My Naughty Little Sister (4 page)

She looked at the boys and girls and at their mothers and fathers. But when the curtain went up
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and a little funny man came out, she looked only at this funny man. His name was Humpty-Dumpty
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. He said:

"How do you do, little boys and girls?"

"How do you do?" we all said.

But my little sister cried:

"Hullo, Humpty-Dumpty!"

Everybody laughed, and Humpty-Dumpty said:

"Hullo, little girl!"

Then beautiful dolls came out and danced. They had very beautiful dresses on, all white and blue.

Humpty-Dumpty began to dance, too, but he fell on the floor.

And then Humpty-Dumpty said:

"Who wants to dance with me?"

You know that my little sister was very naughty, don't you?
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Do you know what she did?

She ran to Humpty-Dumpty and said:

"I want to dance with you."

Everybody laughed. Humpty-Dumpty laughed, too. The other children ran to him, too, and they all began to dance.

"Now, children," he said, "go to you seats."

All the children went to their seats, but my little sister did not go to her seat.

Do you know why she did not go to her seat?

She ran away. Yes, she ran away. She wanted to see the dolls behind the curtain. She found the dolls. The beautiful dolls talked to my sister, and they gave her an ice.

Humpty-Dumpty found my little sister and took her to our mother. Everybody laughed, but my mother was very angry.

Do you know what my naughty little sister did then?

She jumped up on her seat and cried:

"I saw them. I saw the dolls. They are not dolls. They eat ices. They are little girls!"

My little sister was a very naughty girl, wasn't she?

When I was a little girl, my mother said to my little sister:

"One of my friends will come to see us today, and her little daughter will come with her. The little girl's name is Winnie. She is a very good girl. You must be a good girl, too. You will take your toys and play with her in the garden."

My little sister put on her new blue dress and blue socks and white shoes. She took all her toys into the garden. She took her big doll out of the box. She wanted to play with Winnie and to show all her toys.

"I want to play with Winnie. I want to play with Winnie. When will she come?" said Nancy. At last Winnie and her mother came. Nancy ran to the door and opened it. Winnie had a blue dress and blue socks on. My little sister did not say How do you do? like a good girl, but she said:

"Blue socks, too."

Winnie's mother laughed. But Winnie did not laugh, she said:

"How do you do?"

She was a very good girl, wasn't she?

My mother and Winnie's mother sat down on a bench in the garden and talked, and Winnie and my little sister went to play. My little sister showed her all the toys and the big doll, too.

"Do you like my doll?" asked my little sister. But Winnie did not answer. She did not say a word.

"Can you talk?" asked my little sister.

"Yes, I can," answered Winnie.

"Do you want to play with my toys?" asked my sister.

"No, thank you," said Winnie.

"Do you want to run?" asked my sister.

"No, thank you. It is too hot," said Winnie.

"Do you want to play hide-and-seek?" asked my sister.

"No, thank you. I don't like hide-and-seek," said Winnie.

"Do you want to pick apples?" asked my little sister.

"No, I don't like to pick apples," said Winnie.

"What do you want to do?" asked my little sister.

"I want to read a book," said Winnie.

Winnie was six. She went to school. So she could read. The children went into the house.

Winnie-took one of my books and began to read it. But my little sister did not go to school. She could not read. So she ran into the garden, picked apples and flowers, and when tea-time came, her hands were dirty and her face was dirty, and her dress was dirty, too.

My mother put a big cake on the table. She said to Winnie:

"Have some cake, Winnie."

"Thank you," said Winnie, and she took a little piece of cake.

But my naughty little sister took a very big piece of cake. She liked cake very much.

After tea Winnie and her mother went home. Winnie said:

"Thank you. Good-bye."

When they went away, my naughty little sister said to my mother:

"I don't want to be a good girl."

"Why don't you want to be a good girl?" asked my mother.

"I like cake very much."

She was a funny little girl, wasn't she?

When my little sister was five, she went to school
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. She went to school every day.

The lessons began at nine o'clock. At eleven o'clock the children had a short break. Then they had two more lessons. At one o'clock in the afternoon the children had dinner at school. Some children went home for dinner, but my little sister did not go home for dinner, because our house was not near the school.

After dinner we played in the yard and had two more lessons. The lessons were over at four o'clock, and Mother came to take my sister home.

Nancy learned many things at school. She learned to read, to write and to count. She could spell her name very well now.

