“Oh, you make me tired, you pretty, proud, sweet, lovely-looking thing! Speak, I say, speak! Say ‛Bow-wow-wow!’ if you can’t talk, or even say ‛Meow!’
“I’ll give it up, I guess. My, I should think she’d be ashamed not to thank us at all for her fine clothes.”
[Illustration: “Please try it, Mary Marie”]
[Illustration: “Look out there, don’t fall”]
“Oh, she’s only a baby!” said Tommy Pin Cushion. “Babies can’t talk!”
“Humph, I s’pose you know, ’cause you’re a cry-baby!” exclaimed Scissors Shears.
“I’m not a cry-baby!” exclaimed Tommy Pin Cushion.
“Yo’ are! Yo’ are!” cried Scissors Shears. “I can prove it!”
“I’m not! Am I, Sewing Bird,―am I?” asked Tommy Pin Cushion, the tears rolling down his fat red cheeks.
“If you could see yourself, you’d know you are!” snapped Scissors Shears.
“Look out there, don’t fall!” cried Yard Stick, seeing Scissors Shears toppling dangerously on the table edge.
“Oh, look out yourself,” snapped Scissors Shears, “you’re just as likely to―”
“I always stand firmly on my three feet,” retorted Yard Stick.
“It takes a whole yard to hold them―ha-ha!” laughed Scissors Shears.
“Come, come! You’re all in fun― So why get mad, And make all sad? The little Miss may hear― So, Tommy, dry up every tear, And, Thimble, sheath your little spear, And, Scissors, don’t you act so queer, Or else your Mistress may appear.”
[Illustration: “Come, come! You’re all in fun―”]
Just at that moment in stepped Mary Frances, who had heard every word. The Thimble People looked silly; but she pretended not to notice.
“Oh, my dear Magic and Mystery,” she said, “to-day I had another letter from my mother, and she says:
“‘Perhaps you can try to learn a few stitches from the patterns I send you by mail, and you can send me the samplers you make. They will be Sewing Lessons by Mail, and we’ll pretend you are taking a Correspondence Course.’
“Oh, Sewing Bird Fairy Lady,―if it doesn’t seem a trifle dis-re-spect-a-ble,―I mean dis-re-spect-ful, ―my mother’s stitches aren’t as nice as mine! Look!”
[Illustration: Fairy Lady smiled thoughtfully]
“I want to know what is the right thing to do, Fairy Lady, I would love to surprise my dear mother when I get home; and yet I don’t want to deceive her by not telling her that I know something about sewing. What shall I do?”