Chapter 3

She could not inform her mother how bad she felt, for that would expose her guilt. She heard the clock strike nine, and every moment appeared to her like an hour. Those poor little children constantly haunted her; whether her eyes were open or shut, still she saw them crying, and heard them moaning, and begging their sick mother to give them some supper.

O, Kate! how severely was she punished for the sin she had committed! Her mother and her father had praised her, but still she was unhappy.

Slowly, very slowly, the time passed away and she heard the clock strike ten. She could endure her sufferings no longer; and she burst into tears, sobbing and moaning as if her heart would break.

For some time she cried; but as her distress increased, she sobbed and moaned so loud that her father and mother, who were in the adjoining room, heard her, and hastened into the room to find out what ailed her.

"What is the matter, my child?" anxiously asked her mother. "Haven't you been asleep since you went to bed?"

"No mother," sobbed Kate.

"What ails you? Are you sick?"

"No, mother."

"What are you crying for, then?"

"O mother!"

"Why, what ails you, child? Have you been frightened?"

"No, mother."

"Tell us what ails you, Kate," added her father.

Both of her parents were greatly alarmed about her, for they loved their little girl very much; and they knew that something must ail her, or she would not have lain awake so long, or have cried so bitterly.

"Can't you tell us what ails you, Kate?" inquired her mother, very tenderly.

"I have been very naughty, mother," replied Kate, almost choking with emotion.

"Naughty, child?"

"Yes, mother."

"I thought you had been very good," added Mr. Lamb.

"No, I have not; I have been very wicked, and you will never forgive me."

"Why, what have you done, Kate? How strange you act, my child!"

"I can't help it, mother. If you will forgive me this time, I will never be so wicked again while I live."

"Tell us all about it, Kate, and we will forgive you," said her father, very kindly.

The poor girl sobbed so that she could not speak for some time, for the tenderness of her parents made her feel a great deal worse than if they had scolded her severely.

"What have you done, Kate?" repeated Mrs. Lamb.

"I didn't carry the milk to Mrs. O'Brien, mother," gasped the poor penitent, as she uncovered her eyes, and looked up in the face of her parents to notice the effect of her confession upon them.

"Didn't carry it to her?" was the exclamation of her father and mother at the same time.

"No; I spilled it on the ground."

"Why, Kate! what did you do that for?"

"I couldn't help it--I mean I was careless. When Fanny Flynn struck me, I ran after her. My foot tripped, and I fell, and spilled all the milk."

"Why didn't you tell me so, Kate?"

"I didn't dare to tell you; I was afraid you would scold at me, as you did for spoiling the peony."

Kate felt a little better now that she had confessed her fault, and she was able to look her parents in the face.

"Why, Kate, if you had only told me, I should not have scolded you. You may have been careless, but it was all the fault of Fanny Flynn."

"No, mother; I was careless. I forgot all about the milk, I was so angry."

"And so the poor children had no supper, after all," added Mr. Lamb.

"O father! It was what you said about them that made me feel so bad. I am sure I shall never be so very wicked again. Let me carry them some milk now."

"What are you talking about? It is after ten o'clock, my child."

"No matter, father; I am not afraid to go in the dark, if I can only carry them their supper."

"No, no, Kate. I will carry them the milk, though it is rather late, and probably they are all asleep by this time."

"But will you forgive me, father and mother?"

"Freely, my child; you have suffered severely already for your fault, and I hope it will be a lesson to you which will last as long as you live," said her father.

"It will," said Kate, earnestly.

Both her parents kissed her, in token of their forgiveness; and Mr. Lamb put on his coat, while Mrs. Lamb went to the cellar for a pail of milk, with which he soon left the house on his errand of kindness and charity.

Kate felt a great deal better then, and before her father returned, she was fast asleep. Mr. Lamb found the poor woman still up. The children had had bread and water, but no milk, for their supper, and she was very glad to have some for them when they waked up in the night. And she was very grateful to Mr. Lamb for thinking of her at that hour, and thanked God for giving her such kind and thoughtful friends.

