“The Potato-Plant still kept quiet: but when digging-time came, and the hill was opened, and the pile of ‘Long Reds’ appeared, her neighbors could hardly believe their senses.
“‘Dear me! what a surprise!’ cried the Bean. ‘So we can’t always tell by appearances.’
“‘I declare!’ cried Cabbage. ‘Then you were doing something all that time! But how could I know? There’s that Bean: she hung her pods up high, so that everybody could see. Well, well, well! After this, I’ll always say of a plant which makes but little show, “Wait: potatoes inside there, maybe.”’
“There are a great many Scarlet-Beans among the people I know,” said the family story-teller, “and some Potato-Plants too, and perhaps a few young Cabbage-Heads.”
THE WAY MRS. MACGARRET’S TEA-PARTY WAS BROKEN UP.
Mrs. MacGarret was an attic cat, and lived in the garret; but Mrs. O’Cellary lived in the cellar. Mrs. MacGarret had three children, and Mrs. O’Cellary had three children. Mr. MacGarret had gone away, and so had Mr. O’Cellary. Mrs. MacGarret’s children were all of an age, and Mrs. O’Cellary’s children were all of an age. The names of the MacGarret children were Spotty MacGarret, Tabby MacGarret, and Tilly MacGarret. The O’Cellary children were named, the first, Dinah O’Cellary, after its mother; the second, Thomas O’Cellary, after its father; while the third was called Bengal Tiger O’Cellary, after one of their grand-relations.
One day Mrs. MacGarret said to her children, “My dears, I have decided to have company this afternoon. I shall invite Mrs. O’Cellary and her family. Behave well, or you will be punished. At supper eat the poorest, and give the best to the company. Be very quiet, and never interrupt. That you may look your best, I shall put up your tails in curl-papers. Now, don’t cry if I pull some.” And they shut their mouths tight, and never uttered a sound.
“Good children!” said Mrs. MacGarret. “Now you may go down and invite the company.”
“What, in curl-papers!” cried Spotty. “Oh, not in curl-papers!” cried Tabby. “You can’t mean in curl-papers!” cried Tilly.