Little Folks Astray

Katie Clifford sat on the floor, in the sun, feeding her white mice. She had a tea-spoon and a cup of bread and milk in her hands. If she had been their own mother she could not have smiled down on the little creatures more sweetly. Cause I spect they's hungry, and that's why I'm goin' to give 'em sumpin' to eat. Shut your moufs and open your eyes, said she, waving the tea-spoon, and spattering the bread and milk over their backs. Quee, quee, squeaked the little mice, very well pleased when a drop happened to go into their mouths. What are you doing there, Miss Topknot, said Horace: O, I see; catching rats. Flyaway frowned fearfully, and the tuft of hair atop of her head danced like a war-plume. I shouldn't think folks would call 'em names, Hollis, when they never did a thing to you. Nothing but clean white mouses! Let's see; now I look at 'em, Topknot, they are white. And what's all this paper.