I 'd just like to be let alone , ' and Harry went on his way to captivity with a grim shake of the head and a very strong desire to run away from home altogether . ` So would I , mamma is so fussy . I never have any peace of my life , ' sighed Kitty , feeling that her lot was a hard one . The martyr in brown linen went up , and the other martyr in white cambric went down , both looking as they felt , rebellious and unhappy . Yet a stranger seeing them and their home would have thought they had everything heart could desire . All the comforts that money could buy , and all the beauty that taste could give seemed gathered round them . Papa and mamma loved the two little people dearly , and no real care or sorrow came to trouble the lives that would have been all sunshine but for one thing . With the best intentions in the world , Mr. and Mrs. Fairbairn were spoiling their children by constant fault-finding , too many rules and too little sympathy with the active young souls and bodies under their care . As Harry said , they were ordered about , corrected and fussed over from morning till night , and were getting so tired of it that the most desperate ideas began to enter their heads . Now , in the house was a quiet old maiden aunt , who saw the mischief brewing , and tried to cure it by suggesting more liberty and less ` nagging , ' as the boys call it . But Mr. and Mrs. F. always silenced her by saying , -- ` My dear Betsey , you never had a family , so how can you know anything about the proper management of children ? ' They quite forgot that sister Betsey had brought up a flock of motherless brothers and sisters , and done it wisely and well , though she never got any thanks or praise for it , and never expected any for doing her duty faithfully . If it had not been for aunty , Harry and Kitty would have long ago carried out their favorite plan , and have run away together , like Roland and Maybird . She kept them from this foolish prank by all sorts of unsuspected means , and was their refuge in troublous times . For all her quiet ways , aunty was full of fun as well as sympathy and patience , and she smoothed the thorny road to virtue with the innocent and kindly little arts that make some people as useful and beloved as good fairy godmothers were once upon a time . As they sat at tea that evening papa and mamma were most affable and lively ; but the children 's spirits were depressed by a long day of restraint , and they sat like well-bred mutes , languidly eating their supper . ` It 's the warm weather . They need something bracing . I 'll give them a dose of iron mixture to-morrow , ' said mamma . ` I 've taken enough now to make a cooking-stove , ' groaned Kitty , who hated being dosed .
` If you 'd let me go swimming every XXXXX I 'd be all right , ' added Harry .
Betsey Fairbairn Maybird Roland aunty day evening godmothers mutes night