Two houses stood side by side, as much alike as two twins. Honeysuckle
and sweetbrier climbed over the rustic porches, flowers bloomed gayly in
the gardens, and the warm sun shone equally on both. In each lived a
little girl who had an invisible fairy companion. The children were the
same size, the same age, and had the same advantages, with this
difference, that the one fairy was good and the other bad.
A ray of sunshine glides through the window into the first house, and
shines encouragingly on little Minnie, who is trying to do her lessons.
But the bad fairy has set her pygmies to work. One persuades her that
she will do her lessons better if she sits in an easy-chair, another
puts a cushion at her back, while a third fans her face so gently that
the soft breeze, fragrant with honeysuckle and sweetbrier, soon sends
her off to sleep, but not to rest. To her dismay the pygmy sweep comes
round the corner, and with his sooty brush sweeps the pages of her new
atlas. The coalheavers turn over her inkstand upon it, and the black
fluid comes streaming down. Aunt Susan's sharp voice calls out, "Mind
your dress, you naughty child."
Minnie puts her hand across it; but the fireman quickly pulls aside the
table-cloth, runs his finger down the stream, and her lap is a pool of
ink.
"Won't you catch it?" says an old woman, with a delighted chuckle; and
the pygmy under the table crawls out, grinning with pleasure.
"We can take the horse to the water, if we cannot make him drink,"
shouts a newsboy in her ear; and with a great deal of tugging and
thumping she feels herself driven closer to her books. But idle hands
make an idle brain, and the pages seem only a blank.
"How long wilt thou sleep, lazy one?" cries a grave face in spectacles
and lawns. With a sleepy feeling she turns her head away from his stern
gaze, only to meet the sterner faces of the judges, who are examining
her untidy copy-book.
"Not a single line written this morning. What have you to say in
self-defence?"
"Please, sir, the acrobat had my pen balanced on his nose," said Minnie
feebly.
"An excuse is worse than a lie," answered one of the judges; "for an
excuse is a lie guarded." The book closed with a bang, and the judge
marched off to consider the verdict.
At this moment Minnie started up in a fright, to find the dinner-bell
ringing, the inkstand upset in her hurry, and no lessons done.
And now she had to go and wash her hands and make herself tidy for
dinner. What would mother say when she came to know how little Minnie
had done that morning?
A ray of sunshine shone through the window of the second house also, and
softly kissed the rosy cheek of little Winnie, as she lay sleeping in
her cot.
"Get up," said a small voice in her ear: "it is your turn to arrange the
schoolroom to-day."
Winnie jumped out of bed, and was dressed in less than no time; for the
good fairy had set her train to wait on her. Her shoes were placed ready
to her feet, her strings did not get into knots, and even her hair was
not tangled.
Running down into the schoolroom, and tying on a large apron, she set to
work to polish the mahogany cupboard with so good a will that Jack Tar,
who stood above it, fairly clapped his hands with glee. Two neat little
maids swept the floor, and two little men with their tiny brushes took
up the dust. The highest shelf in the book-case was soon mounted by one
of the pygmies, whilst two on the next shelf dusted and handed him the
books. The carpet-cleaner stretched and nailed down a corner of the
drugget which had been kicked up. The coachman, footman, butler, and
buttons stood in readiness to carry out the orders of Policeman X. It
was a good thing Policeman X was there; for quite a crowd had collected
to see the work so briskly going on. The three little pygmies climbed up
the rail of a chair to beeswax and polish it. A bookbinder sat
cross-legged on one corner, arranging the loose leaves of a book; and a
fat cobbler sat balanced on the rail below, singing, "A stitch in time
saves nine."
The work was soon done; and when Aunt Susan came into the room she
praised little Winnie, and said the white hen had laid her an egg for
breakfast.
Now, perhaps, you would like to know the names of the two fairies who
attended the little girls. The good fairy was called Work-with-a-will;
the bad fairy, No-will-to-work.
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