My Naughty Little Sister.

I. We Go Fishing

I am an English girl. My name is Mary Brown. When I was a little girl, I had a little sister. She was smaller than I. And she was very naughty.

I want to tell you some stories about my naughty little sister. Here is the first story.

One day, when my little sister was four year old, some children came to our house. They all had fishing-nets.

"Mary, let's go fishing1," they said to me.

"May I go fishing?" I asked my mother.

"Yes, you may," said my mother.

And she gave me a fishing-net, some bread and butter and a bottle of milk.

Then my naughty little sister said:

"I want to go! I want to go, too!"

"You may go, Nancy," said my mother to my little sister. "But you can't catch fish. You must not go into the water."

So she did not give my sister a fishing-net. But my sister liked to pick up little stones, and my mother gave her a little bag to put them in. Then she gave her some bread and butter and a little bottle of milk and a big apple, too.

"Nancy must not go into the water. You must look after2 her," my mother said to me.

"All right, Mother," I said.

We went to the little river. Then my friends and I took off our shoes and socks and went into the water to fish with our fishing-nets. It was summer, and the water was warm.

"You must not go into the water," I said to my sister. "Don't take off your shoes and socks. You can't fish. Pick stones and put them into your bag."

We fished and fished, but we did not catch any fish. Then one boy said:

"Look, your sister is in the water."

We saw my naughty little sister in the water with her shoes and socks on.

"Get out of the water3!" I said.

"No," said my naughty little sister.

I wanted to catch her, but she ran away and fell down in the water. Her dress was wet, her hair was wet, and her shoes and socks were wet, too.

We pulled her out of the water.

"She may catch cold4," said the children.

"Go and sit in the sun!" they said to her.

We took off her wet things and put them all on the grass to dry. My sister began to cry.

We gave her some bread and butter, and she ate it all up5. She ate up all her bread and butter and all my bread and butter. She drank her milk and my milk, too. Then she ate her apple.

When her dress and her shoes and socks were dry6, she put them on and we went home.

"Your sister was in the water," said my mother.

"How did you guess, Mother," I said. "We dried all her things."

"Yes, you dried them, but you did not iron them."

At supper I did not get any cake. Mother said:

"Only bread and butter for you. You did not look after your sister very well."

So I got only bread and butter.

My sister went to bed, and my mother gave her some hot milk.

But do you know what my mother found in the little bag?

She found a fish! Yes, a little fish!

"Look!" said my mother. "Your little sister caught a fish with her little bag."

II. My Naughty Little Sister Is Ill

My little sister liked to talk. She talked to everybody. She talked to the people who came to our house. She talked to the people in the street and in the shops. She talked to her friend the postman. Everybody liked to talk to my little sister. She was very funny.

One day my little sister fell ill7.

"I am ill," she said.

"You must stay in bed," said my mother, "and I shall call the doctor8."

"No doctor! Bad doctor! I don't like the doctor!" said my naughty little sister.

"The doctor is a nice man. He will make you well again9," I said to Nancy.

My mother gave Nancy a cup of hot milk. She gave her a doll and her best books. But my little sister did not want to play with her toys. She did not want to look at the pictures in her books.

"I am ill today," she said. Her friend the postman came to see her. He gave her a big red apple, a pencil and a little notebook, and he gave my mother a letter.

"I am ill," said my little sister to the postman. "I must stay in bed and drink hot milk and look at the pictures in my books. I don't like to stay in bed. I don't want the doctor! Bad doctor!"

"Good doctor! He will make you well again," said the postman. "You will soon play in the room and then in the garden."

In the afternoon my father came home. He saw my little sister in bed.

"Why are you in bed?" asked my father.

"I am ill," said my little sister. "I must stay in bed and drink hot milk and look at the pictures in my books."

"Soon the doctor will come, and he will make you well again," said Father.

"No doctor! Bad doctor! I don't like the doctor!"

"The doctor has a little black bag," said Father. "He has many interesting things in his bag."

"What things?" asked my little sister.

"I can't tell you. But you will see them when the doctor comes."

Now my little sister did not say Bad doctor!

When my mother came into the room with the doctor, Nancy said:

"Hullo, Doctor! Where is your bag? Show me the interesting things in your bag, please!" She did not forget to say please.

