“Why is your little sister crying, dear?” asked the Play Angel. “I thought you were taking care of her.”

“So I am, taking beautiful care of her,” said the child. “But the more beautiful care I take, the more she cries. She does not like to have me take care of her.”

“Let me see,” said the Play Angel, and she sat down on the nursery floor. “Now show me what you have been doing.”

“Look,” said the child. “First I showed her all my dolls, and then all my dolls’ dresses. Now I have given her my new stone blocks to play with, but she will not play with them. She puts them in her mouth and cries.”

“Perhaps she is hungry!” said the Play Angel.

So she took a piece of bread and gave it to the baby. The baby stopped crying and ate the bread, and laughed and crowed.

“See!” said the Angel. “Now she is happy. Remember, dear, that when babies are hungry, stone blocks do them no good.”

“You are a very clever angel to know that,” said the child.

“You are a rather foolish child,” said the Angel, “or you would have found it out for yourself.”

—Laura E. Richards.