From that time, Kate was a better girl, and tried hard to reform her life and character. She tried so hard, and succeeded so well, that she very soon lost the name of "Careless Kate."

Mr. Lamb went to see Fanny Flynn's parents the next day, and they promised to punish her for her conduct. After that Kate did not provoke her, and they never had any more trouble.

Now my readers have seen that Kate's fault led her into falsehood and deception, which are worse than carelessness; and I hope they will all learn to be careful and truthful.

NOTHING TO DO.

NOTHING TO DO.

"My kitty is purring Upon the hearth rug Rolled up in a bundle Just like a great bug. I wonder what kitty Is thinking about; What makes her so happy I cannot find out.

"She has no hard lessons To bother her brain, No spelling and reading To study in vain; She ought to be happy With nothing to do But play all the morning-- And I should be, too."

Thus Nellie kept thinking, And spoke out her thought. The words which she uttered Her mother's ear caught. "You wish to be idle Like kitty, dear, there, And play all the morning, Or sleep in your chair?"

"I don't like my lessons; I think 'tis a pity I can't be as happy As dear little kitty. That ugly old spelling I never can learn! O, into a kitty I wish I could turn!"

"I am not a fairy," Her mother replied; "To me all the power Of magic's denied; But you may be idle From morning till night, And see if 'do nothing' Will set your case right."

"O, shall I do nothing But play all day long, And sing with my kitty A holiday song? How happy, and merry, And joyous 'twill be To have no hard lessons-- From study be free!"

"Do what will best please you; Be idle all day; Recite no more lessons; Do nothing but play." Then Nellie, rejoicing, Flew out of the room; Played _hide_, _horse_, and _dolly_, And rode on the broom.

But long before dinner Poor Nell had "played out," And studied, and studied, And wandered about, To find some new pleasure, Some game, or some play, To use up the hours, And end that long day;--

And long before evening Was cross as a bear-- Just like the McFlimsey With "nothing to wear." And tired of nothing, And tired of play, No day was so tedious As that idle day.

"O mother! my lessons I think I will get, And then I can play As I never played yet. I do not feel happy With nothing to do; I cannot endure it Another day through."

"I thought so, my Nellie; To make your play sweet You must work, and be useful To those whom you meet. The idle are never So happy as they Who work for themselves Or for others each day."

DOLLY AND I.

DOLLY AND I.

I.

Do you know what envy means? I hope you have never felt it, for it is a very wicked feeling. It is being sorry when another has any good thing. Perhaps you will know better what the word means when you have read my story; and I hope it will help you to keep the feeling away from your own heart.

Not far from Mr. Lee's house, in Riverdale, lived a man by the name of Green. He was the agent of one of the factories in the village. Mr. Green had two little girls and three sons. The boys have nothing to do with my story, and for that reason I shall not say a great deal about them.

Katy, Mr. Green's older daughter, was ten years old. She was a pretty good girl, but she did not like to have others get good things, when she did not have any herself. If any person gave one of her brothers an apple, or an orange, she seemed to think she ought to have it.

When she was a baby, she used to cry for everything she saw, and would give her parents no peace till they gave it to her. I am sorry to say they were sometimes very weak on this point, and gave her things which she ought not to have had, just to quiet her.

Her father and mother hoped, when she grew older, she would not want everything that belonged to her brothers. If Charles had a plaything, Katy wanted it, and would cry till she got it. Very often, just to make her stop crying, her mother made poor Charley give up the thing.

But as Katy grew older, she seemed to want everything that others had just as much as ever. She was now ten years old, and still she did not like to see others have anything which she could not have. It is true she did not always say so, but she felt it just as much, and was very apt to be cross and sullen towards those whom she envied.

Nellie Green was not at all like her sister. She was only eight years old, but there was not a bit of envy in her. She would give a part, and often the whole, of her apples, oranges, candy, and playthings to her sister, and to her brothers. She liked to see them happy, and when Charley ate an apple, it tasted just as good to her as though she were eating it herself.

