The man grinding out the music shook the cord
which was fast to a collar around the monkey's neck. What the street piano
man wanted was pennies and five-cent pieces put in the monkey's red cap.
Peanuts were good for Jacko, but money was better for his master.
The monkey well knew what the jerks meant on the cord around his neck.
They meant that he must scramble around in the crowd and hold out his cap
for pennies. The monkey would much rather have eaten peanuts, but even
monkeys can not do as they like in this world.
So, with a chattering sound, and with another look at Freddie, who tossed
him a peanut, the monkey, catching the dainty in one paw, started to try
to collect some money.
But he must have been a hungry little monkey, for, when he looked at
Flossie, and saw on her hat what he thought were red cherries, that monkey
made up his mind to get some of them if he could. Though the cherries were
made of celluloid, they looked very real, and they might have fooled even
a boy or a girl, to say nothing of a monkey.
So with a quick bound Jacko--which seems to be the name of all those
long-tailed chaps--was perched on Flossie's shoulder, tearing at her hat
with two paws, trying to pull off what he thought were ripe, red cherries.
"Oh! Oh!" screamed Flossie. "Oh, stop!"
"Wait till I get hold of him!" cried Freddie.
"Come away! Come away froma de littlea gal!" yelled the piano Italian.
Some in the crowd laughed and others screamed.
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