"Soon all the children will come, and then you can have the birthday cake."
Then the other children came and played in the garden. They played hide-and-seek. They sang songs and danced. But my little sister did not want to play. She did not want to dance and to sing. And Tom did not want to play.
"I can show you the birthday cake," he said.
So they went to the dining-room, and there on the table they saw a beautiful birthday cake with chocolate roses on it.
"Oh, I like chocolate roses very much," said my naughty little sister.
"I can give you a little rose," said Tom.
He gave my sister one rose, and she ate it up. Then he took one rose and ate it up. My sister ate three roses, and Tom ate three roses. They took the roses with their hands, and there was chocolate on their hands and on their faces. Then they went into the garden to play with the other children.
When Tom's mother saw them, she did not ask any questions. She went to the dining-room and looked at the birthday cake. She was very angry.
Tom's mother told Tom to go to bed, for he was a very naughty boy. And she told my naughty little sister to go home. Nancy was sick all night31.
My sister is not a little girl now, but she does not like chocolate roses even today.
VIII. My Father Looks after My Naughty Little Sister
When my sister was a very little girl and I was a little girl, we lived in 24 Park Street. A shoe-mender lived near our house. He very often mended my shoes and my sister's shoes. My little sister liked to go with my mother to the shoe-mender. He was an old man, and his name was Mr. Smith.
My little sister liked to talk to Mr. Smith, and he liked to talk to her, too. He gave her little boxes, and she liked to play with them. Then she put the boxes back on the shelf.
Mr. Smith had a very funny picture on the wall. In this picture you could see a little dog in a very big shoe. My little sister liked this picture very much.
One day my mother wanted to buy a new coat for me. She did not want to take my little sister with us, because she was too little.
But my naughty little sister cried:
"I want to go, too! I want to go!"
'And she cried and cried.
Then my father said:
"You can't go. I shall take my work into the garden, and I shall look after you."
So my father took his table into the garden. He put it near a bench under a big tree. Then he took his pen and began to write. My father was a writer. He wrote books for children. My sister looked and looked at the father, and then she said:
"Father, please give me my doll. It is in a big box in the wardrobe."
So my father went to my mother's bedroom. He took the big box out of the wardrobe and gave it to my little sister. Then he began to write again. My sister looked and looked at my father, then she said:
"Father, I want a drink."
My father went to the kitchen, took a cup of water and brought it to my little sister. Then he began to write again.
"Please, Father," said my naughty little sister. "My doll wants a drink. Give her a cup of water, too."
My father was angry. He said:
"Your doll can't drink."
"She can, she can. She can open and close her eyes. She can say Ma-ma. She can drink, too."
Then my father took his table back into his room, and he took his work with him. He sat down at his table and began to write. When my naughty little sister opened the door, he said:
"Close the door and go away32. And don't come back again. I am busy now33."
He worked and worked, and then he looked at the clock. It was late. He went to the kitchen, took some bread, butter and cheese and went to look for my sister. He looked in the garden. She was not there. He looked in the yard. She was not there. He could not find her. Then he went out into the street. He asked people:
"Have you seen34 a little girl with red hair and brown eyes?"
But the people said, "No, we haven't35."
My father went home. He did not know what to do. When we came home, my mother went to the kitchen and said:
"Why didn't you give Nancy her bread and butter?"
Father told her all about my naughty little sister.
And then my mother said:
"I know where she is. She is with old Mr. Smith."
We all went to Mr. Smith, and there we saw my naughty little sister. She was playing with little boxes.
"Come home," said my father.
"I don't want to," said my naughty little sister.
"Come home. It is late. You must drink your milk," said my mother.
"I don't want to."
Then Mr. Smith said, "Take this picture and give it to your doll. She will like it." And Mr. Smith took his beautiful picture from the wall and gave it to my naughty little sister.
My sister was very happy. She forgot to say Thank you to Mr. Smith and ran home very quickly.
And we all went home, too.
IX. My Naughty Little Sister Goes to School
One day when I was a little girl, my mother got a letter from my grandmother. She was ill, and she asked my mother to come to her.
"Take your sister to school with you," said my mother to me.
"She can't sit still for five minutes," I said.
"I can sit still," said my little sister.
My mother wrote a letter to my teacher. My teacher answered:
"Yes, Nancy may come to school if she is a good girl."
My sister was very happy. Do you know what she did? She found my father's old bag and put a pencil and a notebook into the bag. She went to bed very early. She was a very good girl.
In the morning she got up early. She washed her face and neck and dressed quickly. After breakfast my mother went to my grandmother, and we went to school.
Our lessons began at 9 o'clock. But we came to the schoolyard earlier. My sister said Good morning to everybody in the yard.
When we came into the classroom, the teacher said:
"Jack is ill. So your sister may sit at his desk."
My little sister did not talk. She looked and looked. She looked at the teacher, she looked at the schoolboys and schoolgirls. She looked at the blackboard and at the pictures on the wall.