_Fanny._ Then I must say I had no idea you were such a baby. Mr. Teachall’s best scholar playing romping games with little children! I am six months younger than you, Laura, but I hold myself rather too much of a woman for blind man’s buff! I gave that up three years ago! _Laura._ Well! it seemed to make the children enjoy their fun all the better, and I am sure it did me a deal of good, and did nobody any harm; so I am content to be called a baby. _Susan._ I don’t see how you could take the trouble; it tires me just to think of going racing about the room at that rate. I should as soon think of sitting down to study French for amusement. _Fanny._ I wonder you did not do that too, Miss Busy. I declare she looks as if she had! Who would have thought of that? _Laura._ I see no harm. You know how terrible hard those last lessons were before the term ended, and I was afraid I should forget them; so I have been reviewing the last thirty pages with sister Helen, to keep what I had got, as she says, and make the next come easier. _Susan._ A pretty vacation, to be sure! How upon earth did you find time for it all? _Laura._ Why, I don’t know. There are no more hours in my day than there are in yours, Susan. But good-by, girls; I am going to see if aunt Kindly has come to town again. _Fanny._ Stop a minute, Laura; I am going shopping, and I want to know where your mother bought that lovely French cambric. I mean to tease my mother for one just like it. _Laura._ Mother did not buy it; she would not think of getting me anything so expensive. Aunt Kindly sent it to me. _Fanny._ Oh ho! a present, was it? I never thought of that. I wonder what put it into her head. _Laura._ I believe she was pleased because, when mother was fitting out two poor boys to go to sea, I did some plain sewing for them. Your mother helped too, Susan. _Susan._ Why, that was before the vacation, and you never missed school a single day: how _could_ you find time then? _Laura._ I used to go at it before breakfast, and at every odd moment; sometimes I could sew quarter of an hour while I was waiting for something or somebody, and even that helped on the work. I think that is a great advantage we girls have over boys. Mother says the needle darns up idle minutes, that are like holes in our time. Good-by; you creep so like snails, I should think you would fall asleep. (_Exit._) _Susan._ Well, Laura always looks so lively! but I would not lead such a life for anything. _Fanny._ I begin to think I would, Susan! she really makes me ashamed of myself; and I should think you would be so too, when you know your mother is always grieving at your laziness. I have heard her tell my mother twenty times that your indolence makes your life a burden to you, and that she is mortified when she thinks what kind of woman you will make. _Susan._ It is better to be idle than to be always talking about people, Fanny! (_Pouting._)