h, would you
believe it? heels! Just to think of it! heels! and they didn't tumble
down either. Well, I gave them--guess how many kisses, apiece? and then
their mamma and I sat down to talk. It was very _old_ kind of talk: all
about "contrabands" (that's a _very_ hard word, isn't it?) and about the
best way to make noodle soup, and so on. The children did not care a fig
about that kind of talk; so they walked off to a corner, and began to
play with some funny things they found. One was an old man all made of
black wadding, and another was a very fat old woman made of white
wadding. The old woman hadn't the least speck of a foot to stand on; her
body was just a great round roll of wadding, without legs; I never saw a
real, live old woman without legs, did you? But this one must have come
from no one knows where. You see, she and the black wadding man were
left by Santa Claus one Christmas night, who drove off in his sleigh in
such a hurry that he forgot even to leave a card with their names; and
that's just the long and the short of it, or the black and the white of
it.

Pretty soon Sarah, my daughter, came into the room. "Oh you dear, dear,
little things!" she cried, "I am so glad to see you!"

"Then tell me a story," said Mary, the elder.

"Would you like to hear about the three little kittens that lost their
mittens?"

"O yes, yes!" they both exclaimed.

Then Sarah took dear little Charlotte upon her lap, and Mary stood
close to her knee, pressing lovingly against her; her large dark eyes
were fastened on Sarah's face, for she did not mean to lose a single
word of the delightful story; and Sarah began:

"Three little kittens
Lost their mittens;
And they began to cry:
'Oh mother dear,
We very much fear,
That we have lost our mittens.'"

"Oh, what bad kittens! I shame for them!" said Charlotte.

[Illustration:
"Oh, Mamma, dear,
We very much fear
That we have lost our Mittens!"]

"Their mamma was 'shame' too," continued Sarah, "for she gave them a dab
with her paw on their ears, and said in a severe voice:

"'Lost your mittens?
Oh, you naughty kittens!
Now you shan't have any pie!"

and then she gave them each such a good whipping that the tears ran down
on the ground, and made it very damp.

"But the three little kittens,
_Found_ their mittens,
And they began to cry,
'Oh, mother dear,
Only see here,
See