IN the first place baby had her bath. Such a time! Mamma talked as fast
and as funny as could be; and the baby crowed and kicked as if she
understood every word.
Presently came the clean clothes,--a nice, dainty pile, fresh from
yesterday's ironing. Baby Lila was seven months old that very May
morning; but not a sign had she given yet of trying to creep: so the
long white dresses still went on, though mamma said every day, "I must
make some short dresses for this child. She's too old to wear these
dragging things any longer."
When baby had been dressed and kissed, she was set down in the middle of
the clean kitchen-floor, on her own rug, hedged in by soft white
pillows. There she sat, serene and happy, surveying her playthings with
quizzical eyes; while her mamma gathered up bath-tub, towel, and
cast-off clothes, and went up stairs to put them away.
Left to herself, Lila first made a careful review of her treasures. The
feather duster was certainly present. So was the old rattle. Was the
door-knob there? and the string of spools? Yes; and so was the little
red pincushion, dear to baby's color-loving eyes.
[Illustration]
She was slowly poking over the things in her lap, when mamma came back,
bringing a pot of yeast to set by the open fire-place, where a small
fire burned leisurely on this cool May morning. She put a little tin
plate on the top of the pot, kissed the precious baby, and then went out
again. Baby Lila was used to being left alone, though seldom out of
mamma's hearing. At such times she would sit among the pillows, tossing
her trinkets all about, and crowing at her own performances. Sometimes
she would drop over against a pillow, and go to sleep.
But this morning Lila had no intention of going to sleep. She flourished
the duster, and laughed at the pincushion; then gazed meditatively at
the bright window, and reflected gravely on the broad belt of sunshine
lying across the floor. That speculation over, she fell to hugging the
cherished duster, rocking back and forth as if it were another baby.
A smart little snap of the fire,--a "How-do-you-do?" from the
fire-place,--made the baby twist her little body to look at it. She
watched the small flames dancing in and out, as long as her neck could
bear the twist.
As she turned back again, her eyes fell on the pot of yeast. Oh! wasn't
that her own tin plate shining in the sunlight? Didn't she make music on
it with a spoon every meal-time? and hadn't her little gums felt of
every A, B, C, around its edge? Didn't she want it now? And wouldn't she
have it too?
How she ever did it, nobody knows. How she ever got over the pillows,
and made her way across to the fire-place in her long, hindering skirts,
nobody can tell.
[Illustration]
Mamma was busy in another room, when she heard the little plate clatter
on the kitchen-floor. Not a thought of the real mischief-maker entered
her head. She only said to herself,--
"I didn't know the cat was in there. Well, she'll find out her mistake.
I'm not going in till I get this pie done, any way. The baby's all
right, and that's enough."
As soon as mamma's hands were at liberty, she thought she would just
look in and see what kept the darling so quiet. "All right," indeed!
What a spectacle she beheld!
On the bricks before the fire, her pretty white skirts much too near the
ashes, sat Baby Lila, having a glorious time. She had found her dear
little plate empty; but the brown pitcher was full enough. She had
dropped the plate, dipped the feather-duster into the yeast, and
proceeded to spread it about, on her clean clothes, on the bricks, on
the floor, everywhere.
So, when mamma opened the door, she saw this wee daughter besmeared
from head to foot, the yeast dripping over her head and face as she held
the duster aloft in both hands.
Just then papa came in by another door. "O John! do you see this child!
What if she had put the duster into the fire instead of the yeast!"
Mamma shuddered as she took little Lila into her lap for another bath
and change of clothes. Papa standing by said,--
"You don't seem to mind having all that to do again."
"Indeed I don't. To think how near she was to that fire! I can never be
thankful enough that she dusted the yeast instead of the coals. But how
do you suppose she ever got over there?"