A Christmas Hamper

A Lesson in Manners

THERE was once a dear little, queer little cat,
The sweetest kit e’er seen,
Who made up her mind to journey
To town to see the queen.

Mr. Puggy, a teacher of manners and dancing,
Gave her a lesson or two.
“Observe my instructions, Miss Tabby,
And be sure to do as I do.”

But Tabby espied her saucer of milk,
And made a dart at that,
While Pug distressfully murmured,
“What a very ill-bred cat!”

The Prize Boat

“DON’T do it, Dick!” pleaded Dolly.

“Girls always spoil sport!” growled Mark, as he saw Dick ready to give in.

“We shan’t hurt the boat! Don’t be silly, Dolly. Even if the sails do get wet, Tom can get fresh ones. And it will be better for him to know whether it will sail or not.” And the twins departed for the seashore with the boat in their hands.

How they wished they had taken Dolly’s advice, when they saw the ship, which had sailed so gallantly at first in the little cove, break from its moorings and drift out to sea!

Tom had worked very hard for the prize of £2 offered in a weekly paper for the best-made boat, not only for the sake of the money, but because the toys were to go to the Home for Orphans. And now all his work was gone.

“Oh! well, it can’t be helped,” he said good-naturedly, when his first feeling of anger had passed; “but I wish you chaps would leave my things alone.”

“But it can be helped,” said Dolly, rushing in. “See! a fisherman brought it to shore, and it isn’t a bit broken.”

So the orphans got the boat after all, and had great fun sailing it in the river near the Home; and what was perhaps more wonderful, Tom won the prize.

The Little Thief in the Pantry

“MOTHER dear,” said a little mouse one day, “I think the people in our house must be very kind; don’t you? They leave such nice things for us in the larder.”

There was a twinkle in the mother’s eye as she replied, —

“Well, my child, no doubt they are very well in their way, but I don’t think they are quite as fond of us as you seem to think. Now remember, Greywhiskers, I have absolutely forbidden you to put your nose above the ground unless I am with you, for kind as the people are, I shouldn’t be at all surprised if they tried to catch you.”

Greywhiskers twitched his tail with scorn; he was quite sure he knew how to take care of himself, and he didn’t mean to trot meekly after his mother’s tail all his life. So as soon as she had curled herself up for an afternoon nap he stole away, and scampered across the pantry shelves.

Ah! here was something particularly good to-day. A large iced cake stood far back upon the shelf, and Greywhiskers licked his lips as he sniffed it. Across the top of the cake there were words written in pink sugar; but as Greywhiskers could not read, he did not know that he was nibbling at little Miss Ethel’s birthday cake. But he did feel a little guilty when he heard his mother calling. Off he ran, and was back in the nest again by the time his mother had finished rubbing her eyes after her nap.

She took Greywhiskers up to the pantry then, and when she saw the hole in the cake she seemed a little annoyed.

“Some mouse has evidently been here before us,” she said, but of course she never guessed that it was her own little son.

The next day the naughty little mouse again popped up to the pantry when his mother was asleep; but at first he could find nothing at all to eat, though there was a most delicious smell of toasted cheese.

Presently he found a dear little wooden house, and there hung the cheese, just inside it.

In ran Greywhiskers, but, oh! “click” went the little wooden house, and mousie was caught fast in a trap.

When the morning came, the cook, who had set the trap, lifted it from the shelf, and then called a pretty little girl to come and see the thief who had eaten her cake.

“What are you going to do with him?” asked Ethel.

“Why, drown him, my dear, to be sure.”

The tears came into the little girl’s pretty blue eyes.

“You didn’t know it was stealing, did you, mousie dear?” she said.

“No,” squeaked Greywhiskers sadly; “indeed I didn’t.”

Cook’s back was turned for a moment, and in that moment tender-hearted little Ethel lifted the lid of the trap, and out popped mousie.

Oh! how quickly he ran home to his mother, and how she comforted and petted him until he began to forget his fright; and then she made him promise never to disobey her again, and you may be sure he never did.

Great-Grandmother’s Wish

“DID you ever see a fairy, grannie?” said Trots.

“No,” she said, “but my great-grandmother did.”

“Oh, do tell me!” cried Trots.

“Well, once upon a time, as she was carrying her butter to market, she picked up a crooked sixpence. And with it, and what she sold her butter for, she bought a little black pig. Now, coming home, she had to cross the brook; so she picked piggy up in her arms and carried her over the brook. And, lo, instead of a pig, there was a little fairy in her arms!”

“Oh!” cried Trots, “what was it like?”

“Well, it had a red cap on its head, and a green frock, and it had gauzy wings, and it wanted to fly away, but great-grandmother held it tight.

“‘Please let me go,’ said the fairy.

“‘What will you give me?’ said great-grandmother.

“‘I will give you one wish,’” answered the fairy.

So great-grandmother thought and thought what was the best thing to wish for, and at last she said, —

“‘Give to me and to my daughters to the eleventh generation the lucky finger and the loving heart.’

“‘You have wished a big wish,’ said the fairy, ‘but you shall have it.’” So she kissed great-grandmother’s eyes and mouth, and then she flew away.