The Oyster Patties
There was once a little boy, who perhaps might have been a good little fellow if his friends had taken pains to make him so, but I do not know how it was, instead of teaching him to be good, they gave him everything he cried for; so, whenever he wished to have anything, he had only to cry; and if he did not get it directly, he cried louder and louder till at last he got it. By this means Alfred was not only very naughty but very unhappy; he was crying from morning till night; he had no pleasure in anything; he was in everybody's way, and nobody
liked to be with him. Well, one day his mamma thought she would give him a day of pleasure, and make him very happy indeed, so she told him he should have a feast, and dine under the great cedar tree that stood upon the lawn, and that his cousins should be invited to dine with him, and that he should have whatever he chose for his dinner. So she rang the bell, and she told the servants to take out tables and chairs and to lay the cloth upon the table under the tree; and she ordered her two footmen to be ready to wait upon him. She desired the butler to tell the cook to prepare the dinner, and to get all sorts of nice dishes for the feast; but she said to Alfred, 'What shall you like best of all, my dear boy?' So Alfred tried to think of something that he had never had before, and he
recollected that one day he had heard a lady say, who was dining with his papa and mamma, that the oyster patties were the best she had ever eaten. Now Alfred had never tasted oyster patties, so he said he would have oyster patties for dinner. 'Oyster patties, my dear boy? You cannot have oyster patties at this time of the year, there are no oysters to be had,' his mamma said to him; 'try, love, to think of something else.'
But naughty Alfred said, 'No, I can think of nothing else,' so the cook was sent for, and desired to think of something that he might like as well. The cook proposed first a currant pie, then a barberry pie, or a codlin pie with custard. 'No, no, no,' said Alfred, shaking his head. 'Or a strawberry tart, my sweet boy; or apricot jam?'
said his mamma, in a soothing tone of voice.
But Alfred said, 'No, mamma, no, I don't like strawberries; I don't like apricot jam; I want oysters.'
'But you cannot have oysters, my little master,' said the cook. 'But I will have oysters,' said the little boy, 'and you shan't say that I can't have them, shall she, mamma?' and he began to scream and to cry. 'Do not cry, my sweet soul,' said his mamma, 'and we will see what we can do; dry up your tears, my little man, and come with me, and the cook, I daresay, will be able to get some oysters before dinner; it is a long time to dinner, you know, and I have some pretty toys for you upstairs if you will come with me till dinner is ready.' So she took the little crying