Your old friends, the Nightcap children, were as merry and happy and well as ever, except Charley—poor lame Charley. He was much worse; his sufferings had greatly increased with the dreadful hip disease, and a terrible cough racked his delicate and The good little mother was advised by the doctor to take Charley into the country, somewhere up the beautiful Hudson It happened, fortunately, that one of her oldest friends, who was an officer at West Point, was obliged to leave there upon some government expedition for about three months; and he offered his pretty cottage to his friend for that time. This was most delightful, as Charley could have far more comfort living in this way than in a boarding-house; and the rest of the children would not have to be tied up by the leg to the bedposts, because their noise disturbed other people. So the little mother gladly and gratefully accepted the offer, and was now very busy making up dozens of petticoats and panta A few days before they left, the grand Japanese procession took place in New York; and Minnie said, "Oh, mamma, please take us to see the Jackanapes," which made the rest laugh. So down Broadway they all went, looking like a boarding-school that took boys as well as girls, with the little mother marching like a captain at their head, and turned into a fine store, opposite the City Hall Park, that belonged to their uncle, where they had such an excellent view, that "Dear me!" exclaimed George, "I am nearly crazy with joy; I wish the Japanese would come every day. How funny! they all look like old women in black nightgowns!" "And their heads have little top-knots, like Poland hens," said Henry; "and see that fellow sticking his foot on the edge of the carriage—look! his great toe is put in a thumb!" At this they all laughed, and Harry, laughing too, cried out: "I don't mean that; I mean that they knit thumbs in their stockings, and stick their great toes in;—dear! how it must tickle!" It was a grand sight. Many of the stores were decorated with numerous little Japanese flags, which consist of a large red ball in the centre of a plain white surface, and many Japanese lanterns were hung around. The soldiers looked and marched splendidly; and the fine music was enchanting. Guns were firing in the Park, and smoking and flaming like steamboat funnels: little boys were popping off squibs and crackers, and everybody seemed perfectly happy. "Dear me!" cried Arthur, "I wish I could hear the speeches they intend to make. I suppose they will be stuck full of compliments, not a word of which the Mayor will understand; but, of course, he will bow a great many times to show that he agrees When the children got home, they told Charley about the grand procession, all speaking at once; and one of them put on an old black gown of his mother's, and half shut his eyes, and would have shaved his head, if his mother had let him, to show Charley just how they looked; because he, poor little fellow, had to stay behind—he could not have endured the fatigue of that long day away from home. But his kind little mother never forgot him; she was de THE JAPANESE RECEPTION. THE JAPANESE RECEPTION. The street was crowded. Beautiful colored lanterns were hung here and there, and little Japanese flags fluttered in every direction. As they came near the great Metropolitan Hotel, where the Japanese were staying, the crowd increased, and a burst of delightful surprise broke from Charley and the rest, as the beautiful blazing windows came in view. In each of the several hundred win After they had looked just as long as they The next evening the little mother thought she would call upon Captain Porter, who had the Japanese in charge. He was a brave, noble-hearted officer, and an old friend, and accordingly she went with some other friends. Captain Porter received them very kindly, and amused them very much with funny accounts of how the Japanese were stared at, and sometimes annoyed by people who ought to know better. While she sat there, there came a knock at the door, and a morocco case was handed in: it was opened; and what do you think appeared? You will hardly believe it: some sets of false teeth; one set of them jet black, as a present! The little mother laughed, and wondered if the dentist who sent them, thought the Japanese He looked so very smiling, that the two comical little triangular slits in his head which served for eyes nearly disappeared, when Captain Porter took him by the hand and introduced him to the little mother. "How do?" said he, and shook hands with her; then he took up Captain Porter's sword and belt and buckled it round his waist, and said, "Ver good sword, indeed;" then he tried on the Captain's naval uniform "No show," said Tommy; which answer made the little mother esteem him very much, because it was plain that he had too much self-respect, and too much respect for the young lady, if she was a little girl only twelve years old, to show her likeness to every stranger. He was not going to be made fun of. Not he! Presently the little mother got up to go; and, shaking hands with Tommy, said, "Good-bye Tommy; I mean to send you a 'Nightcap' book. It is written by 'Aunt Fanny.' Say, Aunt Fanny." "Arnta Farnny. Yes! I like it," answered Tommy, holding the little mother's hand; "but you," he continued, "I like you; are you Spaniss?" "No," said she. "You Frence?" "No," said she, smiling. "You Angliss?" "No," said she. "Why, Tommy, she is an American," said Captain Porter. "Ah," cried Tommy; "she so leetle—she Metropolitan Hotel, New York, June 22, 1860. "Dear Sir:—I am much oblige to you the history and head some paper and the letter with it whole my head examination. I shall take it to Japan, and