The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Mouse and the Christmas Cake, by Anonymous
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Mouse and the Christmas Cake
Author: Anonymous
Release Date: December 2, 2008 [eBook #27391]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOUSE AND THE CHRISTMAS CAKE***
E-text prepared by Louise Hope
Some illustrations have been moved up or down to distribute them evenly through the text. Their original locations are marked in the margin. The spelling “none where near” and the comma after “Industrious Boy”are unchanged.
A LITTLE MOUSE THAT BUILT
ITSELF A HOUSE IN A
CHRISTMAS CAKE.
A PRETTY story I will tell,
Of Nib, a little Mouse,
Who took delight, when none where near,
To skip about the house.
Her little nose could sniff and smell
Where all good things were kept,
And in the pantry well she knew
That mistress Pussy slept.
But, notwithstanding, in she crept,
And on the shelf she found
A Christmas cake, the top of which
Was by a castle crowned.
The subject of the present cake
Was Windsor’s mighty walls;
With turrets, windows, standard too,
And entrance to the halls.
Why, here within such walls as these,
Thought Mousey, I could dwell;
And should the Cat lay siege to them,
Defend myself right well.
So, with her little teeth, which served
For pickaxe and for spade,
She gnawed right through the gothic door,
And thus an entrance made.
Then climbed the turret, which she chose
Her residence to make;
And thought to leave it now and then,
And feast upon the cake.
All this occurred on Christmas eve,
And next came Christmas day;
And then some little folks arrived,
To eat, and drink, and play.
Right merry are the little folks,
And what a noise they make,
When Windsor castle they behold,
Displayed upon the cake.
The turrets and the walls they view,
The cannon, too, admire;
6 [Ill. 2] [Ill. 3]The soldiers ready to present,
And then—pop!—pop!—to fire.
On this, when they had long enough
They scrutinised the cake, and wished
To taste a bit of it.
Each guest prepared,—the knife was raised
Some slices to begin,
When, lo! with wonder, all exclaimed,
“I hear a noise within!”
Poor Mousey, when she saw the knife,
At once expressed her fear,
By squeaking out with all her might,
Which every one could hear.
Then John, as he the turret viewed,
With consternation cried,
“There’s something, I am sure, alive,
And moving, too, inside.”
All now were hushed, and knew not what
All this could be about;
While Mouse, in fright, forgot her tail,
Which at the top popped out.
“Why, here’s some trick,” the lady cried,
“I’ll knock the turret down.”
Mousey, in terror, gave a leap,
And ran along her gown.
“Oh!” screamed the lady, “what is this?”
On each side was dismay,
Which Mousey took advantage of,
By scampering away.
Their fright all o’er, loud laughs ensued,
From all within the house,
To think that so much fear should be
Caused by a little Mouse.
The children hunted for this Mouse,
But she was not a dolt
To wait ’till she was caught, but made
Right through a hole—a bolt.
The party then began their dance,
And singing next ensued;
And then came supper, with its cakes,
And very best home-brewed.
One Cent Books—Dolls and Games.
YOUNG AMERICA’S SERIES. Printed in Colors—6 kinds.
Apple Pie,Cross Boy,
Noisy Boy, Good Natured Boy,
Disorderly Girl,
Industrious Boy,
AUNT MARY’S LITTLE SERIES.
Large 32mo. Toys. 12 kinds. Covers printed in Colors.
Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog,Little Tom Tucker,
Mischievous Boy,
One, Two, Buckle my Shoe,
Five Little Pigs, Greedy George, The Crooked Man,
Peter White,
Jack Spratt,
Harry Heedless,
Primer.
LITTLE PLEASEWELL’S. Printed in Colors.
Cruel Boy and the Magpie,Little Frog, and Pretty Mouse,
The Mouse and the Christmas Cake, Greedy Ben,
Naughty Puppies,
Truant Bunny.
LITTLE DELIGHTS. Printed in Colors.
Jack and the Beanstalk,
Prince with a Long Nose,
Frogs Bride,
Lazy Harry’s Home,
Three Wishes.
OLD SERIES—DOLLS.
Emma, Baby, Jenny, Lucy, Frank, Willie.TOPSEY SERIES—DOLLS.
Topsey,Alecia, Eva St. Clair,
Fanny, Grecian Bend,
Florence.
LITTLE TOM THUMB SERIES.
Mrs. Tom Thumb,Minnie Warren, Mr. Tom Thumb,
Louise, Pink,
Maud.
DOMINOES.
Checker Board and Men, Fox and Geese.McLOUGHLIN BROS. & CO., New York.
Electrotyped by VINCENT DILL, 27 New Chambers St., N. Y.
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOUSE AND THE CHRISTMAS CAKE***
******* This file should be named 27391-h.txt or 27391-h.zip *******
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/3/9/27391
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.