BILLY BEAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 71

BILLY BEAR.

(Special fok the Otago Witness.)

I think I have told you before that Mummie Bodgers Bear is famous for extraordinary puddings made of everything she can find to tip into them, then tied up in a cloth and boiled and boiled for days. Well, when she knew that the summer holidays were being talked about, she came round to me and said—while lapping up her “ cawfee ” which she always gets on these occasions. “ You know, my dear, I think I’d like to take the children away for a month, and Samuel too, poor chap, ’cos he’s been doing a lot of ‘digging. You’ll be taking Billy and Fluffy with you, won’t you? They belong, so to speak, to your family now.” “ Mummie Bear,” I said severely, “ Billy and Fluffy do not belong to my family, just because you have left them here instead of looking after them. They’re your sons, and you can’t leave them to anybody else for ever.” “ Ain’t you going to take them away for a summer holiday then, poor little things?” asked Mummie Bear, blinking up at me, with coffee on her chin. “ I haven’t said I’m not,” I replied, “ but I want you to understand that you can’t expect me to. And even if I do, you must make your own arrangements about the holiday for the rest of your family, and yourself and Samuel. You can’t come hanging on behind a motorcoach like you did last year, and asking to be allowed to sleep at the bottom of the garden.” “ All right, my dear,” said Mummie Bear, getting up and walking away from her coffee bowl, which, of course, was empty, “ I’ll see to it myself, but I shall have to make some money. Will you let me make you a few puddings at sixpence each? ”

Rosemary had come in during this chat, and she said: “Oh, Mummie Bear! Your puddings! ” And began to laugh. She was remembering the birthday cake Mummie. Bear had made for Billy. It came in a cloth and was really a pudding •—and there was something like a bootlace right in the middle of it, which Mummie Bear had explained away as a “ currant stalk.” So Mummie Bear looked at Rosemary very severely and said:— “ Don’t speak till you’r.e spoken to, young woman! ”