Careless Kate

I.


"Kate!" said Mrs. Lamb to her daughter, who was playing in the garden,
in front of the house.

"What do you want, mother?" replied the little girl, without even
lifting her eyes from the ground, in which she was planting a marigold.

I don't think any of my young readers regard this as a proper answer for
a little girl to make to her mother; and I hope none of them ever speak
to their parents in this manner.

"Come into the house. I want you," added her mother.

But Kate did not go till she got ready. She was not in the habit of
minding her mother at once, and without asking any improper questions
as, all good children do, or ought to do, at least.

When she stepped out of the bed of flowers, in which she had been at
work, instead of looking to see where she put her feet, she kept her
eyes fixed on the place where she had just planted the marigold.

"Look before you leap" is a good motto for everybody--for children, as
well as for men and women. If Kate had thought of it, perhaps she would
have saved herself and her mother a great deal of trouble.

She did not mind where she stepped, and put her foot upon a beautiful,
sweet-scented peony, which had just come out of the ground. She broke
the stem short off, and crushed the root all in pieces.

Now, this flower was very highly prized by Mrs. Lamb, for she had
brought it from a great distance, and it was the only one of the kind
in Riverdale at that time.

Kate was very fond of flowers herself, and when she saw the mischief she
had done, she cried with anger and vexation. She would not have spoiled
this peony for a great deal, for she had looked forward with much
pleasure to the time when it should bud and blossom, and fill the garden
with its fragrance.