A BIRTHDAY PARTY.
"UNCLE JACK!" said Fluff, one morning, as she came and stood by her
uncle's side in the porch, while he was reading his newspaper.
"Well, Blossom!" said Uncle Jack, looking up, "what is it? any more
murders in the nursery? we shall have to hang all those dolls before
long, I am firmly convinced of it."
[Illustration]
"No! no! Uncle Jack," exclaimed Fluff, looking much distressed. "It is
nothing about the dolls; and you _know_ that was a waxidental murder,
Uncle, and I don't see why you laugh about it." "There! there! little
woman," said the good uncle, taking her on his knee and kissing her;
"she shall not be teased about her children. But now let me hear quickly
what you want to say, Blossom, for I must finish reading my newspaper."
"Well, Uncle," said Fluff, in a confidential tone, "this is Peepsy's
birthday, you know, and I want to make some pottery for him. I have made
a little, but there is something queer about it, and I want you to help
me."
"Stop!" said Uncle Jack, gravely. "Let us understand this thing
thoroughly. Peepsy, you say? Peepsy? I don't seem to recall the name. Is
she a doll?"
"Oh! _no!_ Uncle Jacket!" cried Fluff. "How could she be a doll when she
is a bird? and besides, she isn't she at all; she is he."
"Oh!" said Uncle Jack; "a bird! ah yes! that alters the case. And you
want to make some pottery for him, eh? why, what's the matter? have you
broken his water-dish, or his bath-tub?"
[Illustration]
Fluffy sighed and looked despondent. Then she said very gently, "Perhaps
you are not quite well this morning, Uncle Jack, for I cannot make you
possibly understand anything. When I say pottery, I mean pottery with
rhymes in it, like the Riginal Poems. Don't you know 'The Lobster's
black, when boiled he's red?' that's what I mean."
"To be sure!" said Uncle Jack. "I am certainly very stupid this morning,
but now I understand. We are to make some rhymes, (we call it _poetry_,
Fluffy dear, not pottery,) about Peepsy, a bird, whose birthday is to be
celebrated to-day. And it is to be like the Original Poems for Infant
Minds; and you have made part of it, and I am to help you with the rest.
Is that all right, my Blossom?"
"Yes, you clever Uncle!" cried Fluff, clapping her hands. "That is all
right, and the paper is all ready in the library, please, dear."
"Oh! you little monkey!" said Uncle Jack, laughing and laying aside his
paper. "Well, the sooner it is done the sooner it is done with, as Mrs.
Posset says. So run along, and I will follow you."
[Illustration]
Fluff led the way joyfully to the library, and for some time the two
were closeted together, in deep and earnest consultation. At length
Fluff came out, looking very happy and proud, waving a paper in her
hand. She ran up to the nursery, where Puff and Downy were, busy with
the doll family, the remaining members of which were more tenderly
cherished than ever, since the deaths of Vashti Ann and her daughter.
Fluff entered in triumph with her paper. "Here is the pottery, Puffy!"
she said. "Uncle Jack says it isn't pottery, but something else; but
here it is, anyhow."
[Illustration: THE DOLL'S NURSERY.]
"Oh! how nice!" said Puff. "Sit down and read it to the children and
Peepsy, won't you, Fluff?"
So Fluff sat down, and as soon as she had recovered her breath, read as
follows:
Our Puffy has a little bird,
And Peepsy is his name,
And now I'll sing a little song,
To celebrate the same.
He's yellow all from head to foot,
And he is very sweet,
And very little trouble, for
He never wants to eat.
He never asks for water clear,
He never chirps for seed,
For cracker or for cuttlefish,
For sugar or chickweed.
"Oh what a perfect pet!" you cry,
But there's one little thing,
One drawback to the bonny bird,
Our Peepsy cannot sing.
He chirps no song at dawn or eve,
He makes no merry din,
But this, one cannot wonder at,
For Peepsy's made of tin.
"Isn't it lovely?" said Puff, drawing a long breath. "It prescribes him
perfectly. Doesn't it, you dear Peepsy?" she added, holding up a blue
cage about two inches square, in which hung the precious bird. "And did
you make it almost all, Fluffy?"
[Illustration]
"Well--no!" said Fluff, considering, "not almost _all_, but almost a
good deal of it. I said all the things I wanted to say, and Uncle Jack
changed some of the words, and put rhymes into them. I think it _is_
nice," she continued, "and I am glad you like it, Puff. But now we must
make haste and dress all the dolls in their best clothes, for Nibble and
Brighteyes promised to give Peepsy a birthday party, you know, and they
are getting it ready in the garden, under the cotton-wool tree."
