ar. Marianne the cook heard them, rubbed her eyes, and put
one foot out of bed. The nurse, Louisa, turned over and began to dream
that she was at a wedding. Perhaps the sun heard too, for he stood up on
tip-toe on the edge of the horizon, looked about him, then launched a
long yellow ray directly at the crack in the nursery shutter. The ray
was sharp: it smote full on Archie's eyelids, as he lay asleep,
surrounded by "Robinson Crusoe," two red apples, a piece of gingerbread,
and a spade, all of which he had taken to bed with him. When he felt the
prick of the sun-ray he opened his eyes wide. "Why, morning's come!" he
said, and without more ado raised himself and sat up.

"What'll I do to-day?" he thought. "I know. I'll go into the wood and
build a house, a nice little house, just like Wobinson Cwusoe's, all
made of sticks, Nobody'll know where my house is; I'll not tell, not
even Mamma, where it is. Then when I don't want to study or any thing, I
can run away and hide, and they won't know where to find me. That'll be
nice! I guess I'll go and begin it now, 'cause the days are getting
short. Papa said so once. I wonder what makes 'em get short? Pr'aps
sometime they'll be so short that there won't be any days at all, only
nights. That wouldn't be pleasant, I think. Mamma'd have to buy lots of
candles then, or else we couldn't see."

With this he jumped out of bed.

"I must be very quiet," he thought, "else Loo--isa'll hear, and then she
won't let me go till I've had my bekfast. Loo--isa's real cross
sometimes; only sometimes she's kind when she makes my kite fly."

His clothes were folded on a chair by the bedside. Archie had never
dressed himself before, but he managed pretty well, except that he
turned the small ruffled shirt wrong-side out. The other things went on
successfully. There were certain buttons which he could not reach, but
that did not matter. The small stocking toes were folded neatly in, all
ready to slip on to the feet. But the shoes _were_ a difficulty; they
fastened with morocco bands and buckles, and Archie couldn't manage them
at all.

"Oh, dear!" he said to himself, "I wish Loo--isa would come and buckle
my shoes for me. No, I don't, though, 'cause p'raps she'd say, 'Go back
to bed, naughty boy; it isn't time to get up.' I wouldn't like that.
Sometimes Loo--isa does say things to me."

So he put on the shoes without buckling them, and, not stopping to brush
his hair or wash his face, he clappe