"Hullo, little girl!" said the doctor. "Here is my bag, and here are the things in my bag. Are they interesting?"

My little sister looked at the doctor's black bag. She looked at all the things in the bag. She opened her mouth and did all that the doctor told her to do.

Then he said: "That's all, little girl. Good-bye. You will soon be well again. Your mother will give you some medicine. You will take it three times a day10 like a good little girl. Are you a good little girl?"

"Oh, yes, Doctor, I am a very good girl," said my naughty little sister. "Please come again tomorrow. I want to see the things in your bag again."

But the doctor didn't come again, because Nancy took the medicine11 and was soon well again12.

III. My Naughty Little Sister Makes a Bottle-Tree13

One day my little sister got up very early. My mother was in the kitchen. She wanted to make breakfast for the family, and she did not see that my little sister was not in her bed.

My naughty little sister went to the shed and took a little spade. Then she went to the garden. It was autumn. There were many red and yellow leaves in the garden. There were many pretty flowers in the garden, too. My little sister went to the flowerbed.

But she did not look at the beautiful flowers, which my father liked to plant. She trampled the flowers under her feet and made a hole in the flowerbed.

Do you know why my little sister made the hole in the flowerbed? She wanted to plant an acorn. She had a nice brown acorn in her hand. So she made a hole in the flowerbed and put the acorn in the hole. Then she put a short stick near it.

Do you know why she did that?

She wanted to know the place where the acorn was. She was a clever little girl, wasn't she?14

My little sister went to this place after breakfast and before dinner and after dinner. She took the acorn out and then she put it back again.

Do you know why she took the acorn out? She wanted to see it grow15.

In the evening Father came home and he saw his flowers. He was very angry16.

"You bad, bad girl," said my father. "Why did you trample my flowers?"

"I did not want to trample your flowers. I wanted to plant my acorn. I wanted to see it grow." And my little sister began to cry.

"Your acorn won't grow if you take it out," said my father. "Give it to me."

Father took a bottle, put some water in it and then put the acorn into it.

"Now you can see it grow," said Father.

My little sister put the bottle with the acorn at the window. She looked at it all the time, but it did not grow. She put the bottle near her bed and looked at it in the morning and in the evening. But it did not grow.

"Put the bottle at the window and go and play with your doll," said my mother.

My little sister put the bottle at the window and went to play with her doll. Soon she forgot about her bottle.

One day she looked at the bottle and saw a little green shoot.

"I see a little green shoot," cried my sister.

She was very glad and showed her bottle-tree to everybody.

"Now we can plant the acorn," said my father.

He went to the shed, took the spade and planted the acorn near our house.

The bottle-tree grew and grew, and now it is a big tree, bigger than my sister who is also big now.

IV. My Pretty Doll

When I was a little girl, I had a new doll. Its face was pretty, its eyes were pretty, its dress was pretty, too. My doll could open and close its eyes and say Ma-ma.

I did not play with my doll. I was afraid to break it17. The doll was in a box, and the box was in the wardrobe in my mother's room. When I wanted to see my new doll, my mother took the box out of the wardrobe and showed it to me. I looked at it for some time, and then my mother put it in the box again.

My little sister had a doll, too. Her doll was not new, and it was not pretty. It was old and dirty. It had only one eye, and it had no hair. Its dress was not pretty. My little sister liked her doll very much. She took it to the garden and to the yard. She put it on the floor and on the grass. And when she went to bed, she took her doll with her.

One morning my mother was in the kitchen. She wanted to make breakfast for the family, and she asked me:

"Mary! Do you know where your little sister is?"

"No, I don't," I said.

"Then go and look for her18," said my mother. "Breakfast is ready."

I went to look for my little sister. I looked in the yard. She was not there. I looked in the shed. She was not there. I looked in the garden. She was not there. Then I came back into the house.

Suddenly I heard a noise in my mother's room. I opened the door and looked in.

The wardrobe was open19, and my doll's box was on the floor. It was open, too, but the doll was not there. Then I saw my naughty little sister with my doll in her hands.

"Put the doll into the box," I said.

"No, I don't want to," said my little sister.

"It's my doll! Give it to me!" I said.

But my naughty little sister did not want to give me my doll. I wanted to take the doll away from her. I pulled, and she pulled, too. And the doll fell to the floor. I picked it up and looked at it. Its pretty face was broken20.

