Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

In that delightful hour before dinner, when it is too early to go in / and light the lamps and too late to go for another picnic or swim, / it is a pleasant custom in Ozma's palace to gather in the garden for / games. Almost any fine evening at dusk, if you were to peep over the / wall of the green castle, you would see all the celebrities and most / of the courtiers playing hop scotch or prisoner's base. The ruler of / Oz, as most of you know, is a little girl fairy and Ozma is quite as / fond of fun and good times as you are. Dorothy, Betsy and Trot, Ozma's / best friends and advisers are little girls too, so that life in the / Emerald City is bound to be interesting and gay. And how could it be / otherwise, with so many unusual and amusing people living in the palace?

The Scarecrow spends most of his time there, though he has a splendid / residence of his own, and for fun and good comradeship there is no one / like this jolly straw-stuffed gentleman. He was lifted from a pole and / brought to the Emerald City by Dorothy on her first journey to Oz. / Dorothy, herself, was blown to Oz in a cyclone and has had so much fun / and so many adventures that she would not think of living anywhere / else. Betsy and Trot are from the United States, too, but prefer life / in the Emerald City to life in America, as indeed I should myself. / Almost everybody has heard of Tik Tok, the copper man. Tik Tok is not / alive, but very lively and when properly wound can walk, talk and run / as well as anybody.