Well, good night, then, Mary dear, _says_ MOTHER.
Good night, Nurse Mary, _says_ FATHER. _Then Mother and Father
both go out, the one to her own room and the other to the street._
Come, Nurse Mary, _says_ JACK, you must take your medicine.
Do you suppose it is very bitter? _asks_ NURSE MARY.
I think it is, _says_ JACK, _looking into the bottle and smelling
it_. It looks bitter and it smells bitter.
But you mustn't mind that, Nurse Mary, _says_ POLLY; because it
will make you well.
All right, _says_ NURSE MARY. Pour it out.
_Then Polly holds the spoon, and Jack carefully pours the medicine
into it. Nurse Mary opens her mouth, swallows the dose, and makes a wry
face, shuddering._
Was it horrid? _asks_ JACK.
Horrid! _answers_ NURSE MARY.
Do you feel better? _asks_ POLLY.
I can't tell yet, _answers_ NURSE MARY. I suppose I must wait a
little for the medicine to work.
And while we are waiting, _says_ JACK, tell us about when Father
was a little boy.
_So Nurse Mary sits down, and takes Polly on her lap, while Jack sits
on a stool at her feet, and then_ NURSE MARY _begins_, When Dr.
John was a very little boy--
But, Nurse Mary, JACK _says, interrupting_, he wasn't named "Dr.
John" then, was he?
No, _answers_ NURSE MARY, he was just "Master John" then. Well,
when he was a very little boy, so that I could carry him upstairs to bed
without any trouble at all, he was the most beautiful boy you ever saw.
He had fat rosy cheeks, and fine big eyes, and stout little legs.
Was he big enough to walk, when you first took care of him? _asks_
POLLY.
No, indeed, _answers_ NURSE MARY; and the first time he ever went
to a Christmas tree, I had to carry him. I held him up to see the
candles.
Did he like it? _asks_ JACK.
I think that he was just a wee bit frightened, _says_ NURSE MARY,
but I'll tell you what he did like. You know the little figures of Mary
and Joseph and the Christ Child in the manger, that you always set out
on Christmas Day, with the cows and the sheep standing all about? _The
children both nod_. Well, when your father saw that, and heard your
grandparents and all the older brothers and sisters singing "The Carol
of the Friendly Beasts"--just as you will sing it again tomorrow--he
held out his hands and danced up and down in my arms. I tell you, I
could hardly hold him.
Nurse Mary, _says_ POLLY, won't you sing us "The Carol of the
Friendly Beasts" now?
In my old cracked voice? _says_ NURSE MARY. Well, if you will both
help me, I'll try.
_So the three of them together sing_: