Ella Rodman Church

“ They are mice—white mice, I shouldn’t wonder.”
“No, they ain’t,” said Bessie, who was stretching her little neck to get a good view of them; “they’re all pink. I see ’em!”
She did not know why she was [Pg 25] laughed at, for they certainly were pink—very pink indeed, and very little.
“La, child!” said Martha, laughing too, “that ain’t the color they’re going to be. They’re pink because they haven’t got any fur yet, only their skins. I guess, though, that they’ll be just mouse-color. But ain’t they cunning?”
“Me want one,” said Charlie, “to play with.” ”

“ He said that Bessie had grown half a head; and she certainly looked [Pg 47] like a very chubby, rosy little girl since she had come to stay at Aunt Lou’s. She drank so much milk and ran about so much in the open air that she was getting quite strong.
Bessie scarcely thought of Blanche and the little trunk, there were so many other things to do. But Nellie said she was a beautiful doll, and that it must be so nice to have a real trunk to put her clothes in; she wished that her papa would get her one when he went to the city. ”

“ This is her sister, Martha Jane. She has fits.”
“My rag doll is Sarah Jane,” said the little pilgrim. “What does Martha Jane have fits for?”
[Pg 36]
“’Cos she likes ’em,” replied Nellie; “she’d rather have fits than anything else. But Polly likes measles best.”
This seemed very strange to Bessie, but Nellie was so much older that she thought she must know.
When they got tired of playing with the baby-house they took off their shoes and stockings and paddled in the brook. The water was delightfully cool, and Bessie knew now why the cows like to stand in the water in warm weather. ”

“ Had Charlie’s eyes been scratched out now?
[Pg 28]
“Oh, mamma!” sobbed Bessie as she buried her head in her mother’s dress, “that wicked cat has eaten up the little mouses!”
“Do have her killed, mamma,” said Nellie; “she is too bad to live.”
Every little face looked angry and excited, and Charlie kept on screaming.
Then Martha told about the little nest with the three pink mice in it, and how Puss had eaten them for her breakfast.
“I wish the cow or something big [Pg 29] would eat her kittens,” said Jimmie; “see how she would like that!” ”

“ It was a rainy day, and the children could not go out to play by the brook or in the fields. Bessie’s mamma said that she knew papa would like to get a letter from his little daughter, so the little [Pg 44] daughter sat down to print one. This was all that Bessie could do in the way of writing, but she did it pretty well. This is what she wrote, with some help from mamma:
“Dear Papa:
I want to see you very much, for you are the only papa I have got, and a great deal nicer than the pigs and chickens and cows. ”

“ I like them very much too. The pigs are funny. Charlie tumbled in one day, and the pigs ran into a corner. Aunt Lou said they were frightened at Charlie’s [Pg 45] screams. He screams when he isn’t hurt. I don’t. Aunt Lou says I am a brave little girl, because I fall down and don’t cry.
From you dear little daughter,
Bessie. ”

“ She let Bessie stamp one with a wooden rose, and it looked very pretty.
Then Martha gave each of the children a drink of rich buttermilk from the churn, and they thanked her and went to the house, for it was nearly dinner-time. When they were not far from the kitchen-door they knew that Charlie was coming, there was such a terrible screaming.
“Oh, he’s hurt!” said Bessie, looking frightened; “he’s so little, you know.”
“Pooh!” said Nellie; “I guess he [Pg 41] isn’t hurt; he always screams for nothing.” ”