VI.
THE LORD'S DAY.
ONE day, when Rose, Tom, and Ned waked, they sat up in bed, and be-gan to throw things at each oth-er, and to talk, and laugh, and sing-.
Mam-ma came in from her room, and said, "My dear boys, and Rose, do you know what day this is?"
Soon Rose said, "Why, yes, mam-ma; it is Sun-day. I did not think!"
"Yes, it is the Lord's Day, and I want my dear ones to keep it in mind, and try to be still. Keep the day ho-ly, as God has told us to do, and then it will be sure to be a hap-py day."
"May we go with you to church to-day, mam-ma?" said Tom.
"Yes, dear, we will all go. I mean to take our wee Ned to-day. We will see if he can keep still, and be a good boy."
"0, good! I am glad," said Ned; and he be-gan to jump up and down in his crib, and clap his hands.
"We have to keep as still as mice, Ned," said Rose; "how will you like that?"
"I can keep still," said the lit-tle boy; "now you will see."
"I know my lit-tle Ned will try," said his mam-ma; "but it may be hard work for him at first. Here comes Jane; now spring up and dress."
The church to which Mr. and Mrs. Dale went was in the town; there was none near their home.
So they had to ride to church; but the lit-tle ones did not mind that; it was nice for them.
If they had lived near a church, so they could walk to it, Mr. Dale would not have got out the horse on Sun-day.
They went in good time, so that they could stop at Aunt Kate's house, and rest, till the bell rang.
Aunt Kate lived quite near the church. She was glad to have them come, and go with her.
This day she was glad to see wee Ned. She said, "So my boy Ned is to go to church to-day! That is nice! I think I shall have to try I-da next, if we find that Ned can keep still."
I-da was Aunt Kate's lit-tle girl. She was not quite as old as Ned. Ned was six months old-er.
"0, Aunt Kate," said Rose, "do, do take her to-day! It will be so nice; and let her sit with me."
"0, no, my love; we will try Ned first, and by and by I-da shall go. I hope they will both love to go to the House of God."
Aunt Kate lent wee Ned a nice book, with pic-tures in it, to look at in church, to help him to sit still.
When the bell be-gan to ring, they all went. The church was full, but Rose and Tom did not stare, or look a-round, or talk of what they saw.
Rose had her book, for she could read, and Tom had a book, too, but he could not keep the place, as Rose did.
Was Ned a good boy? Yes, that he was. And mam-ma gave him a kiss, when they went back, and said, "Ned shall go next time, for he sat quite still."
They went home with kind Aunt Kate, at noon; and then once more to church.
Then pa-pa got up old Dick a-gain, and took them all home.
Dick went fast, on the way home, to get soon to his barn. He liked his own barn more than the stall in town.
VII.
THE SING-ING TIME.
WHEN they got home, the horse was put up, and they had their tea.
Then Rose said, "Now it is our time to sing. May we sing now, mam-ma? and will you play for us?"
"Yes, dear, you may come in-to the par-lor now, and we will sing some hymns."
So Rose, and Tom, and Ned stood by their mam-ma, who was to play for them; and pa-pa came too, to help them sing. The first hymn was-
"Come and sing, 0, let us sing."
Do you know that hymn? I like it. "Now," said Tom, "let us sing-
"'Je-sus, when He left the sky.'"
So they did: they all liked that, for each verse ends with-
"Lit-tle ones like me."
Then it was Ned's turn to ask. Rose and Tom knew what he would ask for: he said, "Mam-ma, sing-
"'Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bi-ble tells me so.' "
That was Ned's hymn; he could sing the tune, but he did not know- all the words.
When they had sung one or two more, it was near dark; Jane and Ruth came in to pray-ers, and then it was bed-time.
"Has it been a happy day?" said mam-ma, when they came to kiss her "good night."
"Yes, 0 yes," said Rose. And Tom said, "Sun-day is the best of all the days."
VIII.
THE WET DAY.
ONE day, when les-sons were done, Tom and Rose ran for their hats, to go out to play. But mam-ma saw them, and she said, "You can-not go out now, my dears, for it is wet. Look out and see how the rain comes down."
"0, dear!" said Tom; "I wish it did not rain. I want to have some fun."
"Rain, rain,
Go to Spain,"
said Rose, with a laugh.
"See," said Jane, "how fast the rain- drops fall on the glass. How they do come! Do you know the song for a wet day ? "
"No, Jane; what is it? Will you tell us?"
So Jane said this song for them:
"0, where do you come from,
You lit-tle drops of rain?
Pit-ter, pat-ter, pit-ter, pat-ter,
On the win-dow pane.
