on't know. Such a
time as I had. I frolicked in the park with dogs, sailed boats in the
Back Bay with strange boys, dined with a little Irish beggar-girl on
salt fish and potatoes, and was found at last fast asleep on a door-step
with my arms round a great dog. It was late in the evening, and I was a
dirty as a little pig, and the new shoes were worn out I had travelled
so far."

"How nice!" cried Nan, looking all ready to go and do it herself.

"It was not nice next day;" and Mrs. Jo tried to keep her eyes from
betraying how much she enjoyed the memory of her early capers.

"Did your mother whip you?" asked Nan, curiously.

"She never whipped me but once, and then she begged my pardon, or I
don't think I ever should have forgiven her, it hurt my feelings so
much."

"Why did she beg your pardon? my father don't."

"Because, when she had done it, I turned round and said, 'Well, you are
mad yourself, and ought to be whipped as much as me.' She looked at me
a minute, then her anger all died out, and she said, as if ashamed, 'You
are right, Jo, I am angry; and why should I punish you for being in a
passion when I set you such a bad example? Forgive me, dear, and let us
try to help one another in a better way.' I never forgot it, and it did
me more good than a dozen rods."

Nan sat thoughtfully turning the little cold-cream jar for a minute, and
Mrs. Jo said nothing, but let that idea get well into the busy little
mind that was so quick to see and feel what went on about her.

"I like that," said Nan, presently, and her face looked less elfish,
with its sharp eyes, inquisitive nose, and mischievous mouth. "What did
your mother do to you when you ran away that time?"

"She tied me to the bed-post with a long string, so that I could not
go out of the room, and there I stayed all day with the little worn-out
shoes hanging up before me to remind me of my fault."

"I should think that would cure anybody," cried Nan, who loved her
liberty above all things.

"It did cure me, and I think it will you, so I am going to try it," said
Mrs. Jo, suddenly taking a ball of strong twine out of a drawer in her
work-table.

Nan looked as if she was decidedly getting the worst of the argument
now, and sat feeling much crestfallen while Mrs. Jo tied one end round
her waist and the other to the arm of the sofa, saying, as she finished,

"I don't like to tie you up like a naughty little dog, but if you don't
remember any better tha