d
afterwards gave Frankie a darning needle with some yarn. He had often
sewed before, and he liked the business very much. There was no knot in
the thread, and so he pulled it through and through. But he thought it
was sewing for all that.

Nelly sat steadily at her work for a minute; but at last she threw it
on the floor, and said, "I hate sewing, it's so hard."

"Let me see it, dear," said aunty.

Nelly picked it up, and put it into her hand.

She laughed when she looked at it, and Nelly laughed too; and then
Frankie said, "O, what funny sewing!"

"I'll baste you some easier work," said her aunt; "and you shall have a
little thimble to put on your finger. Then you will like to sew."

Nelly had behaved much better since she was punished, so that her uncle,
aunt, and cousins loved her better than ever. Still there were many
things in which they hoped she would improve.

One day her aunt found her sitting on the piazza alone, eating
something, and as soon as she saw some one coming, she put it hastily
in her pocket. It was not more than an hour before she complained of a
bad pain in her stomach.

"What have you been eating, my dear?" asked her aunt.

"Nothing," said Nelly.

"Are you sure?" and the lady looked earnestly in her face.

"Yes, I am very sure," answered Nelly.

Mrs. Gray sent Sally for some warm peppermint water, and then laid the
child on the lounge.

For some time she lay quite still, sucking her finger; but when her aunt
glanced toward her to see if she were asleep, she noticed that Nelly
looked very pale about the mouth; and presently she jumped up, and
carried her to the closet, where she threw up a great quantity of
raisins, which she had stolen from her aunt's box.

She continued very sick all that night, and in the morning the doctor
came, and said she must take a large dose of castor oil.

The sight of oil always made the lady very sick, and so her uncle said
he would give it to her. He poured it out, and mixed it with a little
hot milk, and held it to her lips. But she would not take it. He tried
to persuade her, promised her a ride, told her she would be very sick
if she did not obey the doctor, but all was of no use. She shut her
teeth, and would not touch it.

Then Sally tried her skill. "I'll make your great dolly a new dress,"
she said; "come, now, be a good girl, and then I'll tell you how Frankie
took his medicine." It was all in vain; Nelly still shook her head, and
refus