"You won't let me work,
And you won't let me play,
You won't let me go
Out of doors at all to-day.
"The lit-tle raindrops can-not talk,
But 'Pit-ter, pat-ter, pat,'
Means, 'We can play on this side,
Why can't you play on that?"'
Rose and Tom both said that was a nice song.
"Well, then," said Jane, "why don't you do as the rain-drops say? They can play out-side, and you can play in-side, where it is nice and dry."
"So we can, and so we will," said Tom.
"Play on, you rain-drops. You need not stop for us, for we can play in the house."
"Mam-ma," said Rose, "may we go up in the big west room, and have a real good play?"
"Yes, if you will shut the door, and take good care that Ned does not fall down the steps."
"Yes, we will," said Rose; and off they ran.
The west room had a bare floor, and Mrs. Dale kept in it box-es, and bags, and such things, that were not in use.
"What shall we play now?" said Tom. "0, let us play 'Hide and Seek.' We can hide be-hind some box or trunk."
"So we will. Now, Ned, you must shut your eyes, so! and you must not look till Rose calls ' Coo.' Then you and I will find her."
So Ned put his two fat hands on his eyes, to keep them shut.
When Rose cried, "Coo!" they went to find her. At last, they found her in- side of an old trunk.
Then Tom hid, and when he was found, lit-tle Ned hid him-self; but he did not keep still long, he was so full of fun.
When they were tired of this game, Rose said, "Now let us play 'Puss in the Cor-ner.'
"This is the way to play it. Put Ned in one cor-ner, and you stand in a cor-ner, Tom, and I will stand here.
"When I call, 'Puss, Puss!' then we all run, and try to get in one of the cor-ners; if I get in, and you are left out, then you must stand and call."
"Well," said Tom, "I like that." This play was as much fun as "Hide and Seek."
Then they play-ed they were mice, come out to get a bit of cake. Once Tom saw a lit-tle mouse, on the shelf in the pan-try, and Tom liked to play "mice" since that time.
They put some bits of wood on the top of a box, to play it was cake. Then they all came round to get some; and then one would cry, "Mew!" as if the cat were near by, and off they would run, fast as they could, to their holes.
By and by Tom said, "Why, I hear the bell! How soon it is tea-time! "
It was soon af-ter din-ner, when they went up to play, and they had had such a good time that they did not know how late it was.
IX.
THE CHIPS AND THE CAKES.
ONE day, Tom and Ned were at play in the back yard.
They were on a pile of logs; they had it for the stage; Ned was in the stage, and Tom drove, with a big stick for a whip.
Tom had reins tied on the saw-horse; he called it a real horse.
Ruth came to the door just then, and said, "What dear, good lit-tle boys will come and pick up a pan of chips for me? My fire has got low, just as I want to bake, and I want some nice chips so much."
Then Tom said, in a cross tone, "0, Ruth, you are sure to come and want some-thing, just as we are in a real nice play. I wish you would not spoil all our fun."
Ned was sure to act just as Tom did; so he said, "Go way, bad Ruth! you spoil our play!"
"So no one will pick up some chips for me! Then I must do it my own self," said Ruth.
" Some time I will, Ruth," said Tom; "I don't feel like it now."
"Ah! but I must have the chips now, you see," said Ruth. And she got her pan full, and went in.
In a short time the lit-tle boys were tired of that play, and they be-gan to want some-thing" to eat. So they ran in- to the house.
Ruth was just go-ing to bake. Tom and Ned came and stood by, to see her roll and cut out her nice cakes.
"0, Ruth," said Tom, " do make some wee, wee bits of cakes, such as you made last week for us. Then Rose can get her tea-set out, and we can play tea with them. It is such fun!"
"0, yes," said Ned, " do make fun-ny lit-tle cakes, Ruth; do. "
"But you said I was 'bad Ruth' just now ; and how can I make cakes for boys that will not pick up chips, to help me ?"
Tom and Ned hung down their heads. How they did wish they had been kind, and done as Ruth asked them to.
At last Tom said, "Shall I get some chips now?"
"Why, if you like, you may; but my fire burns well now, with the chips I had to get my-self."
"Won't you make us some cakes, Ruth-not a bit?" said Ned, in a sor-ry tone.
"Well, I like to for-give folks that are bad to me; so I think I will make the lit-tle cakes; and may-be, next time I want some help, my boys will be kind to me."
"0, yes, we will, you dear, good Ruth," said Tom. "And we will get a big box full of chips now for you. Come, Ned."
X.
MIKE AND HIS WIFE.
