Aunt Fanny

“ Don't you see that I am making a mouse?"
"Emma," replied her Mother, "do you know [Pg 63] that I ought to punish you, because you do not mind?"
"I am coming right away," cried Emma, dropping her scissors and her paper mouse, and running up to her Mother.
Her Mother took her up on her lap, and said, "My little girl, this will never do. You must learn to come at once when you are called; you must obey quickly. If you continue in this very naughty habit of not minding until you are told to do a thing two or three times, you will grow up a very disagreeable girl, and nobody will love you." ”

“ After she had brushed up the hearth again, and put all the things she had used away, she sat down in her arm-chair by the fire, and took her spectacles out of her pocket and put them on her nose, and began to knit on the big blue woollen stocking.
She knit eight times round the stocking, and then she said to herself, "I wonder if the dumpling is done?" So she laid down her knitting, and took a steel fork from the mantelpiece, and lifted the lid of the pot and looked in. ”

“ Please to punish me, and forgive Julia."
"Why, what has Julia been doing?" said her Mamma and Papa at the same time. [Pg 116]
"I gave the little girl my new frock, and my school muff," said Julia, "she looked so cold. Her little hands were nearly frozen."
"My dear children," said their Father, "I do not blame you for wishing to be kind to the poor, but do you not see how wrong it is to be so thoughtless, and what trouble you give your Mother and me by such conduct? If you do not think before you act, you will always be in mischief, and perhaps do a great deal of injury. ”

“ After breakfast, William and Johnny walked down to the smooth and beautiful beach with their parents, where a great many people, some of them children, were bathing. They seemed to like it very much; and it really did look very [Pg 83] inviting, for the sun made the water sparkle like diamonds, and the waves seemed dancing and leaping, and looked as if they longed to give every body a good splashing. ”

“ As Harry grew older, he was not so much afraid of spiders, but he never could bear to see one near him; even when he was a great boy of fourteen or fifteen years, he would get away from a spider as fast as he could. He knew it was foolish, and tried to overcome his fears, but he never got entirely over them.
Parents cannot be too watchful or careful about their nurses, for sometimes a thoughtless or wicked nurse, will do worse things to a child than Harry's nurse did to him. ”

“ When she saw them so busy—with their round faces stuck all over with crumbs of sugar, and George sitting on the table, dealing it out so fairly—she could not keep from laughing.
The twins heard her laugh, so they laughed too; and George cried out—"Mother, this sugar is nice—I like it."
"And so do I," said James.
Their Mother lifted George from the table, and told them they must not do so again, for so much sugar would make them sick. She washed their faces, and sent them to play in the garden. There was a fine large garden at the back of the house, where they could play without danger. ”

“ She was an old lady, and wore spectacles, and she looked very kind and good. So the dear little girl let the dentist lift her into the great chair, and take off her hat, and the old lady kept hold of her hand, and said, "It will be over in a minute, my dear child," and then she pressed her little hand so kindly, that Emily felt quite comforted.
The other lady was a young lady, and she too felt sorry that Emily was to suffer. She wanted to smooth her hair, and give her a kiss; but she thought that the little girl might be afraid of so many strangers, so she sat down very quietly. ”

“ He will be sure to do just as you do. If you are a good boy, you will be a good man; and how happy you will be, when you are grown up, to think that your good example will have made your brother a good boy, and a good man too. Now kiss me, and go get your breakfast." [Pg 39]
Henry kissed his Mother, and told her of his good conduct in school, at which she was very glad, and then stooping down, he kissed the soft cheek of the little sleeping baby, and went gently out of the room. ”

“ It is always the best way to tell a little boy or girl the exact truth. If Emily's Grandma had said that it would not hurt her to have her teeth pulled out, it would have been very wrong, and Emily would not have believed her another time, when she was to have any thing done to her.
This little girl had no Mother. ”

“ Emma jumped up quickly, and had them on in two minutes, and then she took off her night-gown and put on her day clothes, which hung over the back of the chair by her crib, and went to her Mother to have them fastened, for she could not fasten them herself. Her Mother fastened her clothes, and then taking her little girl's hand, she said, "My dear little Emma, you have made me feel very unhappy this morning. I do not like to punish you, but it is my duty to try to cure you of all your naughty ways, and it is your duty to try to overcome them. ”

“ What was written on it was, "A baby-house for my little darling Sarah."
"Why, I guess this must be for you," said he.
"Yes, it is for me," said the little girl; "my name is Sarah, and it must be for me."
Her Grandpa put her down, and led her to the table. He drew the little house out, and opened it. The whole front of the house opened, and there, inside, were two rooms; one was a parlor, and one a bed-room. The children all cried out, "What a fine baby-house! ”

“ Whenever she felt herself going about any thing slowly, the thought of the poor boy who had lost his ear would come into her mind, and she would jump up at once, when her Mother called her, and do whatever she wanted her to do, pleasantly and quickly. ”

“ In a few weeks, his Mother got quite well, and Charles (that was the baby's name) began to laugh and play with his brother. Henry was never so happy as when he was with Charles. He always put him to sleep at night. The dear little fellow would clasp his little hand tight round one of Henry's fingers, and fall to sleep in his bed, while his brother sang to him. ”

“ It isn't a good play at all!"
"Don't be a coward," said Edward; "it always hurts to be shaved; come, let me do it once more."
Horace was not afraid of a little pain, and he [Pg 31] did not like to be called a coward. He believed what his brother told him. So he held up his face, and Edward began again to scrape off the lather; but this time Horace moved just as he put the razor on his face, and it took the skin all off of his cheek.
It began to bleed terribly, and smarted so much, that Horace screamed, and ran out of the room, and down stairs into the kitchen where his Mother was. ”