She was not selfish. She would always divide her good things with her friends. Did you ever see a little boy or a little girl eating an apple or some candy, and another little boy or girl standing by, and looking just as if he wanted some?

Nellie always gave her friends a part, and then she not only enjoyed what she ate herself, but she enjoyed what they ate. This is the way to make apples, oranges, and candy taste good.

One New Year's Day, Katy's aunt, after whom she was named, sent her a beautiful wax doll. It was a very pretty doll, and the little girl was the happiest child in Riverdale when the welcome present reached her.

There was another little girl in Riverdale who was almost if not quite as happy; and that was Nellie, her sister. It is true, the doll was not for her; she did not own any of it, and Katy would hardly let her touch it; but for all this, Nellie was pleased to see her sister so happy.

The dolly's name was Lady Jane; for Katy thought, as she was a very fine doll, she ought to have a very fine name. So, when she spoke to the doll,--and she talked a great deal with her,--she always called her Lady Jane. The two little girls had five or six other dolls, but none of them were anything near such fine ladies as Lady Jane. Their heads were made of porcelain, or rubber, or composition, and they had grown so old that they were really ugly.

Miss Lucy, who had a rubber head, looked as though she "had been through the wars." Her nose was worn out, so that she had a great hole in the end of it. I suppose, if she had wanted to sneeze, this hole would have been very handy; but Miss Lucy was a very proper young lady, and never sneezed in company. If she ever sneezed when alone, of course there was no one present to know anything about it.

There was another hole right in the top of her head, so that if she had had any brains, they would certainly have leaked out; but as Miss Lucy was not a strong-minded woman, I suppose she had no use for brains.

One of the family of dolls was a little black girl, whose name was Dinah. She had seen hard service in her day, and did not look as though she would last much longer.

Miss Fanny had once been a fine lady, but times had gone hard with her, and her fine clothes were both ragged and dirty. But hard times were not so very bad, for she wore the same smile as when her clothes had been new and nice.

Miss Mary was a poor cripple. By a sad accident she had broken one of her legs. Katy placed her on a table one day, and either because the height from the floor made her dizzy, or because she was laid too near the edge, she had tumbled off, and one leg was so badly broken that neither a wooden nor a cork one could be fastened in its place.

Therefore Miss Mary could not walk about the room, and never went anywhere, except when she was carried. But she was not half so badly off as Miss Susie, who had broken her neck, and lost off her head. The head was tied on with a string, but it kept falling off while the family were at play; but Miss Susie did not seem to mind it at all.

She got along a great deal better without her head than you or I could without ours. Indeed, she wore the same smile upon her face whether the head was on or off--which teaches us that we ought always to be cheerful in misfortune.

Besides these fine young ladies there were two or three rag babies; but as you could not tell by the looks of them what they were thinking about, I will not say anything about them. They had no virtues worth telling; they never ate soup with a fork, or gave money to the poor.

Some of my readers may not think much of this family of dollies, but I am sure Katy and Nellie had fine times with them. They used to spend hours together with them, and the dollies used to do everything that anybody could do.

Miss Fanny used to visit a great deal, in spite of her dirty, ragged clothes; so did Miss Lucy, with two holes in her head, and Miss Mary, with her broken leg, and Miss Susie, with her broken neck. All of them used to go a-visiting, except Miss Dinah, and she, being a black girl, had to do the sweeping and tend the door.

These ladies were all of them so bashful that they would not speak in company, and Katy and Nellie had to do all the talking for them.

But they used to "make believe" the dollies talked, and this did just as well. They used to say just such things as the ladies did who called on Mrs. Green, and never left without being urged to stay longer, and also to call again; which they always promised to do.

On the whole, they were very wonderful dollies; at least they were until Lady Jane came, and she was such a fine lady, with her white silk dress and her _real_ hair, that none of them could shine after that.

