"My kitty is purring
Upon the hearth rug
Rolled up in a bundle
Just like a great bug.
I wonder what kitty
Is thinking about;
What makes her so happy
I cannot find out.
"She has no hard lessons
To bother her brain,
No spelling and reading
To study in vain;
She ought to be happy
With nothing to do
But play all the morning—
And I should be, too."
Thus Nellie kept thinking,
And spoke out her thought.
The words which she uttered
Her mother's ear caught.
"You wish to be idle
Like kitty, dear, there,
And play all the morning,
Or sleep in your chair?"
"I don't like my lessons;
I think 'tis a pity
I can't be as happy
As dear little kitty.
That ugly old spelling
I never can learn!
O, into a kitty
I wish I could turn!"
"I am not a fairy,"
Her mother replied;
"To me all the power
Of magic's denied;
But you may be idle
From morning till night,
And see if 'do nothing'
Will set your case right."
"O, shall I do nothing
But play all day long,
And sing with my kitty
A holiday song?
How happy, and merry,
And joyous 'twill be
To have no hard lessons—
From study be free!"
"Do what will best please you;
Be idle all day;
Recite no more lessons;
Do nothing but play."
Then Nellie, rejoicing,
Flew out of the room;
Played hide, horse, and dolly.
And rode on the broom.
But long before dinner
Poor Nell had "played out,"
And studied, and studied,
And wandered about,
To find some new pleasure,
Some game, or some play,
To use up the hours,
And end that long day;—
And long before evening
Was cross as a bear—
Just like the McFlimsey
With "nothing to wear."
And tired of nothing,
And tired of play,
No day was so tedious
As that idle day.
"O mother! my lessons
I think I will get,
And then I can play
As I never played yet.
I do not feel happy
With nothing to do;
I cannot endure it
Another day through."
"I thought so, my Nellie;
To make your play sweet
You must work, and be useful
To those whom you meet.
The idle are never
So happy as they
Who work for themselves
Or for others each day."