[Illustration]
It almost makes me cry to tell
What foolish Harriet befell.
Mamma and Nurse went out one day,
And left her all alone at play;
Now, on the table close at hand,
A box of matches chanc'd to stand;
And kind Mamma and Nurse had told her,
That if she touch'd them, they should scold her.
But Harriet said, "Oh, what a pity!
For, when they burn, it is so pretty;
They crackle so, and spit, and flame;
Mamma, too, often does the same."
The pussy-cats heard this,
And they began to hiss,
And stretch their claws,
And raise their paws;
"Me-ow," they said, "me-ow, me-o
You'll burn to death, if you do so".
But Harriet would not take advice,
She lit a match, it was so nice!
It crackled so, it burn'd so clear,--
Exactly like the picture here.
She jump'd for joy and ran about,
And was too pleas'd to put it out.
The pussy-cats saw this,
And said, "Oh, naughty, naughty Miss!"
And stretch'd their claws,
And rais'd their paws;
"'Tis very, very wrong, you know,
Me-ow, Me-o, Me-ow, Me-o,
You will be burnt, if you do so".
[Illustration]
And see! Oh! what a dreadful thing!
The fire has caught her apron-string;
Her apron burns, her arms, her hair;
She burns all over, every where.
Then how the pussy-cats did mew,
What else, poor pussies, could they do?
They scream'd 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".
So she 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-oo, me-ow, me-oo
What will Mamma and Nursy do?"
Their tears ran down their cheeks so fast,
They made a little pond at last.