I took my doll in my hands, and it did not say Ma-ma. I began to cry, and my naughty little -sister began to cry, too.

Our mother came into the room.

"Don't cry. We shall take the doll to the dolls' doctor, and he will make it well again," she said.

And do you know what my mother did?

She took my doll to the dolls' doctor, and she took my little sister's doll to the dolls' doctor, too.

One day our mother came home and gave us our dolls.

My doll had a pretty face and hair. It could open and close its eyes and say Ma-ma.

My little sister's doll was pretty, too. It had a pretty nose and pretty eyes and hair, and it could say Ma-ma. Its dress was pretty, too.

But my naughty little sister did not like her new doll. She did not take it to the yard or to the garden. She did not put it on the floor or on the grass. She put it into a box and did not take it out again.

V. My Naughty Little Sister Cuts Out Pictures

One autumn when I was a little girl and my sister was a very little girl, it rained and rained. It was October. It was very cold, and it rained every day. When we went out, we put on our raincoats.

But my little sister liked to walk in the water. One day she walked in the water, and her feet got wet21. So she caught a bad cold22, and she had red eyes.

"You can't go out," said my mother. "You must stay at home and be a good girl."

But my sister did not like that.

"I want to go out in the rain! I want to go out!"

"Look at the pictures in your book," said my mother.

"I don't want to! I want to go out in the rain!"

My little sister was very naughty.

Then my mother said:

"I shall give you my scissors, and you can cut out pictures."

My mother gave her some old books and the scissors, and my little sister began to cut out pictures. She cut out a dog and a cat, and a brown bear and a red fox. She cut out some flowers and many other pictures.

Then she saw a big box on a chair. She opened the box and saw a beautiful dress with pretty blue flowers on it. My naughty little sister wanted to cut out only one flower. She did so. She liked it and began to cut out many flowers.

Suddenly my mother came in. She was very angry.

"You are a bad, bad girl," she said. "That was my best dress. I shall not give you the scissors again."

And she didn't.

VI. We Go to the Zoo

One day my little sister did not want to eat her breakfast. My mother gave her an egg, some bread and butter and a big cup of milk for breakfast. But she did not want to eat.

"Eat your egg!" said my mother.

"I don't want to. Bad egg!"

"Then you will not go to the Zoo on Sunday!" said my mother.

And my little sister began to eat. She ate her egg and some bread and butter, she drank her cup of milk, too. She wanted to go to the Zoo very much.

On Sunday we put on our best dresses and white socks and white shoes and went to the Zoo. We went there with our cousin Jane. She was a big girl. She was sixteen. We took a bus23, and soon we were at the Zoo. It was very interesting there.

We saw many animals at the Zoo: tigers, a red fox, a brown bear, a wolf and some funny monkeys. The monkeys were jumping and playing in their cage.

Then we saw a little roundabout near the lake. The little roundabout had little cars and horses and bears. The roundabout went round and round24, and the cars and horses went up and down, up and down.

"I want to go on the roundabout!" cried my little sister.

When the roundabout stopped, my little sister ran to the little car and got into the seat25. The roundabout went round and round. Then it stopped again. My big cousin Jane said:

"And now let's go and see the monkeys again, Nancy! We have no money now."

"I want to go on the roundabout again!" cried my naughty little sister.

"Come, Nancy!" I said.

And we went to look at the monkeys again. They were so funny.

"But where is Nancy?" suddenly asked Jane.

We looked around, but we did not see her. We went to the roundabout, but she was not there. There were many people there, and we did not see her.

"We must tell the policeman," said my big cousin Jane.

So we went to the police-station. We saw a policeman there.

"We have lost a little girl26," said my big cousin Jane.

The policeman asked us many questions, and he wrote our answers down in a big book.

"What is her name?"

"Her name is Nancy Brown."

"How old is Nancy Brown?"

"She is four."

"What does she look like?27"

"She has red hair and brown eyes."

"What has she on?28"

"She has a blue dress on and white socks and white shoes"

"Where do you live?"

"We live in 24 Park Street," I said. "My father, mother, my sister and I live there."

"Now go home," said the policeman. "We'll find your sister and take her home."

We thanked the policeman and went home. We could not take a bus, because we had no money. So we walked. We were very hungry when we came home.

