When my sister was a very little girl and I was a little girl, we lived in 24 Park Street. A shoe-mender lived near our house. He very often mended my shoes and my sister's shoes. My little sister liked to go with my mother to the shoe-mender. He was an old man, and his name was Mr. Smith.

My little sister liked to talk to Mr. Smith, and he liked to talk to her, too. He gave her little boxes, and she liked to play with them. Then she put the boxes back on the shelf.

Mr. Smith had a very funny picture on the wall. In this picture you could see a little dog in a very big shoe. My little sister liked this picture very much.

One day my mother wanted to buy a new coat for me. She did not want to take my little sister with us, because she was too little.

But my naughty little sister cried:

"I want to go, too! I want to go!"

'And she cried and cried.

Then my father said:

"You can't go. I shall take my work into the garden, and I shall look after you."

So my father took his table into the garden. He put it near a bench under a big tree. Then he took his pen and began to write. My father was a writer. He wrote books for children. My sister looked and looked at the father, and then she said:

"Father, please give me my doll. It is in a big box in the wardrobe."

So my father went to my mother's bedroom. He took the big box out of the wardrobe and gave it to my little sister. Then he began to write again. My sister looked and looked at my father, then she said:

"Father, I want a drink."

My father went to the kitchen, took a cup of water and brought it to my little sister. Then he began to write again.

"Please, Father," said my naughty little sister. "My doll wants a drink. Give her a cup of water, too."

My father was angry. He said:

"Your doll can't drink."

"She can, she can. She can open and close her eyes. She can say Ma-ma. She can drink, too."

Then my father took his table back into his room, and he took his work with him. He sat down at his table and began to write. When my naughty little sister opened the door, he said:

"Close the door and go away32. And don't come back again. I am busy now33."

He worked and worked, and then he looked at the clock. It was late. He went to the kitchen, took some bread, butter and cheese and went to look for my sister. He looked in the garden. She was not there. He looked in the yard. She was not there. He could not find her. Then he went out into the street. He asked people:

"Have you seen34 a little girl with red hair and brown eyes?"

But the people said, "No, we haven't35."

My father went home. He did not know what to do. When we came home, my mother went to the kitchen and said:

"Why didn't you give Nancy her bread and butter?"

Father told her all about my naughty little sister.

And then my mother said:

"I know where she is. She is with old Mr. Smith."

We all went to Mr. Smith, and there we saw my naughty little sister. She was playing with little boxes.

"Come home," said my father.

"I don't want to," said my naughty little sister.

"Come home. It is late. You must drink your milk," said my mother.

"I don't want to."

Then Mr. Smith said, "Take this picture and give it to your doll. She will like it." And Mr. Smith took his beautiful picture from the wall and gave it to my naughty little sister.

My sister was very happy. She forgot to say Thank you to Mr. Smith and ran home very quickly.

And we all went home, too.

One day when I was a little girl, my mother got a letter from my grandmother. She was ill, and she asked my mother to come to her.

"Take your sister to school with you," said my mother to me.

"She can't sit still for five minutes," I said.

"I can sit still," said my little sister.

My mother wrote a letter to my teacher. My teacher answered:

"Yes, Nancy may come to school if she is a good girl."

My sister was very happy. Do you know what she did? She found my father's old bag and put a pencil and a notebook into the bag. She went to bed very early. She was a very good girl.

In the morning she got up early. She washed her face and neck and dressed quickly. After breakfast my mother went to my grandmother, and we went to school.

Our lessons began at 9 o'clock. But we came to the schoolyard earlier. My sister said Good morning to everybody in the yard.

When we came into the classroom, the teacher said:

"Jack is ill. So your sister may sit at his desk."

My little sister did not talk. She looked and looked. She looked at the teacher, she looked at the schoolboys and schoolgirls. She looked at the blackboard and at the pictures on the wall.

The children opened their bags and took out their pencils and notebooks. My sister opened her bag, too. She took out her pencil and her notebook.

Then the teacher called all the children's names. The children said: "Present." But she did not call my sister's name, because she was not a pupil. Then my naughty little sister got up and said:

"I want a present, too."

Everybody laughed36. Then the teacher gave her some plasticine37. My little sister made a red flower, and the teacher said it was very nice.

The teacher read us a story, and my sister listened, too. When the teacher asked questions about this story, all the children put up their hands and my sister put up her hand. And she gave a good answer. The teacher said:

"Your little sister is very clever."

Then we drew pictures. I drew a house, a tree and a lake. But do you know what my little sister drew? She drew our teacher. Yes, she drew our nice teacher. She drew her with very little eyes and very long black hair, and a very big mouth.

"I like your picture," said our teacher. "I like it very much."

Then we all went to the schoolyard and played there. We played ball. My little sister played ball, too.

Then we went to the classroom again. We read a story in a book, but my little sister could not read, so she fell asleep38. She slept till four o'clock when the lessons were over and we went home.