The next summer Flaxie had a baby brother named Philip Lally Gray. Flaxie said he was "as good as any of the rest of the family, and lots better."  
She loved him dearly; and perhaps it was in loving him that she learned to become unselfish. By the time he was a year old, he had pulled her hair, and scratched her face, and given her a great deal of trouble; but the more he tried her patience, the more her patience grew.
 
"Really, she is almost as sweet as Ninny," said Mrs. Gray to her husband.
 
When Philip was thirteen months old, he had no teeth, and Flaxie grieved about it. Her own were falling out, and she wished she could give them to her baby brother.
 
"Never mind," said Dr. Papa. "If he never has any teeth of his own, I will buy him some gold ones."
 
"O, that'll be so nice," cried Flaxie. "I never saw any gold teeth in all my life."
 
That year, late in September, Flaxie Frizzle went with her mamma and baby Phil to the city of Louisville, in Kentucky, to see Grandpa and Grandma Curtis. Dr. Gray staid at home with Ninny and Preston.
 
"Poor papa couldn't come, 'cause he has to give folks their mederson," explained Miss Frizzle, before she had taken off her bonnet¹ in grandma's parlor².
 
"Too bad," laughed pretty Grandma Curtis, who was ever and ever so much younger than Grandma Pressy, and didn't even wear a cap. "But we are glad he could send his little daughter."
 
No wonder she was glad! Flaxie was all pink and white, with a mouth made up for kisses, and eyes laughing like the sky after a shower. The colored girl, Venus, had never seen her before; but she loved her in a moment, for Flaxie threw both arms around her neck and kissed her, like a butterfly alighting on a black velvet³ rose.
 
But that night Flaxie did not seem quite well, and the next morning she was worse; she could not even hold the baby.
 
"They're so glad I've got the mumps⁴," said she, two or three days afterward⁵, as she lay on the sofa, with hot, swelled⁶ cheeks and parched⁷ lips that tried to smile.
 
The remark was made to Peppermint⁸ Drop, the doll of her bosom⁹; but black Venus took it to herself.
 
"And what makes 'em glad you're sick?" said she.
 
"'Cause my mamma wants me to have the mumps all done, Venus, and then she can go to my 'nother grandma's next week. I've got lots of grandmas. She's going to see this one next week, and take the baby."
 
"Yes," said Venus, dusting the chairs; "and prob'ly if you get well she'll take you too."
 
"No, O, no: she don't think's best," replied Flaxie, dropping a hot tear on Peppermint Drop's bosom, which would have melted it a little if it had been made of sugar instead of bran. "Grandma Hyde lives in the other town, 'way off, down[86] where the boats go; and mamma says she can't take but one childrens. She's drefful sorry; but she don't think best."
 
And the little girl dried her eyes on her doll's bib-apron; for she heard some one coming, and didn't want to be a baby.
 
It was mamma, with Phil in her arms, fresh from his morning bath, bright, wide-awake, and ready for mischief¹⁰. His hair was golden,—darker even now than Flaxie's,—and his eyes were the richest brown.
 
"Shall I let him go?" asked mamma, as if he were a wild creature, and they generally kept him in chains.
 
"Yes, mamma, let him go."
 
And, when she dropped her hold of him, he rushed at his sister, and "hugged her grizzly¹¹," as she called it, like the most affectionate of little bears.
 
 
"Won't Grandma Hyde be exprised to see him? She'll love you and thank you dearly," said Flaxie.
 
"I'm a little ashamed of him," laughed Mrs. Gray. "You know he has only one tooth."
 
"Well, he hasn't much teeth, and he can't talk; but he can stand on his head so cunnin'! Phil want to go in boat? Want see Gamma Hyde, and hug her grizzly?"
 
Was this our cross Flaxie? Indeed, she was almost as sweet as Ninny—sometimes!
 
When the day came for going to Shawneetown, where Grandma Hyde lived, Flaxie had got her mumps "all done," and was allowed to ride down in a hack¹² to the "Jennie Howell," and see mamma off.
 
Little Phil wore a white dress and a soft white cloak, with silk acorns¹³ and leaves embroidered¹⁴ all over it; and a white cap with a white cockade set on top of his gold rings of hair. He looked like a prince; and his mother called him, "'Philip, my King.'"
 
The last thing Flaxie saw him do was to throw kisses at a hen-coop which somebody was putting on board the boat. He thought t............