II.

One day Flora Lee came to see Nellie Green, and to spend the afternoon with her.

It was in the month of November, and the weather was too cold to permit them to play in the garden; so they said they would have a good time in the house.

Katy Green had to go away, and could not play with them. Nellie was very sorry for this, for she not only liked to have her sister with her, but she also wanted the company of Lady Jane.

She told Flora how sorry she was, and they agreed that it was too bad Katy had to go away, for she was older than they, and could help them a great deal in their plays. Besides, they wanted one fine lady among the dollies, for they had a certain play which required just such a person.

"I wish I had brought Miss Dolly with me. I guess she is fine enough," said Flora.

"I wish you had," replied Nellie; "but as you have not, we can't help it now. I dare say Miss Fanny will do."

"I'll tell you what you can do, Nellie."

"What?"

"You can just ask Katy," said Nellie, at last.

"Why not? She will let you have her. Of _course_ she will let you have her," added Flora, warmly.

"I don't think she will. You know we might break her neck, or lose off her legs or arms; or we might dirty her white silk dress."

"But we will be very careful. Let us go and ask her. It won't do any harm to ask her, you know. She can't do any more than refuse."

Nellie did not like to be refused, and she tried to prevent Flora from going any farther in the matter. She was sorry to have it appear that her sister was selfish, and she thought more of this than she did of being refused.

Flora said so much that at last she thought Katy might let her have the doll, and they ran downstairs to the sitting room, to have the matter settled.

"Will you lend us your dolly, Katy?" asked Nellie, and the tones of her voice showed how doubtful she was of the result of the question.

"What dolly do you mean?" asked Katy.

"Your wax dolly--Lady Jane."

"I am very sure I shall not," replied Katy.

"We will be very careful of her," added Flora. "We won't let her be hurt a bit--you may depend on that."

"I'm not going to let you have my dolly to break and spoil--I'm sure I shall not," said Katy, who even seemed to be angry because she was asked.

"But don't I say we won't hurt it a bit?" continued Flora. "And when you come over to my house, you shall have my dolly just as long as you want her; and her house too, and all the chairs and tables and things."

"I don't want them."

"Do please to let us have Lady Jane," teased Nellie. "We want her ever so much; and I know she won't get broken or dirty. Please to lend her to us, Katy."

"I shan't do any such thing; so it's no use to tease me. Why don't you play with your own dollies? I won't lend Lady Jane--that's flat."

Nellie felt so bad she could not help crying,--not because she could not have the doll, but because her sister was so harsh and unkind. She would not have cared so much if Flora had not been there, for she did not like to have her see her sister behave in this manner.

Poor Flora wanted to cry, too, when she saw how badly Nellie felt; but she tried to be brave, and placed her arm round her friend's neck, as if to let her know that she would be kind to her.

"Come, Nellie, let's go upstairs again. We won't say anything more about it," said Flora; and she led her out of the room.

"Now you won't like Katy, after this," replied Nellie.

"O, yes, I will."

"Katy would have lent us the dolly, only Aunt Jane gave it to her, and she is afraid it will be broken. If it hadn't been for this, she would have lent us Lady Jane--I know she would," added Nellie, wiping away her tears.

"I dare say she would; but we won't think anything more about it. And when I come over again, sometime, I will bring her something, just to show her that I don't feel hard towards her."

"What a dear, good girl you are, Flora! I was afraid you would hate her after what she said."

"O, dear, no, I should hope not. My mother tells me I must love those who don't do what I want them to; and I try to do so; but it is very hard sometimes. I wish you had a wax doll, Nellie. You ought to have one, you are such a good girl, and love your sister so much, even when she is not kind to you."

"I wish I had one; it would be so nice to have one like Lady Jane. I should be so happy; but then if only one of us can have one, I would rather Katy had it than have it myself."

"You are not a bit selfish, Nellie. Do you know what _selfish_ means? I do."

"I guess I do. It means when you have an apple or any candy to refuse to give a part to your sister."