But do you know what we saw when we came home?

We saw my naughty little sister at the table.

"How did you get home?29" we asked.

"The policeman found me and took me home in his big car. But I shall not run away again," said my naughty little sister.

"But why did you run away?" I asked.

"I wanted to see the roundabout, so I ran away," she said. "Then I looked for you. But there were many people there and I could not find you, and I cried. An old man took me to the police-station. The policeman asked me many questions. I told him my name and how old I was, but I did not know where I lived. So the policeman looked in his big book, and he told me where I lived. Does the policeman know where all little children live?"

"Yes, he does. He knows where all the naughty children live," said my mother.

VII. My Naughty Little Sister at the Birthday Party

There was a little boy who lived in our street. His name was Tom. My little sister liked to play with him. But Tom was a naughty little boy, and my sister was a naughty little girl.

So they often played in our yard and in our garden. They trampled flowers and picked green apples, broke their toys and broke my toys. One day they washed my doll in dirty water and the next day they put Tom's Teddy bear on the flowerbed.

One day Tom came to our house with a letter for my sister. He said to Nancy:

"This is a letter for you from my mother. Please come to my birthday party. We shall have tea and a big birthday cake."

"I like birthday cakes," said my little sister.

She put on her best dress and her white socks and white shoes.

"Don't forget to say Please and Thank you" said my mother.

When my little sister came to the birthday party, she said to Tom's mother:

"How do you do?30 I want a birthday cake."

Tom's mother laughed and said:

"Soon all the children will come, and then you can have the birthday cake."

Then the other children came and played in the garden. They played hide-and-seek. They sang songs and danced. But my little sister did not want to play. She did not want to dance and to sing. And Tom did not want to play.

"I can show you the birthday cake," he said.

So they went to the dining-room, and there on the table they saw a beautiful birthday cake with chocolate roses on it.

"Oh, I like chocolate roses very much," said my naughty little sister.

"I can give you a little rose," said Tom.

He gave my sister one rose, and she ate it up. Then he took one rose and ate it up. My sister ate three roses, and Tom ate three roses. They took the roses with their hands, and there was chocolate on their hands and on their faces. Then they went into the garden to play with the other children.

When Tom's mother saw them, she did not ask any questions. She went to the dining-room and looked at the birthday cake. She was very angry.

Tom's mother told Tom to go to bed, for he was a very naughty boy. And she told my naughty little sister to go home. Nancy was sick all night31.

My sister is not a little girl now, but she does not like chocolate roses even today.

VIII. My Father Looks after My Naughty Little Sister

When my sister was a very little girl and I was a little girl, we lived in 24 Park Street. A shoe-mender lived near our house. He very often mended my shoes and my sister's shoes. My little sister liked to go with my mother to the shoe-mender. He was an old man, and his name was Mr. Smith.

My little sister liked to talk to Mr. Smith, and he liked to talk to her, too. He gave her little boxes, and she liked to play with them. Then she put the boxes back on the shelf.

Mr. Smith had a very funny picture on the wall. In this picture you could see a little dog in a very big shoe. My little sister liked this picture very much.

One day my mother wanted to buy a new coat for me. She did not want to take my little sister with us, because she was too little.

But my naughty little sister cried:

"I want to go, too! I want to go!"

'And she cried and cried.

Then my father said:

"You can't go. I shall take my work into the garden, and I shall look after you."

So my father took his table into the garden. He put it near a bench under a big tree. Then he took his pen and began to write. My father was a writer. He wrote books for children. My sister looked and looked at the father, and then she said:

"Father, please give me my doll. It is in a big box in the wardrobe."

So my father went to my mother's bedroom. He took the big box out of the wardrobe and gave it to my little sister. Then he began to write again. My sister looked and looked at my father, then she said:

"Father, I want a drink."

My father went to the kitchen, took a cup of water and brought it to my little sister. Then he began to write again.

"Please, Father," said my naughty little sister. "My doll wants a drink. Give her a cup of water, too."

My father was angry. He said:

"Your doll can't drink."

"She can, she can. She can open and close her eyes. She can say Ma-ma. She can drink, too."

Then my father took his table back into his room, and he took his work with him. He sat down at his table and began to write. When my naughty little sister opened the door, he said:

"Close the door and go away32. And don't come back again. I am busy now33."

