CHAPTER II.

THE SECOND BIRTHDAY.



S headpiece

usy lived three hundred and sixty-four days, and then came her second birthday. I suppose you think she was very old indeed, if she had lived so many days. But no, she was only two years old.

When she awoke, on this bright Tuesday morning, she was carried into her mamma's room; and her mamma took her right into her bed and gave her two birthday kisses, one on her mouth and one on her cheek. Then Susy began to play with something. What do you think it was? A doll? No! A kitty? No! it was a little live baby! her own darling brother, Robbie! He was about as many months old as Susy had lived years. Susy loved him dearly. She never cried when she saw her mamma take baby in her arms and kiss him. She would have liked to take him in her own little arms.

By and by, her mamma said to her, "Susy! you are two years old to-day!" Now Susy did not know what this meant, so she only smiled, and said, "Robbie! Robbie! you got two eyes!"

It was now time for Susy to be washed and dressed. Her mamma did not do this for her now. You know she had a little baby to take care of. After breakfast, Suzy came to her mamma with an orange in her hand. Her papa had given it to her. Susy told her mamma it was a ball. I suppose she could not say orange. Her papa took the great Bible in his hand, and Susy knew she must sit still in her little chair. She went all round the room before she could find it. Then she sat down in it by her papa, and said to Robbie, "Baby, be 'till; papa say, be 'till." You see she could not say "still." While her papa prayed, Susy was playing with pins. She did not know it was naughty to do so. After prayers, she began to make a pretty baby house in one corner of the room. It was very pretty indeed. But Susy thought she could make a better one; so she pulled it down, threw her toys all about the floor, and began again. When she had played in this way more than an hour, she began to feel tired. Then her mamma thought it was time to give her her birthday present; so she put baby down upon the bed, and went into the closet and brought out a little table. It had a drawer in it, and Susy was so pleased when she saw that! She thought she must say a big word now; so she lifted up her little hands, and said, "Oh my! I 'tonished!" This made her mamma laugh, and she took down Susy's box of cups and saucers, and placed them upon the table, and gave Susy a cracker, broken in small pieces; then Susy sat down at the table, and began to make believe to pour our tea, and to eat the cracker. Pretty soon she got up and offered Robbie a cup of tea; but Robbie did not take it. Then Susy looked grieved, but soon she began to smile again, for her mamma took the tiny cup, and drank all the tea there was in it. By this time Susy was very tired, and said she was going "aheep." She could not say asleep. So she went and stretched herself on a box, and fell fast asleep. Her mamma covered her up with one of Robbie's blankets. Susy had taken a fancy to sleep on this box. It was soft, and covered with chintz. Some of Robbie's clothes were kept in it.


CHAPTER III.

THE SECOND BIRTHDAY--CONTINUED.


Little Susy slept two hours. When she awoke, her cheeks were very red, and she looked as sober and grave as a judge. Her mamma had been making a new dress for her, but she knew it would not do to try it on now, because Susy did not feel very pleasant. Robbie was asleep, so his mamma took Susy in her arms, and kissed her, and said, "Now we must cut paper babies." So she began to cut rows of babies, and Susy grew bright and happy, and patted her kind mamma's face, saying, "Darling mamma!" over and over again. It was snowing, or Susy would have had a nice walk. She liked to see it snow. She used to sit in her high chair at the window, watch the white flakes coming down, and try to catch them in her hands. So, when she grew tired of playing with the babies, her mamma took her to the window; but just then Susy's dinner was brought in. I must tell you what it was.

There was a slice of toast, sprinkled with salt, and covered with rich new milk. Then there was a mealy potato and a small piece of boiled chicken. So Susy ran to her little table, pulled off the cups and saucers, and made room for her dinner. The toast was cut in little square pieces, and she ate that first. She liked it very much. Then she ate the chicken, and that tasted so good that she thought it would be a fine plan to cry for more. But just as she was drawing her dear little face up into very ugly wrinkles, her mamma came towards her, and said, "Susy! do you want to go to the fair?" Now Susy did not know what that meant, but she smiled, and said she should like to go. A lady had called for her in a carriage, so her mamma, as soon as Susy stopped eating, put on her new dress, and was going to finish dressing her; but Susy felt so happy, and so refreshed by her dinner, that she could not keep still. She kept running all about the room, making funny little curtsies, and saying, "How d'ye do, mamma?" and "Susy go away, leave mamma!" At last her mamma caught the little witch; and her coat and hat and mittens, and I don't know what not, were put on, and then away went Susy in the carriage with that kind friend who loved her so dearly.

When they got back from the fair, it was beginning to grow dark a little. Her mamma had kept running to the window, and saying, "Oh, I wonder Susy does not come!"

Susy had her hands full of toys, and candy, and cake. She ran to kiss her dear mamma and Robbie, and offered all her candy to her papa, who thanked her, and put it in his pocket. He did not like to have Susy eat candy. And now it was time for bed. But Susy was so full of fun, that it was hard to hold her. She ran and hid behind the great chair, and crept under the bed, and laughed and shouted, and clapped her little hands, till at last she was tired out. So then she came and stood still, and ate a little bit of toast, and pretty soon went to bed. Her mamma put her to bed herself, and then she sat down by Robbie's cradle and sung to him and Susy this little song:
"Sleep, sleep, sleep, little darlings!
   Sleep, for your mother is nigh;
She, she watches your slumbers,
   Sees that no danger is nigh.
Sleep!  sleep!  sleep!  sleep!
   Sleep, for your mother is nigh!

