the tea-cups, and to dust
the drawing-room. Robert was so interested that he proposed to clean
the front doorsteps--a thing he had never been allowed to do. Nor was
he allowed to do it on this occasion. One reason was that it had already
been done by cook.

When all the housework was finished, the girls dressed the happy,
wriggling baby in his blue highwayman coat and three-cornered hat, and
kept him amused while mother changed her dress and got ready to take
him over to granny's. Mother always went to granny's every Saturday,
and generally some of the children went with her; but today they were to
keep house. And their hearts were full of joyous and delightful feelings
every time they remembered that the house they would have to keep had a
Phoenix in it, AND a wishing carpet.

You can always keep the Lamb good and happy for quite a long time if you
play the Noah's Ark game with him. It is quite simple. He just sits on
your lap and tells you what animal he is, and then you say the little
poetry piece about whatever animal he chooses to be.

Of course, some of the animals, like the zebra and the tiger, haven't
got any poetry, because they are so difficult to rhyme to. The Lamb
knows quite well which are the poetry animals.

'I'm a baby bear!' said the Lamb, snugging down; and Anthea began:

'I love my little baby bear,
I love his nose and toes and hair;
I like to hold him in my arm,
And keep him VERY safe and warm.'

And when she said 'very', of course there was a real bear's hug.

Then came the eel, and the Lamb was tickled till he wriggled exactly
like a real one:

'I love my little baby eel,
He is so squidglety to feel;
He'll be an eel when he is big--
But now he's just--a--tiny SNIG!'

Perhaps you didn't know that a snig was a baby eel? It is, though, and
the Lamb knew it.

'Hedgehog now-!' he said; and Anthea went on:

'My baby hedgehog, how I like ye,
Though your back's so prickly-spiky;
Your front is very soft, I've found,
So I must love you front ways round!'

And then she loved him front ways round, while he squealed with
pleasure.

It is a very baby game, and, of course, the rhymes are only meant for
very, very small people--not for people who are old enough to read
books, so I won't tell you any more of them.

By the time the Lamb had been a baby lion and a baby weazel, and a baby
rabbit and a baby rat, mother was rea