The Oyster Patties
There was once a little boy, who perhaps might have been a good littlefellow if his friends had taken pains to make him so, but I do not knowhow it was, instead of teaching him to be good, they gave him everythinghe cried for; so, whenever he wished to have anything, he had only tocry; and if he did not get it directly, he cried louder and louder tillat last he got it. By this means Alfred was not only very naughty butvery unhappy; he was crying from morning till night; he had no pleasurein anything; he was in everybody's way, and nobody liked to be withhim. Well, one day his mamma thought she would give him a day ofpleasure, and make him very happy indeed, so she told him he should havea feast, and dine under the great cedar tree that stood upon the lawn,and that his cousins should be invited to dine with him, and that heshould have whatever he chose for his dinner. So she rang the bell, andshe told the servants to take out tables and chairs and to lay the clothupon the table under the tree; and she ordered her two footmen to beready to wait upon him. She desired the butler to tell the cook toprepare the dinner, and to get all sorts of nice dishes for the feast;but she said to Alfred, 'What shall you like best of all, my dear boy?'So Alfred tried to think of something that he had never had before, andhe recollected that one day he had heard a lady say, who was diningwith his papa and mamma, that the oyster patties were the best she hadever eaten. Now Alfred had never tasted oyster patties, so he said hewould have oyster patties for dinner. 'Oyster patties, my dear boy? Youcannot have oyster patties at this time of the year, there are nooysters to be had,' his mamma said to him; 'try, love, to think ofsomething else.'
But naughty Alfred said, 'No, I can think of nothing else,' so the cookwas sent for, and desired to think of something that he might like aswell. The cook proposed first a currant pie, then a barberry pie, or acodlin pie with custard. 'No, no, no,' said Alfred, shaking his head.'Or a strawberry tart, my sweet boy; or apricot jam?' said his mamma,in a soothing tone of voice.
But Alfred said, 'No, mamma, no, I don't like strawberries; I don't likeapricot jam; I want oysters.'
'But you cannot have oysters, my little master,' said the cook. 'But Iwill have oysters,' said the little boy, 'and you shan't say that Ican't have them, shall she, mamma?' and he began to scream and to cry.'Do not cry, my sweet soul,' said his mamma, 'and we will see what wecan do; dry up your tears, my little man, and come with me, and thecook, I daresay, will be able to get some oysters before dinner; it is along time to dinner, you know, and I have some pretty toys for youupstairs if you will come with me till dinner is ready.' So she took thelittle crying boy by the hand and led him up to her room, and shewhispered to the cook as she passed not to say anything more about itnow, and that she hoped he would forget the oyster patties by the timedinner was ready. In the meantime she took all the pains she could toamuse and please him, and as fast as he grew tired of one toy shebrought out another. At last, after some hours, she gave him a beautifultoy for which she had paid fifteen shillings. It was a sand toy of awoman sitting at a spinning wheel, and when it was turned up the littlefigure began spinning away, and the wheel turned round and round as fastas if the woman who turned it had been alive. Alfred wanted to see howit was done, but, instead of going to his mother to ask her if she wouldbe so good as to explain it to him, he began pulling it to pieces tolook behind it. For some time he was very busy, and he had justsucceeded in opening the large box at the back of the figure when allthe sand that was in it came pouring out upon the floor, and when hetried to make the little woman spin again, he found she would not do itany more; she could not, for it was the sand dropping down that had madeher move before.
Now do you know that Alfred was so very silly that he began to be angryeven with the toy, and he said, 'Spin, I say; spin directly,' and thenhe shook it very hard, but in vain; the little hands did not move, andthe wheel stood still. So then he was very angry indeed, and, setting upa loud cry, he threw the toy to the other end of the room. Just at thisvery moment the servant opened the door and said that dinner was readyand that Alfred's cousins were arrived.
'Come, my dear child, you are tired of your toys, I see,' said mamma,'so come to dinner, darling; it is all ready, under the tree.' So awaythey went, leaving the room all strewed with toys, with broken pieces,and the sand all spilt in a heap upon the floor. When they went underthe dark spreading branches of the fine old cedar tree, there they sawthe table covered with dishes and garnished with flowers; there werechickens, and ham, and tongue, and lobsters, besides tarts, andcustards, and jellies, and cakes, and cream, and I do not know how manynice things besides; there was Alfred's high chair at the head of thetable, and he was soon seated in it, as master of the feast, with hismother sitting by him, his cousins opposite to him, his nurse standingon the other side, and the two footmen waiting besides. As soon as hiscousins were helped to what they liked best, his mamma said, 'What willyou eat first, Alfred, my love? A wing of a chicken?' 'No,' said Alfred,pushing it away. 'A slice of ham, darling?' said nurse. 'No,' saidAlfred, in a louder tone. 'A little bit of lobster, my dear?' 'No, no,'replied the naughty boy. 'Well, what _will_ you have then?' said hismother, who was almost tired of him. 'I will have oyster patties,' saidhe. 'That is the only thing you cannot have, my love, you know, so donot think of it any more, but taste a bit of this pie; I am sure youwill like it.'
