Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present TimeFern, Fanny
General
Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present Time
Fern, Fanny
Domestic fiction; Married women -- Fiction
"Mamma has read me some of your stories. I like them very much. You
say you love little children. Don't you think we've got a bran new
baby! It came last night when I was asleep in my trundle-bed. It
is a little pink baby. Mamma says it will grow white by-and-bye.
It has got such funny little fingers; they look all wrinkled,
just like our maid's when she has been at the wash-tub. Mother
has to stay in bed with him to keep him warm, he's such a little
cold, shaky thing. He hasn't a bit of hair, and he scowls like
everything, but I guess he'll be pretty by-and-bye. Anyhow I love
him. I asked mother if I might not write and tell you about him,
and she laughed and said, I don't know who 'Floy' is, nor where she
lives; but Uncle Jack (he gives me lots of candy and dolls) said
that I must send it to 'Floy's' publishers! I don't know what a
publisher is, and so I told Uncle Jack; and he laughed and said he
would lose _his_ guess if I didn't have something to do with them
one of these days. I don't know what that meant either, and when I
asked him, he said 'go away, Puss.' I think it is very nice to have
an Uncle Jack at Christmas and New Year's, but other times they
only plague little children. I wish I could see you. How do you
look? I guess you look like mamma; mamma has got blue eyes, and
soft brown hair, and her mouth looks very pleasant when she smiles.
Mamma's voice is as sweet as a robin's, so papa says. Papa is a
great big man, so big that nobody could ever hurt me, or mamma.
Papa wants to see you too. Won't you write me a letter, a little
letter all to myself? I've got a box made of rosewood, with a lock
and key on it, where I'd hide it from Uncle Jack, (that would tease
him!) Uncle Jack wants to see you too, but I hope you never will
let him, for he's such a terrible tease, he'd plague you
dreadfully. I guess our baby would send his love to you if he only
knew you. Please write me soon, and send it to Kitty Mills, care of
Uncle Jack Mills, and please seal it up all tight, so he cannot
peep into it.
"P.S.--I want you to write a book of stories for little girls,
and don't make them end bad, because it makes me cry; nor put any
ghosts in them, because it scares me; or have any 'moral' down at
the bottom, because Uncle Jack always asks me if I skipped it.
Write something funny, won't you? I like funny things, and fairy
stories. Oh, I like fairy stories so _much_! Wasn't it nice about
the mice and the pumpkin, in Cinderella? Make them all end well,
won't you?
"Your affectionate little KITTY."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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