Page:The Gnome King of Oz.djvu/50

with each item, “sweep the floors, dust the furniture, scrub the steps, wash the windows, sort the patches, count the cotton spools, separate the old clothes for mending, feed the Scissor Bird, help pick tomato pin-cushions, scold the Patch-workers—and—”

“Stop!” commanded Scraps, flinging up her arm imperiously.

“But I’m not nearly finished,” objected Piecer, rat- tling the paper impatiently.

“Well, I am!” The Patchwork Girl’s suspender buttons glittered angrily behind the steel spectacles. “Get some one else to be your sovereign,” she cried. “You don’t want a Queen, you want a cook, a housekeeper and a Grandma!” Snatching the work basket from her head, she dashed it to the floor and jumping on it with both feet shouted defiantly:

"Eeejee, weejee, squeejee, squb!
I will not sweep, I will not serub!
I will not scrub! I will not dust!
So let those dust and serub who must!"

“Better save your strength for your work,” advised Piecer, stepping back a few paces. ‘“You’re Chief Scrapper,” he whispered hurriedly to his companion. “You settle her while I fetch the Scissor Bird.”