has the Dunce been getting into trouble again?”
“No,” answered the Doctor, “that bump he got the other day when he tumbled off the block house ought to keep him steady for a while,” and the Doctor drew up a chair and sat down, while the General threw several matches onto the fire.
“What I wanted to tell you was this,” continued the Doctor. “Several of the children have a bad cough and—”
“I knew it, I knew it,” cried the Old Soldier. “I knew they’d get their feet wet. They were over in the garden yesterday, sliding on some ice in a saucer, and I told them that ice was dreadfully thin and it would break, and they’d slip in and get wet and catch their death of cold.”
“You’re right,” said the Doctor, “they got their feet wet, caught bad colds, and I haven’t a bit of cough syrup in the house.”
“I know where there’s some,” cried the Clown, who had been listening to the conversation. “The Dunce and I were looking for some pills to use as bowling balls, and we saw a big bottle of cough syrup on the bathroom window sill of that house next door.”
“We’ll go over and get some for you, Doc,” said the General. “It will do us good to have the exercise.”
Glad of an excuse to get out, the Teenie Weenies were soon on their way after the cough syrup.
The window sill on which the bottle of syrup stood was very high, but the Clown and the Cowboy soon climbed to the top. Lowering a piece of thread that two Teenie Weenies had carried between them for just such use, they soon pulled the rest of the little people up beside them.
“Now,” said the Turk, who had been examining the bottle of syrup, “four or five of you fellows get hold and tip the bottle, and I’ll hold the spoon somebody has thoughtfully left beside it, while you pour out a dose.”
“Goodness gracious,” cried the Lady of Fashion, “we don’t need a whole spoonful!”
“Well, it says on the bottle, one teaspoonful for children,”’ said the Turk.
“So it does, so it does,” cried the little lady, as she stood on her tip toes and carefully read the label on the bottle.
“You see I’m right, don’t you?” asked the Turk. “The Doctor told me to read carefully what it said on the bottle, and to bring about three doses. It says one teaspoonful is a dose for children, so we’ll take about three spoonfuls.”
“But that does seem an awful lot of medicine,” said the Lady of Fashion doubtfully.
“It makes no difference,” announced the Turk, “I’m going according to directions.”
The Teenie Weenies poured out three spoonfuls of the syrup, which filled half an English walnut shell.
“Mercy on us,” cried the Doctor, when he saw the Teenie Weenies carrying the heavy load of syrup up the walk to the shoe house, “you don’t bathe in cough syrup.”
“Well,” muttered the Turk, “I went according to directions.”
“The directions are all right for big children,” laughed the Doctor, “but ours are Teenie Weenie children.”
“Oh, my,” exclaimed the Turk. “I never thought of that!”
“Well we can put it away and keep it,” said the Doctor, “for it’s likely we’ll need it again before the winter is over.”
The Doctor took out enough of the syrup to give the children each several doses and the rest was put in the half of a large English walnut. It was then carried to the cellar, covered tightly and put away for future use.
Of course the Dunce had to get into trouble while the rest of the Teenie Weenies were getting the syrup.
He climbed to the top of a talcum powder box, which stood on the window sill, and when he tried to pull the Chinaman up the foolish fellow slipped and tumbled off. He nearly fell on top of Zip, but that little chap managed to get safely out of the way.
The Dunce was badly shaken up by the fall and he almost knocked out one of his teenie weenie teeth.
“That’s the last time I’ll ever try climbing onto a talcum powder box,” he said as he felt the tooth which had been bumped. “They’re so awful slippery.”