One day Kitty’s mother called her little daughter to her, and taking both her dimpled dots of hands in her own soft white ones, said, “Kitty, my darling, I am going to New York this morning, to see your dear grandma’, and I shall have to leave the house in your charge until I come back.  Do you think you can be my little housekeeper for to-day?”

“Oh yes, mamma!  I should like that so much!  I will keep house as well as you that is, ’most, not quite!” and Kitty jumped up and down for joy at being trusted with such important affairs.

“You must take care of dear little Luly and Walter, you know; see that they have their dinners fixed right, and go out walking with them and nurse; and if any company comes, you must go down and see them, and say that mamma has gone to New York, will you?”

“Yes, mamma; I will be just as good as pie!” said Kitty, earnestly; “Luly and Wawa will like to have me for a mother, I guess.”

“Yes; you are their Little Mother for to-day,” said her mamma.  “I know you love me, Kitty, and want to save me all the trouble you can; it will be a great comfort to me, while I am away, to feel that I can trust you perfectly;” and she kissed the little, rosy cheek, I’m sure I can’t tell how many times, and Kitty felt so proud and happy that she only wished she had been trusted with a much larger family of little brothers and sisters, instead of two; that she might show the more what an excellent Little Mother she intended to be.  You would wish so too, wouldn’t you! yes, of course!

Kitty May lived with her papa and mamma, Luly and Walter, Mary the nurse, and Betty the cook, three brown horses, two red cows, a black dog, and a white kitten, at a beautiful country seat up the Hudson River.  She was only eight years old, but her obedience to her parents, and tender, loving care of her little brother and sister, were beautiful to see, and a shining example to some little girls I know.  On the day that I am telling you about, her papa had gone to town, as usual, early in the morning, and now here was mamma going too, and Kitty would be left to play lady of the house as grand as anything.

Well, the carriage was brought to the door, and mamma got in, after kissing her little family all round about twenty times.  Everybody rushed to the front piazza to bid her good-by in their own fashion.  Trip, the black dog, jumped and barked around the horses, until they nearly kicked him, when he sprang away, snapping out, “No, you don’t! no, you don’t!” Dody, the white kitten, so called by Walter for “Daisy,” mewed as hard as she could from Luly’s arms.  Walter crowed and chuckled, and said, “Boo-bi!” meaning good-by; Luly lisped, “Dood-by, dear mamma, div my yove to gan’ma;” and Kitty said, “Good-by, mamma; I’ll be a famous Little Mother see if I’m not!” And so the carriage drove away.

When it was quite out of sight, the little girls skipped and climbed, and wee Walter was carried by nurse up stairs into the nursery; and Kitty said, “Now, Mary, you can just go on with your sewing; you needn’t mind us a bit.  I’m going to take care of the children; mamma said so.”

“Very well, Miss Kitty,” said Mary; “I’ll sit in the window here, and if you want me, you can call.”

So Mary fixed little Walter in his chair, and Luly got hers, and Kitty sat down in her mamma’s rocking chair, to be grander.

Walter’s chair had a little tray fastened before it, on which his toys were put.  His dearest plaything was a ridiculous old doll, with no eyes, half a wig, such a dilapidated pair of kid arms that the stuffing came bursting through in every direction, making her look as if she had a cotton plantation inside her, and the bolls were sprouting out; and such an extremely short pair of legs in proportion to her body, that it seemed as if they must shut into her like a pair of telescopes.  Besides this, there was a stale sugar peacock without a tail, a monkey that ran up and down a stick, and a woolly dog that could open his mouth and bark when you pressed him underneath; but the doll was the prime favorite, after all.  Walter called her Gawow, and as nobody in the house could imagine what he meant by it, it was supposed to be a pure piece of invention, and a very fine sort of thing.

The children played on peaceably together for some time, when all at once there came a ring at the bell.

“Dear me!” cried Kitty, springing up and smoothing down her little black silk apron in a great flurry.  “There comes company, and I’m to go and see them.”

“Ou!” said Luly; “me want to see tompany too!”

“And so you shall, you little darling!” said Kitty, kissing her; and, sure enough, up came Ellen, the waiter, to say that the good minister, Mr. Lacy, was down stairs; for Mrs. May had smilingly told her, before she went, that “Miss Kitty would see any one who called.”

In high glee, yet somewhat awed by her grown-up dignity, Kitty let Mary brush her soft brown braided wig and Luly’s golden curly one; then she rushed into her mother’s room in a hurry, called Luly out into the entry, and the little sisters took hold of hands and went down stairs to see the company.

