advice,
She lit a match, it was so nice!
It crackled so, it burned so clear,--
Exactly like the picture here.
She jumped for joy and ran about,
And was too pleased to put it out.

[Illustration]

When Minz and Maunz, the cats, saw this,
They said, "Oh, naughty, naughty Miss!"
And rais'd their paws
And stretch'd their claws;
"'Tis very, very wrong, you know;
Me-ow, me-o, me-ow, me-o!
You will be burnt if you do so.
Mamma forbids it, don't you know?"

Now see! oh, see! a dreadful thing!
The fire has caught her apron string:
Her apron burns, her arms, her hair;
She burns all over, everywhere.

[Illustration]

Then how the pussy cats did mew,
What else, poor pussies, could they do?
They screamed for help, 'twas all in vain,
So then they said, "We'll scream again.
Make haste, make haste! Me-ow! me-o!
She'll burn to death--we told her so."

Pauline was burnt with all her clothes,
And arms and hands, and eyes and nose;
Till she had nothing more to lose
Except her little scarlet shoes;
And nothing else but these was found
Among her ashes on the ground.
And when the good cats sat beside
The smoking ashes, how they cried,
"Me-ow, me-o! Me-ow, me-oo!
What will Mamma and Nursey do?"
Their tears ran down their cheeks so fast
They made a little pond at last.

[Illustration]

WHAT HAPPENED TO LAZY CHARLOTTE

"Here, Charlotte," said Mamma one day.
"These stockings knit while I'm away,
And should you fail, be sure you'll find
Mamma is strict, although she's kind."

[Illustration]

But Charlotte took a lazy fit,
And did not feel inclined to knit;
And soon upon the ground let fall
Needles, and worsted, hose, and all.
"I shall not knit," said she, "not I;
At least not now, but by and by;"
Then stretched, and yawned, and rubbed her eyes,
Like sluggards, when 'tis time to rise.

[Illustration]

But when Mamma came home, and found
The work all strewed upon the ground,
Quoth she, "You will not knit, and so
To school barefooted you shall go."

This put poor Charlotte in a fright.
And though she knew it served her right,
She wept, and begged, and prayed; but still
She could not change her mother's will.

[Illustration]

To school, where all were spruce and neat,
Poor Charl