ng in Charley's arm-chair was something to be
proud of; so Minnie climbed into it, and turned round, with a
little sideways tumble into the seat, her eyes sparkling with
delight; then, when she had twitched herself straight, and had
settled her feet and elbows quite to her mind, her mamma made
this little speech:

"Dear Charley, and all my children, I meant to have told you a
story to-night, about a lady who went to teach in a ragged
school. This is a school where poor little children are
washed and fed and taught; who have scarcely any clothes to
wear; sometimes no shoes or stockings; and are so very, very
poor and dirty, that they cannot go to any other school.
Minnie is so young, she will not understand it all. Now, shall
I tell a _baby story_ instead?"

"Oh, yes! yes! yes!" shouted all the good brothers and
sisters, "let Minnie have a nightcap, or a 'night_cat_' as
she calls it; dear little darling! isn't she a darling,
mamma?"

"And what do you say, my Charley?"

He lifted his curling head, and put up his sweet pale lips for
a kiss, and said: "Dear mamma, I love Minnie dearly; I love
all my brothers and sisters more than I can tell; I think a
little baby story will be _lovely_."

Then what happened? I only wish you had been there to see all
the children rush up to Charley, when he stopped speaking.
Such a kissing, and laughing, and tumbling over each other! I
should think Minnie was called a "darling," about fifty times;
and Charley a "darling," about a hundred; because he was sick
and lame, you know, and _of course_ ought to be loved about
twice as much as anybody else, to make up for it; and their
mamma was hugged till her daycap was all pulled over one eye,
with the lace border resting on the end of her nose, which
made her look so funny, that the children laughed till some of
them tumbled down again; so what with the daycaps, nightcaps
and madcaps of children, it was quite a capital party. It took
a long time for them to settle down again; a great many
little short laughs had to be got rid of, and the dimples
would hardly go away.

But at last they all sat quiet, and the baby story began. It
was so interesting, that you might almost have thought the
children had forgotten to breathe, or wink their eyes, they
were so still.

When it was ended, Minnie kissed her mamma, and said: "I very
much 'bliged; I love you five dollars, and Charley five
dollars," and then she bade them all good night, and went