Back to School with Betsy by Carolyn Haywood

hand. Betsy thought the baby was the softest, smoothest thing she had ever felt.
    "Mother," said Betsy, "do you know what kind of a baby I want the next time we get one?"
    "Goodness!" cried Mother. "You're not thinking of the next baby already, are you?"
    "Oh, yes!" said Betsy. "I know exactly what kind I want. Could we get one all ready-made? I forget what you call babies that you get all ready-made."

    "You mean 'adopt' a baby," said Mother.
    "Yes," replied Betsy. "Couldn't we 'dopt one?"
    "No, dear," said Mother. "We already have a baby."
    "I'll bet if a little baby could talk, it would say it would like to be 'dopted by us."
    "Well now, we won't talk about it anymore," said Mother. "You have a dear little baby sister to play with."
    "Yes," said Betsy, "but I want a lot of babies. And I like all different colors."
    One day during the following week Betsy was coming home from school. When she was a few blocks from home she met a little black girl. She was about two years old and she was crying. Betsy went up to the little girl. "What's the matter?" she asked.
    The baby just went right on crying.
    Betsy looked up and down the street. There was no one in sight. "Where do you live?" she said to the baby. The baby cried harder.
    Betsy knelt down beside her. "Are you lost?" she asked.
    The baby took hold of Betsy's hand. The baby's hand felt soft and warm.
    "Haven't you any mother or father?" asked Betsy.

    The baby just sobbed.
    The two children were standing in front of a big house. Betsy looked up at the house. Then she led the baby up to the front door. Betsy rang the bell. She waited.
    In a few minutes the door was opened by a plump old lady, wearing a checked apron. "What is the matter?" the lady asked.
    "Does this little girl belong to you?"
    "No, she doesn't," said the lady, leaning down to look at the children. "Now, I've just made some cookies," she said. "Perhaps if we give her a cookie she'll stop crying. Just wait a minute."
    Soon the old lady was back with two cookies. She gave one to each of the children.
    "Oh, thank you!" said Betsy. "Now she'll stop crying."
    The baby took the cookie, but she didn't stop crying.
    She just cried between each bite.
    "Don't cry," said Betsy. "There isn't anything to cry about. My mother and father will 'dopt you. It's nice at our house and I'll play with you. I have a baby sister too. And you can play with her."
    Betsy and the baby trotted down the street hand in hand. The baby was still whimpering.
    When Betsy reached the corner grocery store she went in. She bought two lollipops for a penny.
    "Whose little baby have you got, Betsy?" asked the grocer.
    "I guess she isn't anybody's," said Betsy. "I found her and my mother and father are going to 'dopt her."
    The grocer laughed. "Well, good luck to you," he said.
    Betsy gave one of the lollipops to the baby.

    She put it in her mouth. She was perfectly happy now.
    When Betsy reached home they were both sucking lollipops.
    "Mother! Mother!" shouted Betsy, as soon as she was inside of the house. "Come see what I found, Mother. Come see!"
    "Bring it upstairs, dear," called Mother. "I'm in the sewing room."
    Betsy and the baby started up the stairs. It was a little slow because the baby would only put her left foot up.
    "What on earth are you bringing?" Mother called.
    "It's a surprise," Betsy called back. "Just wait till you see what a nice surprise it is."
    At last they reached the top of the stairs. Hand in hand they went into the sewing room. Betsy's face was beaming. She was so pleased with her new friend.
    When Mother saw them she dropped her sewing on the floor.
    "Why, Betsy!" she said. "Whose little girl is this?"
    "I found her," said Betsy. "She's for us to 'dopt."
    "But, Betsy," said Mother, "her mother is probably looking everywhere for her. Where did you find her?"
    "I found her on my way home from school," said Betsy. "And I asked her where she lived and she didn't say anything. She just cried awful hard. And I asked her if