Mr. Lacy was sitting by the window, looking out on the beautiful garden, and did not know the children had entered until he felt a mite of a hand put softly on his, and heard two little pipy voices saying, “How do you do, Mr. Lacy?” The minister turned round and burst right out laughing! for Kitty, when she ran into her mother’s room, had put on what do you think? why, one of mamma’s caps, which was lying on the dressing table! and the queer little thing looked so funny with the lace cap perched on top of her head, that Mr. Lacy laughed heartily, and said, “Why, Kitty! are you the old woman that lived in a shoe? or have you got bald all of a sudden, that you have taken to caps?”

“Oh, I’m Little Mother!” said Kitty; “mamma has gone to the city, and left me to take care of the children, and the house, and Dody, and Trip, until she comes back; and I’m Little Mother to all of them.”

“Well, Little Mother,” said Mr. Lacy, who was none of your cross, crabbed old ministers, with faces as sour as vinegar, and voices as sharp as a needle, who frighten children half out of their wits, forgetful that “of such is the kingdom of heaven;” “I hope your children will be well brought up, and learn all they should.  What does this one know?” lifting Luly to his knee.

“I know ’ittle hymn,” said Luly, smiling up confidently in his face.

“Can’t you say it for me?” asked the minister.  “What is it all about?”

“’Bout ’at a ’ittle child can do,” lisped Luly.

“Say it, Luly,” said Kitty.

Luly folded her cunning fat hands over each other, and crossed her feet.  Then she looked up sideways in Mr. Lacy’s face, and sucked her tongue a little bit, and at last, all at once, in a little singing voice, she began: 

“I’m a very ’ittle maid;
Hardly can I talk, ’tis true;
Yet mamma I’d love to aid
What can ’ittle Luly do?

“I can go, on busy feet,
Errands for her all day through;
Work for her, I feel, is sweet
This can ’ittle Luly do!

“I can hold the gate long skein
When ’tis tangled and askew;
Never wanting to compain
This can ’ittle Luly do!

“I can search, her book to find,
And be glad to do it, too! 
I can always quickly mind
This can ’ittle Luly do!

“I can ever go up stairs
Cheerfully, when falls the dew;
And with yev’yence say my prayers
This can ’ittle Luly do!

“God will help me, if I try;
He good children loves to view;
Dear Lord Jesus, from on high,
Pease tell Luly what to do!”

“Ah! that is a beautiful hymn,” said the good minister.  “Don’t you know any, Little Mother?”

“I am learning a beautiful hymn,” said Kitty, “but I don’t know it yet not quite.”

“No?” said Mr. Lacy.  “Then I shall have to tell you something myself, I declare.  Here, sit down beside me, and listen very attentively.”

Now, what do you think the minister told them?  “Some dreadful, dismal story, full of dreadful, wicked children, who were sent to prison, I suppose; or an account of how, if they ever dared to run down stairs, or look out of the window, or sneeze in church, on Sundays, they never would get to Heaven!” perhaps you will say.  Not a bit of it.  He just trotted Luly up and down on his knee, and told them these funny verses: 

    “Three little kittens from home ran away,
          Oh dear! oh dear! 
          And did you not hear
    All that befell them on that day? 
     Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly
     Did you ever hear, in your life, of such folly!

“Out they ran from their mother’s door,
And skipped, and tripped,
And danced, and dipped,
Way down the road, where they’d ne’er been before! 
Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly,
Oh deary! what will be the end of their folly?

“‘Come let us go into this barn for mice!’
‘Oh don’t!’ ’Oh stuff! 
I’m hungry enough
To eat anything that is sav’ry and nice!’
So quoth little Dolly and Poppledy-polly,
While Dilly looked on, quite aghast at their folly!

“So in it they went, quite full of their fun,
And stared, and glared,
And meauoed, and scared
The poor little mice till they made them all run! 
Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly;
For Dilly, I’m sorry to say, shared their folly.

“But, alas! while the kittens were hunting up mice,
And munching, and crunching
Their smoking-hot lunching,
A boy came and caught them all up in a trice! 
Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly;
Oh! OH!  OH! what a shocking cli_max_ to their folly!

“Oh, how they struggled and mewed in their fright! 
And scratched, and snatched
At the dismal old patched
Bag they were thrust into, twisted up tight! 
Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly;
I warrant, they felt bad enough for their folly.

“Soon to a stranger house they came;
‘Oh, ma’! oh, ma’! 
Now, only see thar!’
Their captor cried out to an elderly dame;
While Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly
Pricked up their ears, and lamented their folly.

“’What, have you brought in a parcel of cats? 
Go straight to the pond
And get ’em all drowned!! 
I won’t have them here, I can tell you; now s’cats!’
Poor Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly
Set up a loud howl of distress at their folly!

“Off scampered the boy till he came to the bank
Of a very deep pool;
Oh, wasn’t it cruel! 
And tossed in the bag!!  To the bottom it sank!!! 
With Dilly (oh!), and Dolly (oh!), and Poppledy-polly (oh! oh!),
And that was the end of their fun and their folly!”

MORAL.

