Aunt Fanny

“ Pigs?"
"My patience!" said Fanny, "did you never hear of esquarian exercise? I take it every day at Mr. Disbrow's. It is riding on horseback." [Pg 74]
"Oh!" said Sallie, rubbing her chin, "of course. I was a perfect goose not to know that. I wish, when the streets are muddy, we could fly like birds through the air: how pleasant it must be to be dangling in the air, with nothing to do but stare at the sun! I would not come down for a week. Just fancy! what perfect happiness!"
"And no lessons to learn," said Fanny. ”

“ When they got into the street, they took hold of each other's hands and ran all the way, as an inevitable matter of course, and arrived at the ice cream saloon in a laughing, breathless condition, so very little like grown people that I am afraid they must have forgotten their dignity, or left it locked up in the bookcase at home. ”

“ Not long after this, a great event happened at Annie's house. You must know that she had no less than five loving brothers; all older than herself. Quite a lot of them, isn't there? And their mother let them have all manner of innocent fun and frolic; because she was one of the very best mothers in the world, and knew that children ought to be made not only as good, but as happy as possible. So, lo and behold! everybody and his [Pg 145] wife, and I too, were invited to a splendid concert at Annie's house.
The best of it was, that the concert was to be just like Christy's minstrels ”

“ Oh! how I wish all the darling children in the world could have such a delicious lunch—so much better for them than pies or a whole bushel of sugar candy.
When this nice lunch was over, Annie's mother said, "My little darling, I am going to New York to buy a chest of tea, and hire a cook, besides taking a trunk which belongs to a friend. You must keep house for me, dear; and [Pg 125] if any company comes, behave very politely to them, and take off their bonnets, and talk to them, and ask them to stay till I come home."
"So ilken Annie will, mamma," she answered ”

“ Annie seemed always to have on a ticklesome apron, which turned all her lessons into "reading with laughing;" and it was such a funny business, and Annie grew so fat and bright under it, that her mother did not feel worried; but I advise all the rest of you, little darlings, if you don't like learning to read [Pg 128] quite as well as bread and butter and raspberry jam, to put it off till your dear little heads and bodies have had at least two years more of play, and frolic, and tumbling about like kittens. You like that advice, don't you? ”

“ After this funny concert was over, the musicians, who had been sent for from New York, began to play dancing tunes; and all the company went into another large parlor, and commenced to dance; while Annie's brothers and their friends got scrubbing brushes, and soap, and hot water, and scrubbed and rubbed, and [Pg 155] scrubbed and rubbed, till they nearly scrubbed the noses off their faces; but it was not very long before they came in, looking as white and clean as could be; only Annie thought they had made a great mistake—taking out their splendid breastpins. ”

“ Appleton, who has sweet little monkeys of his own, would say to me with a grave face—"Aunt Fanny! I'm surprised at you! What do you mean by such conduct? What has become of that big room in your heart, which you keep brimful of love for babies and little bits of children? Do [Pg 11] you want them to sit humdrum on rainy days, when they are tired of playing with dolls, and tops, and kittens, and have no story book for their kind mammas to read to them? This will never do, Aunt Fanny. ”

“ The little dog who lived with Annie, thought I did it for him to catch. He bounced upon the stage, barking and wagging his tail till he nearly wagged it off; and seized the bouquet, while Annie's brother tried to get it away; and they chased each other up and down the room, the minstrels and the company all laughing ready to kill themselves. What fun it was!
At last Annie's brother got about a quarter of the flowers away from the dog; and then [Pg 154] he put his hand on his heart, and made a bow lower than the first; and Annie was afraid he had almost broken the bone in his back. ”

“ She could not run about in a stage coach—of course not—there was no room; and Tillie's little feet began to kick, because they could not get any play.
"At last her aunt said, 'Sit still, dear: look at the ducks, and pigs, and geese all along the road; and see those patient oxen in the field, how [Pg 46] they turn one way when the farmer says "Gee," and the other when he says "Haw."'
"Tillie looked for a moment, and then said, 'Oh, I so tired.' Just then she spied a large black and white blanket shawl lying on her aunt's lap. ”

“ When Sallie's father came home, of course he had to hear how they went out, "just like two old women, very independent, and eat a poll parrot and heard an ice cream," at which he was greatly astonished until they explained that it was the ice cream they had eaten, and the poll parrot they had heard. [Pg 103]
Soon after tea, Fanny was sent for, and after many attempts, her bonnet and pretty little white Marseilles cloak were fastened, for she jumped, and Sallie jumped during the operation, till you would have thought they were pith witches, only they fortunately kept on their feet ”

“ Then she got into her lap, and sang her ever so many little songs; and let me tell you, that anybody would have wished to be a grandmother right away, if they could have had such a delightful time as Annie's grandmother did. I'm sure I do.
And when the dear mamma [Pg 143] came home, and heard all that her sweet little child had done, she took her in her arms and fondly kissed her, and prayed God in her heart that He would make her "ilken" Annie always as good and lovely as she was then. I am almost certain she will be; for a good child will be sure to become a good woman or man. ”

“ They were twenty times more amusing than the heavy, long-winded jokes with which aldermen, and other big bugs [Pg 88] entertain each other for hours at the great public dinners, where they are obliged to give each other the wink to let every one know where the laugh ought to come in. No! it was just one little, rollicking, chuckling laugh all lunch time; and how they managed to make so much bread and butter and raspberry jam disappear, I am sure I cannot tell. ”

