Title: Little Crumbs, and Other Stories
Author: Anonymous
Release date: March 7, 2014 [eBook #45064]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by David Widger from page scans generously provided
by The Internet Archive
CONTENTS:
LIT-TLE ROS-A-BEL'S AD-VEN-TURE.
LIT-TLE CRUMBS, AND LIT-TLE DROPS.
IN THE DOVE COT—TWO KIND LIT-TLE GIRLS.
THE FAM-I-LY ROGUE IS CAUGHT AT LAST.
HOW DAN-NY SAID HE WAS SOR-RY.
Yes, the rob-in's nest had
been robbed—their own
rob-in's nest un-der the bush,
with its dar-ling lit-tle eggs of
the true robin's blue! The
nest was pulled out and tip-
ped on the ground, and the
love-ly eggs were gone.
"I know well e-nough," said
Beth, "that those were the
ver-y eggs that your broth-er
Jim-my was a-car-ry-ing a-bout
strung on a straw, Sat-ur-day
af-ter-noon."
"Yes," said Bes-sie, sad-ly,
"he and Dick must have found
our bush and looked un-der
it, and pulled out the nest. If
they weren't my broth-ers, I'd
nev-er speak to them in this
world any more, no, nev-er and
nev-er! I'm sor-ry they had
to come in-to the coun-try with
us, they do so much dam-age!"
"O, you'll have to speak to
them," said Beth; "but when
peo-ple do cru-el things I do
think it ought not to go as if
they had done on-ly right! I
think they ought to be left out
a while, an' I shall leave them
out of my cher-ry par-ty."
Jim-my and Dick were Bes-
sie's broth-ers; but she a-greed,
and the boys got no cards for
the cher-ry par-ty.
"It is be-cause you broke up
the rob-in's nest," said Bes-sie
se-vere-ly. "It is to make you
feel that girls don't like cru-el-
ty to birds!"
Jim-my looked so-ber for a
min-ute. Then he kicked up
his heels on the car-pet. "Ho,
ho!" said he. "Such girls a-
set-ting up to pun-ish us!
Girls that wear whole birds on
their hats all win-ter!"
Christ-mas Day some-thing
sweet hap-pened to Ba-by
Ralph—some su-gar can-dy.
Ralph had nev-er tast-ed
can-dy be-fore, and you should
have seen his big blue eyes.
"Some mo' an' some mo'
an' some mo'!" he said.
"Some more next Christ-
mas," said mam-ma. And
now ev-er-y morn-ing Ralph
asks, "Kwis'-mas this day?"
Oh, list-en while the chil-dren sing
(The first one's name is
Mol-ly),
So loud their mer-ry voi-ces ring—
(Th e sec-ond one is Dol-ly),
They sound like black-birds in
the spring
(The third is Oua-ker Pol-ly).
Lit-tle Ros-a-bel liked sto-ries
the best of any-thing in the
world; and she be-lieved that
all her lit-tle pict-ure books
were true, and O, how she did
wish she were a stor-y-book
girl her-self, and that such
things would hap-pen to her.
Dear lit-tle Ros-a-bel, she used
to go out in the green lanes
and grass-y dells and hunt for
fair-ies, and list-en for talk-ing
birds and talk-ing flow-ers.
And one day lit-tle Ros-a-
bel thought she would try one
of the sto-ries and see if it
would come true with her.
She chose the sto-ry of "Lit-tle
Red Rid-ing-hood," be-cause
she had a red hood and be-
cause she knew a poor old
wom-an who lived a-lone in an
old house. So she put a pat
of but-ter and a cust-ard-pie in
a lit-tle bask-et, tied on her red
hood, and started a-way. But
there were no woods to go
through, and so no wolf came
a-long. Ros-a-bel called "Wolf!
Wolf!" man-y times, but no
wolf came. When she came
to the old house she tried to
reach the big knock-er. But
she couldn't, so she knocked
with her lit-tle knuck-les. A
ver-y thin, low voice said, "Lift
the latch and come right in!"
Ros-a-bel did, and there was a
poor old grand-moth-er right in
bed, just like the stor-y!
