't have no boys in it," said Dumps; "they're always so hateful:
there's Cousin Frank broke up my tea-set, an' Johnnie Miller tied er
string so tight roun' Cherubim's neck till hit nyearly choked 'im. Ef I
was writin' er book, I wouldn't have no boys in it."

"There's boun' ter be boys in it, Dumps; you can't write a book
without'n boys;" and Diddie seated herself, and opened the book before
her, while Dumps, with her elbows on the table and face in her hands,
looked on anxiously. "I'm not goin' ter write jes one straight book,"
said Diddie; "I'm goin' ter have little short stories, an' little pieces
of poetry, an' all kin' of things; an' I'll name one of the stories
'Nettie Herbert:' don't you think that's a pretty name, Dumps?"

"Jes' beautiful," replied Dumps; and Diddie wrote the name at the
beginning of the book.

"Don't you think two pages on this big paper will be long enough for one
story?" asked Diddie.

"Plenty," answered Dumps. So at the bottom of the second page Diddie
wrote "The END of Nettie Herbert."

"Now, what would you name the second story?" asked Diddie, biting her
pencil thoughtfully.

"I'd name it 'The Bad Little Girl,'" answered Dumps.

"Yes, that will do," said Diddie, and she wrote "The Bad Little Girl" at
the top of the third page; and, allowing two pages for the story, she
wrote "The END of The Bad Little Girl" at the bottom of the next page.

"And now it's time for some poetry," said Diddie, and she wrote "Poetry"
at the top of the fifth page, and so on until she had divided all of her
book into places for stories and poetry. She had three stories--"Nettie
Herbert," "The Bad Little Girl," and "Annie's Visit to her Grandma."
She had one place for poetry, and two places she had marked "History;"
for, as she told Dumps, she wasn't going to write anything unless it was
useful; she wasn't going to write just trash.

The titles being all decided upon, Dumps and Chris went back to their
dolls, and Diddie began to write her first story.

"Nettie Herbert."

"Nettie Herbert was a poor little girl;" and then she stopped and asked,

"Dumps, would you have Nettie Herbert a po' little girl?"

"No, I wouldn't have nobody er po' little girl," said Dumps,
conclusively, and Diddie drew a line through what she had written, and
began again.

"Nettie Herbert was a rich little girl, and she lived with her pa and ma
in a big house in Nu Orlins; and one time her father give her a gold
dollar, and she