esteemed much doctor Kawasake is also much please have been receive it. "I am very true your friend,"Tateish Onajeiro (Tommy)." And now every thing was made in the The express man stared with amazement at the quantity of children whisking and frisking, and rushing and brushing about in the hall; and, still more, at the trunks, boxes, and bundles, that were brought clattering and tumbling down the stairs for him to take away. Just before he was leaving with the last bundle, little Johnny rushed breathless down the stairs with what looked like a horse's tail, only shorter and smaller, in one hand, and an old tin-box that had once contained preserved tomatoes in the other, and screamed Dear me! how the poor express man did bite his lips and swell his cheeks, and turn very red, and try not to laugh: but it would come out, and he laughed himself nearly into fits, while the little mother felt for a moment as if she could have shaken Johnny into fits, but only for a moment; for, after all, what was the use of being angry: he meant to be so useful and thoughtful, and if her hair was so thin, she had to buy some to put with it—why, it was nothing to be ashamed of; so she laughed, too, at last, and all the children joined And now a great hotel carriage, which is about three times as large as any other, drove up, and the children were packed in it, till it was as full as an egg; and they gave three cheers, as it started, to the astonishment of all the neighbors, and sang "John Brown had a little Indian" all the way down to the boat. There had been so many berths engaged for one name, that the Captain thought there must be a colony going out west to set up a Ah! the Yankee-talking Captain didn't know what you and I know—that these children all "loved one another" and that made every thing easy to the little mother. There was no wrangling in that family. They left all that to "dogs and cats," and "bears and lions," as I am sure all good children do. There was plenty of noise, to be sure; but this the great power of love And now, before I forget it, let's have a little laugh you and I, over that ridiculous picture of our "Nightcap children" in "Baby Nightcaps." I intended to have had a picture of the little mother surrounded by lots of pretty children playing about her; but, instead of that, I was presented with a family that made my sides ache with laughter. Such noses and such hats! I want to tip that tall-spook-of-a-boy's hat off his head every time I look at it; And such a baby! Apple-dumpling face and squint eyes! Never When the family were all comfortably settled, the splendid palace-like steamboat—the Alida—started from the pier, and was soon gliding so swiftly over the water, that the magnificent Palisades rose in the blue evening air, while the golden glory of sunset was still lingering upon them. Charley sat by his mother, with his curly head pressed close against her breast; his pure and simple thoughts mirrored in his sweet face. He was silently thanking God for the beautiful changing picture before his eyes. All But the silence did not last long. Of course not. If children are quite still for more than five minutes at a time, you may be sure they are either sick or in mischief; so presently George exclaimed,— "Just see that sea-gull dipping his wings in the river!" "That's the way he does his washing," said Annie. "Oh! look at that row-boat," cried Harry; "four gentlemen and three ladies rowing with parasols." How the children laughed, and pretended to see the parasols rowing, till Harry explained that he meant that the ladies had the parasols, and the gentlemen were rowing. His mother said she would have to give him a dish of boiled grammar for his breakfast, if he did not mind his antecedents better. "Grammar!" cried George; "dreadful! Aren't you all glad school-days are over for the summer?" At this blissful recollection all the children clapped their hands at such a rate, that a fat old lady jumped up in a hurry and gave a queer little squeak, because she thought the boiler was bursting; and although they were now in the very middle of the broad Tappaan Sea, she waddled off to order the captain "Yes, indeed," answered Annie, "glad enough. Just think; no more hard sums either. I do believe arithmetic is meant on purpose to torment us, and that's the reason Willie made that mistake with such a grave face, when the lady asked him how far he had gotten in his sums." "So it is," cried Clara; "Willie said he had got to distraction; I, for one, wish that all the people that make the arithmetic books had to eat them with pepper-sauce "But compositions! Just think of compositions!" cried Harry; "they are the most hateful things. Just because I wrote in my last one, that 'a mule is a beast of burden which draws a rail-car shaped like a zebra, and is sometimes used for carts with two long ears and a miserable tail,' they all burst out laughing at me, and I very nearly cried—I did cry." "Well, never mind, Harry," cried George; "it is all over now, and we are going to that delightful West Point: I wonder if those soldiers we saw parading with the Japanese last Saturday came from West Point? they were such splendid fellows." "Yes, indeed," cried Harry; "I dare say they did; they looked as if they were afraid of nothing, but would be really glad to have an arm or a leg shot off in every battle, and are so brave, that they would keep on fighting the enemies of America, if they had only an ear and one great-toe left." Charley lifted his head and laughed at this, for he could hear all the children were saying; and he whispered to his mother, "Isn't Harry a funny fellow? The idea of one ear, and a great-toe firing a gun!" and he laughed again a sweet, low