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_LITTLE SUNBEAMS._


VI.

NELLIE'S HOUSEKEEPING.




By the Author of this Volume.


I.

LITTLE SUNBEAMS.

  By JOANNA H. MATHEWS, Author of the "Bessie Books."
   6 vols. In a box                             $6.00

_Or, separately_:--

      I. BELLE POWERS' LOCKET. 16mo      1.00
     II. DORA'S MOTTO. 16mo              1.00
    III. LILY NORRIS' ENEMY              1.00
     IV. JESSIE'S PARROT                 1.00
      V. MAMIE'S WATCHWORD               1.00
     VI. NELLIE'S HOUSEKEEPING           1.00


II.

THE FLOWERETS.

  A series of Stories on the Commandments. 6 vols. In a box    $3.60


    "Under the general head of 'Flowerets,' this charming
    author has grouped six little volumes, being a series
    of stories on the Commandments. 'Our folks' are in love
    with them, and have made off with them all before we
    could get the first reading."--_Our Monthly._


III.

THE BESSIE BOOKS.

    6 vols. In a box      $7.50

    "We can wish our young readers no greater pleasure than
    an acquaintance with dear, cute little Bessie and her
    companions, old and young, brute and human."--_American
    Presbyterian._


    ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,
    _New York_




NELLIE'S HOUSEKEEPING.


    "Be good, sweet child, and let who will be clever:
       Do noble things, not dream them, all day long;
     So shalt thou make life, death, and that vast for ever.
       One grand, sweet song."--KINGSLEY.

    BY
    JOANNA H. MATHEWS,
    AUTHOR OF THE "BESSIE BOOKS" AND THE "FLOWERETS."


    NEW YORK:
    ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,
    530 BROADWAY.
    1882.




    Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
    ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,
    In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.




CONTENTS.


                                        PAGE
       I. HARD AT WORK                    7
      II. A TALK WITH PAPA               25
     III. NELLIE A HOUSEKEEPER           50
      IV. A COURTSHIP                    70
       V. WHITE MICE                     94
      VI. THE GRAY MICE                 113
     VII. THE BLACK CAT                 136
    VIII. DAISY'S SACRIFICE             157
      IX. MAKING GINGER-CAKES           181
       X. FRESH TROUBLES                204
      XI. A NIGHT OF IT                 224
     XII. AN ALARM                      236
    XIII. LAST OF THE SUNBEAMS          245




[Illustration]




NELLIE'S HOUSEKEEPING.




I.

_HARD AT WORK._


"NELLIE, will you come down to the beach now?"

"No!" with as much shortness and sharpness as the little word of two
letters could well convey.

"Why not?"

"Oh! because I can't. Don't bother me."

And, laying down the pencil with which she had been writing, Nellie
Ransom pushed back the hair from her flushed, heated face, drew a long,
weary sigh, took up the Bible which lay at her elbow, and, turning
over the leaf, ran her finger slowly and carefully down the page before
her.

Carrie stood with one elbow upon the corner of the table at which her
sister sat, her chin resting in her palm as she discontentedly watched
Nellie, while with the other hand she swung back and forth by one
string the broad straw hat she was accustomed to wear when playing out
of doors.

"I think you might," she said presently. "Mamma says I can't go if you
don't, and I want to go so."

"I can't help it," said Nellie, still without taking her eyes from her
Bible. "I wish you'd stop shaking the table so."

"How soon will you come?" persisted Carrie, taking her elbow from the
table.

"When I'm ready, and not before," snapped N