She learned many things about animal. She learned about animals that give us milk and about animals that give us wool.

One evening when she put her school-books and her pens and pencils into her bag, she put her doll into her bag, too. Yes, she took her doll to school. When the first lesson began, she put her doll on her desk.

"You must not bring your doll to school," said the teacher. "You are a big girl now. You must learn to read, to write and to count. You can play with your doll at home."

The teacher told her again and again that she must not take her doll to school. But my little sister was very naughty.

"I do not play with my doll in school," she said. "My doll is five, too, and she must go to school, too."

My sister learned not only to read and to write. She also learned how to answer the telephone
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. She said, "Hullo!" and then she said, "I'll call Mother." When Mother was not at home, she said, "May I take your message?
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"

One day our mother was not at home when the telephone bell rang.

"Mrs. Brown is not at home," said my little sister. "May I take your message?"

"I am Nancy's teacher. Please tell Mrs. Brown that Nancy must not take her doll to school."

And do you know what my naughty sister did?

She did not tell our mother about it.

The next day she took her doll to school again.

The teacher wrote a letter to our mother and gave it to me. She said:

"Don't forget to give this letter to your mother today."

My mother put my naughty sister's doll into a box and put the box into the wardrobe. And my little sister did not get any cake for supper.

When my sister was five and she went to school, a nice woman and her husband came to live near our house. The woman's name was Mrs. Jones. But my little sister called her Mrs. Cocoa Jones.

Do you know why my sister called her so?

In summer, when we had our school vacation, Nancy went to Mrs. Jones every morning at eleven o'clock to drink cocoa. Mrs. Jones had no children, and she did not like to drink her cocoa alone. She liked to talk to my little sister. They were good friends. That is why
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my little sister called her Mrs. Cocoa Jones.

Mrs. Cocoa Jones liked to knit. She knitted in the morning and in the afternoon, and she knitted at tea-time when her friends came to see her. She talked and knitted. She knitted many nice things for my sister and me and for our dolls, too.

One day Mrs. Cocoa Jones said to my sister:

"Do you want to learn to knit?"

"Not very much,'' said my sister.

"But you can make presents for your mother, father and sister's said Mrs. Jones.

"I like to make presents. Teach me to knitted said my little sister.

Mrs. Jones gave my little sister some wool and two needles and showed her how to knit. But my little sister did not learn to knit well. She did not like to sit in one place, she liked to run and to play.

Mrs. Jones's husband was very nice, too. He liked to talk to my little sister. She was so funny.

"Next month Mr. Jones will have a birthday's" said Mrs. Jones. "So I want to knit a present for him."

My little sister did not say a word, but she took some wool. She wanted to make a present for Mr. Jones, too. She wanted to knit a long scarf for him. She took yellow, green, red and blue wool and knitted a scarf. Her scarf was yellow and green, red and blue, but it was not long. It was short, because my little sister could not knit very well.

She did not want to show us her scarf, so she knitted in the shed and in the garden under the apple-tree.

Nancy gave this scarf to Mr. Mini on has birthday. "Thank you very much," said Mr. Jones. "I like your scarf very much. It is very beautiful. I'll put it on only on holidays."

In the days when I was a little' girl and my naughty little sister was a very little girl, she often helped Mrs. Jones to do her housework.

Mrs. Job, waked very much and had a very clean house. She we glad when my sister came to help her. Mrs. Jones swept the floor with a big broom, and she bought a little red broom for my sister, too.

"Sweep, sweep" said the big broom.

"Sweep, sweep" said my little sister's little broom.

Sometimes Mrs. Jones said, "Oh, my poor back!
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"

And my little sister said, "Oh, my poor back!"

One day Mr. Jones bought a vacuum cleaner.

It swept the floor very well, but it made very much noise, and my little sister did not like it.

"I don't like your vacuum cleaner," she said.

"But it helps me to clean the house," said Mrs. Jones.

"I help you to clean your house. I don't like this noise," said my little sister, and she did not do to see Mrs. Jones.

She did not go to see Mrs. Jones for a week.

She did not go there for seven days.

One day Mrs. Jones came to see my sister and the said to her:

"Poor Charlie wants to eat very much."

"Who wants to eat?" asked my little sister.

"Charlie, the vacuum cleaner," said Mrs. Jones.

"Can he eat?" asked my little sister.