



Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)








[Illustration: The good-natured Giant]




THE

TWO STORY MITTENS

AND THE

LITTLE PLAY MITTENS:


BEING

THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE SERIES.


BY

AUNT FANNY,


AUTHOR OF THE SIX NIGHTCAP BOOKS, ETC.


          NEW YORK:
          D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
          443 & 445 BROADWAY.
          LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN.
          1867.

  Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1862, by
  FANNY BARROW,
  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
      for the
  Southern District of New York.




                        I DEDICATE

          THESE TWO STORIES AND THIS LITTLE PLAY

                      TO MY FRIEND

                    MR. FRANK A----,

who makes fun of me before my face and speaks well of me behind my back.

I don't mind the first a bit; and as long as he continues to practise
the second, we will fight under the same flag.

              LONG MAY IT AND HE WAVE!




CONTENTS.


                                                      PAGE

          MORE ABOUT THE MITTENS,                        7

          THE PARTY LILLIE GAVE FOR MISS FLORENCE,      12

          THE FAIRY BENEVOLENCE,                        45

          MASTER EDWARD'S TRIAL,                        80

          THE LITTLE PLAY MITTENS,                     139




MORE ABOUT THE MITTENS.


THE mittens were coming bravely on. Some evenings, Aunt Fanny could not
send a story; and then the little mother read an entertaining book, or
chatted pleasantly with her children.

There had been twelve pairs finished, during the reading of the third
book, and several more were on the way. George had written the most
delightful letters, each of which was read to his eagerly-listening
sisters and brothers several times, for they were never tired of hearing
about life in camp.

This evening, the mother drew another letter, received that day, out of
her pocket. The very sight of the envelope, with the precious flag in
the corner, caused their eyes to sparkle, and their fingers to fly at
their patriotic and loving work.

"Attention!" said the mother in a severe, military tone. Everybody burst
out laughing, choked it off, immediately straightened themselves up as
stiff as ramrods, and she began:

          "DEAR MOTHER, CAPTAIN, AND ALL THE BELOVED
          SQUAD:--Our camp is splendid! We call it Camp
          Ellsworth. It covers the westward <DW72> of a
          beautiful hill. The air is pure and fresh, and our
          streets (for we have real ones) are kept as clean
          as a pin. Not an end of a cigar, or an inch of
          potato peeling, dare to show themselves. Directly
          back of the camp strong earthworks have been
          thrown up, with rifle pits in front; and these are
          manned by four artillery companies from New York.
          Our commissary is a very good fellow, but I wish
          he would buy pork with less fat. I am like the boy
          in school, who wrote home to his mother, his face
          all puckered up with disgust: "They make us eat
          p-h-a-t!!" When I swizzle it (or whatever you call
          that kind of cooking) in a pan over the fire,
          there is nothing left of a large slice, but a
          little shrivelled brown bit, swimming in about
          half a pint of melted lard, not quarter enough to
          satisfy a great robin redbreast like me; but I
          make the most of it, by pointing my bread for some
          time at it, and then eating a lot of bread before
          I begin at the pork. The pointing, you see, gives
          the bread a flavor."

The children screamed with laughter at this, and wanted to have some
salt pork cooked immediately to try the "pointing" flavor. Their mother
promised to have some for breakfast, and went on reading:


          "We are very busy at drills. I give the boys
          plenty of field exercise, quick step, skirmishes,
          double quick, and all manner of manoeuvres. After
          drill, we sing songs, tell jokes, and _play_ jokes
          upon each other, but we don't forget, in doing
          this, that we are _gentlemen_.

          "Oh dear mother, I am crazy to be in action! I am
          afraid, if we don't have a battle soon, I shall
          get motheaten. Our General is a glorious fellow,
          and is just as anxious as we are to have it over;
          peace will come all the sooner. Hollo! Here comes
          "Tapp," and I must blow out my half inch of tallow
          candle, and go to bed.

          "Good-by, all my dear ones. Love and pray for your
          affectionate son and brother,            GEORGE."

"Ah!" sighed the children, as the mother folded up the letter. Then they
were silent, thinking of the dear brother who wanted so much to be in
the dreadful battle; and the little mother was looking very mournful
when there came a ring at the bell.

The servant handed in a package, which proved to be a story from "Aunt
Fanny." It came very fortunately; and the mittens grew fast, as the
little mother read the interesting history of--

          THE PARTY LILLIE GAVE FOR MISS FLORENCE.




THE PARTY LILLIE GAVE FOR MISS FLORENCE.


"OH, mamma, please _do_ buy me a new doll," said Lillie, one day in
June.

"Why, how you talk!" answered her mother. "What has become of your large
family?"

"Oh, mamma! Minnie, the china doll, has only one leg, and my three wax
dolls are no better. Fanny has only one arm; both Julia's eyes are out;
and the kitten scratched off Maria's wig the other day, and she has the
most dreadful-looking, bald pate you ever saw! Instead of its being made
of nice white wax, it is nothing but old brown paper! I think it is
very mean not to make dolls' bald heads like other people's! Then I
could have dressed Maria up in pantaloons, and made a grandfather of
her. But now she is fit for nothing but to be put in a cornfield to
scare away the crows."

Lillie's mother laughed, and kissed her lovely daughter, who had not met
with any of the terrible misfortunes that had befallen her wax and china
family. _She_ had both her round and chubby white arms; and two pretty
and active legs, that made themselves very useful in skipping and
jumping from morning till night; and just the prettiest golden brown wig
you ever saw. It was fastened on so tight, that the kitten, with all her
scratchings, could never twitch it off; in fact, every single hair was
fastened by a root in her dear little head, and fell in soft, natural
curls over her dimpled cheeks.

That very afternoon, her mother went out shopping; and looking in at a
toy shop window, she saw a splendid wax doll nearly three feet long. It
was dressed up in all manner of furbelows, but the dress did not look
half so fresh and lovely as the doll. The arms and hands were all wax,
round, pinky-white, and beautifully shaped, with two cunning dimples in
the elbows, and four little dimples in the back of each hand. She had
dark curling hair, large blue eyes, and very small feet.

"Well," said the loving mother to herself, "I really _must_ try to get
this splendid doll for my darling Lillie." Her own gentle blue eyes
quite sparkled at the thought of the happiness such a present would
bring with it. So she walked quickly in, and asked the price.

Oh dear! It was twenty dollars!

This was more than the mother thought right to give for the doll; and
she told the man so, very politely. He was a very wise man, and what is
more and better, kept a toy shop, because he loved children dearly; so
he put his head on one side, and thought; then he looked out of the
corner of his eye at the lady, and saw what a pleasant, sweet expression
was on her face; then he thought again--this time, how disappointed the
sweet little girl at home would be, if she knew her mother was out
looking for a doll for her, and came home without one; and then he said,
"What do you think the doll is worth?"

Lillie's mother told him what she considered a fair price, and the
darling, good toyman spoke up