Frankie sat very still while they sang a pretty hymn beginning: —
"Majestic sweetness sits enthroned
Upon the Saviour's brow."
But when papa and mamma kneeled down, he tried to kneel too; and seeing that mamma shut her eyes, he closed his, but opened them again in a minute, and tried to get away to run to Willie.
"Frankie is now a year and a half old," said papa, "and must learn to be still at prayers."
"Can't he come to dinner, too, papa?" asked Willie. "I am almost sure he will be good."
"I am willing, if mamma is," said papa.
"We will try him," said mamma.
In the middle of the forenoon a man came to the door bringing a new high chair for Frankie to sit at dinner. Papa had been to the store and bought it for his baby boy. "O, what a kind papa!"
Frankie was very good the first day and the second day he came to dinner; but after that he did not behave as well. He pushed away the plate on which mamma had mashed a nice potato for him, and tried to reach a dish in which Jane had put some squash. His little fingers were covered with squash, and mamma had to ring the bell for Margie to bring the sponge and wash them.
The next day, when papa held down his head to ask God to bless the food, Frankie bent his face down to the table, and muttered over something. I suppose he thought he too was praying.
"Will God care?" asked Willie. "Baby don't know that it is naughty to pray so."
"God never expects children to behave any better than they know how," replied mamma.
CHAPTER VI
FRANKIE'S TEETH
Frankie's brother Willie had never been to school, but had learned to read and spell at home, reciting his lessons to his mamma. Papa said he was now old enough to recite with other boys. So mamma bought him a little satchel, with a strap to put over his shoulder. Then she put in it his slate, with a pencil and sponge tied to it, his reading book, and a new arithmetic with pictures of marbles, and birds, and boys in it. She washed his face and hands very clean, and curled his hair, which was so long it hung over his shoulders; then she dressed him in his new suit, with his nice shining collar basted into the neck, so as to have him quite ready when his young companion called for him to go to the new school.
Willie felt very happy this bright morning. He liked the idea of going with the other boys to school. He thought it would be fine fun to play ball at recess. There was another reason for his feeling happy. Can you guess what it was? It was not that his clothes were new, and, as he could see in the glass, fitted him very well. No, it was because he had two pockets in his pantaloons. Before this time he had never had but one, and now he felt smart indeed to be able to place both hands in his pockets. He walked backwards and forwards before the long mirror in his mother's chamber, admiring himself exceedingly.
Mamma laughed heartily at the airs he put on; but before he went out, she told him no persons but rowdies walked with their hands in their pockets; that papa never did, and she should be very sorry to see her Willie walk so.
For a few days Frankie's cheeks had been very red indeed, so that Sally said he looked as handsome as a picter; but mamma was afraid it was because he was not well. He had a large tin bath tub in the form of a boat, and one morning, when she put him in it, she found his flesh was very hot. She took him out into the flannel blanket, which she always spread in her lap, and rubbed him quickly, that he should not become chilled; then she coaxed him to let her put her finger into his mouth to feel whether he had any teeth which troubled him and made him look so feverish.
He had already quite a mouth full of teeth; but she soon found that there were two large back teeth trying to force their way through the gums.
"Poor little fellow," she said; "mamma is sorry his teeth ache." She laid his aching head on her bosom, and passed her soft hand soothingly over it, back and forth, a great many times, chanting his favorite little song, until at length he fell asleep.
"Once there was a little man,
Where a little river ran;
And he had a little farm,
And a little dairy, O!
And he had a little plough,
And a pretty dapple cow,
Which he often called
His pretty little Pharaoh.
"And the little maiden, Ann,
With her pretty little can,
Went a milking when the
Morning sun was beaming, O!
But she fell, – I don't know how, —
And she stumbled o'er the plough,
And the cow was much astonished
At her screaming, O!
"Then the funny little man
To the little river ran,
To procure a little shiner
For his dinner, O!
Then he brought it on a hook
To the pretty little cook,
And she placed it on the table
With his ladle, O!
"Then the little maiden ran
With her pretty little can,
And brought some nice sweet milk from
Good Mooley, Mrs. Pharaoh!
And she poured it in a bowl
For the clever little soul;
And she placed it by his dish,
While he sat at table, O!"
Then she went and laid him in her own bed, and took her sewing to sit down beside him till he awoke.
Presently nurse came in with mamma's bonnet in her hand, and mamma's shawl on her arm, as the lady had told her she was going to walk. But now she said, "Frankie is ill, and I shall not leave him to-day."
"I thought he was not very well this morning," said nurse, "for he was very worrisome, and would not eat his breakfast."
Mamma sat with her sewing for nearly an hour, while Frankie slept, only once in a while he would moan as if he was in pain; and then she put her hand on his head again.
When he awoke his eyes were heavy, and instead of jumping out of her lap to play, he laid his head down on her shoulder.
"Does Frankie want some breakfast?" asked mamma.
He nodded his head; but when nurse brought him some nice bread and milk in his silver porringer, he only took one taste of it, and then said, "Patty want water." He could not well say Frankie, but always called himself Patty.
For several days the poor boy was quite sick, and his mamma never left him except to run for a few moments to her meals. When he was in great pain, she soothed him, rocked him, and carried him about the chamber. Then, when he felt a little better, she sang him pretty songs, or told him stories, or showed him the pictures in his little books.