"O, have you any-thing to eat
in that bask-et?" said the voice.
"I have sprained my an-kle
and I can't walk, and there has
no-bod-y been here for two
days, and I am al-most starved,
and I want some-bod-y to go
for a doc-tor. Can you go?"
Yes, Ros-a-bel could. A-way
she ran to mam-ma, and mam-
ma and the doc-tor both came,
So Ros-a-bel was not on-ly in a
real sto-ry, her-self, but she al-so
did a great deal of good.
When the first gray light
creeps in through the cur-tains
there is gen-er-al-ly a sud-den
nest-ling to be heard in the crib
that stands at one side of the
bed. Soon Ar-thur's curl-y
yel-low head pops up out of
the pil-lows.
"Are you waked up, Dol-ly-
ba-by?" calls a mer-ry voice.
"Coo-ah-goo-coo" an-swers
Dol-ly-ba-by.
"Mam-ma, I want to see
her," says Ar-thur, sit-ting up
to look o-ver.
Then mam-ma parts the lace.
cur-tains of Dol-ly-ba-by's crib,
and dis-clos-es the lit-tle sis-ter,
all sweet and ro-sy with sleep,
smil-ing on her pil-low.
"Loves Dol-ly-ba-by," says
Ar-thur, throw-ing a kiss.
Dol-ly makes fun-ny eyes at
her broth-er, and throws up
her fat lit-tle hands. "Ah-
goo-goo!" she says.
"Let me have her, please,
mam-ma," says Ar-thur.
Then Dol-ly-ba-by is lift-ed
o-ver in-to the big crib; and
there is rock-ing and sing-ing
and smil-ing and coo-ing un-til
nurse comes to car-ry both
rogues a-way to be dressed.
See how quiet it is at e-ven-
ing in the house of the Man in
the Moon. The Moon moth-
er sits down to knit baby
stock-ings like the mam-mas
here; and the Moon fa-ther
wears a smok-ing cap as oth-er
pa-pas do—and on-ly just see
what the sweet lit-tle Moon
ba-by has got for a ham-
mock!
"By-lo-by!" the Moon ba-by
sings. "How bright the earth
shines to-night! I like to
swing in the ham-mock by
earth-light!"
"I won-der if an-y-bod-y
lives in the earth," says the
Moon moth-er.
"That is some-thing I sup-
pose we nev-er shall know,"
says the Moon fa-ther.
"Crumbs of Crack-ers" and
"Drops of Milk" were, the
names of two lit-tle girls.
Would you like to know how
they got these fun-ny names?
It was this way: Lit-tle
"Crumbs" was al-ways nib-
bling crack-ers, and lit-tle
"Drops" lived up-on noth-
ing but milk.
They met for the first
time one day by the fence
be-tween their gar-dens. Lit-
tle Drops was sip-ping from
her sil-ver cup and lit-tle
Crumbs was munch-ing her
crack-er. The big sun-flower
thought there must be a dog
and a kit-ty in the gar-den.
"I've seen you out here
twice," said Crumbs bold-ly,
"and both times you was a-
drink-ing milk."
"An' I's seen you two times,
and bofe times you was a-eat-
ing cwack-ers!" said Drops.
Then the lit-tle girls looked
at each oth-er through the
fence. Bold lit-tle Crumbs
spoke first: "I don't like milk."
"I does," said Drops.
"My mam-ma says I was
brought up on one cow."
"Was you once a tru-ly
lit-tle bos-sy calf?" asked
Crumbs.
But Drops did not like that
ques-tion. "You isn't ber-ry
nice to me," she said.
Then Crumbs was sor-ry.
She held out her crack-er.
"Here!" she said. And
while Drops nib-bled, Crumbs,
to show that she was tru-ly
sor-ry, took a sip from the cup.
And this was tru-ly sor-row
in-deed, for Crumbs don't like
milk to this day.
Whith-er a-way,
Lit-tle la-dies so gay?
"O, o-ver the hill
To Grand-moth-er Dill!"
And what have you there
In your bas-ket square?
"O, pud-dings and pies,
A lit-tle sur-prise!"
Why such good-will
To Grand-moth-er Dill?
