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"CARROTS:"

JUST A LITTLE BOY




        "Is it then a great mistake
    That Boys were ever made at all?"




[Illustration: There she sat, as still as a mouse, holding her precious
burden. (_See page_ 9.) _Frontispiece_]




    "CARROTS:"

    JUST A LITTLE BOY

    BY

    MRS. MOLESWORTH

    (ENNIS GRAHAM)

    AUTHOR OF "TELL ME A STORY" "CUCKOO CLOCK"
    "GRANDMOTHER DEAR" ETC.

    [Illustration: p. 210.]

    ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE

    LONDON
    MACMILLAN & CO.
    1876




            TO

    SIX LITTLE COUSINS

    MORIER,      BEVIL,
    NOEL,        LIONEL,
          EDWARD,
      AND BABY BRIAN.

EDINBURGH, 1870




CONTENTS


    CHAP.                                               PAGE

       I.  FLOSS'S BABY                                    1

      II.  SIX YEARS OLD                                  12

     III.  PLANS                                          26

      IV.  THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN                        44

       V.  CARROTS IN TROUBLE                             60

      VI.  CARROTS "ALL ZIGHT" AGAIN                      78

     VII.  A LONG AGO STORY                               91

    VIII.  "THE BEWITCHED TONGUE"                        111

      IX.  SYBIL                                         130

       X.  A JOURNEY AND ITS ENDING                      152

      XI.  HAPPY AND SAD                                 180

     XII.  "THE TWO FUNNY LITTLE TROTS"                  206

    XIII.  GOOD ENDINGS                                  236




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                        PAGE

    THERE SHE SAT, AS STILL AS A MOUSE, HOLDING HER
      PRECIOUS BURDEN               _Frontispiece._

    "A YELLOW SIXPENNY, OH, HOW NICE!"                    36

    FLOSS TAPPED AT THE DOOR. "CARROTS," SHE SAID,
      "ARE YOU THERE?"                                    78

    "NOW, BE QUIET ALL OF YOU, I'M GOING TO BEGIN"       114

    "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT, MY POOR OLD
      MAN?" SAID AUNTIE, FONDLY                          148

    "IT IS FLOSSIE AND ME, SYBIL--DON'T YOU REMEMBER
      US?"                                               184

    "SUDDENLY A BRIGHT THOUGHT STRUCK ME, I SEIZED
      GIP, MY LITTLE DOG, WHO WAS ASLEEP ON THE
      HEARTHRUG, AND HELD HIM UP AT THE WINDOW"          212




"CARROTS:" JUST A LITTLE BOY




CHAPTER I.

FLOSS'S BABY.

    "Where did you come from, Baby dear?
       Out of the everywhere into here?

           *       *       *

    "But how did you come to us, you dear?
       God thought about you, and so I am here!"

                                        _G. Macdonald._


His real name was Fabian. But he was never called anything but Carrots.
There were six of them. Jack, Cecil, Louise, Maurice, commonly called
Mott, Floss, dear, dear Floss, whom he loved best of all, a long way the
best of all, and lastly Carrots.

Why Carrots should have come to have his history written I really cannot
say. I must leave you, who understand such things a good deal better
than I, you, children, for whom the history is written, to find out. I
can give you a few reasons why Carrots' history should _not_ have been
written, but that is about all I can do. There was nothing very
remarkable about him; there was nothing very remarkable about the place
where he lived, or the things that he did, and on the whole he was very
much like other little boys. There are my _no_ reasons for you. But
still he was Carrots, and after all, perhaps, that was _the_ reason! I
shouldn't wonder.

He was the baby of the family; he had every right to be considered the
baby, for he was not only the youngest, but very much the youngest; for
Floss, who came next to him, was nearly four years older than Carrots.
Yet he was never treated as the baby. I doubt if even at the very outset
of his little life, when he was just a wee