Then she put a short stick near it.

Do you know why she did that?

She wanted to know the place where the acorn was. She was a clever little girl, wasn't she?14

My little sister went to this place after breakfast and before dinner and after dinner. She took the acorn out and then she put it back again.

Do you know why she took the acorn out? She wanted to see it grow15.

In the evening Father came home and he saw his flowers. He was very angry16.

"You bad, bad girl," said my father. "Why did you trample my flowers?"

"I did not want to trample your flowers. I wanted to plant my acorn. I wanted to see it grow." And my little sister began to cry.

"Your acorn won't grow if you take it out," said my father. "Give it to me."

Father took a bottle, put some water in it and then put the acorn into it.

"Now you can see it grow," said Father.

My little sister put the bottle with the acorn at the window. She looked at it all the time, but it did not grow. She put the bottle near her bed and looked at it in the morning and in the evening. But it did not grow.

"Put the bottle at the window and go and play with your doll," said my mother.

My little sister put the bottle at the window and went to play with her doll. Soon she forgot about her bottle.

One day she looked at the bottle and saw a little green shoot.

"I see a little green shoot," cried my sister.

She was very glad and showed her bottle-tree to everybody.

"Now we can plant the acorn," said my father.

 

 

He went to the shed, took the spade and planted the acorn near our house.

The bottle-tree grew and grew, and now it is a big tree, bigger than my sister who is also big now.

IV. My Pretty Doll

When I was a little girl, I had a new doll. Its face was pretty, its eyes were pretty, its dress was pretty, too. My doll could open and close its eyes and say Ma-ma.

I did not play with my doll. I was afraid to break it17. The doll was in a box, and the box was in the wardrobe in my mother's room. When I wanted to see my new doll, my mother took the box out of the wardrobe and showed it to me. I looked at it for some time, and then my mother put it in the box again.

 

 

My little sister had a doll, too. Her doll was not new, and it was not pretty. It was old and dirty. It had only one eye, and it had no hair. Its dress was not pretty. My little sister liked her doll very much. She took it to the garden and to the yard. She put it on the floor and on the grass. And when she went to bed, she took her doll with her.

One morning my mother was in the kitchen. She wanted to make breakfast for the family, and she asked me:

"Mary! Do you know where your little sister is?"

"No, I don't," I said.

"Then go and look for her18," said my mother. "Breakfast is ready."

I went to look for my little sister.