“ She did try, but who could keep still, on such a delightful occasion, when they were going to walk about the [Pg 92] world just like grown people, with their money in their pockets! Sallie even wanted her mother to lend her a lace veil, and her gold watch, to add to her dignity—"so as to come home in time for tea, you know, mamma;" but her mother concluded, as Sallie could not tell the time by the watch, the necessity for carrying it was rather doubtful. ”

“ I tell you what it is! I was just as full of the fun of it as I could hold; and I went directly to a jeweller I knew, and got him [Pg 146] to lend me several breastpins, with such big make-believe diamonds in them, that they almost put your eyes out shining. These the boys wore in their ruffled shirts; and they were such dandies! oh my, what dandies they were!
You must know, at a real concert, the people throw beautiful flowers to the singers that please them most. Annie and I got up an immense bouquet, about the size of a peck measure, without [Pg 147] telling anybody a word about it ”

“ Sallie lived in the city of New York, in Eleventh street, very near Broadway. Directly [Pg 89] round the corner was Mrs. Wagner's ice cream saloon, or, as Sallie called it, "Mrs. Waggles."
In the afternoon her mother said she and Fanny might go, by themselves, to this saloon, and buy each a treat of six-pence worth of ice cream.
The children were in a perfect ecstasy of delight at this announcement; their faces were radiant with good humor and happiness. Only to think of it! what grandeur! to go all by themselves! that was [Pg 90] the great point! ”

“ Well, I will tell you. Annie chose the one with the great red stone in the middle and ten white ones all round it; and I went the very next day to the jeweller in New York, and said:
"See here, Mr. Jeweller, here are all your breastpins, and I am very much obliged to you; but I want you to give me one, for a darling." [Pg 159]
"What kind of a darling, Mrs. Aunt Fanny?"
"Well, she is four years old, and has rosy cheeks, dark brown hair, large blue eyes, and a little dimpling, dainty mouth, full of small white pearls. They are not set in gold, like the pearls in your glass case. No, indeed! ”

“ Pretty soon, down dropped a stitch off the needle.
"O—h," said Annie, "too bad! I must put it away till mamma comes home." So she opened a drawer in the table and laid her knitting down. Then she put on a nice little pink sun bonnet, and ran out into the garden to pick some flowers. The stone young lady smiled at her; but as she could not speak or run, Annie did not care a speck for her: she thought a great deal more [Pg 135] of the good little dog dozing on the mat before the door. ”

“ See! just look! we have found our mittens.'"
"Oh! I so grad," said little Charlotte, and she clapped her hands; and then gazing at her own pretty white mittens, held them up, and cried: "Look! I've got mittens! look! look!"
"So you have," said Sarah, kissing her—"and they keep your hands nice and warm, don't they?"
"Did they keep the kittens' [Pg 21] hands warm too?" asked little Mary.
"Yes, as warm as toast; and their mother was so glad they were found, that she hugged her three children to her breast, and cried:
"'Found your mittens? ”

“ Then she made believe that the shawl was a baby; and very soon every one in the stage [Pg 47] was laughing at her funny talk.
"'Oh, my dear baby,' she said, 'I 'fraid the light hurts your little eyes; please, auntie, lend me your veil.'
"Her aunt smiled, and gave Tillie her brown barege veil; and the little girl spread it tenderly over the top of the shawl, saying, 'There, my baby, don't cry any more.'
"'Ai! ai! ai! a——i!' screamed the baby—that is, Tillie screamed, and pretended [Pg 48] it was her—'ai! ai! ”

“ It was so cold, they really had to blow it, and they had to stop a great many times to laugh, and to wonder what the other people thought of them; at any rate, everybody would think they were "instraordinary" good girls to be allowed to come out all by themselves. [Pg 95]
"Only imagine," continued Sallie, "perhaps, after this, we shall be considit such excellent children—kind of oldey and serious, you know—that mamma will pack up our trunks, and let us go eleventeen times farther than this. ”

“ Oh, you good little kitten!
Now you shall have some pie!"
And off they went, the children perfectly delighted with [Pg 37] the comical play of the kittens. I dare say they hid their mittens again as soon as they got home. ”

“ This was delightful! and Annie and I danced and laughed, and had some ice cream in a snug little corner together; and she sat up ever so late, without wanting to shut her blue eyes once; and when the company went away they kissed Annie, and shook hands with the handsome, gentlemanly little boys, and thanked them for their nice, funny concert. I don't know but what some of them kissed [Pg 157] one or two of the youngest of Annie's brothers. I did; but that's because I'm only Aunt Fanny, which makes a difference, you see. I'm so little, that half the time the children forget I am quite old. ”

“ Your home may be—Heaven.
[Pg 164] And so ilken Annie got her breastpin from me; and I received in return some kisses from her; and I think I had the best of the bargain. And what is more—I do believe, if you will go down to Staten Island and call upon her, she will show you the garters, which must be finished by this time; and the breastpin, if it isn't lost; and the poetry; and Grip, the dog; and the stone young lady in the garden; and the cunning little bridge; and ever so many [Pg 165] dimples in her sweet face; and be so kind to you! ”

“ I not a kitty!" and all the rest of the little ones said they were not kittens, and for two [Pg 9] minutes there was such fun, everybody mewing like cats, and patting each other softly for play. The little mother said they must all have been to Catalonia; and that might be the reason why Aunt Fanny called them "kittens;" ”

“ LITTLE SALLIE'S LONG WORDS.
This evening the mother said: Here is a story Aunt Fanny wrote a long time ago, about Sarah, her daughter, and her niece Fanny. It is true, every word; and she says that she was reminded of it by an anecdote, which a lady told her of one of [Pg 61] her own dear little daughters. ”