little
woman," said the good uncle, taking her on his knee and kissing her;
"she shall not be teased about her children. But now let me hear quickly
what you want to say, Blossom, for I must finish reading my newspaper."

"Well, Uncle," said Fluff, in a confidential tone, "this is Peepsy's
birthday, you know, and I want to make some pottery for him. I have made
a little, but there is something queer about it, and I want you to help
me."

"Stop!" said Uncle Jack, gravely. "Let us understand this thing
thoroughly. Peepsy, you say? Peepsy? I don't seem to recall the name. Is
she a doll?"

"Oh! _no!_ Uncle Jacket!" cried Fluff. "How could she be a doll when she
is a bird? and besides, she isn't she at all; she is he."

"Oh!" said Uncle Jack; "a bird! ah yes! that alters the case. And you
want to make some pottery for him, eh? why, what's the matter? have you
broken his water-dish, or his bath-tub?"

[Illustration]

Fluffy sighed and looked despondent. Then she said very gently, "Perhaps
you are not quite well this morning, Uncle Jack, for I cannot make you
possibly understand anything. When I say pottery, I mean pottery with
rhymes in it, like the Riginal Poems. Don't you know 'The Lobster's
black, when boiled he's red?' that's what I mean."

"To be sure!" said Uncle Jack. "I am certainly very stupid this morning,
but now I understand. We are to make some rhymes, (we call it _poetry_,
Fluffy dear, not pottery,) about Peepsy, a bird, whose birthday is to be
celebrated to-day. And it is to be like the Original Poems for Infant
Minds; and you have made part of it, and I am to help you with the rest.
Is that all right, my Blossom?"

"Yes, you clever Uncle!" cried Fluff, clapping her hands. "That is all
right, and the paper is all ready in the library, please, dear."

"Oh! you little monkey!" said Uncle Jack, laughing and laying aside his
paper. "Well, the sooner it is done the sooner it is done with, as Mrs.
Posset says. So run along, and I will follow you."

[Illustration]

Fluff led the way joyfully to the library, and for some time the two
were closeted together, in deep and earnest consultation. At length
Fluff came out, looking very happy and proud, waving a paper in her
hand. She ran up to the nursery, where Puff and Downy were, busy with
the doll family, the remaining members of which were more tenderly
cherished than ever, since the deaths of Vashti Ann and her daughter.
Fluff entered in triumph with her p