LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| A visitor came ([page 4]) | [Frontispiece] |
| Chapter Heading | [1] |
| Mrs. Muffet had read this in a book | [2] |
| To meditate on the passage of time | [3] |
| The kind of thing that Miss Muffet sat on | [4] |
| Fairly jumped off her tuffet | [6] |
| Chapter Heading | [8] |
| They sat down | [9] |
| Every town crier in England | [13] |
| The blighted being | [15] |
| Chapter Heading | [18] |
| Miss Muffet closed her eyes | [19] |
| She could catch glimpses of travelers | [20] |
| Tom Sawyer trying to "hitch on" behind | [21] |
| Alice with all the strange friends she had found in Wonderland | [23] |
| "This is the main caravan road to Bagdad" | [25] |
| Elves | [28] |
| The woods were full of merry little people | [29] |
| An old witch who was not nearly so bad as she looked | [31] |
| Chapter Heading | [32] |
| Introduced the Orientals to the North Country people | [33] |
| Aladdin explains the virtues of his lamp | [37] |
| "Listening . . . is hard on the eyes" | [39] |
| Chapter Heading | [44] |
| The shyest persons in the room | [45] |
| Scampering off into the dark | [47] |
| Chapter Heading | [54] |
| "I am sorry to be so late" | [55] |
| Hal cut his string | [63] |
| "I don't think I ever knew two persons more different" | [65] |
| "You dear little Rosamond" | [67] |
| Chapter Heading | [69] |
| One was beating the other | [71] |
| A little talk about dervishry | [73] |
| An expressive glance at the executioner | [75] |
| Aladdin's brother and the Dervish | [79] |
| Chapter Heading | [82] |
| "I must have the full set" | [85] |
| Telling anecdotes | [87] |
| "It all depends on grammar" | [89] |
| Chapter Heading | [92] |
| Wynken, Blynken, and Nod | [93] |
| He was a little prudent | [96] |
| The Rockaby Lady saying good-night | [97] |
| Flew away . . . into the night | [100] |
| Into his overcoat pocket | [101] |
| Red Riding-Hood's Grandmother began to dance | [103] |
| A long time to get on their overshoes | [105] |
| Closed her eyes | [106] |
| Tail Piece | [107] |
Mrs. Muffet had read this in a book
'Twas the night before Christmas, and it was very quiet in Mrs. Muffet's house,—altogether too quiet, thought little Miss Muffet, as she sat trying to eat her curds and whey. For Mrs. Muffet was a very severe mother and had her own ideas about bringing up children,—and so had Mr. Muffet, or rather he had the same ideas, only warmed over. One of these was on the necessity of care in the diet of growing children. "First," said Mrs. Muffet, "we must find out what the children don't like, and then we must make them eat plenty of it; next to breaking their wills, there is nothing so necessary as breaking their appetites." Mrs. Muffet had read this in a book, and so she knew it must be true; and Mr. Muffet had heard Mrs. Muffet say it so many times that he knew it was true.
So every morning little Miss Muffet had three courses: first, curds and whey; second, whey and curds; third, curdled whey. She had the same things for the other meals, but the order was changed about. An experienced housekeeper tells me that the third course is impossible to prepare, as whey cannot be curdled. All I have to say is that this housekeeper had not known Mrs. Muffet. Mrs. Muffet could curdle anything. But the worst days of the year for little Miss Muffet were the holidays, for they were occasions that had to be improved. Now for a little girl to improve an occasion is about the hardest work she can do, especially when she doesn't know how. If she had been left to herself, Miss Muffet wouldn't have improved them at all, but would have left them in their natural state.