He worked and worked, and then he looked at the clock. It was late. He went to the kitchen, took some bread, butter and cheese and went to look for my sister. He looked in the garden. She was not there. He looked in the yard. She was not there. He could not find her. Then he went out into the street. He asked people:

"Have you seen34 a little girl with red hair and brown eyes?"

But the people said, "No, we haven't35."

My father went home. He did not know what to do. When we came home, my mother went to the kitchen and said:

"Why didn't you give Nancy her bread and butter?"

Father told her all about my naughty little sister.

And then my mother said:

"I know where she is. She is with old Mr. Smith."

We all went to Mr. Smith, and there we saw my naughty little sister. She was playing with little boxes.

"Come home," said my father.

"I don't want to," said my naughty little sister.

"Come home. It is late. You must drink your milk," said my mother.

"I don't want to."

Then Mr. Smith said, "Take this picture and give it to your doll. She will like it." And Mr. Smith took his beautiful picture from the wall and gave it to my naughty little sister.

My sister was very happy. She forgot to say Thank you to Mr. Smith and ran home very quickly.

And we all went home, too.

IX. My Naughty Little Sister Goes to School

One day when I was a little girl, my mother got a letter from my grandmother. She was ill, and she asked my mother to come to her.

"Take your sister to school with you," said my mother to me.

"She can't sit still for five minutes," I said.

"I can sit still," said my little sister.

My mother wrote a letter to my teacher. My teacher answered:

"Yes, Nancy may come to school if she is a good girl."

My sister was very happy. Do you know what she did? She found my father's old bag and put a pencil and a notebook into the bag. She went to bed very early. She was a very good girl.

In the morning she got up early. She washed her face and neck and dressed quickly. After breakfast my mother went to my grandmother, and we went to school.

Our lessons began at 9 o'clock. But we came to the schoolyard earlier. My sister said Good morning to everybody in the yard.

When we came into the classroom, the teacher said:

"Jack is ill. So your sister may sit at his desk."

My little sister did not talk. She looked and looked. She looked at the teacher, she looked at the schoolboys and schoolgirls. She looked at the blackboard and at the pictures on the wall.

The children opened their bags and took out their pencils and notebooks. My sister opened her bag, too. She took out her pencil and her notebook.

Then the teacher called all the children's names. The children said: "Present." But she did not call my sister's name, because she was not a pupil. Then my naughty little sister got up and said:

"I want a present, too."

Everybody laughed36. Then the teacher gave her some plasticine37. My little sister made a red flower, and the teacher said it was very nice.

The teacher read us a story, and my sister listened, too. When the teacher asked questions about this story, all the children put up their hands and my sister put up her hand. And she gave a good answer. The teacher said:

"Your little sister is very clever."

Then we drew pictures. I drew a house, a tree and a lake. But do you know what my little sister drew? She drew our teacher. Yes, she drew our nice teacher. She drew her with very little eyes and very long black hair, and a very big mouth.

"I like your picture," said our teacher. "I like it very much."

Then we all went to the schoolyard and played there. We played ball. My little sister played ball, too.

Then we went to the classroom again. We read a story in a book, but my little sister could not read, so she fell asleep38. She slept till four o'clock when the lessons were over and we went home.

X. The Baby-Tooth39

When I was a little girl and my little sister was a very little girl, we had an apple-tree behind our house. We liked to pick apples and eat them.

One day my little sister picked a very big green apple. When she began to eat it, one of her little teeth got loose40. My little sister began to cry.

"Don't cry," said my mother. "It's a baby-tooth. All your little baby-teeth will get loose and new teeth will grow."

My little sister liked to show her tooth to everybody. She showed it to the postman and to her friend the shoe-mender.

"Come," said my mother. "I'll pull it out41."

"No, no! Don't pull it out!" said my naughty little sister. "I like my tooth."

Then the shoe-mender said, "You must show it to the doctor. The doctor likes to see nice baby-teeth."

"I want to go to the doctor," said my naughty little sister to my mother. "I want to show him my baby-tooth. He likes to see nice baby-teeth."

"All right!42" said my mother.

So my little sister went to the doctor. She showed her tooth to the people who were there. Everybody liked her little tooth.