"O, ev-er-y one should
On Christ-mas do good!"
Lit-tle maids, good day!
Flow-ers strew your way!
"Coo, coo,"
said Pur-ple-
neck, "it is
break- fast
time."
"Y es," said
G r a y-wing,
"I was think-
ing of the cit-y doves. There
was a snow-storm last night."
"Yes," said Pur-ple-neck,
"but they will not suf-fer. I
am told that many a fine gen-
tle-man buys a loaf of bread
to crum-ble up for the cit-y
doves on a win-ter's day."
"H ea-ven bless 'em," said
Gray-wing.
Once there was a lit-tle
girl named I-da, who nev-er
had had a dol-ly. She nev-er
had e-ven seen one, but there
was a pic-ture in a lit-tle red
sto-ry-book
of a girl
hold-ing a
doll, and
I-da used to
look at this pic-ture ev-er-y day
and wish and wish she could
have one.
But her home
was a long
way from
an-y store, and
be-side, her
fath-er and
moth-er had
no mon-ey to
spend for
play-things.
Poor lit-tle
I-da felt worse
and worse
a-bout it, and
one night she
cried af-ter she went to bed, and
when her moth-er came and
asked what was the mat-ter she
said:
"I'm so mizh-a-ble for a
dol-ly, mam-ma!"
Mam-ma sat up long af-ter
her lit-tle girl was a-sleep and
thought a-bout it; and the next
morn-ing, when I-da woke,
there sat a dol-ly on the bu-
reau star-ing at her, a queer,
queer thing, but I-da knew
it was sure-ly a doll.
It was a great rag ba-by,
made of an old sheet, and
dressed in one of I-da's pink
cal-i-co a-prons, and it had black
thread hair, and blue but-ton
eyes, a rag nose, and red ink
lips—but oh! how de-li-cious
it was to hold, and hug, and
love! All the sweet names
I-da could think of were giv-en
her: "Pret-ty," and "Dar-
ling," and "Fair-y," and "Sun-
shine." And lit-tle I-da was
not "mizh-a-ble" an-y more.
Dan-ny was a hand-some lit-
tle boy, but not al-ways a
good lit-tle boy. Some-times
he was so naught-y that you
could see sparks of fire in
his soft black eyes, and he
would dou-ble his chub-by lit-
tle hands up in-to fists, and
stamp his feet, and look ex-
actly as though he were go-
ing to strike some-bod-y.
One day when mam-ma
was sick with head-ache he
had one of these bad times
with his tem-per.
"I don't wish to walk with
El-len," he cried, "an' I won't!
I want a play-walk with you,
mam-ma! El-len don't talk
with me, an' she won't let
me drive her at all! I want
a play-walk with my mam-ma,
I say! Do you hear, mam-ma!
Mam-ma heard. She felt
as though the naught-y lit-tle
boots had come down with
a stamp right on her head.
She knew ver-y well it was
nicer for a lit-tle boy to walk
with a mam-ma who would
a-muse him and take part in
his lit-tle plays, than with a
nurse, but she could not go,
and when Dan-ny stamped
and roared, he had to be sent
out of the room quick-ly, and
with-out e-ven a kiss.
It was a much-a-shamed
lit-tle boy that went stub-bing
a-long in the dust right in
the mid-dle of the road a
half-hour aft-er. His lit-tle
heart was strug-gling to find
some way to say how sor-ry
he was. There were no flow-
ers to pick for a nose-gay, and
it was too late for e-ven a
stray black-ber-ry.
But just be-fore din-ner
mam-ma woke, and there was
a great cloud of col-or, red
and gold, right be-fore her,
and shin-ing o-ver it, a pair
of silk-en-fringed black eyes,
so soft and lov-ing and sor-ry
that mam-ma gath-ered her
lit-tle boy, and the great arm-
ful of au-tumn leaves right
in-to her arms, and in one
lit-tle min-ute all the naugh-
ti-ness was loved a-way.
Bring the black horse, bring the red sleigh
Miss Rose-bud her-self goes rid-ing to-day!