"Yes, or to anybody that happens to be with you. Candy is good, but don't you like to see others eat it almost as well as you do to eat it yourself?"

"Well, yes, I think I do."

"Then you know just what I mean, and I guess we'll play 'visiting' now."

"So we will; and Miss Fanny shall be the great lady, and Dinah shall be her servant."

"Yes, and this shall be her house," said Nellie, as she placed Miss Fanny in a large arm chair which they were to "make believe" was her elegant mansion.

"You shall stay here, and I will bring Miss Mary to visit Miss Fanny."

Flora bounded over to the other side of the room, which was supposed to be the home of the other dolls, and Miss Mary, in spite of her broken leg, was soon on her way to visit the fine lady.

"Ting, a ling, a ling!" said Flora, which meant that the caller had rung the bell, and Dinah appeared at the door.

"Is Miss Fanny at home?" asked Flora, speaking for the lady with the broken leg.

"No, marm, she is not," replied Nellie, who had to speak for Dinah, because, though her mouth was very large, she could not speak for herself.

"What an awful fib!" cried Flora. "There she is; don't I see her through the door?"

"But that's just the way some of the fine folks do," replied Nellie, laughing at Flora's earnestness.

"It is an awful story, and I wouldn't say it even in fun."

Nellie said she would not say it again, only she wanted to have Miss Fanny do just as the big folks did. And so they played all the afternoon, though Lady Jane did not honor them with her company. All the dollies paid lots of visits; and Flora went home.

III.

When Flora reached home she told her mother what a nice time she had, and what splendid visits Miss Lucy and Miss Mary and Miss Susie had made to Miss Fanny.

She could not help telling her mother what a good girl Nellie was, and how she loved her sister, even when she was unkind and spoke pettishly to her.

Then she told her how much she wished Nellie had a wax doll, with real hair, and a white silk dress. Mrs. Lee thought such a good girl ought to have one, and the very next time she went to the city, she bought the prettiest wax doll she could find for her.

Flora was full of joy when she saw the doll, and learned whom it was for. She was a great deal happier than if the doll had been bought for herself; and she wanted to run right over to Mr. Green's with the beautiful present. She longed to see the eyes of Nellie sparkle as she saw the doll, and to hear what she would say when told it was for her. But Mrs. Lee thought they had better keep the doll till Christmas, and let her find it with her stocking in the morning.

"But then I shan't see her when she first gets the dolly," said Flora.

"That is true; but you must write a little note, which shall be pinned on the doll's dress."

"That will be splendid, mother! And I will go right away and write the note now."

Flora got a pencil and a piece of paper, and seated herself in the corner. She worked away for half an hour as busy as a bee, and then she carried the note to her mother. She was not much of a writer, having been to school only a year. She could only print the note.

Flora was very fond of writing notes, and long before she could make a single letter, she would fill up a piece of paper with pothooks and spiders' legs, and send them to her mother and Frank.

She did not spell all the words right, but her mother told her how to correct them, and then she printed the note over again, on a nice sheet of gilt-edged paper. Thinking my little friends might want to see this note, I place a copy of it in the book, just exactly as she wrote it.

When Christmas morning came, Nellie found the doll in a chair, close by her stocking. I can't tell you how pleased she was, but you can all guess. Then she took the note from the dress, and read it. She was more pleased than ever to find it was from Flora.

She almost cried with joy as she puzzled out the note, and thought how kind Flora and her mother were to remember her.

"What a dear you are, Miss Dolly!" said she, as she took up the doll and kissed her, just as though she had been a real live baby. "You and I shall be first-rate friends, just as long as we live. I will take such good care of you! Dear me! Why, mother! Only think!"

"What is the matter, Nellie?" asked Mrs. Green, who was almost as much pleased as her daughter.

"Did you see that?"

"What, child? What do you mean?"

"Did you see those eyes?"

"Yes, I see them."

"Why, just as true as I am alive, she moved them!"