Who melted into tears.
AUNT TOTTY’S PETS:
MOKO.
Aunt Totty is an old maid—I need not say how old,—and very fond of birds and animals, which she professes to think are sometimes very superior to men. At her own home, which is at Paris, she has quite a collection of pets. She often comes to England, however, to visit her relations, and then her little nephews and nieces—for she likes children too—always get round her, and make her tell them stories about her animals or birds. One evening, when the children were gathered round her, she began in this way:—
“You want to hear about my pets, my dears? Very well: I shall have pleasure in telling you all about them; for although I have had some bites and scratches and pecks from them now and then, on the whole they are very estimable. In fact, they possess some qualities which I should be very glad to see oftener than I do in men and women: yes, and in little children too.
“The first pet animal I can remember was a monkey. I was then quite little, not more than five or six years old; and Moko—that was the monkey’s name—was almost as big as I was. I really think he considered that he and I were of the same species: at all events he used to treat me as a companion and an equal. But before Moko joined our family circle, we were very near having another monkey, who was not so amiable; and I think I will begin by telling you about him.
“In those days—that is, when your mamma and I and your two uncles were all children—you know that we used generally to live in France, and one summer your grandpapa took a country house a few miles out of Paris. Well, on a beautiful warm morning, when we children were all playing in the large garden, we heard the sound of an organ; and soon we saw, coming through the white gates and playing as he came, an organ-man, with a monkey sitting on the organ. A shout of delight resounded through the garden. When the new-comers approached we were even more delighted, for the monkey was dressed up in the funniest way possible. He looked like a tiny old man, with a cocked hat, long red coat, blue breeches, and a little pair of boots upon his feet, laced up with red laces.