[Illustration]
"The cotton-wool tree!" said I to myself. "I think I must look and see
what that means." So I tipped my glass just a hair's breadth, towards
the lower part of the garden. There, sure enough, were Nibble and
Brighteyes, hard at work amid the new-mown hay. They were making it into
five hay-cocks, which were arranged in a circle under a huge
balm-of-Gilead tree. The ground was covered with the pods which had
fallen from the tree, all filled with white soft silk cotton, and I knew
this must be the cotton-wool tree. Grim was tied to another tree hard
by, a position which he did not enjoy, to judge from his impatient
jumping and barking.
[Illustration]
"Yes, Grim, I know it isn't at all nice to be tied up!" said Nibble, in
reply to a long howl of protest from the dog. "But we cannot have you
jumping over our thrones. When the party is all ready, you shall come to
it, so you ought to be patient. Now, Brighteyes, if you will make a
little cotton-wool throne in the middle for Peepsy. I will get the lunch
ready. Where are the three bones for the dogs?"
"Over there, behind Fluff's hay-cock," said Brighteyes. "And there are
five gingerbread birds that Susan made, one for each of us, and the
wooden turkey out of the doll-house for Peepsy, because he won't really
eat it, you know. Oh! and we ought to have something for Tomty, Nibble,
for we invited him, and he said he would certainly come. You might ask
Susan for a cup of tea when you go up to call the children, for I heard
Tomty tell her yesterday that all the vegetables he wanted were bread
and tea."
"Well, so I will!" said Nibble. "And if Susan will not give us any, he
can have a cup of milk, and play it is tea."
So away went Nibble, jumping on the hay-cocks, and whistling as he went.
Soon he returned, with the three little mice trotting behind him, and
Tomty, with his rake over his shoulder, bringing up the rear.
"Here we all are!" cried Puff, joyfully. "Is the party ready,
Brighteyes? I think Peepsy is very impatient, though he behaves
beautifully."
[Illustration]
"Yes, everything is ready!" replied Brighteyes. "Here is Peepsy's throne
in the middle, and these hay-cocks are ours. Put him on his throne,
Puffy--so! now all sit down yourselves, please, and take the dolls in
your laps." The mice and Tomty obeyed meekly, and perched themselves on
the hay-cocks as best they might.
"Now," continued Brighteyes, "we must all have names, of course, because
it isn't any fun just to be ourselves at a party. I will be the Countess
Kinchinjunga. What will you be, Nibble!"
"Oh! I am the Bold Baron of Borodino," said Nibble. "Puff and Fluff can
be the Princess Perriwinkle and the Marchioness of Mulligatawney, and
Downy shall be Nosolio, the Niggardly Knife-Grinder of Nineveh. There's
a fine name for you, Downy, boy!"
The Niggardly Knife-Grinder smiled contentedly, and said, "Yef, I'm dat,
only I tan't say it."
[Illustration]
"And now," said Nibble, "we will have the lunch, and then we must all
make speeches to Peepsy, because that is the proper thing. Countess
Kinchinjunga, produce the feast!" Nibble said this with a very lordly
air, and waved his hand with great dignity; but unfortunately at that
moment he lost his balance, and rolled off the hay-cock, to the great
amusement of the other mice. But Brighteyes uttered a cry of distress.
"Oh! Nibble, you have rolled on Tomty's cup of tea and upset it. What
shall we do?"
"Never mind, Miss!" said Tomty, smiling, "sure I'm not hungry, Miss, let
alone it's almost dinner time. And thank ye kindly all the same, Miss
Brighteyes."