MIKE was the name of the man who did all kinds of work on the place for Mr. Dale.
Mr. Dale had a store in the town, and he went in to see to his store each morn-ing, and got back to his home just in time for tea.
Some-times he drove to town with old Dick, but some-times he went by the cars, which came quite near his house,- less than half a mile.
As Mr. Dale was at his store in town all day, he could not tend the gar-den, nor hoe the corn in the lot, nor feed the pig, nor milk the cow, nor care for the horse; so Mike did all these things.
Mike was a good man, and did all his work well.
He lived with his wife in a small brown house, just at the end of the gar-den.
Mike's wife kept her bit of a house as neat as a pink. Rose and Tom and Ned, too, liked to go and see Mike and his wife, and they were glad to have them come.
Their mam-ma often let them go to Mike's house, for she knew they would get no harm there.
The name of Mike's wife was Mrs. Ry-an, but the lit-tle ones call-ed her "O-ney."
Rose gave her that name when she was a bit of a girl. "O-ney" lived with them then; but soon Mike asked her to be his wife, and live with him in the brown house, and so she did.
XI.
THE LOST CAT.
"WHERE can our Puss be?" said Tom; "I don't find her, and I have look-ed all over the house."
"And I had a hunt for her to-day, and last night," said Rose, with a grave face, for she be-gan to fear that Puss was lost.
"Let us ask Ruth and Jane if they have seen her."
"Ruth, have you seen Tab to-day? We can-not find her at all."
"She came for her milk as soon as I came down this morn-ing," said Ruth; "and she came last night; I do not think she is lost."
"Is it the cat you want, dears?" said Mike, who was at the door, with some wood. "Sure an' she is all safe."
"0, Mike, can you find her for us?" said Rose.
"I can, but sure she will not like it much if I show you her place."
"But, Mike, she is my own cat, and she ought to mind me, and come when I want her," said Rose.
"Well, now, if you would just let her be for two days, and not try hunt her up, or keep her here if she wants to be off, then I will show you what will make you all jump for joy."
"Two more long days," said Tom, "with no Puss!"
"What will you show us, Mike? Do tell me."
"0, I must not tell," said Mike, with a look at Ruth; "sure an' it would make the time seem too long."
"Well," said Rose, with a sigh, "we will try to wait; but can we play with her if she does come home?"
"0, yes; but don't keep her if she wants to go out of the door."
They did not see Puss that day; Ruth had put some bits, and a pan of milk for her, in the shed, and she came and got them when no one was by.
But the next day, when Rose came down-stairs, she heard her "mew" out- side the door.
Rose ran to o-pen the door.
"Here you are, dear old Tab!" said she. "Now tell me, your own self, where you have been; for Mike will not tell."
But Puss had no word to say. Tom and Ned came down then, and Rose call-ed them to see Puss.
She took her milk, and ate some meat; and then she let them play with her till the bell rang for them to g-o in.
When they left the ta-ble, and came out, she was off.
"0, dear," said Tom, "how odd it is that Mike will not tell us! It seems as if I could not wait."
"Try to think of some-thing else," said Ruth. "Like as not you would not want to play with Puss, if she were here. Do not think of her at all, till Mike tells you you may see her."
XII.
WHAT MIKE HAD TO SHOW.
ROSE and Tom did try not to think of Puss, and as for Ned, he was such a mite of a boy, he soon for-got what Mike said.
When the two days were past, Mike came to the door for the lit-tle ones.
They were not quite done with. their books when he came.
"0, mam-ma, let us go with Mike now, and see our Puss; for he will be off at work by and by, and can-not show her to us."
So mam-ma let them go. Mike took Ned in his arms, and led the way to the barn.
Then he took them, one by one, up to the loft, where the hay was, and led them to a snug spot, where they saw old Tab, in a bed of hay.
And, by her side, were three dear lit-tle kits.
"0, 0, 0!" cried Rose, and Tom, and Ned; and they did jump for joy, as Mike said they would.
One kit-ten was all white, one was white with dark spots, and one was a dark grey.
The chil-dren each took up one. Old Puss said, "Mew! mew!" quite in fear at first; but she saw they did not mean to hurt her kits, so she kept still, but she kept her eye on them.
"So you came off to take care of your kits!" said Rose to her old Tab; "that was a dear, good Puss. But why did you not tell us that day, Mike?"
"Sure, the kits were too small and weak for you to take up in your hands. I thought you might hurt them; and if you did, may-be old Puss would have had them off in some new place, where we could not get at them."
"How could she take them off?" said Tom; "she has no arms."
"Stay a bit; put that one down, off here, and keep you still, and see what she will do."
Tom did so. Soon the kit-ten be-gan to cry, and cry, and creep a-bout. Then old Tab ran and took the kit up in her mouth, by the back of its neck, and ran with it to her bed.
"0, bad Puss!" cried Ned, "to bite the dear lit-tle kit-ty."
"Sure she did not hurt it at all," said Mike; "that is her way to lift them. The kit was glad to feel her hold of it."
"May we take them to the house, and show them to mam-ma?" said Rose.
"0, no! do not try to move them to-day; let them be here a day or two more, and then I will coax them down from the loft, and we will give Puss a soft bed for them in the barn, be-low, or in the shed, or wash-room."
"Can we come up here and see them?" asked Tom.
"I will lift you up here a-gain, when I come back from my work," said Mike; "but sure you will not try to get up here by your-self?"
"No, pa-pa will not let us," said Tom; "I wish he would."
"0, may-be pa-pa will be home in time to come out with us, and see them to-night," said Rose.
"That's so! we will tell him of the dear kits, as soon as he gets home."
"But poor mam-ma will have to wait; she can-not get up the lad-der."
"Ah!" said Mike, "sure your mam-ma, bless her! knows how to wait, as you, bits of things, do not, yet."
XIII.
THE THREE KIT-TENS.
ROSE and Tom and Ned told each one in the house all a-bout "the dear, sweet lit-tle kit-tens," as they called them.
Rose told her dolls, too; and Tom told Tray.
He took Tray by his ears, so that he could look right in his eyes, and said,-
"Now, dear old Tray, I want to tell you! We have got three dear lit-tle kits, and by and by we shall have them here to play with. But you must not bark at them, nor hurt them; no, nor scare them, will you? Say you will be kind to the kits, like a good old dog."
"Bow, wow, wow!" said Tray. This might mean that he would, or that he would not, or that he did not like to have his ears held. I think it was the last. Tom felt sure he would be a good dog, and not hurt the kits.
In a few days, Mike brought down the kit-tens; they were put in a box, with a soft old mat in it, in the wood-shed.
Mam-ma said Rose and Tom and Ned might each own one of the kits.
Rose was to choose first, for she was the old-est. But she said, "We will let Ned choose first."
Ned said, "0, I want the dear lit-tle white kit-ty for my kitty."
So did Rose, and so did Tom, like that best. But they both said it should be lit-tle Ned's.
Of the oth-ers, Tom liked the gray one best, and Rose liked the one with spots. So it was all fixed, in a nice way. Now, if they had all said, "I want the white kit-ty! I choose the white one for mine!" what a sad time there would have been o-ver the kits!
XIV.
THE BIG DOLL.
ROSE had three dolls. Two of them were just a-bout the size that I think a lit-tle girl likes best to play with; that is, a-bout a foot and a half long. One of these was a love of a doll; it was of wax, with hair in curls, and blue eyes, and pink cheeks. It would cry, too, if you gave it a good pinch; but Rose did not like to make her child cry.
The name that Rose gave this doll was "Lu-lu." It was sent to her when she was but two years old, but her mam-ma did not let her have it to play with, till she knew how to take good care of it.
Rose oft-en said, "Mam-ma, I am glad you kept Lu-lu in a nice box, and did not let me have her when I was a lit-tle girl."
The oth-er doll, that was of a good size, had a head that would not break.
It was not so pret-ty as the wax doll, but Rose took good care of her, and played with her, too. She said, "Poor Fan would feel bad-ly if she saw I liked Lu-lu the best."
Then Rose had a big- doll; her name was May. This doll was a great care to Rose. It was sent to her by a lady, who lived in a town far a-way.
It was a fine doll, with nice clothes, but it was too big for the doll's bed, and too big for the cart, and for the doll's chair.
Rose gave her a long talk, one day. She said, "May, I do wish you would try not to vex me so. You will put your feet right in the way, and you will not stand, or walk, or act as such a big girl should. You act as if you had come from the back-woods. What am I to do with you?"
Mam-ma was in the next room, where she could hear this.
She had a laugh to herself; then she said, "Rose, dear, do you not ask too much of poor May?"
Rose came out with the doll in her arms.
"What can I do with her, mam-ma? I can-not make her mind, like Lu-lu and Fan."
"You can play she was most grown up, and that she had a weak spine, and had to lie down much of the time. You can let her have a book to read, and take her food to her so-fa."
"That will be nice! so I can; now I shall like to play with May."
In the pic-ture, you see Rose talk-ing to poor May.
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