Golden Moments | Page 6

play pretty on the bench, and let mother get on with her
work, won't you?"
"Yes, mother, we'll be ever so good," declared Tommy; and Jeannie,
who could not speak plainly, echoed solemnly, "Never good!"
So Mrs. Jones fetched a ladder and gathered some juicy cherries, and
for a long time the children played with them happily enough. First of
all Tommy kept a jeweller's shop on the old bench, and sold cherry
earrings to Jeannie, who tried to fasten the double cherries on to her fat
little ears. Then she kept shop, and sold cherry boots to Tommy, and
then they got the doll's perambulator and wheeled the cherries to
market, and then Tommy said it was time to eat the cherries, and he
divided them fairly, and soon ate his share up. But what a mess he did
make of his hands and face! they were stained black with cherry juice.
"Never mind!" said Tommy calmly, "I'll soon wipe it all off;" and
catching hold of a sheet which hung on the line near, he first rubbed
himself quite clean, and then gave Jeannie's hands a rub, too, on this
most convenient towel. Not till he had finished, and the sheet was again
flapping in the wind, did thoughtless Tommy reflect on the mischief he
had done. But when he saw the purple stains on the clean sheet he
began to cry bitterly, and running to his mother, he pulled her round
and showed her the cherry-stained sheet.
"Look, mother! look! But I didn't mean to," he sobbed.
"Mothers," says an old writer, "should be all patience," and certainly
Mrs. Jones needed patience that morning. She did look vexed at first, as

she saw her work undone, but the next minute she was able to say
gently, "What a pity, Tommy! You should think a bit, and then you
would be able to help me when I'm busy," and that was all. She took
the sheet down and put it once more in the wash-tub.
Meanwhile Tommy sat quietly sucking his thumb. He always sucked
his thumb when he thought, and just now he had a great deal to think of.
Mother had said he might help her! That was quite a new idea to
Tommy, and he sucked his thumb harder than ever.
That summer's day marked a turning point in Tommy's life. He then
determined--little fellow as he was--to help mother, and it was
wonderful how soon the thoughtless little pickle grew into a helpful
boy.
"It seems as if he couldn't do enough for me," Mrs. Jones would declare,
with honest pride in her tone; "and Jeannie, she copies Tommy, and
between them both they'll fetch and carry and run for me till I seem as
if I had nothing left for me to do. I'm a lucky woman, that I am!"
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LITTLE SISTER.
Sleep, little sister, a sweet, sweet sleep, Dear little sister with eyes so
blue, Daylight is dying And shadows are lying, Lying where lately the
sunbeams grew!
The pretty birds, little one, cease to sing, Cosy are they in the mossy
nest, Birdies like we, dear, Weary must be, dear, Glad in the gloaming
to get to rest!
The flowers are closing their petals fair, Closing them up till the dawn
of day, Then in their beauty, Doing their duty, All will uncurtain their
colours gay!
Sleep, little sister, a sweet, sweet sleep, Dear little sister with eyes so
blue, Sleep without fear, love, Sissie is near, love, She will keep watch,

and be guard over you!
E. Oxenford.
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"LITTLE ME."
I cannot tell how she came to be called "Little Me." She was a shy little
girl, and almost afraid of her own voice; though to hear her playing
with her brothers you would not have fancied that she was shy. And
now they were on their way to the country. There was Emma the nurse,
and Miss Brown the governess, Little Me, Tommy, aged seven, and
Jack, aged ten. There was first a long journey in a cab, with many
boxes; then a long journey in a train very full of people.
It seemed to Little Me as if that train had been going on all the day, and
the sandwiches and milk which nurse had in a little hamper tasted quite
warm; and Little Me's legs ached from dangling from a seat too high
for her feet to reach the ground, and at last she fell asleep.
She awoke suddenly with a start to find every one turning out of the
train, and she felt cross and inclined to cry, but there was no time.
[Illustration: "LITTLE ME."]
At last all three children, Miss Brown, and nurse were safely packed
into a carriage which was waiting for them.