At length she obeyed me. Two days afterwards I called on the parents of the children, and then learned that every one of the little ones was ill with a cold. I told the mother what I had seen at the Central Park and she told the maid that never again must she let the children sit on the bare grass. The maid promised she would not do so again. AUNT MATILDA. A BABY LAY. [Illustration] WHAT does the kitten say? "Mew, mew, mew!" She shall have some nice milk, warm and new. [Illustration] Up jumps the dog, and says, "Bow, wow, wow! I'm as good as kitty, and I'm hungry now." [Illustration] What does the cow say? "Moo, moo, moo!" And the pretty little calf tries to say so too. [Illustration] "Ba-a!" says the little lamb,--"baa, baa, baa!" What does she mean? Is she calling her mamma? [Illustration] The rooster struts around, and cries, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" As if that were just about the only thing he knew! [Illustration] On the roof the gentle dove says, "Coo, coo, coo! Love me, little girls and boys, for I love you." [Illustration] What does the hen say? "Cluck, cluck, cluck!" As she scratches for her chickens, and has good luck. [Illustration] What does the bird say? "Peep, peep, peep!" As, early in the morning, she rouses us from sleep. What does our baby say? "Goo, goo, goo!" See the loving glances in her eyes so blue; How we rush to take her, at the slightest call! Oh! the darling baby is the sweetest pet of all. ELLA. [Illustration] CHESTNUT-GATHERING. DID you ever go chestnut-gathering? Such fun as it is! especially when a lot of girls and boys go together. On one of my father's farms there were many chestnut-trees; and every autumn, after the first frost, when the leaves were all turning, and beginning to fall, we used to have chestnut-gatherings. The boys used to get long poles, with which they would beat off the nuts. Sometimes they would climb the trees, and shake or beat off such nuts as they could not reach from below. And we girls used to help pick them up, and put them into baskets. Some years chestnuts are very scarce. I remember one year there was only one tree that had any nuts on; and we could not reach them: not even a man could climb it. One day, Henry, who was a very kind man, said, "Perhaps we will cut that tree down: it will make good rails, and then you children can get all the nuts." We no sooner heard this than we gave him no peace till it was done. And such an event! For we were to see the tree cut down.