laugh; and Clara, who was sitting nearest, took his small thin white hand and kissed it, and patted it, and murmured, "Oh, Charley, I'm so glad you All this time they had been passing many beautiful villages and elegant country mansions, half buried in luxuriant foliage. They were now leaving the Tappaan Sea; and soon after the little mother showed the children Sunnyside, the lovely home of the great Washington Irving. "He does not live there any more," said she; "his home is now 'Eternal in the Heavens;' but his fame, and goodness, and renown will live in every land for many, many years; and I hope the beautiful Sunnyside will never fall into neglect or decay as long as his memory lasts." The children looked with mournful in And now the banks seemed to close in, and great dark mountains rose on either side. "There's Anthony's nose," said the little mother. "Where? where?" cried the children, "Oh! my hat! my hat!" she screamed; "get it! get it! quick! before it goes across the Atlantic Ocean, and runs up the big mountains. Oh! get it! get it!" How everybody around did laugh, as George jumped after the hat, which Minnie The first stars were peeping out, and the little birds had sung their evening hymns and were hushed into stillness, as the children got into the stage, the strong horses of which toiled up the short but steep ascent, and they soon arrived at their summer home. They all hurried in, in the most delightful bustle; and the children had a grand time assisting the little mother to unpack every thing. You would have imagined, to look in at the windows, that the house was full of fishes out of water; they kept up such a continual bouncing and fluttering about, but they were not fishes, nor pollywogs, nor tadpoles, nor any thing like them; they were a company of capering children, taking all sorts of little boxes and bundles out of trunks, and putting them in the wrong places, and then The good-natured little mother did not think them at all in the way: she only laughed softly to herself, and would not for forty new bandboxes have given them any ear-boxes for what they were doing. No, indeed! she just let them trot about as much as they liked with the pillows, boxes, bags, and bundles, of which there seemed to be about a hundred and fifty; and when they were tired of helping, she quietly arranged the things in their proper places. Oh! how soundly the children slept that night with the "fragrant stillness" all around them, far away from the roar and whirl of the great city. The moonlight, sweet and The next day Charley was very ill indeed. Even the short journey from the city had overtasked his strength. He lay in a darkened chamber, for his mother had to shut out the sweet sunshine, his head and side were so racked with pain. The children crept lovingly up to the door of the room they were not permitted to enter many times during the day; to hope in a whisper that he felt better, and went about the pretty cottage on tip-toe—all their merriment gone. You would hardly believe they were the same children that yesterday had kept half the people in the steamboat The little mother sent for the doctor. He belonged to the army, and, of course dressed like the officers in military uniform. When he entered, the children gazed with wonder and delight upon his bright buttons, each of which had an astonishing spread-eagle engraved upon it, and thought they could never admire enough the beautiful gold lace upon his coat-sleeves. Really, he was quite a shining doctor. He became interested with Charley at once: the sweet, patient smile of the suffering boy won his heart. "My dear madam," said he to the little The children now approached the door and begged leave to enter, for they wanted to hear about Charley, and have a "good look" at the "soldier doctor." "Well, my little friends," said he, in a hearty, cheery voice, "so you've come up, I suppose, to help the fairies amuse Charley this summer." "Fairies!" exclaimed the children; "DELIGHTFUL! Are there fairies here?" "Lots of them," answered the doctor, laughing—"that is, if I may believe my man, Patrick O'Neal. He declares he has seen the fairy rings in the beautiful hollow at the foot of Crow Nest mountain many and many a time." "Oh dear! how perfect!" cried the children; "only fancy the dear little fairies dancing on the parade-ground in the moonlight." "Not exactly," said the doctor, laughing again; "fairies don't come so near the haunts of mortals; besides, the cadets want the parade-ground for their own dances and rings—not fairy rings—for those are made with sparkling dew-drops, while the cadets have to content themselves with tallow can "Stag dances," cried the children, "who ever heard of such a thing? Why! do they nail antlers on their foreheads and go on all-fours? Dear doctor! how do they go?" "Some on their heels, and some on their toes; but I never saw one dance on all-fours; and, as to the antlers, without them they prance: 'tis because they're all boys, that it's called a 'stag dance.'" "Why, only listen," whispered George "Isn't he a nice bright doctor?" said Minnie; "he shines so shiny, and he's so very buttony; I think his buttons are splendid." The doctor heard this speech and burst out laughing, and then seeing that Minnie looked abashed, he took out his penknife, and in a moment had snipt off one of the spread-eagle buttons, and said,—"Here, little lady-bird—here is a bright button, which you can fasten up your cloak with to-night when you go to the fairies' midsummer ball; for, I suppose, you will all have an invitation, and when I come to-morrow, I expect to hear all about it. Good-bye, Charley; old fellows like you and I don't care to go to balls, but we won't |