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LITTLE CRUMBS AND OTHER STORIES

By Anonymous

Fully Illustrated

Boston: D. Lothrop And Company

1885



A GRAVE CONSULTATION,--"I SHALL LEAVE THEM OUT OF MY CHERRY PARTY."

[Illustration: 0005]


JIM-MY'S AN-SWER.

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!"




SOME-THING SWEET.


[Illustration: 9007]


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?"



[Illustration: 8007]

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).




A CHRIST-MAS CAROL, LIT-TLE ROS-A-BEL'S AD-VEN-TURE.


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?"

[Illustration: 0009]

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.




MORN-ING AT OUR HOUSE.

[Illustration: 9010]

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.

[Illustration: 8010]

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.




MOON FOLKS.

[Illustration: 8011]

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.


[Illustration: 0012]


[Illustration: 0013]




LIT-TLE CRUMBS, AND LIT-TLE DROPS.

"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.




IN THE DOVE COT--TWO KIND LIT-TLE GIRLS.


[Illustration: 8015]

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!



[Illustration: 9015]

"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.




I-DA'S DOLL.

[Illustration: 0016]

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.


[Illustration: 0017]




THE FAM-I-LY ROGUE IS CAUGHT AT LAST.


[Illustration: 0018]




HOW DAN-NY SAID HE WAS SOR-RY.

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.


[Illustration: 0020]




MISS ROSE-BUD,

[Illustration: 0021]

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.


[Illustration: 9022]

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.


[Illustration: 0023]


[Illustration: 0024]




WHAT PA-PA AND MAM-MA SAW.


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.


[Illustration: 0025]




A FIN-GER SONG.--LIT-TLE KATE.


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,




KATE FEEDS THE FISH-ES.

[Illustration: 9026]



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.




MEAS-UR-ING TOM-MY.

[Illustration: 0027]


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.



[Illustration: 0028]




CHILD-LIFE ON THE FARM.-- A NO-VEM-BER RAIN.


[Illustration: 0030]




A LIT-TLE MAS-TER.


[Illustration: 9030]


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.




MA-DAME MOB-CAP.


MA-RY E. BRAD-LEY.



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."




UN-DER THE EAVES.


[Illustration: 0032]


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.


[Illustration: 0033]




BO-PEEP'S STOCK-ING.


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?


[Illustration: 0035]










End of Project Gutenberg's Little Crumbs and Other Stories, by Anonymous