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so much time tying up the
little girls' sleeves with ribbons, and parting the little boys' hair behind,
that, when breakfast-time came, they were not half ready, and began to
cry,--
"O Finnikin, O! Don't spend your time so, But put on our dresses, And
smooth out our tresses; We don't care for curls, Either boys or girls, If
we are but neat, And may sit down to eat."
So at last Finnikin followed their advice, and, when she had dressed all
the children, was so tired and hungry, that she was glad to sit down and
eat her breakfast without even looking in the mirror once while she was
at table.
But nobody knew how to milk the cows; and, although Tom and
Georgie Tearcoat tried with all their might, they could not manage to
get a drop of milk from one of them, and no one else even tried. But,
just as the children were all wondering what they should do, little Peter
Phinn, who had been listening and looking, with his hands in the

pockets of his ragged trousers, and a broad grin on his freckled face,
said slowly,--
"I know how to milk."
"You do! Why didn't you say so, Peter Phinn?" cried all the children
angrily.
"Oh! I didn't know as you'd want me and Merry amongst you," said
Peter.
"Why not? Of course we do," said Patty Pettitoes, who was a very
good-natured little girl.
"Because Finnikin Fine told Merry once she wasn't fit to play with her,
when her clothes was so poor," said Peter.
"Did Finnikin say that?" asked Patty.
"Yes, she did, sure; and she called her a little Paddy, and said, if she
wore such an old, mean gown and bonnet, she'd ought to keep out of
the way of folks that dressed nicer, as she did."
Then all the children turned and looked at Finnikin Fine, and said,--
"Oh, shame, Finnikin! for shame to talk so to good little Merry Phinn!"
Then Finnikin hung down her head, and blushed very much, and began
to cry; but Merry Phinn went close to her, and whispered,--
"Never mind them, honey. I'll forget it sooner than you will, and I'll
come and help you dress the children tomorrow morning."
"And I'll give you my new pink muslin, and my white beads, and my
bronze slippers with pink rosettes, and, and," began Finnikin; but
Merry put her little brown hand over her mouth, and said, laughing,--
"And, if I get all these fine things, I'd be as bad as yourself, Finny
darling. No: I'll wear my calico gown, and my sun-bonnet, and my

strong shoes; and you'll see I can get to my work or my play without
half the bother you'd make in your finery."
So Finnikin, still blushing, and crying a little, put her arm round
Merry's neck, and kissed her; and then she ran and took off the rinses
and pins and ribbons and flowers she had found time since breakfast to
put on, and changed her blue silk dress for a neat gingham and a white
apron, and put her hair into a net, instead of the wreath and curls it had
cost her so much trouble to arrange. And, when she came down stairs
again, all the children cried,--
"Only see how pretty Finnikin Fine is in her plain dress! She looks like
a little girl now, instead of a wax doll in a toy-shop window."
"Yes," said Tom Tearcoat; "and a fellow could play with her now in
some comfort. It used to be,--
"'Dear me, you rude boy! you've gone and torn my flounce!' or, 'You've
spoilt my bow!' or, 'Dear me, you troublesome creature! you've made
me so nervous!'"
Every one laughed to hear Tom mimic Finnikin, he did it so well; but,
when they saw that the little girl herself was troubled by it, they left off
directly, and began to talk of other things; and Tom came and tucked a
big green apple into her pocket, and a lump of maple-sugar into her
hand.
Then Peter and Merry, who had always been used to waiting upon
themselves, and doing all the work they were able to do, showed the
other children many things which they needed to know, and helped
them in so many ways, that the troubles of the morning were soon
forgotten; and when, after clearing away the dinner, the little people all
came out to play upon the green, they agreed to crown Peter and Merry
King, and Queen of Merrigoland from three o'clock in the afternoon
until sunset, because they were the only boy and girl in all the land who
knew how to do the work that must every day be done to make us all
comfortable. But Peter and