“ I am going to tell you the story of a dear, good little girl, called Curly Locks. Of course that was not her real name; her real name was Alice, but she was called Curly Locks because she had such beautiful hair, which hung down her back in golden ringlets. Some people think that all the good children are in story-books; that there were no real good children. Yes, I have actually heard some grown-up people say this, that all the live children were bad, and all the good ones were in story-books. ”

“ Curly Locks! come! come quickly, Papa is going to take us to the cave and Mamma and Auntie are going too, and they are harnessing the old white horse to the Jersey wagon now, and we are going to take our dinner! Harry stopped for want of breath, when Curly Locks said good-bye to the pigeons and went with all haste back to the house with Harry. There, sure enough, was old whitey and the Jersey standing at the front door all ready, and the two Mammas busy putting up a luncheon. Now, all are ready, and off they go—the two little ones in front, with Uncle and the two Mammas on the back seat. ”

“ Now I think that people who believe this, must have been very bad themselves when young, and so have a bad opinion of children generally. Curly Locks was an unusually good child, good enough to write a whole book about. ”