THE ISLAND BOYS SERIES

FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

The island boys
  Or, Fun and Adventures on Lake Modoc

Other volumes in preparation

* * * * *

R.F.  Fenno & Company

Bedtime stories—­Lulu, Alice and Jimmie

The stories herein contained appeared originally in the Evening News, of Newark, N.J., where (so many children and their parents have been kind enough to say) they gave pleasure to a number of little folks, and grown-ups also.

Permission to issue the stories in book form was kindly granted by the publisher and editor of the News, to whom the author extends his thanks.

[Illustration]

LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE

STORY I

LULU WIBBLEWOBBLE STUCK IN THE MUD

Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived three ducks in a duck pen.  And this pen was not far from where Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, had their burrow, and it was close to the trees where Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, learned to jump from their nest.  Now I am going to tell you some stories about these ducks, and what they did.

To begin with there was the mamma duck.  She was Mrs. Wibblewobble, a nice, white duck, being a cousin to Mrs. Quack-Quack, who once rescued Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and Jennie Chipmunk from the desert island where they had been shipwrecked, you remember.

Then there was the papa duck, and, of course, his name was Mr. Wibblewobble.  Also there were the children ducks; Jimmie Wibblewobble and his two sisters, Lulu and Alice.

Lulu was a duckling who could throw a stone almost as well as could Jimmie, but Alice was not so fond of doing this.  She would rather dress up, and play keep house, while Lulu wanted to be off having a good time with her brother.  But the three ducklings got along very nicely together just the same.

What’s that?  Why were they named Wibblewobble?  Well, because, you see they did wibblewobble from side to side when they walked, and so they had to be named Wibblewobble, or things wouldn’t have come out right.  So there!

Well, the Wibblewobble family lived in a nice, wooden house, called a pen, near a pond of water, and their house had a door and two windows to it, so you see they were quite well off.  In fact they were very stylish ducks, and once Jimmie Wibblewobble even rode in an automobile, but I can’t tell you about that now, because you see I am going to relate to you how Lulu was caught fast in the mud.  It happened one day when Jimmie and his two sisters were swimming about on the pond, just like three white boats.