ve it away, till it
was almost starved. Aunt Jennie told our little Hettie that she might
have it for her own, if she would take care of it.

So Hettie put the chicken in a cage, with some wool to cover it, and fed
it several times every day, till it came to know her. When it was let
out of the cage, it would follow her about wherever she went.

One night Hettie went to bed, and forgot to put her pet in its cage.
What do you think it did? It just flew up on her pillow; and there it
sat with its head tucked under its wing.

Hettie named it Posey, and called it her daughter.

"What will you be, some day, when Posey lays eggs, and brings out a
brood of little chickens?" asked mamma one day.

That was a new idea to Hettie; and it puzzled her little brain for a
minute: then she laughed out, "Shall I be their grandmother?"

Papa looked up from his paper to see what amused his little girl so
much; and, when she had told him, he said he would have a pair of
spectacles ready for her; and mamma said she would make her a cap; and
Hettie said her little arm-chair would be very nice for a grandmother's
chair.

"What will you do as you sit in your chair?" said mamma.

"Let me think," replied Hettie. "Why, my grandma is always knitting
mittens and socks and hoods for us; and I must learn to knit, so I can
knit some for my grandchildren."

Mamma said she would teach her, and they would begin that very day.

And now, wouldn't you like to see our little Hettie with her roguish
eyes peeping over spectacles, and her sunny curls straying from her cap,
and her chubby little hands knitting mittens, and all in that little
arm-chair?

AUNT AMY.

[Illustration]

MAMMA'S BOY.

"BABY, climbing on my knee,
Come and talk a while to me.
We have trotted up and down.
Playing horse, all over town.
Whose sweet darling are you, dear?
Whisper close to mamma's ear:
Tell me quickly, for you can."
"I'm mamma's boy, but papa's man!"

"Why, you've many miles to go
Ere you'll be a man, you know.
You are mamma's own delight;
You are mamma's diamond bright;
Rose and lily, pearl and star,
Love and dove,--all these you are."
"No!" the little tongue began:
"I'm mamma's boy, but papa's man!"

GEORGE COOPER