[Illustration: _Toy Shop_]
as I perceive that your mamma has concluded her purchases."
They now advanced towards the counter, before which some children were
standing. A fine little boy, the picture of health and happiness, was
delighting himself with a cart, while his elder brother, with a less
satisfied look, was listening to the advice of his sister. "I want that
drum, and I will have it, Sophy, you know I may buy what I like."
"Yes, my dear Charles," replied his sister, mildly, "but pray do not
buy the drum, as it will increase poor mamma's bad headache."
"Don't have it, Charles," cried a pretty rosy cheeked little girl,
"don't have it, if Sophy says not. You know I mean to lay out my money
just as she pleases."
"So you may," said Charles, grumblingly, "but I shall lay out mine as I
please, and the drum I will have."
The drum was accordingly handed over to the young gentleman, and
when his sisters had bought their toys, they gave them to a female
attendant, and moved onward.
"What a disagreeable rude boy that was," remarked Caroline, "how unlike
his sisters."
"Quite so, my dear," said Mrs. Durnford, "I am afraid he is badly
managed at home, and that, joined to a bad disposition, will make him
a very unamiable character as he grows up. He should have listened to
the gentle advice of his eldest sister, who from her dutiful attention
to the health and tranquillity of her mother, gave evident proofs of a
kind and feeling heart."
Theodore and his sisters now selected a variety of toys as well for
themselves as for their little brother, William. A composition doll
was bought for the baby, and a very pretty white dog with a gilt
collar round its neck. The young ladies had each a curious puzzle,
and Caroline took a fancy to an ass with its panniers loaded with
vegetables. This toy her papa gave her, as well as a nice painted box
full of sheep, trees, shepherd's hut, and a shepherd and his dog,
telling her at the same time, that most of those kind of toys came
from Holland, and that they were sold here much cheaper than we could
make them.