"You have a very nice tooth," said the doctor. "I collect nice teeth. Can you give me your tooth? I want to show it to the people who come to me."

And do you know what my little sister did? She pulled out her tooth and gave it to the doctor.

"Here it is," she said. "You may take it. You can show it to the people who come to you."

She was a funny little girl, wasn't she?

XI My Naughty Little Sister Goes to the Theatre

Once when my little sister was four, our mother took us to the theatre.

The theatre was very beautiful. My sister and I liked it very much.

When we were in the theatre, my little sister did not talk. She looked at the curtain and at the beautiful walls and the big lamps over our heads.

She looked at the boys and girls and at their mothers and fathers. But when the curtain went up43 and a little funny man came out, she looked only at this funny man. His name was Humpty-Dumpty44. He said:

"How do you do, little boys and girls?"

"How do you do?" we all said.

But my little sister cried:

"Hullo, Humpty-Dumpty!"

Everybody laughed, and Humpty-Dumpty said:

"Hullo, little girl!"

Then beautiful dolls came out and danced. They had very beautiful dresses on, all white and blue.

Humpty-Dumpty began to dance, too, but he fell on the floor.

And then Humpty-Dumpty said:

"Who wants to dance with me?"

You know that my little sister was very naughty, don't you?45

Do you know what she did?

She ran to Humpty-Dumpty and said:

"I want to dance with you."

Everybody laughed. Humpty-Dumpty laughed, too. The other children ran to him, too, and they all began to dance.

"Now, children," he said, "go to you seats."

All the children went to their seats, but my little sister did not go to her seat.

Do you know why she did not go to her seat?

She ran away. Yes, she ran away. She wanted to see the dolls behind the curtain. She found the dolls. The beautiful dolls talked to my sister, and they gave her an ice.

Humpty-Dumpty found my little sister and took her to our mother. Everybody laughed, but my mother was very angry.

Do you know what my naughty little sister did then?

She jumped up on her seat and cried:

"I saw them. I saw the dolls. They are not dolls. They eat ices. They are little girls!"

My little sister was a very naughty girl, wasn't she?

XII. My Naughty Little Sister and a Good Girl

When I was a little girl, my mother said to my little sister:

"One of my friends will come to see us today, and her little daughter will come with her. The little girl's name is Winnie. She is a very good girl. You must be a good girl, too. You will take your toys and play with her in the garden."

My little sister put on her new blue dress and blue socks and white shoes. She took all her toys into the garden. She took her big doll out of the box. She wanted to play with Winnie and to show all her toys.

"I want to play with Winnie. I want to play with Winnie. When will she come?" said Nancy. At last Winnie and her mother came. Nancy ran to the door and opened it. Winnie had a blue dress and blue socks on. My little sister did not say How do you do? like a good girl, but she said:

"Blue socks, too."

Winnie's mother laughed. But Winnie did not laugh, she said:

"How do you do?"

She was a very good girl, wasn't she?

My mother and Winnie's mother sat down on a bench in the garden and talked, and Winnie and my little sister went to play. My little sister showed her all the toys and the big doll, too.

"Do you like my doll?" asked my little sister. But Winnie did not answer. She did not say a word.

"Can you talk?" asked my little sister.

"Yes, I can," answered Winnie.

"Do you want to play with my toys?" asked my sister.

"No, thank you," said Winnie.

"Do you want to run?" asked my sister.

"No, thank you. It is too hot," said Winnie.

"Do you want to play hide-and-seek?" asked my sister.

"No, thank you. I don't like hide-and-seek," said Winnie.

"Do you want to pick apples?" asked my little sister.

"No, I don't like to pick apples," said Winnie.

"What do you want to do?" asked my little sister.

"I want to read a book," said Winnie.

Winnie was six. She went to school. So she could read. The children went into the house.

Winnie-took one of my books and began to read it. But my little sister did not go to school. She could not read. So she ran into the garden, picked apples and flowers, and when tea-time came, her hands were dirty and her face was dirty, and her dress was dirty, too.

My mother put a big cake on the table. She said to Winnie:

"Have some cake, Winnie."

"Thank you," said Winnie, and she took a little piece of cake.

But my naughty little sister took a very big piece of cake. She liked cake very much.

After tea Winnie and her mother went home. Winnie said:

"Thank you. Good-bye."

