Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-08-25
THE MITFENS.
BY S. W. LANDER.

Do you want to know why little children
wear mittens, and not gloves, like grown
personsS Listen, and L will tell you.
Once upon a time, a mother went out,
and said to the five little fingers, ssChildren.
when L am not at home, behave well, and
do what tell you. Ii you are kind and
obedient, L will bring each OF you little
house, where you can live when it is cold in
winter"
20, mother p exclaimed the five fingers.
1--WE will certainly mind; only tell us what
we must do y
Then the mother answered.
''The fore-inger must point abroad,
Ihe middle hnger can only nod,
The third finger strict guard must keep,
Lest the httle one into mischief creep;
And the baby thumb must watch and see
That all the rest obedlent be-"
"Now go, mother DEAR" said the fore
finger 'lll certainly be attentive, and
point prettily, if you will only bring me
something 80 - 4D r,tl- t17f1
Then the Iniddle-fnger cried out. Il will
promise to be polite, and bow nicely If
you viii bring me q. little house tco, fox,
I'm the biggest one r. -
Il viii cestainly keep watch, that my
little brother does not get into 1mischief,"
cried the rng-6nger; "but ny house must
be the prettiestr -
mo ! miner' exclaimed the little finger;
'mlne must be prettler than all the rest =
and tSen1 won't make a bit of noiseia = =
But the babythumb only said, T" Mother
dear, will do just what you say"
But their mother had only been gone a
very few minutes, when the fore-finger ex-
ciaImed,-
1T is very stupid and tedious to be so
good, and to point all the time. / want to
rest minute. SO he lay down.
"Ah, you lazy thing r. replied the MID
dle-hnger; ''lt Is SO much more fatiguing
to be SO industrious, and bow all the time"
and he was going to lie down too; but the
iore-hnger jumped up, and gave him
bow crying, 'How dare you find fault with
me You are lazy yourself, you wicked
boy p
Then the mlddle-hnger struck him again,
and the fore-hnger returned it; and who
know how long they might have fought, ii
the ring-6nger had not called out
Aren't you ashamed OF yourselves J..
One OF you Is as bad as the other. See,
how torture myself, and stand here, keep
Ing watch aii the time. mean 10 stop
and rest, aud let you great fellows keep
guard over your little brotherr" :
What y exclaimed the fore-fingef and
mlddie-hnger, you little rogne do you,
pretend TO dictate and find fault with your
brothers? There, stopnow r. sa o.
TEen they both began to beat the ring,
finger. He turned, with all his strength,
and struck the httie-hnger, which he had
the care OF. The little one gave dread
ful scream, anu began 10 kick and scratch,
as well as he couia. But Just as they were
in the hottest OF the fight the door opened,
aud their mother came In.
o, how frightened the four naughty I'm
gers were They hung their heads, and
were SO ashamed they could not speak.
Finally, the mlddle-hnger said that the
iore-hnger was lazy, and that he would not
allow IL. But she forehnger laid the blame
Oh the midale-hnger, ana said ne began
the quarrel The rlng-hnger blamed them
both, and the htJie-hnger complained OF
all.
Then then mother spoke and said, You
are four naughty, dlsobedlent children,
who deserve TO be punished. See here,
what L have brought tor your And drew
beautiful glove out OF her pocket On 1t
were found i've houses, just as large a. the
five fingers. One was ior the thumb, one
Tor the iore-inger, one iot the mlddie-fn-
ger, and one tor the lttle-finger.
but you cannot lave these pretty
houses now," sand their smother. Then
she; went out, and soon returned with
another kind of glove.
'Look y she exclaimed, "tIis has only
one separate house, which belongs entire
/ ly 10 httle thumb, because he is good anu
obedienL You others must i've together.
and as soon as you become KIND and obe--
dent, then you shall have house OF your
0wn." ..Ht cI
And there 1t was; the four hngers might
entreat as much as they could, it would
not help them. Ever since this time, So
many little children wear mittens; but
when they grow tail, and become good,
then they can wear gloves. -Fairy BesLs. -