"Sleep, sleep, sleep, little darlings! Sleep, for the angels are nigh; They, they watch o'er your slumbers, See that no danger is nigh. Sleep! sleep! sleep! sleep! Sleep, for the angels are nigh!
"Sleep, sleep, sleep, little darlings! Sleep, for the Saviour is nigh; He, he watches your slumbers, Sees that no danger is nigh. Sleep! sleep! sleep! sleep! Sleep, for the Saviour is nigh!





CHAPTER IV.

THE THIRD BIRTHDAY



WHEN Susy awoke on the morning of her third birthday, she said, "Now I am going to give mamma three kisses!" So she crept softly out of bed, and ran on her little bare feet to the door of the nursery where her mamma slept with Robbie, who was not very well. She opened the door and peeped in, smiling, and looking so lovely and so loving, that her mamma wanted to snatch her up and kiss her. She held out her arms, and Susy ran and climbed up the side of the bed, and gave both mamma and Robbie a great many hugs and kisses. And her mamma gave her three birthday kisses; one on her lips, and one on each cheek. Robbie was more than a year old now; he could not speak a work, and had not learned to walk yet. But his little heart was brimful of love, and he put his arms around Susy's neck, and patted her soft cheek, and seemed very glad to see her.

As soon as the children were washed and dressed, it was time for breakfast. Susy sat at the table with her papa and mamma, and was very happy. After breakfast they all went up into the nursery together and there they find upon the table, Noah's ark. Some kind friend had sent it to Susy. It was a famous little ark; and besides all sorts of beasts and birds, Susy found Mr. and Mrs. Noah and all their family inside. This made her begin to dance up and down, and clap her hands; and when Robbie saw her do that, he laughed and clapped his hands too.

Susy sat down upon the floor and played with her ark a great while. And while she played, she talked to the beasts and the birds, and told them it was her birthday, and asked them if they didn't wish it was their birthday too. And she told them every now and then, "I'm going to have a party! I'm going to have a party!"

After awhile, her mamma came and took Susy into her lap, and read to her a little story, and then she kissed Susy a great many times, and said God was very good to let her have such a darling child three years. Just then there came a ring at the door, and there came into the nursery a great bundle, wrapped in a linen napkin. When Susy's mamma saw that it was something for her little girl, she let her take out all the pins from the napkin, and pretty soon out rolled a baby -- oh, a beautiful baby! with real shoes on its feet, and a hat on its head, and a box full of dresses, besides. It was sent by the same lady who sent the first doll, about which I told you. She thought Peggy must be worn out by this time. The moment Susy saw this new baby, she ran to find poor Peggy, which she thrust into Robbie's arms, saying, "There! you little darling! now you shall have a baby too!" Robbie was very glad. He took Peggy in his arms, with her feet up and head down, and began to pat her, and say "By, by! by, by!" which made Susy laugh. But it was getting time for his nap, so Susy and her mamma left the nursery, and went down-stairs to let papa see the birthday presents. He was very glad to see them. He took Susy on his knee, while she showed him the ark, and all the dogs and cats and doves and ravens there were in it. Then she let him peep at her new doll; and as soon as he had seen it and had been made to kiss it, Susy and her mamma went out to take a walk.



CHAPTER V.

THE THIRD BIRTHDAY--CONTINUED.


WHEN they came in from their walk, Robbie was awake, and Susy said it was time for her party to begin. You will wonder who she expected to see at this party, so I must tell you at once that no body had been invited but Robbie and all the dolls. And a funny little party they made, I can tell you. Susy set out her table, and a cup and saucer for each one; also a plate and spoon for each. Then her mamma filled the little teapot with "milk-tea," as Susy called it, and gave her some sponge-cakes, and a few sugar-plums, and an orange nicely cut, and then they all sat down to the feast, Susy and her new doll on one side, and Robbie and Peggy and old black Dinah on the other. Robbie was a dear little boy. He did not pull the cups about, or snatch the cake; he sat very still, and opened his mouth now and then, when Susy offered him a little tea or a crumb of cake. The dollies, too, were very good. They did not fall over upon their faces, as one ill-bred dollies do, nor slip down from their chairs, nor push each other. They sat as still as mice, and behaved far better than mice would have done. Susy thought her party a very nice affair, and I think her papa and mamma did too, for I saw them peeping in at the nursery door, laughing and rejoicing.

Susy was a very busy little girl. She was always at work upon something, as if she felt afraid she should not get out of each day all the fun there was in it. So as soon as she had eaten up all there was on the table, (with the help of mamma and nurse,) she began to play again. She made a great yard with a fence around it -- the fence was made of blocks -- and put her animals into the yard. Her papa sat down on the floor, and helped her make it, and showed her how to drive her cattle in. Susy was delighted, and she said to them, "Now, beasts, I am going away, and you must be very good while I am gone. Don't snatch each other's things away. Don't make each other cry!" Then she made believe go out to walk, and when she came back, she found they had all bee very good indeed. She said she should give them each a book, if they were always so good. Shouldn't you thing they might have laughed when she said that? Well! they did not. They looked just as they did before, and as if they did not hear a word she said. Susy was so busy that she did not notice how dark it was growing. Now every night, when it began to grow dark, her mamma used to take her in her lap, and tell her stories and sing to her. All at once it grew so dark , that she could not see to play; then she remembered it was time to pick up her toys. While she was doing this, Robbie crept about, gathering up his, but he did not touch hers.


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