Once on a time—the story-
book time when an-i-mals wore
clothes and could talk—there
were three mod-el mice. Their
names were Gray Cloak, Fine
Ear and Sat-in Slip-per.
Sat-in Slip-per had a spoon of
her own, Fine Ear had a knife,
and Gray Cloak owned a fork.
One day they thought they
would club the knife and the
fork and the spoon to-geth-er,
and keep house. As they
were mod-el mice, they eas-i-ly
a-greed where to live. They
chose Farm-er Jones' cel-lar,
be-cause there were bar-rels of
ap-ples, bas-kets of eggs, and
shelves loaded with good-ies,
and an egg, or an ap-ple, or a
stray cake would not be missed.
"I lived once," said Gray
Cloak, "in the cel-lar of a
wom-an who bought by the
doz-en or the dime's worth,
and she missed the least lit-
tle thing at once, so that fi-
nal-ly I left in dis-gust."
Such good times as those
three mice had! The cel-lar
had a smooth, wa-ter-limed
floor, a beau-ti-ful place to play
mar-bles, blind-man's-buff and,
Kit-ty-kit-ty-cor-ner. They al-
ways ate from the same egg,
and as Farm-er Jones kept his
cats at the barn, there was
noth-ing to spoil their com-
fort for many years.
One time when pa-pa and
mam-ma were gone, Ann staid
out at the gate and talked
with oth-er cooks, and left
Ba-by Joe and Sue, and Flake
and Fleece all a-lone, and
Ba-by Joe want-ed to "go
bed." So, like a lit-tle wom-
an, Sue took off her own
lit-tle clothes and un-dressed
Ba-by Broth-er, and then Ba-
by Broth-er would-n't have on
his night-gown and cried, and
Ann did-n't come in to help,
though Fleece and Flake
barked to her loud, very loud.
What did pa-pa and mam-ma
see when they came? Four
lit-tle white crea-tures, nest-ed
in two big chairs; Ba-by Joe
and Sue a-sleep in one, Flake
and Fleece in an-oth-er.
A FIN-GER SONG.
{To be said on Ba-by s Fin-gers.)
I. Shall have an ap-ple;
II. Shall have a pear;
III. Shall have a lit-tle kid, of which he'll take good care;
IV. Shall have some can-dy;
V. Shall have a ride;
VI. Shall have a lit-tle sword, all buck-led on his side;
VII. Shall have a po-ny;
VIII. Shall have a sled;
IX. Shall have a dream-ing cap, and
X. Shall go to bed,
The birds in the grove
know lit-tle farm-house Kate.
The fish-es in the brook know
lit-tle farm-house Kate. She
is the girl that walks a-bout
with her a-pron full of nice
crumbs.
The first morn-ing this win-
ter that the brook froze o-ver,
Kate went down to the bank
and broke the ice with a stick,
and fed the fish-es with bread'
crumbs.
Tom-my goes ev-er-y day to
look at a board in the gar-den
fence. There are four lit-tle
hacks in that board, one a-bove
an-oth-er, made with a knife,
the first hack shows how tall
Tom-my was when he was one
year old; the sec-ond how tall
when he was two; the third
how tall when he was three;
and yes-ter-day Nel-ly made a
hack for the fourth birth-day.
Floss and Fluff were the
hap-pi-est dogs in the world.
Floss knew how to snap, and
Fluff knew how to whine,
and if they had been let to
go hun-gry, or cold, or had
been scold-ed, they'd have
been cross, naught-y dogs.
But Floss and Fluff had
good mas-ter. He was a
lit-tle boy on-ly six years
old, but he was a first-rate
mas-ter. His pa-pa said when
he brought Floss and Fluff
home:
"Now, Fred-dy, just as
long as these lit-tle fel-lows
are hap-py, just so long they
are yours!"
Fred-dy knew what that
meant. He fed his beau-ti-ful
pets at reg-u-lar hours ev-er-y
day, and e-ver-y day he combed
and brushed them, and ev-er-y
day he took them out for a
a frol-ic, and they had their
baths at the right time, and
he nev-er held up a bone and
did not give it to them. Be-
cause he was so prompt and
true and kind, Fred-dy was
hap-py, and so were Fluff
and Floss.
