ffectionately, GRANDMA.

Letter Three

MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN:

You, Charless and Louis, often say to me, "Grandma, tell me about
when you were a little girl," and many a little story have I told you.
But now I am going to tell you about "Grandpa," when he was a little
boy.

That dear, good grandpa, who looked young to grandma, but who
looked so old to you, with his pretty, glossy grey hair, was once a
little boy, just like you are. He had a dear mamma, too, who tenderly
loved him, but she used to punish him when he was naughty, and kiss him
when he was good, just as your mamma does to you. He was a very
obstinate little fellow, though, and generally submitted to a good deal
of punishment before he would confess his fault and beg for
forgiveness. His mamma would sometimes tie him to the bed-post, but he
would pull against the string until his arm would almost bleed, and
frequently he would free himself by gnawing the cord in two. But he
was a good-humored little boy for all that, and "mischievous as a house
pig," his mother used to say. Once she locked him up, for some naughty
trick, in a room where there were a number of nice fresh made cheeses,
arranged around for the purpose of drying, and said to him, "Stay
there, Joe, until you mean to be good, and then I will let you out."
He very soon knocked at the door, calling out, "Mamma, mamma, I'll be
good now," and his mamma thought "my little son is conquered very soon
this time; he is certainly improving." She opened the door, but what,
do you suppose, was her dismay, when she found that the "little rogue"
had bit a mouthful out of every cheese!

When he was a small child he strayed off from the house, away
down to the spring, and, stooping down to see the pretty clear water,
fell in, and came near being drowned. Oh, how his poor mother did cry,
when her sweet little boy was brought to her so pale, and almost
lifeless. But she rubbed him and warmed him until he came to, and was
as well as ever; and his mamma thought "surely such an accident will
never again happen to my dear little son." But when he grew to be a
larger boy, some time after his parents had removed from Kentucky to
St. Louis, he went one day with some boys to have a swimming match in
the Mississippi river. Most boys like to swim or wade in the water,
and sometimes are so eager for the sport that they forget, or give no
heed to the expressed commands of their parents; and many