“I would like her to-morrow!” cried Rose, jumping out of bed. “But how shall I begin? Will you not help me?”
“I cannot help you to collect the pieces,” answered the Fairy, “but I will give you a hint. You might begin with a face for your little sister; and why not go to the clock for that?” So saying the Fairy suddenly disappeared.
“Go to the clock!” Rose gasped, “how very strange!” Then she looked up at the tall old clock that faced her bed, and in the moonlight the face seemed to be smiling at her. “It’s a queer face for a baby sister to have,” thought Rose, “but the Fairy ought to know. I will begin as she told me.” So she peeled the pillowcase from her pillow to make a good big bag for the pieces which she was to collect. Then she went up to the clock and said politely,—for he was an old friend of hers,—“Please, Clock, I want your face to begin a baby sister.” Then she took off the face and put it in the bottom of the pillowcase bag.
“Now what must my little sister have next?” wondered Rose. “Eyes, of course! But where shall I find eyes?” Just then her own eyes happened to spy the pincushion on the bureau. “To be sure! Needles have eyes. I will borrow two for my sister.” And into the bundle went two needles. But Rose was careful that they should be just alike, as the Fairy had warned.
“Now I want a nose,” thought Rose. “What has a nose? Oh—a kettle.” And very quietly, so as not to waken any one in the house, she ran down into the kitchen, took the nose from the teakettle, and put that in the bag.
“A mouth; I must have a mouth next. Oh, yes, a bottle has a mouth,” said Rose. She found one in the pantry, and its round mouth went into the bundle with the eyes and nose. But there must be a tongue to go in the mouth. Rose thought and thought; but at last she remembered that there was a tongue in her shoe, and that was added to the collection.
“What about a head? She needs that for her face, her eyes and nose and mouth; I forgot her head!” cried Rose. “Let me think. Why, yes, a head of lettuce,—that is what I want.” And because it was summer, warm and pleasant out of doors, Rose skipped right out in her nightie and bare feet. The vegetable garden was behind the house, and there Rose picked out a round head of lettuce, which she added to her funny bundle.
The garden made her think of something else. The baby must have ears, and where should one look for ears if not in the cornfield? So away she tripped to the cornfield, where for weeks she had been watching the ears of corn grow plumper every day. Here she carefully selected two pretty ears, just alike.
“And now the little sister is ready and trimmed as far as her neck,” thought Rose. “And for a neck, I know where I can find that. Mamma’s white vase on the parlor mantel has a beautiful neck.” So back to the house went Rose, and soon into the bundle with the other things went the white vase.
“Now let me see, baby must have a body. What is there that has a body? The body of a—the body of a—what have I heard? The body of a wagon; yes, that is it! But I can’t take Papa’s big wagon. A little one will be nicer for a baby. I will take the body of Kenneth’s express wagon,” and Rose pattered softly to Kenneth’s room, where the little red cart went into the fast-growing bundle.