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12 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Classic Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter twelve Jinseng. What doctor mc allister ever did before Henry began to work
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  for him would be hard to guess. There were certainly as many duties always
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  waiting for him as he had time to do, and it made no difference
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  to the industrious boy what the job was. Nothing was too hard or too
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  dirty for him to attempt. One day, the doctor set him at the
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  task of clearing out his little laboratory. The boy washed bottles, pasted labels,
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  and cleaned instruments for one whole morning, and more than one broken flask
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  on its way to the rubbish heap, was carefully carried up the hill to
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  the hidden family. While Henry was busy carefully lettering a sticky label, he
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  noticed a young man in the outer office who was talking with a doctor.
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  Can you tell me if this is real? Jinsing. Henry heard him say,
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  it certainly is, returned, doctor mc allister. They will give you
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  two dollars a pound for the route at any of the drug stores. Henry
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  ventured to steal a peep and found he could readily see the plant the man
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  was holding. It was about a foot high with branching leaves and a fine
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  feathery white flower. Henry knew it was exactly the same white puffball that he
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  had noticed in Violet's vase that very morning, when the young man had gone,
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  Henry said, I know where I can find a whole lot of that
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  plant? Is that? So, replied the doctor kindly. It's only the
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  root, you know, that is valuable, But anyone who wants the bother
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  of digging it up can sell any quantity of that. When Henry went home
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  at noon, he related enough of this incident to set his sisters to work
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  in good earnest. They started out with both knives and two strong iron spoons
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  and the kettle, and with Benny to run about finding every white flower he
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  could. The girl succeeded with a great deal of hard digging in finding enormous
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  quantity of jinseng root. In fact, that first afternoon's work resulted in a
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  kettleful, not counting a single leaf or stem. Henry was delighted when he
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  saw the result of their work, and took it next day to the largest
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  drug store, where he received three dollars for the roots. Without any hesitation.
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  Henry paid a visit to the dry goods store and came home with a
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  pair of new brown stockings for Benny. That was a great day in the
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  woods. Benny gave them no piece at all until they had admired his wonderful
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  new stockings and felt of each rib. There had been one other thing that
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  Benny had given them no peace about. On the night when the children had
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  crept so quietly away from the baker's wife, Jess had forgotten to take Benny's
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  baar. This bear was a poor looking creature which had once been an expensive,
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  bright eyed teddy bear made of brown plush. But Benny had taken it
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  to bed every single night for three years, and had loved it by day,
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  so that it was not attractive to any one but himself. Both eyes
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  were gone, and its body was very limp. But Benny had certainly suffered
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  a great deal trying to sleep in a strange bed without his beloved bear.
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  Jess therefore had plans on foot the moment she saw Benny's new stockings, she
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  washed the old brown stockings with their many neat darns and hung them up to
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  dry, and early in the afternoon she and Violet sat with a work bag
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  between them, each with a stocking with Benny sitting by to watch proceedings,
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  Jess mapped out a remarkable teddy bear. One stocking carefully trimmed, made the
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  head and body, while the other furnished material for two arms, two legs,
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  and the stuffing. Jess worked hard over the head, pushing the padding
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  well into the blunt nose. Violet embroidered two beautiful eyes in black and white,
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  and a jet black nose tip. You must make a tail, too,
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  Jessy, said Benny, watching her snip the brown rags. Bears don't
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  have tails, Benny argued Jess, although she wasn't exactly sure, she was
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  right. Your old bear didn't have any tail, you know. But this
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  bear has a tail, though, returned Benny, knowing that Jess would put
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  on two tails if he insisted. And it was true, his bear finally
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  did have a tail. What kind of tail, asked Jess helplessly. At
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  last, bushy long and slim or cotton tail long and slim, decided Benny
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  with great satisfaction. So I can pull it, Penny, cried Jess,
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  laughing in spite of herself. But she made a tail long and slim,
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  exactly as Benny ordered, and sewed it on very tightly, so that it
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  might be pulled if desired. She fastened on the legs and arms with flat
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  hinges so the bear might sit down easily, and added at last a pair
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  of cunning flappy ears and a gay collar of braided red string from a bundle.
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  What's his name, Jesse, inquired Benny, when the wonderful bear was
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  finally handed over to him. His name, repeated Jess. Well you know
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  he's a new bear. He isn't your old one, so I wouldn't call
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  him Teddy. Oh no, said Benny, shocked. This is not Teddy.
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  This has a pretty tail, of course, agreed Jess, trying not
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  to laugh. Well, you know we sold that Jin Sang to pay for
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  your new stockings, and if you hadn't had your new ones, we couldn't
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  have made this bear out of your old ones. You want his name to
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  be Stockings, asked Benny politely. Stockings, no, answered Jess. I
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  was thinking of Jin Sing Jin Sing, echoed Benny, sinking deeply. That's
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  an nice name, all right. I think Jensen will be a good bear
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  if what she doesn't bark at him. And from that moment the bear's name
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  was Jinseng as long as he lived, and he lived to be a very
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  old bear. Indeed, end of Chapter twelve,