When they went away, my naughty little sister said to my mother:

"I don't want to be a good girl."

"Why don't you want to be a good girl?" asked my mother.

"I like cake very much."

She was a funny little girl, wasn't she?

XIII. My Little Sister Is Five

When my little sister was five, she went to school46. She went to school every day.

The lessons began at nine o'clock. At eleven o'clock the children had a short break. Then they had two more lessons. At one o'clock in the afternoon the children had dinner at school. Some children went home for dinner, but my little sister did not go home for dinner, because our house was not near the school.

After dinner we played in the yard and had two more lessons. The lessons were over at four o'clock, and Mother came to take my sister home.

Nancy learned many things at school. She learned to read, to write and to count. She could spell her name very well now.

She learned many things about animal. She learned about animals that give us milk and about animals that give us wool.

One evening when she put her school-books and her pens and pencils into her bag, she put her doll into her bag, too. Yes, she took her doll to school. When the first lesson began, she put her doll on her desk.

"You must not bring your doll to school," said the teacher. "You are a big girl now. You must learn to read, to write and to count. You can play with your doll at home."

The teacher told her again and again that she must not take her doll to school. But my little sister was very naughty.

"I do not play with my doll in school," she said. "My doll is five, too, and she must go to school, too."

My sister learned not only to read and to write. She also learned how to answer the telephone47. She said, "Hullo!" and then she said, "I'll call Mother." When Mother was not at home, she said, "May I take your message?48"

One day our mother was not at home when the telephone bell rang.

"Mrs. Brown is not at home," said my little sister. "May I take your message?"

"I am Nancy's teacher. Please tell Mrs. Brown that Nancy must not take her doll to school."

And do you know what my naughty sister did?

She did not tell our mother about it.

The next day she took her doll to school again.

The teacher wrote a letter to our mother and gave it to me. She said:

"Don't forget to give this letter to your mother today."

My mother put my naughty sister's doll into a box and put the box into the wardrobe. And my little sister did not get any cake for supper.

XIV. My Naughty Little Sister Learns to Knit

When my sister was five and she went to school, a nice woman and her husband came to live near our house. The woman's name was Mrs. Jones. But my little sister called her Mrs. Cocoa Jones.

Do you know why my sister called her so?

In summer, when we had our school vacation, Nancy went to Mrs. Jones every morning at eleven o'clock to drink cocoa. Mrs. Jones had no children, and she did not like to drink her cocoa alone. She liked to talk to my little sister. They were good friends. That is why49 my little sister called her Mrs. Cocoa Jones.

Mrs. Cocoa Jones liked to knit. She knitted in the morning and in the afternoon, and she knitted at tea-time when her friends came to see her. She talked and knitted. She knitted many nice things for my sister and me and for our dolls, too.

One day Mrs. Cocoa Jones said to my sister:

"Do you want to learn to knit?"

"Not very much,'' said my sister.

"But you can make presents for your mother, father and sister's said Mrs. Jones.

"I like to make presents. Teach me to knitted said my little sister.

Mrs. Jones gave my little sister some wool and two needles and showed her how to knit. But my little sister did not learn to knit well. She did not like to sit in one place, she liked to run and to play.

Mrs. Jones's husband was very nice, too. He liked to talk to my little sister. She was so funny.

"Next month Mr. Jones will have a birthday's" said Mrs. Jones. "So I want to knit a present for him."

My little sister did not say a word, but she took some wool. She wanted to make a present for Mr. Jones, too. She wanted to knit a long scarf for him. She took yellow, green, red and blue wool and knitted a scarf. Her scarf was yellow and green, red and blue, but it was not long. It was short, because my little sister could not knit very well.

She did not want to show us her scarf, so she knitted in the shed and in the garden under the apple-tree.

Nancy gave this scarf to Mr. Mini on has birthday. "Thank you very much," said Mr. Jones. "I like your scarf very much. It is very beautiful. I'll put it on only on holidays."

XV. My Naughty Little Sister and Poor Charlie

In the days when I was a little' girl and my naughty little sister was a very little girl, she often helped Mrs. Jones to do her housework.

Mrs. Job, waked very much and had a very clean house. She we glad when my sister came to help her. Mrs. Jones swept the floor with a big broom, and she bought a little red broom for my sister, too.