“So, children, I solemnly beg and implore,
Whatever you do,
(And you’re torments a few,)
You’ll never slip out of your dear mother’s door;
Or, like Dilly, and Dolly, and Poppledy-polly,
You’ll surely be made to repent of your folly!”

The children were very much amused with this woful history, bursting out laughing without any kind of fail when Poppledy-polly, of comical memory and name, was mentioned.  Luly said, “Oh, me yike that name! me want to call Dody Popply-polly.”  This made Kitty laugh more than ever, and they had a great time chasing Dody round the hall, and catching her, to bawl in her ears “Poppledy-polly!” by way of kindly informing her that was to be her new name.

Dody didn’t seem to like it much, for she jumped out of Luly’s arms with a squeal and a flourish of her long tail, and scampered off faster than ever each time.  After watching them, and laughing for a while, Mr. Lacy rose to go, saying: 

“Good-by, Little Mother; I must go and see some of the big mothers now.  Don’t forget me on any account, and tell your mamma, when she comes home, that I approve your style of housekeeping very much indeed.”

“Good-by, Mr. Lacy,” said Kitty.  “Thank you for your funny story.”

“Tank ’où funny ’tory!” repeated Luly after her sister.

Mr. Lacy lifted the little thing up to his shoulder, and held her there a minute, saying, “Good-by, Poppledy-polly!  I hope, when I come again, you will know another hymn to say.”

Luly didn’t like much to be called Poppledy-polly, and she said, with an air of considerable displeasure, “My name Luly May;” but when the minister kissed her, and called her “his little lamb,” she relented, and cooed, “Me yove ‘où, miniter!’

Then something quite sorrowful happened; for two great tears gathered in the minister’s eyes, and came slowly rolling down his kind face.  Ah! he thought of his own little pet lamb, who once lisped, too, “Me yove ’où;” who said so now to the dear Jesus; and with that last thought came comfort.  Floy was only “sleeping” and setting little Luly gently down, Mr. Lacy laid a hand on each childish head, saying, “God bless you, my little lambs,” and went quietly away.  The children watched him drive off, and then capturing Dody once more by the end of her tail this time Kitty popped her in her apron; and lugged her up stairs in triumph.

There they found Wawa, sitting on the floor, with an immense pair of scissors held in both hands, and an expression of extreme horror on his face.  Mary had left the room, and Kitty, running up to her baby brother, pulled away the scissors in a great fright, exclaiming, “Why, Wawa! where did you get those?”

Wawa stared astonished for a moment, his great blue eyes opened very wide indeed; then he bubbled out, “On yer fore (floor); yook!  Gawow all poil!” (spoiled); and poor Wawa puckered up his little rosy mouth, and began to cry most piteously.

Luly popped on the floor beside him in a minute, and pulling his curly head down on her breast, she murmured, “There don’t c’y, never matter, dear bedder s’eel get well!” while Kitty lifted up poor Gawow, who was indeed in a pitiable condition.  Walter had ornamented her face with several deep digs of the scissors, which made her look as if she had been to the wars and come home with a number of bullet holes in her.  Then, not satisfied with this what does that monkey Wawa do but rip up her whole body from the neck to the waist, and shake out every bit of the bran all over the carpet! leaving the wretched Gawow with not the least particle of insides.

Did you ever hear of such a piece of mischief?  But then Walter was such a little fellow not quite two years old; of course he didn’t mean to do anything wrong, and nobody thought of blaming him; so Kitty called Mary to come and sweep up the bran, and Luly and Walter were soon happily engaged in stuffing Gawow with rags, making her look as good as new or as good as old, I might say; for she was such a direful object in the first place, that it seemed as though she must have been bought in that condition, and never could have been otherwise; after which they dressed her in her very best bonnet and frock, and treated her to a nice dance in the garden, all taking hold of hands; until Mary looked out of the window and called them to come up to dinner.

Kitty was old enough, now, to dine with the grown folks, and behaved like a perfect little lady, too; but on this occasion she was going to take early dinner in the nursery.

She and Luly helped Mary pull out the nursery table, and set the three little plates upon it.  Walter’s dinner was some mashed potato, with just a tiny mite of chicken among it, minced very fine, and made into an elegant hill on his plate, and a “wishing bone” to suck.  Luly had the same, only with more chicken; and Kitty cut up her own wing and slice of breast, with her particular knife and fork, as nice as you please.

There was a great deal of merriment over the dinner, when Walter would look away just as Mary gave him a spoonful of potato, watching her out of the corner of his eye, though, and then bob round again and say “Feed!” just as she had put it down, thinking he didn’t want any more.  Then he insisted on making Gawow taste the wishing bone, and poked it into both her eyes in succession, as if that was the usual way for people to eat things.  After they had finished the chicken and potato, they had some nice custard pudding; and when dinner was over, Kitty went right to the wash stand and cleaned her teeth, while Luly held up her mouth to have Mary brush her little pearly teeth.  Do you always do this, little reader?  If not, let me beg you to begin right away.  Are they done now?  Very well, then let us go on with the story.

