"Yes; I cannot remember now that they ever did anything naughty," said Grandmother Great. "But you know, dear, it was a long time ago. I had my little girls a very long time ago."
"Perhaps you forget when it is a long time ago," said Sallie. "Didn't your little girls ever put their forefinger in anything just to taste it?"
"Oh dear, yes; I remember now that your grandmother did put her forefinger, the right-hand forefinger it was, too, in the wheel of the wringer once to see what would happen," said Grandmother Great.
"Did she cry?" asked Sallie.
"Oh dear, yes, poor little girlie; she cried, and I was so frightened I cried, too. Her poor little finger never grew quite as it should at the end," said Grandmother Great, with a sigh.
"Do mothers cry when little girls get burnt putting their fingers into things they should not?" asked Sallie.
"Of course they do, my dear. Mothers have many a cry over their little girls when they are naughty," said Grandmother Great.
"I don't want mother to cry," said Sallie.
"Of course you don't, my dear," said Grandmother Great. "So you will not put your finger in anything again, will you?"
Before Sallie could promise her Grandmother Great she would be a good little girl she heard some one say, "Sallie, Sallie, come to lunch."