This is lit-tle Ro-sa-belle—
No! I beg her par-don,
This is Ma-dame Mob-cap,
Walk-ing in her gar-den.
What a fine cap it is!
What a wide bor-der!
Spec-ta-cles and walk-ing-stick,
And ev-er-y-thing in or-der.
Hop, toads, clear the way!
Bees, hush your hum-ming!
La-dy-birds and but-ter-flies,
Grand folks are com-ing!
Nev-er think she'll look at you,
Vi-o-lets and dai-sies!
You're quite too in-sig-nif-i-cant
For such a la-dy's prais-es.
She must have a king-cup,
And a prince's feath-er,
With a crown-im-pe-ri-al,
Tied up to-geth-er.
That will suit your Maj-es-ty,
Ma-dame Ro-sa-bel-la!
And here's a gold-en sun-flow-er
To make you an um-brel-la.
"Pooh!" says lit-tle Ro-sa-belle,
Pluck-ing some car-na-tions;
"You may keep your sun-flow-ers,
And all their rich re-la-tions.
"Give me a bunch of vi-o-lets,
And one of those white ros-es,
And take your crown-im-pe-ri-al
To folks that have no nos-es."
The ba-by in the house and
the ba-by in the barn, are
great friends. The barn ba-
by is not per-mit-ted to come
in-to the house, but the house
ba-by vis-its the barn ev-er-y
day.
The house ba-by is a year
old, and the barn ba-by is
just a year old too; but the
house ba-by can on-ly take
lit-tle trem-bling steps, hold-
ing fast by moth-er's hand,
while the barn ba-by, if he
can on-ly get out of doors,
throws up his heels and runs
a-cross the fields, and no-bod-y
can catch him. The house
ba-by laughs to see him go, and
dear-ly likes his red hair, and
feel his two stout lit-tle horns,
And I think the barn ba-by likes to
feel the soft hand of
his lit-tle
friend
from the
house, for
some-times
there is salt, and
some-times there
is su-gar on the
lit-tle pink palm,
and the barn ba-
by licks it off
with his rough
tongue. Once the barn ba-by
tried to say, "Thank you."
He tried this way: He reached
his head up and licked the
house ba-by's rose-pink cheek. The
house ba-by was scared, and so was the
house ba-by's moth-er—and she ran in-to
the house with him just as fast as she could; and
then pa-pa laughed at them both, and the barn ba-by
stood and looked over the fence for half an hour.
Bo-peep was Jack Hor-ner's
lit-tle sis-ter. When he had
his Christ-mas pie she was a
wee ba-by. But the next
Christ-mas, mam-ma hung up
her own lit-tle red-and-white
speck-led stock-ing for her.
Christ-mas morning there
was a great time. Bo-peep
sat on the bed, and shouted
"Goo! goo!" and pulled the
things out her-self from the
gay lit-tle stuffed stock-ing.
A lit-tle white rab-bit peeped
out at the top. His eyes were
made of pink beads. He had
a clov-er leaf in his mouth.
Then came a chi-na pus-sy,
black and yel-low and white.
Then a brown mouse and a
white one. The brown mouse
was choc-o-late. The white
one was su-gar: and Bo-peep
bit off the choc-o-late tail
and a su-gar ear at once.
There was a knit dol-ly, in
a bright blue dress and blue
shoes.
And a-way down in the toe
of the stock-ing, there was a
lit-tle chi-na hen. She sat in
her nest. The nest was chi-na
too. Bo-peep took her off, and
what do you think she had for
eggs? Pink-and-white car-a-
way seeds!
When Bo-peep went to bed
that night, the lit-tle red stock-
ing was left on the car-pet. In
the morn-ing mam-ma heard a
rus-tle in the stock-ing, and
shook it. Out ran a gray
mous-ie, a real, live mous-ie!
Two or three of Bo-peep's
lit-tle pink-and-white car-a-way
eggs had stayed in the toe of
the stock-ino-. Mous-ie had
smelt them in the night, and had
crept in to get his share of Christ-mas
So Bo-peep thinks she had
two Christ-mas morn-ings.
Wasn't that fun-ny?