'You _said_ I should have oyster patties by dinner time,' said Alfred,'and so I will have nothing else.' 'I am sorry you are such a sadnaughty child,' said his mother; 'I thought you would have been sopleased with all these nice things to eat.' 'They are _not_ nice,' saidthe child, who was not at all grateful for all that his mother had done,but was now in such a passion, that he took the piece of currant tart,which his nurse again offered to him, and squeezing up as much as histwo little hands could hold, he threw it at his nurse, and stained hernice white handkerchief and apron with the red juice. Just at thismoment his papa came into the garden, and walked up to the table. 'Whatis all this?' said he. 'Alfred, you seem to be a very naughty boy,indeed; and I must tell you, sir, I shall allow this no longer; get downfrom your chair, sir, and beg your nurse's pardon.' Alfred had hardlyever heard his father speak so before, and he felt so frightened, thathe left off crying, and did as he was bid. Then his father took him bythe hand, and led him away. His mother said she was sure he would now begood, and eat the currant tart. But his papa said, 'No, no, it is nowtoo late, he must come with me'; so he led him away, without sayinganother word. He took him into the village, and he stopped at the doorof a poor cottage.
'May we come in?' said his father. 'Oh yes, and welcome,' said a poorwoman, who was standing at a table with a saucepan in her hand. 'Whatare you doing, my good woman?' 'Only putting out the children's supper,your honour.' 'And what have you got for their supper?' 'Only somepotatoes, please you, sir, but they be nicely boiled, and here come thehungry boys! They are coming in from their work, and they will soon makean end of them, I warrant.'
As she said these words, in came John, and William, and Thomas, all withrosy cheeks and smiling faces. They sat down, one on a wooden stool, oneon a broken chair, and one on the corner of the table, and they allbegan to eat the potatoes very heartily. But Alfred's papa said, 'Stop,my good boys, do not eat any more, but come with me.' The boys stared,but their mother told them to do as they were bid, so they left offeating, and followed the gentleman. Alfred and his papa walked on tillthey arrived once more under the cedar tree in the garden, and there wasthe fine feast, all standing just as they had left it, for Alfred'scousins were gone away, and his mamma would not have the dinner takenaway, because she hoped that Alfred would come back to it. 'Now, boys,'said the gentleman, 'you may all sit down to this table, and eatwhatever you like.'
John, William, and Thomas sat down as quickly as they could, and beganto devour the chickens and tarts, and all the good things at a greatrate; and Alfred, who now began to be very hungry, would gladly havebeen one of the party; but when he was going to sit down, his papa said,'No, sir, this feast is not
for _you_; there is nothing here that youlike to eat, you know; so you will wait upon these boys, if you please,who seem as if they would find plenty that they will like.' Alfred atthis began to cry again, and said he wanted to go to his mamma; but hisfather did not mind his crying, and said he should not go to his mammaagain till he was quite a good boy. 'So now, sir, hand this bread toJohn, and now take a clean plate to Thomas, and now stand ready to carrythis custard to William. There now, wait till they have all done.' Itwas of no use now to cry or scream; he was obliged to do it all. Whenthe boys had quite finished their supper, they went home, and Alfred wasled by his father into the house. Before he went to bed, a cup of milkand water and a piece of brown bread were put before him, and hisfather said, 'That is your supper, Alfred.' Alfred began to cry again,and said he did not want such a supper as that. 'Very well,' said hisfather, 'then go to bed without, and it shall be saved for yourbreakfast.' Alfred cried and screamed louder than ever; so his fatherordered the maid to put him to bed. When he was in bed, he thought hismamma would come and see him, and bring him something nice, and he layawake a long while; but she did not come, and he cried and cried till atlast he fell asleep.
In the morning when he awoke he was so hungry he could hardly wait to bedressed, but asked for his breakfast every minute. When he saw the maidbring in the brown bread again without any butter, and some milk andwater, he was very near crying again; but he thought if he did he shouldperhaps lose his breakfast as he had lost his supper; so he checked histears, and ate a hearty meal.
'Well,' said his father, who came into the room just as he was eatingthe last bit of bread. 'I am glad to see the little boy who could notyesterday find anything good enough for him at a feast eating suchsimple fare as this so heartily. Come, Alfred, now you may come to yourdear mamma.'
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
Transcriber's Note.
One obvious misspelling is corrected. All other archaic variants andinconsistencies of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation areretained from the original.
Redundant story title pages have been removed. Page numbers in thetable of contents match the original.
The page scans came from the Children's Book Collection of the Libraryof the University of California, Los Angeles.
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