have her finger big and
long as it looked now. Then she looked at Grandmother Great again and
her eyes seemed to be looking right at that little burnt forefinger.

Sallie put her right hand behind her, but the eyes of Grandmother Great
looked right at Sallie.

Sallie winked her eyes and looked again, for she thought her
Grandmother Great smiled at her. Sallie looked hard at the picture,
and Grandmother Great seemed to shake her head at Sallie.

"Didn't your little girl ever do anything naughty with her forefinger?"
asked Sallie.

Grandmother Great smiled. "I had several little girls once, but they
were all good little girls," said Grandmother Great.

"Always, every bit of the time?" questioned Sallie.

"Yes; I cannot remember now that they ever did anything naughty," said
Grandmother Great. "But you know, dear, it was a long time ago. I had
my little girls a very long time ago."

"Perhaps you forget when it is a long time ago," said Sallie. "Didn't
your little girls ever put their forefinger in anything just to taste
it?"

"Oh dear, yes; I remember now that your grandmother did put her
forefinger, the right-hand forefinger it was, too, in the wheel of the
wringer once to see what would happen," said Grandmother Great.

"Did she cry?" asked Sallie.

"Oh dear, yes, poor little girlie; she cried, and I was so frightened I
cried, too. Her poor little finger never grew quite as it should at
the end," said Grandmother Great, with a sigh.

"Do mothers cry when little girls get burnt putting their fingers into
things they should not?" asked Sallie.

"Of course they do, my dear. Mothers have many a cry over their little
girls when they are naughty," said Grandmother Great.

"I don't want mother to cry," said Sallie.

"Of course you don't, my dear," said Grandmother Great. "So you will
not put your finger in anything again, will you?"

Before Sallie could promise her Grandmother Great she would be a good
little girl she heard some one say, "Sallie, Sallie, come to lunch."

Sallie opened her eyes, for she had been asleep, dreaming all this
time, and there stood her mother in the doorway.

"Mother, do mothers forget how naughty their little girls were when
they grow up?" asked Sallie.

"I think so," said her mother. "I hope you will be so good before you
grow up that I shall forget how naughty you were this morning."

"Grandmother Great told me mothers did forget their little girls were
naughty eve