he afternoon. Come upstairs at once."

"O Mamma!--we're helping Dinah. Mayn't we stay and finish?"

"Helping? Nonsense! Hindering, you mean. Dinah will be glad to get rid
of you. Come at once."

May got down from her chair. But Lulu and Bertha pouted.

"We've hung all our dolls' things out on the line," they said. "It's
washing-day in the baby-house, Mamma. Mayn't we stay just a little while
to clap and fold up?"

"Clap and fold," exclaimed Mrs. Frisbie. "Where do you pick up such
words, I wonder. Of course you can't stay, you must come and be made
decent. Susan shall finish your dolls' wash."

"Oh, no! please Mamma, it's so much nicer to do 'em ourselves," pleaded
Lulu. "Don't let Susan touch them. We love so to wash. Dinah says we're
worth our wages, we do it so well."

"Dinah should not say such things," said Mrs. Frisbie, severely, leading
the unwilling flock upstairs. "Now, Lulu, do look pleasant. I really
cannot have all this fuss made each time that I tell you to come and sit
with me and behave like little ladies. This passion for house-work is
vulgar; I don't like it at all. With plenty of servants in the house,
and your Pa's money, and all, there's no need that you should know any
thing about such common doings. Now, go upstairs and tell Justine to put
on your French cambrics and your sashes, and when you're ready come
straight down. I want you."

Mrs. Frisbie went into the drawing-room as she spoke, and shut the door
behind her with a little bang. She was a good-natured woman in the
main, but at that moment she was really put out. Why should _her_
children have this outlandish taste for cooking and washing? _She_ liked
to be beautifully dressed, and sit on a sofa doing nothing. Why
shouldn't they like to do the same? It was really too bad, she thought.
The children were not a bit like her. They were "clear Frisbie straight
through," and it was really a trial. She felt quite unhappy, and, as I
said, gave the door a bang to relieve her feelings.

While the children are putting on their French cambrics, I will tell you
a Fairy story.

Once upon a time, in a wonderful country where all the inhabitants are
Kings and Queens, a little Prince was born. His father's kingdom was not
big, being only a farm-house, two clover fields, and a potato patch, but
none the less was it a kingdom, because no one else had right to it or
could dispute it. The Prince was born on a Sunday, and the Fairy who has
charge of Su