"Let's play keep house," answered she, for the sake of being cross-grained.
"Well, I don't care much," said Prudy, anxious to keep the peace.
They proceeded to make a tent of the upper sheet, and converse upon the trials of this troublesome life, as Mr. and Mrs. Carter, the two heads of a family.
"There's our Sammy," said Prudy, dolefully, "our poor Sammy. I don't see, Mrs. Carter, what we shall do with that boy. Within a day or two he has taken to stealing acorns!"
"Acorns!" responded Dotty, in a tragic tone. "O, Mr. Carter, I sejest the best thing we can do is to stand him up in the sink, and pump water on him!"
"I never thought of that, my dear wife! You are prob'bly correct!—prob'bly correct.—But what course shall we pursue with Mary Ann, and Julia Ann, and Anna Maria? They all bite their finger nails—bite 'em down to the double-quick."
"I would sejest, sejest—why don't you give those children some proxitude of iron, my dear—through a knitting-needle? Hark!" continued she, as Prudy scratched the top of the tent with her forefinger. "There's a mouse in this house, Mr. Carter: you must set a trap as quick as you can spring!"
"Very correct," replied the obedient husband, "very correct, Mrs. Carter. I'll call Jerusha to toast some cheese. Je-ru-shay!"
"What do you mean by Jerusha, Mr. Carter? We haven't any in the house."