[Illustration]
"Well, Tomty, you shall hear the speeches, anyhow," said Nibble,
consolingly, "and that will be the best part of it; though I am very
sorry I upset the tea," he added, "and you shall have my gingerbread
bird, if you like, instead." But Tomty declined the bird, with many
thanks; and now the "party" began in earnest. Grim was untied, and a
sharp whistle from Tomty brought Gruff and Grab to see what was going
on. Each dog received a huge bone as his share of the feast, and each
showed his delight in his own way. Then the five gingerbread birds were
distributed, and the wooden turkey, which was certainly a work of art,
was placed before Peepsy's cage with a great deal of ceremony. Peepsy
himself manifested no excitement, but no doubt he enjoyed himself in his
own way. Then the turkey was handed round to all the dolls, Fanny
Elssler and Katinka and Sally Bradford; and Puff declared that they all
had as much as they could possibly eat, which was probably true. When
the feast was over, Nibble rose and said, solemnly, "the speeches will
now begin. Tomty, you are the oldest, and you shall make the first
speech to Peepsy." "Is it the little tin fowl in the cage, sir?" asked
Tomty. "Well, Mr. Peepsy, I've lived forty years, men and boy, and never
made a speech yet, sir, but here's wishing you good health, and long
life to you, Mr. Peepsy; and if you live till you sing a song, you'll
come to a good old age, I'm thinking." And Tomty sat down, amid the
applause of his audience.
"That was a very good speech, Tomty," said Nibble, with a patronizing
air, "though it was short. Now hear mine, all of you. Ahem!" and the
young orator, standing on the top of his hay-cock, struck an imposing
attitude. "Friends, Romans, and Tomty, lend me your ears! this is
Peepsy's birthday, and he is one year old. I bought him myself at Jane
Evans's shop, so I ought to know. He will never be one year old again,
and neither shall we, which makes us all sad." "I isn't fad a bit!"
interrupted Downy, with a gleeful chuckle. "Well, you ought to be!" said
Nibble, "but you are too young to know much, I suppose. Peepsy is sad,
and he might weep if he had any eyes, but they are only little holes in
his head. It is sad not to have any eyes, but it is an advantage not to
be able to weep. If Puff hadn't had any eyes, she wouldn't have made
such a fuss yesterday when I jumped on her toe from the apple tree,
because I didn't mean to." "I don't think that is very nice to put in a
speech, Nibble!" said Puff, looking rather hurt. "Well," said Nibble,
hastily, "I won't say anything more about it, but I want to say this:
"When I bought him at Jane Evans's shop,
Peepsy was glad.
Now that he is one year old and knows that he won't be it any more,
Peepsy is sad."
"That is poetry," he added, "and that is the best way to finish a
speech."
[Illustration]
Upon this Nibble sat down, and after a moment's pause, Brighteyes rose,
and spoke as follows: "Peepsy, I am afraid you think it is very hard
that you have to stay in your cage all the time. I know I should not
like to live in a cage, but then I am not afraid of cats. But if you
were to come out and be alive, you would be dreadfully afraid of the
china cat in the doll-house, you know you would. Thus we see that all
things are for the best! and I am sure your cage is a perfect beauty,
which must be a great comfort. Perhaps you think you would like some
worms, Peepsy; and we would certainly get you some if you could eat
them, but you cannot. My dear Peepsy, I will now conclude my speech,
wishing you many happy returns of the day."
Now it was Puff's turn, but to my surprise, this little mouse, who is
generally very ready with her tongue, seemed to hang back. "Let Fluffy
read the pottery!" said Puff. "I am so hot, and my head aches so, I
don't think I can make my speech."
So Fluff read the famous piece of pottery, to the great delight of all.
Meanwhile I was looking more closely at Puff, and though I was--well,
how many miles off? answer, some of you big children! certainly a great
many!--still I could see plainly enough that the child was not well. Her
cheeks were hot and flushed, and her blue eyes shone with a strange
brightness, very different from their usual sunny light. I was glad to
see that Tomty was also observing his little pet; and presently he said
quietly, "Miss Puff, dear, the sun is too hot for you. Shall Tomty give
you a ride on his shoulder, and we'll find Mrs. Posset?"
[Illustration]
"Yes, please, Tomty!" said Puff, wearily; "I am so _very_ tired, though
I don't know why I should be."
The other mice clustered round their sister, and kissed and patted her.
They saw that Tomty looked anxious, and when he had carried Puff up to
the house in his arms, they soon followed, taking Peepsy and the dolls
with them. The three dogs only remained under the cotton-wool tree,
discussing the party very gravely, and wondering why it was that human
beings never cared to gnaw bones. And so, rather sadly, ended Peepsy's
birthday party.
[Illustration]
I jumped on the back of a dragon-fly,
And flew and flew till I reached the sky.
I pulled down a cloud that was hiding the blue,
And all the wee stars came tumbling through.
They tumbled down and they tumbled round,
And turned into flowers as they touched the ground.
So come with me, little children, come,
And down in the meadow I'll pick you some.