The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-08-29
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOtrtlstr.
SATURDAY AUGUST -.
Selected for the p. C. AdveTti-erl
A Summer with the Children.

. a. Mamma ." Shouted Freddy, (eight
years oId) rushing into the parlor where his
mother was entertaining some lady VISITORS
90 mamma, may me and Hattie play keeping
house like old people in the storm-house -
Hush, hush Freddy dear, don't you see the
ladies 80 exclaimed his mother.
"Yes'm but mayn't me an Hattie play keep
house, in the storm house, ike big people?"
"Can't you say how do you do to the ladies,
Freddy ?'' asked his mother.
Freddy looked out from behind his mothers
arm, and seeing nothing more formidable or for
bidding than the customary formal grin of polite
fine lady-hoOd on the visitors faces, advanced and
held forth an orthodoxy grimy hand to be
shaken, and said How d. do Miss Perkins,
how d do Miss-mamma, what's her name p
and without waiting for a reply. continued
=" Please mamma, may me an Hattie play keep
ing house like old people in -
eyes, yes, my dear, run away now, " said his
mother and Fred tip-toed his way halfway
across the parlor, and then with a wild rush,
darted through the door, and was heard in the
hall screaming, " Hattie - rs he flew out of
the house.
Master Fred and his cousin Hattie, were two
Of the greatest witches in the country. They
were fine, strong, healthy children, without a bit
Of fear in their composition, and both possessed
a rich fund of imagination that glOrified the most
commonplace things in their young lives.
The '' storm-house, - that was now to be the
theatre of one Of their numerous comedies, was a
small portable structure that in winter was placed
before the front door, to shield that entrance from
the drifting snow, and afford a brief refuge for
one inward bound. 1t was now standing on
blank duty against the back of the house, and
the two children happening to peep into the high
and wide, but shallow, interior, the thought i'm
m~ediately suggested itself to them, that it would
be I" splendid - to go to 50 housekeeping - therein
Immediately.
No sooner thought of than done and for q
while the two, like a pair of striped ineus,
hoped in and out through the door, fitting up
very much like the birds, with such things as
they could pick up.
But soon the neatly arranged rows of oyster
shells and bits of broken crockery that shone on
their improyised shelves, the triangular fragment
of a looking glass in one corner, the carefully
constructed bed of dry leaves covered with
Hattie's apron, on which lay n woe begone doll
and q wretched kitten tied up tightly in a bit of
carpet, and the inverted wooden bucket centre
4 G1DACs cCb VII ctOuC udlEc III grew OiuHH
and common place.-as the first glories Of frugal
housekeeping often do to older persons, by use,
custom, and above all comparison with other
more ostentatiously upholstered and furnished
dwellings; and so the application was made to
mamma for formal permission to go to house
keeping " like big folks"
1t would have been as well for mamma, before
giving her consent to the proceedings, to have in
quired what the comparative clause in Freddy's
request meant. But being absorbed at the mo-
ment in her efforts to please her guests; and, un-
consciously perhaps, yielding to the weakness
common to most parents-of wishing to appear
" before folks" all that was amiabie to her chill
dren, she gave the required permission, and this
is what came Of it.
The two hurried back to their tottleish edi6ce,
and quickly disposed of all their poor attempts at
economical housekeeping, ~bundling poor Kittie,
dolly, bed and all out doors. After which, q pea
cock feather plume,-a maiden aunt's pride
being procured and vigorously piled to the extent
of Hatties chubby arms, the storm-house was
denuded of all cobwebs within reach, and the
aforesaid plume cast into a corner sadly draped in
flmy wells, amidst which struggled dusty spiders.
From one room and another highly ornamented
footstools, and embroided sofa-cushions were
struggled, and a pretty shawlearpet having been
laid, the furniture was disposed within the con-
tracted dwelling, filling it rather full.
The oyster-shell tea service, and fragmentary
dinner-set were replaced by mammals "pretty"
China, and the contents of the silyer-basket taste
fully arranged with a view to display.
Baby i. e., the idiotic dolly, being propped
up in a corner, stared vacantly at the toy tea
things, and company from Noah's Ark, that had
been placed in front of her 90 to muse her, g" and
the youthful couple, having crammed into their
house all they could find room for, entered upon
possession without further ceremony.
Then Miss Hattie assumed the role of mistress,
and '' received CALLS Her first and only visitor
was Master Freddy, who, after a brief absence,
knocked at the door with all the gravity to be
expected from a young gentleman of eight, who
had assumed his big brothers boots and dress
coat, as well as a silk hat snatched from the rack
in the front hall.
Miss Hattie-for the nonce a waiting-maid-
opened the door, and with many filters, that like
stage " asldes," were not supposed to be seen or
heard by the gentlemanly caller ,-responded in
the affirmative to his formal inquiring-'t is Miss
Ward at homer" and instantly became the lady
in question.
A couple of ottomans and a sofa cushion pre-
vented the gentleman from actually entering the
room, but what of that? The blessed glamour
that childish imagining throws over ineongruities
relieved both parties from any embarrassment,
and the gentleman seated himself in the doorway,
leaving his hat and most of his coat outside.
while the lady spread her skirts, and folded her
dimpled arms as she sank back on her side of the
room.
The call was brief, and ended curiously. The
gentleman seeing a ~profusion of handsome articles
within easy reach, proposed that he should turn
- robber." The lady was to go to bed, after
securing the door on the inside so that with a
little force it could be opened by the amateur
burglar. That individual, who, as soon as the
thought had suggested itself to him. had got rid
altogether Of his brothers coat, and had stuffed
his little pants into his boots in a ~rufianish