gentleman. "Let me think, now. Here is one we used to ask one another
when I was a boy. See if you can guess it. 'A house full and a hole
full, but you can't catch a bowlful.' What is that, Laddie?"

"'A house full and a hole full, but you can't catch a bowlful,'"
repeated Laddie.

"Is it crabs?" asked Mun Bun. "I helped catch a basketful of crabs,
once."

"No, it isn't crabs," laughed Grandpa Ford.

"I give up. What is it?" asked Laddie, anxious to hear the answer.

"It's smoke!" said Grandpa Ford with a laugh. "A house full and a hole
full of smoke, but, no matter how hard you try, you can't catch a
bowlful. For, if you try to catch smoke it just rolls away from you."

"A house full and a hole full--but you can't catch a bowlful," repeated
Laddie slowly. "That's a good riddle!" he announced, after thinking it
over, and I guess he ought to know, as he asked a great many of them.

They had a jolly time at the meal, even if it was gotten up in a hurry,
and then, just as the children were going out to play again, Daddy
Bunker remarked:

"You haven't yet told us, Father, what brought you away from Great
Hedge."

"No, I haven't, but I will," said Grandpa Ford.