"Sweep, sweep" said the big broom.

"Sweep, sweep" said my little sister's little broom.

Sometimes Mrs. Jones said, "Oh, my poor back!50"

And my little sister said, "Oh, my poor back!"

One day Mr. Jones bought a vacuum cleaner.

It swept the floor very well, but it made very much noise, and my little sister did not like it.

"I don't like your vacuum cleaner," she said.

"But it helps me to clean the house," said Mrs. Jones.

"I help you to clean your house. I don't like this noise," said my little sister, and she did not do to see Mrs. Jones.

She did not go to see Mrs. Jones for a week.

She did not go there for seven days.

One day Mrs. Jones came to see my sister and the said to her:

"Poor Charlie wants to eat very much."

"Who wants to eat?" asked my little sister.

"Charlie, the vacuum cleaner," said Mrs. Jones.

"Can he eat?" asked my little sister.

"Yes, he can. Do you want to see how he eats?"

"Yes, I do," said my little sister, and she ran to Mrs. Jones.

She saw the vacuum cleaner on the floor in the room. Mrs. Jones put bits of paper51 on the floor, and Charlie "ate" them all up. Then my little sister put bits of paper on the floor, too. They jumped into Charlie's "mouth". It was so funny.

Now my little sister was not afraid when the vacuum cleaner made much noise.

"Poor Charlie wants to eat," she said.

XVI. My Naughty Little Sister Has School Vacation

My little sister liked school, but she liked vacation more than52 school. On the first day of our vacation she said to Mother and Father:

"Please take me to different places every day of the vacation."

"Very well," said my father.

On Monday he took my sister to the Zoo. She saw all the animals there. She saw the big elephants and the funny monkeys, the brown bears and the white bears, the tigers and a big lion.

When my little sister came home from the Zoo, she talked only about the animals at the Zoo.

On Tuesday Mother, my sister and I went to the country. We went to a lake. It was very beautiful near the lake. There were many green trees and red and blue flowers there. We picked some flowers. Suddenly we saw a big white goose. My little sister was afraid of the goose. We came home very late. My little sister told our father about the country, about the lake and the flowers and the big white goose.

On Wednesday Mother took us to the sea. The day was fine. The sea was blue, and the sky was blue. We saw many little boats and two sail-boats. We picked up little stones in the water, and we played near the sea. When we were going home, my little sister slept in the train.

On Thursday Father took my little sister to the park. The park was a very good place to play in. Many children came to the park every day.

My sister played ball and had three rides on a roundabout53. There was a big lake in the park.

A boy came with a dog to the lake. The boy threw54 a stick into the water, and the dog swam to it, took it into its mouth and brought it back to the boy.

My sister and my father watched the boy and the dog.

On Friday my mother took us to the theatre.

When we came home, my sister went to Mrs. Cocoa Jones and told her all about the theatre. Nancy wanted to go to her friend the shoe-mender and to tell him about the theatre, too, but my mother said it was too late.

On Saturday we all went to the circus. We liked to see the clowns. They were so funny. We also liked the monkeys. The monkeys had their dinner. They sat at little tables. They ate with little spoons. They drank milk from a bottle. We also saw a big elephant and a baby elephant.

On Sunday my little sister said in the morning:

"I am ill today."

The doctor came with his bag and gave my sister some medicine. He also gave her a little bottle of medicine for her doll.

"I don't play with my doll," said my little sister. "I am a big girl now, and I go to school."

"But now you have your vacation," said the doctor.

"Yes, I have my vacation. But on Monday I went to the Zoo, on Tuesday I went to the country, on Wednesday we went to the sea, on Thursday my father and I went to the park, on Friday I went to the theatre and on Saturday we all were in the circus. I wanted to go to different places every day."

"This is very bad," said the doctor. "You must stay at home now and play with your doll. You must get up early and play with your doll in the garden. You must give her breakfast and dinner in time and you must put your doll to bed early.

You must go to bed early, too."

So my sister did not go to different places every day. She stayed at home and played with her doll in the garden. But when her vacation was over and it was time55 to go to school, my mother put her doll into the box again.

"Don't put my doll into the box. I shall not take it to school, I am a big girl now," said Nancy.

I shall not tell you any stories about my naughty little sister. Now Nancy is a big girl, and she is not naughty.

END