“ They will do for the small fellows to-night. Let us go to the stable, and pay our respects to Napoleon, and Old Pudding-head. They will think themselves quite neglected on this glorious occasion."
So they sallied off to the stable, and saddled the pony and the donkey, and led them out to the play-ground, where Napoleon treated them in turn to a very fine dance on his hind legs, and Old Pudding-head, not to be behindhand in politeness, gave all the little boys a somerset over his nose. They had a first-rate frolic, and did not think once of the lost fireworks. ”

“ Stanley told her plan with regard to Jessie; and this important matter was just settled, when that young lady and her parents entered.
Jessie, not knowing the honor awaiting her, was very stiff and grave in her salutations. Her large dark eyes were turned away from Fred and Kate, yet an expression about her pretty mouth seemed to say,
"I am not so very angry as you think."
"She looks like a Queen, don't she?" whispered Fred to his sister. [Pg 93]
"She is stiff enough, at any rate," said Kate.
"I wonder who she will choose for her King?" said Fred. ”

“ Willy asked for a drum-stick, and his cousin Mary said he wanted it to beat the monkey he eat in the morning. Bella chose a merry-thought; little Sarah liked a hug-me-fast; Carry took a wishing-bone; Thomas said he would have the other drum-stick to help beat the monkey, and Fanny thanked her Grandma [Pg 12] for a wing, so that she could fly away when the beating of the monkey took place.
But this was not half the good things, for they afterwards had some delicious game, such as partridges, and woodcocks, and some fried oysters. All this pleased the grown people most. ”

“ I ought to have remembered that you advised us not to go there."
"If you think you ought to be punished," said his Mother, "Charley shall go to bed to-night [Pg 44] without your singing to him. This will make you both remember. Is that right?"
"Yes, dear Mother," said Henry; but he looked very sorry; and little Charles made up a long face, for he loved his brother so much, that he could not bear to think that he must go to sleep without holding his finger and hearing him sing.
When bed-time came, Charley wanted to beg his Mother to think of some other punishment for him. ”

“ Mary laughed when she read it, and said she had been just as cruel to Thomas, for she had sent him this [Pg 14] —
"The rose is red, the violet blue,
The grass is green and so are you."
They had a good laugh at Thomas, but as he laughed as hard as any one, it did no harm. Little Sarah had a great many mottoes. Her Mamma read them to her, and it pleased her very much. She said it was a very nice play, but she was tired with sitting such a long time at table, so her Mother let her slip down from her chair. ”

“ Suppose you stop a little while, and rest yourself by telling us a story."
Her Aunt laughed, and said that was a very clever way of getting a story out of her, and asked the children what kind of a story they would like.
"I like a fairy tale," said little Fanny.
"And I like a ghost story," said Laura. "I think a ghost story is great fun, for I never believe a word of it."
"But you know I never tell ghost stories," replied her Aunt; "they are very silly things. [Pg 57] I will tell you a story about three bears, which I read a long while ago. ”

“ While they were thus employed, two children passed the window. [Pg 112]
"Only look, brother," said Julia, "at these poor children. How cold they must be! see, the little boy has no hat on, and his toes are coming out of his shoes, and the little girl's frock is all ragged."
"Let us call them in," said James, "and they can warm themselves by the fire."
As James said this, he tapped on the window, and the little children came to the basement door. James ran and opened the door, and said, "Come in, poor children, and warm yourselves." ”

“ They had crackers enough between them all to keep them busy the whole day, and they soon got to work at them, and such a popping and cracking began, as frightened all the cats and dogs about the house into the woods. ”

“ The children all laughed at this, and Bella, Willy's sister, who was the oldest of all the children, said she thought Willy had a monkey look about him. So he went by the name of the monkey-eater for the rest of the day. [Pg 10]
Soon the bell rang for dinner, and they all went down stairs; for the children and grown people were to dine together. It was now quite dark, and the gas chandelier that hung over the table was lighted, the curtains were drawn close, the fire burnt brightly, and the table-cloth was so white and fine that it looked like satin. ”

“ They grew very fast, and were the dearest little fellows in the world, they had such bright merry black eyes, and were always ready to have a frolic with Susan. As they grew up, they were so good, and so pretty, that every body loved them, and a great many [Pg 74] people came to see them. I forgot to tell you that one was named George and the other James.
One day, when the twins were three years old, they were left alone in the breakfast room. The things on the breakfast table had been cleared away, except a bowl nearly full of sugar, which was standing on the table. ”

“ It was a great deal too hot. Then she came out of the house, and went into the middling sized bear's house, and there she saw a middling sized bowl of porridge. So she tasted it, and found it was a little to hot. She came out, and went into the tiny bit of a bear's house, and there she saw a little mite of a bowl of porridge. She tasted it, and it was just right, so the little ragged dirty old woman eat it all up. Then she went up stairs and laid down on the tiny bit of a bear's bed, and was very soon fast asleep. ”

“ Henry is now a man. He was always a good boy. He is now a good man; and although many years have passed since he lost his little brother, he goes every summer to Greenwood to visit his grave; and the tears always come into his eyes when he speaks of him, and tells that little Charley's last words were, that he would pray to Jesus to let his darling brother come soon, and sing him to sleep in Heaven.
[Pg 48]
ANNIE BROWNE.
Little Annie Browne was an only child, that is, her parents had no little boys at all, and only this one little girl ”