! just look! we have found our mittens.'"

"Oh! I so _grad_," said little Charlotte, and she clapped her hands; and
then gazing at her own pretty white mittens, held them up, and cried:
"Look! _I've_ got mittens! look! look!"

"So you have," said Sarah, kissing her--"and they keep your hands nice
and warm, don't they?"

"Did they keep the kittens' hands warm too?" asked little Mary.

"Yes, as warm as toast; and their mother was so glad they were found,
that she hugged her three children to her breast, and cried:

"'Found your mittens?
Oh, you dear, good little kittens!
_Now_ you _shall_ have some pie.'

"Then she got a large apple pie out of the closet, and cut them a
tremendous slice apiece; and the little kittens were so glad that they
kept saying, 'purr purr purr,' which meant, 'Thank you, ma'am! Oh,
thank you, ma'am! Thank you very much.'

"But, dear me, what a pity! they forgot to take their mittens off; and
such a sticky, lot, when they were done eating, you never saw! They were
full of bits of apple, and sugar, and crumbs of buttery pie crust. The
kittens stared with dismal faces at their mother, and it was plain to
see that

"The three little kittens
Had _soiled_ their mittens;
And they began to cry:
'Oh, mother dear,
We very much fear,
That we have soiled our mittens.'

"This was really dreadful! The old cat started up, her whiskers curling
with rage; she very nearly danced on her hind legs, she was so angry. It
wasn't right to get into such a passion; but then you know she was only
an old cat, and had not read that pretty verse which begins, 'Let dogs
delight to bark and bite;' so she mewed, and snarled, and made her tail
up into an arch, and said very crossly:

"'You've soiled your mittens?
Oh! you naughty, bad kittens!'

and she whipped them so dreadfully this time, that they cried till the
tears made a little puddle on the ground."

"Oh my!" said Charlotte, and her bright black eyes looked very sorry.

"Oh my!" said Mary, exactly like her little sister.

Sarah laughed a little bit, and said, "Oh my!" too. "_Your_ dear mamma
wouldn't do so, would she?" she asked.

"Oh no!" cried both the children; and then they had to get down, and run
to kiss their mother; whose large dark eyes were full of love for her
darlings.

"After the poor kittens had wiped their eyes, and blowed their noses,
and sighed two or three times, one of them sai