Aunt Judys Tales | Page 9

Stalk,' who told
Jack how to behave, and gave him good advice?"
It was a difficult question to say "No" to, so mamma kissed No. 7,
instead of answering him, and No. 7 smiled himself away, with his
head full of the bright idea.

VEGETABLES OUT OF PLACE.

"But any man that walks the mead, In bud or blade, or bloom, may find,
According as his humours lead, A meaning suited to his mind."
TENNYSON.
It was a fine May morning. Not one of those with an east wind and a
bright sun, which keep people in a puzzle all as day to whether it is hot
or cold, and cause endless nursery disputes about the keeping on of
comforters and warm coats, whenever a hoop-race, or some such active
exertion, has brought a universal puggyness over the juvenile
frame--but it was a really mild, sweet-scented day, when it is quite a
treat to be out of doors, whether in the gardens, the lanes, or the fields,
and when nothing but a holland jacket is thought necessary by even the
most tiresomely careful of mammas.
It was not a day which anybody would have chosen to be poorly upon;
but people have no choice in such matters, and poor little No. 7, of our
old friends "the little ones," was in bed ill of the measles.
The wise old Bishop, Jeremy Taylor, told us long ago, how well
children generally bear sickness. "They bear it," he says, "by a direct
sufferance;" that is to say, they submit to just what discomfort exists at
the moment, without fidgetting about either a cause or a consequence,"
and decidedly without fretting about what is to come.
For a grown-up person to attain to the same state of unanxious
resignation, is one of the high triumphs of Christian faith. It is that
"delivering one's self up," of which the poor speak so forcibly on their
sick-beds.
No. 7 proved a charming instance of the truth of Jeremy Taylor's
remark. He behaved in the most composed manner over his feelings,
and even over his physic.
During the first day or two, when he sat shivering by the fire, reading

"Neill D'Arcy's Life at Sea," and was asked how he felt, he answered
with his usual smile; "Oh, all right; only a little cold now and then."
And afterwards, when he was in bed in a darkened room, and the same
question was put, he replied almost as quietly, (though without the
smile,) "Oh--only a little too hot."
Then over the medicine, he contested nothing. He made, indeed, one or
two by no means injudicious suggestions, as to the best method of
having the disagreeable material, whether powdery or oleaginous, (I
will not particularize further!) conveyed down his throat: commonly
said, "Thank you," even before he had swallowed it; and then shut his
eyes, and kept himself quiet.
Fortunately No. 1, and Schoolboy No. 3, had had the complaint as well
as papa and mamma, so there were plenty to share in the nursing and
house matters. The only question was, what was to be done with the
little ones while Nurse was so busy; and Aunt Judy volunteered her
services in their behalf.
Now it will easily be supposed, after what I have said, that the nursing
was not at all a difficult undertaking; but I am grieved to say that Aunt
Judy's task was by no means so easy a one.
The little ones were very sorry, it is true, that No. 7 was poorly; but,
unluckily, they forgot it every time they went either up-stairs or down.
They could not bear in their minds the fact, that when they encouraged
the poodle to bark after an India-rubber ball, he was pretty sure to wake
No. 7 out of a nap; and, in short, the day being so fine, and the little
ones so noisy, Aunt Judy packed them all off into their gardens to tidy
them up, she herself taking her station in a small study, the window of
which looked out upon the family play- ground.
Her idea, perhaps, was, that she could in this way combine the
prosecution of her own studies, with enacting policeman over the
young gardeners, and "keeping the peace," as she called it. But if so,
she was doomed to disappointment.
The operation of "tidying up gardens," as performed by a set of "little
ones," scarcely needs description.
It consists of a number of alterations being thought of, and set about,
not one of which is ever known to be finished by those who begin them.
It consists of everybody wanting the rake at the same moment, and of
nobody being willing to use the other tools, which they call stupid and

useless things. It consists of