"A story!" said f.a.n.n.y, "then I will go too." So she stuck her needle in her work, and they both ran out of the room.

They found their Aunt f.a.n.n.y in the next room. She was sitting at her writing-desk, writing a letter.

"Oh, Auntie!" said Laura, coming up to the desk, "how much you have written; I am sure you must be tired. Suppose you stop a little while, and rest yourself by telling us a story."

Her Aunt laughed, and said that was a very clever way of getting a story out of her, and asked the children what kind of a story they would like.

"I like a fairy tale," said little f.a.n.n.y.

"And I like a ghost story," said Laura. "I think a ghost story is great fun, for I never believe a word of it."

"But you know I never tell ghost stories," replied her Aunt; "they are very silly things. I will tell you a story about three bears, which I read a long while ago. I do not remember it exactly, but I think I can make it do for you."

"Oh, yes! yes!" cried the children, "three bears!--that will be funny I know."

So their kind Aunt laid down her pen, and took little f.a.n.n.y upon her lap, and told Laura to get a bench and sit by her side, and commenced her story.[A]

[Footnote A: This story should be read aloud. When the reader comes to the "great big bear," or to any thing he says or does, he (the reader) should read in a loud gruff voice; all about the "middling sized bear,"

in the ordinary voice; and all about the "tiny bit of a bear," in a high small squeaking voice.]

"Once upon a time there were three bears, that lived in a thick wood.

One was a GREAT BIG BEAR, one a MIDDLING SIZED BEAR, and the third _a tiny bit of a bear_. The GREAT BIG BEAR lived in a GREAT BIG HOUSE; the MIDDLING SIZED BEAR lived in a MIDDLING SIZED HOUSE; and the _tiny bit of a bear_ lived in _a little speck of a house_; and the houses were close together.

"Well, one day the bears went off to take a walk; and, while they were gone, a little ragged dirty old woman came through the wood. All at once, she spied the three houses; so she hobbled up to see who lived in them. First she went into the great big bear's house, and there she saw a great big bowl of porridge on the table. She tasted it. It was a great deal too hot. Then she came out of the house, and went into the middling sized bear's house, and there she saw a middling sized bowl of porridge.

So she tasted it, and found it was a little to hot. She came out, and went into the tiny bit of a bear's house, and there she saw a little mite of a bowl of porridge. She tasted it, and it was just right, so the little ragged dirty old woman eat it all up. Then she went up stairs and laid down on the tiny bit of a bear's bed, and was very soon fast asleep.

"By and by, the bears came home. The great big bear went into his house, and looked on the table. Then he said, in a tremendous voice--

"'Somebody has been at my bowl of porridge.'

"The middling sized bear went into his house, and, looking on the table, he said in a middling sized voice--

"'Somebody has been at my bowl of porridge.'

"Then the tiny bit of a bear went into his house, and, looking on the table, he said, in a little squeaking voice--

"'Somebody has been at my bowl of porridge, and eat it all up.'

"Oh, how angry he was. He went to the door, and called the other bears, and they all three went up stairs together, to search for the thief; and there they found the thief, in the shape of the little ragged dirty old woman that was fast asleep, and snoring like a trumpeter, on the bed.

The great big bear went and stood at the head of the bed; the middling sized bear went and stood at the middle of the bed; and the tiny bit of a bear went and stood at the foot of the bed. Then the great big bear said--

"'Who is this in the bed?'

"The middling sized bear said--

"'It looks like a dirty old woman.'

"'And there's some of my porridge sticking on her lips,' said the tiny bit of a bear. As he said this, the old woman awoke, and opened her eyes.

"When she saw the bears, she was frightened almost out of her wits; so she started up, and jumped right out of the window, that was close to the bed, and ran off with all her might and main. Then the bears tumbled down stairs head over heels, pell-mell, and rushed out of the house, to catch her and eat her up; but they were so fat, they could not run as fast as she could; so the little ragged dirty old woman got off, all out of breath, but safe and sound."

"What did the tiny bit of a bear do for his dinner?" asked f.a.n.n.y.

"He had to suck his paws, I suppose," answered her Aunt; "but I do not know, for that was the end of the story."

The children had laughed very much at this story, because their Aunt had told it to them in a way that made it very amusing. They thanked her, and said they hoped she would tell it to them again, the next Sat.u.r.day.

She promised she would, and told them to run off, as she wanted to finish her letter. So the little girls went off, and spent the rest of the day in various ways, taking care not to be troublesome or noisy; and when they went home, they told their Mother, as well as they could, the funny story of the three bears.

ABOUT MINDING QUICKLY.

Emma was one day sitting by the fire, on a little bench. She was trying to cut a mouse out of a piece of paper. She had a pair of scissors, with round ends. Her Mother had given her these scissors for her own, because they were safer for her to use than scissors with pointed ends.

Presently her Mother said, "Come here to me, Emma."

"Wait a minute, Mother," said Emma.

"Do you know," said her Mother, "that it was naughty for you to say that?"

"Why, you can wait a _little_ minute," said Emma; "I am very busy. Don't you see that I am making a mouse?"

"Emma," replied her Mother, "do you know that I ought to punish you, because you do not mind?"

"I am coming right away," cried Emma, dropping her scissors and her paper mouse, and running up to her Mother.

Her Mother took her up on her lap, and said, "My little girl, this will _never_ do. You must learn to come at once when you are called; you _must_ obey quickly. If you continue in this very naughty habit of not minding until you are told to do a thing two or three times, you will grow up a very disagreeable girl, and n.o.body will love you."

Emma looked up mournfully into her Mother's face, and said, "Mother, I will try to do better."

She was a good-tempered child, and was seldom cross or sullen; but she had this one bad habit, and it was a very bad habit indeed--she waited to be told twice, and sometimes oftener, and many times she made her kind Mother very unhappy.

For a few days after this Emma remembered what her Mother had said to her, and always came the first time she was called. She came pleasantly, for it is very important to mind pleasantly, and did every thing she was told to do right away, and her Mother loved her dearly, and hoped she was quite cured of her naughty ways.

But I am very sorry to have to say that a time came when Emma entirely forgot her promise. You shall hear how it happened.

One morning Emma's Mother said to her, "Emma, it is time for you to get up, and put on your stockings and shoes."

Emma did not move. She lay with her eyes wide open, watching a fly on the wall, that was scrubbing his thin wings with his hind legs.

"Did you hear me, Emma? Put on your stockings and shoes."

Emma got up very slowly. She put one foot out of bed, and then looked again at the fly. This time he was scrubbing his face with his fore legs. So she sat there, and said to herself, "I wonder how that funny little fly can stay upon the wall. I can't walk up the wall as the fly can. What a little round black head he has got."

"Emma!" said her Mother, and this time she spoke in a very severe tone.