one turned to her brother and shook her head gravely:
"Mind you, John," she said, "you'll have to watch yon lad--he's a
deep one."

Aunt Kate had only been a few days visiting at her brother John's
when the children decided that something would have to be done. Aunt
Kate was not an unmixed blessing, they thought.

"She's got all cluttered up with bad habits, not havin' no family of
her own to raise," Pearl said. "She wouldn't jump up and screech
every time the door slams if she'd been as used to noises as Ma is,
and this talk about her nerves bein' all unstrung is just plain
silly--and as for her not sleepin' at nights, she sleeps as sound as
any of us. She says she hears every strike of the clock all night
long, and she thinks she does; but she doesn't, I know. Anyway, I'm
afraid Ma will get to be like her if we don't get her stopped."

"Ma backed her up to-day when she said my face was dirty just after I
had washed it, so she did," Mary said with a grieved air.

Nearly every one of them had some special grievance against Aunt
Kate.

"Let's make her sign a Charta," Tommy said, "like they did with
John."

The idea became immensely popular.

"She won't sign it," said Bugsey, the pessimist. "Let her dare to
not," said Jimmy gravely, "and she shall know that the people are the
king."

Pearl said that it would do no harm to draw up the paper anyway, so a
large sheet of brown paper was found, and Pearl spread it on the
floor. Mrs. Watson and Aunt Kate had gone downtown, so every person
felt at liberty to speak freely. Pearl wasn't sure of the heading and
so wrote:

Mrs. Kate Shenstone

Please take notice of these things, and remember them to do them, and
much good will follow here and hereafter.

She read it over to the others, and everybody was well pleased with
it.

After receiving suggestions from all, the following by-laws were
recommended to govern the conduct of Aunt Kate in future:

1. Keep your nerves strung.
2. Don't screech at every little noise. It don't help none.
3. Don't make nobody wash when they are already done so.
4. Sleep at night, snore all you want to, we don't stay awake to
listen to you.
5. Don't bust yourself to think of things for us to do. We kep the
wood-box full long before we ever saw you, also waterpail and
other errings.
6. Don't make remarks on freckles. We have them, and don't care,
freckles is honourable. (This was Jimmy's contribution.)
7. Don't alw