Pretty soon after, the children were dressed to go out walking; for it was in the early spring time when all this happened, and still pleasant, in the cold country, to take the middle of the day for going out.  So Kitty and Luly had their little blue poplin “coat-dresses” buttoned on, and the soft white woollen hoods tied under their rosy faces, and Walter was decked out in his new blue coat; which pleased him so much that he distinguished himself immediately afterward by walking all alone away from the door to the window, quite across the room, and there sitting down suddenly on the floor, much to his astonishment.  At last they were all ready and started off, Kitty and Luly hand in hand, and Walter in his little carriage.

The road they liked best led along the top of a high bank, and was called “Buena Vista” terrace.  There were very pretty houses built along here, shaded by tall trees; and if the children peeped cautiously over the iron fence that guarded the edge of the bank, they could sometimes see the steam cars rushing along the shore below.  They were very fond of watching the hurrying train go by, though it frightened them a little, particularly when the engine gave a shrill scream before stopping at the station about a quarter of a mile further on.  Kitty and Luly couldn’t help squealing too when that happened, and then laughing very much, and scampering on, playing they were steam engines.

Just as they were passing by the prettiest house on the terrace, out came a young lady that Kitty and Luly knew and loved dearly, with a “tremendous dog” stalking slowly after her.

“Why, Kitty!” she cried, “is that you?  Nurse, do bring the children in.  I want to see them so much!”

So Mary went to open the gate; but before she could do so, up marched Buffo, the “tremendous dog,” and lifted the latch with his nose!  Oh, how Kitty and Luly did laugh and clap their hands! but their enjoyment and surprise were at full height when the kind young lady, whom they called Miss Ella, lifted Luly, and Mary held Wawa, on Buffo’s shaggy back, and the good fellow carried them both safely to the house.  Wawa crowed and laughed, and drummed with his heels against the side of his charger; but the brave dog never tried to shake him off, and just walked gravely along, looking as trustworthy as possible.  Then, when the little children got off, Kitty mounted somewhat fearfully on Buffo’s broad back, and rode all around the grass plot, laughing with delight.

After that, Miss Ella made them sit down in a great rocking chair on the porch, wide enough for all three to get in at once, and asked them what they had been doing that morning; and then Kitty told about her being Little Mother, and Luly said, so funny, “Miniter tome see Luly and Kitty, and tell funny ’tory ’bout Dilly, and Dolly, and Popply-polly; and ’en and ’en I talled Dody Popply-polly, and s’è wan away!”

That amused Miss Ella very much, and pretty soon she opened her work-box, took out a paper of lemon drops, and gave Luly, and Kitty, and Wawa each a handful.  Luly was a generous little puss, and wanted every one to share her “goodies;” so she even offered a lemon drop to Buffo, when, what do you think the great black fellow did?  He just put his great fore paws on Luly’s lap, opened his wide red mouth, and eat up every one of the drops at a mouthful!

Poor Luly opened her mouth in rueful astonishment, and looked very much as if she was going to burst out crying; but Miss Ella consoled her by giving her some more drops, and Wawa thrust one of his into her mouth, saying, “Dog eat Luly’s d’ops; Wawa torry.”

So they talked away till it was time to go; and then Miss Ella kissed her little visitors; and Buffo wanted to kiss them too, with his warm red tongue; but Luly took good care to be out of the way this time.  I expect the little thing thought he would eat her up like a lemon drop; so Kitty let him lick her hand instead; and then Buffo let Miss Ella put Luly and Wawa on his back again, and rode them down to the gate, where they bid good-by to their kind friend.

Tea was ready for them when they came back, and “when fell the dew” Luly and Kitty went “cheerfully up stairs” to bed.  And now a sweet, serious expression came over Little Mother’s face, and her great brown eyes were filled with loving reverence, as Luly, in her little white night gown, bent her golden curls on the lap of her sister, and lisped out “Now I yay me down to s’eep” that dear, precious little verse that I think all the children in the world must say; and prayed “Dear Jesus” to “b’ess papa and mamma, and dear sister, and ’ittle bedder, and mate Luly dood ’ittle child;” and as Little Mother’s lips were murmuring those words after her, the door opened, and there stood her own dear mamma and papa, just home from the city; and oh!  I can’t tell you half how much they loved their darling ones when they saw that sweet little scene.

And then there was a merry frolic with papa, who rode Luly and Wawa on both shoulders as well as Buffo did; and a happy time with dear mamma, who brought them three great oranges from grandma’, and ever so many kisses for her share; and a holy, blessed time when that dear mamma knelt by her precious Kitty’s bedside, and prayed God to bless and keep