The children were in the sitting-room with their mother. There were three of them. Anna the eldest, was about seven years old, and had begun to learn to read and sew. She was now sitting in a little chair beside her mother, making an apron for her doll, while Tommy said a lesson in his primer, and Ella, who had just waked up from her afternoon nap, was seated on the floor eating a cracker. Tommy was four, and Ella was two.
"Somebody is coming, mother," said Tommy, stopping in middle of his lesson; "I heard the gate shut."
"So did I," said Anna ; "and now I hear them on the porch. Mother, shall I run and open the door?"
"Yes" said Mrs. Hand, for at that minute there was a loud, quick rap on the door. Anna ran out into the hall and they heard her say, as she opened the door, "Oh, is it you, Myra King? Come in. Do you want to see mother?"
"Yes," said Myra, and pushing past Anna, she rushed into the room, almost out of breath with haste. "Oh, Mrs. Hand," she said, dropping into a chair, "do come right over to our house! The baby's got a fit, and mother is afraid it will die, and I must run for the Doctor as fast as ever I can."
"Yes, I will go as quickly as I can," said Mrs. Hand, folding up her work; "but do not wait for me, Myra. Go at once for the Doctor, and I will be with your mother within five minutes."
Myra ran out, hardly waiting to say good-bye, and Mrs. Hand made haste to put on her bonnet and shawl.
"Mother, is the little baby very sick? and will it die?" asked Anna.
It is very sick, but I hope God will make it well again," said her mother. Now, Anna, I must leave you to take care of your little brother and sister, because Huldah is busy in the kitchen, an can not look after them or you. Be a good child, and don't get into any mischief, or let the little ones meddle with what they ought not to touch. You are the oldest, and must set them a good example." "What shall we do, mother ?" asked Anna, in a doleful tone. "Mayn't we go out and play in the yard?"
"No, my child," said her mother; "it is to damp and cold for that to-day. You may get out the blocks and help Tommy build houses; and when you are tired of that, you can look over your picture-books. Try to keep the little ones good, and I will come back as soon as I can."
Anna and Tommy climbed up at the window to watch their mother going out the gate and across the street; and when they could not see her any longer, they got down again, and Anna brought out the box of blocks from a closet, and for a while they played very nicely at building houses and bridges.
But Ella began to fret, and Anna got the picture-books and showed them to her and Tommy, and told them, as well as she could, all the stories her mother had told to her.
"There now, we have looked at every one," she said at last. "I wish we had some more;" and she looked up at the book-case, where were long rows of books-some large and some small, som in gay covers of red, purple, green or blue, ans some in plain black or brown.
"Aren't there pictures in those, Anna?" asked Tommy pointing with his finger. "I don't know, but lets see," said Anna; and though she knew very well that if her mother had been there she would not have allowed her to do so, she climbed upon a chair and began to pull down the books.
She went on until she had got a great pile, when she tumbled them down unto the floor without much care, and she and Tommy began looking through them for pictures. But most of them had none, and Anna climbed up again and pulled down more and more, until she had emptied several shelves, and books were piled on every chair and lay in heaps on the carpet.
And all this time she had forgotten to watch her little brother and sister, and Tommy, handling a large, handsome book carelessly, had torn out a picture and one or two of the printed leaves, while Ella had upset her mother's work-basket and rolled her buttons and balls and spools over the floor, tangled up skeins of sewing-silk and cotton, and pulled out needles and pins and scattered them all about.
And now their mother came home; but the children were so busy at their mischief that they did not hear her open the gate or the front door, and did not know she had come till there she was, standing right in the midst of all the confusion.
"Oh, Anna, Anna!" she said "is this the way you obey your mother?" and the little girl started and dropped the book she had in her hand and grew very red in the face.
"I warned you not to get into mischief," said her mother, "and you knew you ought not to touch these books. Ans see what you have let Tommy and the baby do."
Anna looked quickly round at the little ones, then hung her head, saying, "We wanted some pictures to look at, mother, and I didn't want think Tommy would tear the books, and I didn't know baby had got your work-basket."
"But you ought to have known, for I bade you watch her; and you knew very well you ought not to pull down these books," said her mother, beginning to pick them up and put them back on the shelves. "You must go and sit on that chair in the corner yonder, and stay there until I give you leave to come away. Tommy, my son, how did you come to tear out these leaves? Mother is very sorry to have her nice books spoiled."
"I didn't, mother,"said the little fellow, they just came out when I took hold of them."
"Well, I suppose you didn't mean to do it," she said, "but Tommy must not such nice books as these until he becomes a bigger boy."
"Mother," said Anna, who gone crying to her corner, "the baby is putting a pin in her mouth."
" Oh, Ella, dear, you must not do that!" cried Mrs. Hand, leaving the books, and running to the little one. "Give it to mother, darling. "Oh, dear, dear! All my pins and needles pulled out of the cushions ans scattered about the floor. Ella must not meddle with mother's work-basket any more."
It took a good while for Mrs. Hand to get things back in order again---all the books put back in their places, all the pins and needles, spools and buttons picked up, and the tangles taken out of the sewing-silk and cotton. I hope Anna felt sorry when she saw how much trouble she had caused her kind mother. I am sure she ought to have felt sorrow enough to keep her from doing so again. At last all was done, just as the tea-bell rang and the father came home to his supper.
"Mother," said Anna, "may I go to supper? I am sorry I was a naughty girl."
"Yes, you may," said mother, "and I hope you will behave better another time." Soon after supper Mrs. Hand undressed her children and put them to bed; but before Anna knelt down to say her prayers she talked to her about how naughty she had been that afternoon.
"You disobeyed your mother, my child," she said, for I have told you not to meddle with the books in the book-case; and before I went away I bade you keep out of mischief yourself, and see that your little brother and sister did not get into any. Now, before you lie down to sleep, I want you to ask God to forgive you for disobeying your mother; for in doing so you disobeyed him, because he has said, "Children, obey your parents" I think my little girl forgot that God saw her, though mother was not there. I think if she had remembered that God's eye was ever upon her, she would have been afraid to disobey him. And if my Anna had not a bad heart, she would not want to do wrong. Ask God, my child, to give you a new heart, that will love and fear him, and always want to do right."
