I heard this from the back steps. Neither mother nor Lucy knew I
was there. I went in to see if they would let me take the baby.
Of course they wouldn't! Mother took it herself. She was
rocking, and softly singing my Dutch song that I loved best; I
can't spell it, but it sounds like this:

"Trus, trus, trill;
Der power rid der fill,
Fill sphring aveck,
Plodschlicter power in der dreck."


Once I asked mother to sing it in English, and she couldn't
because it didn't rhyme that way and the words wouldn't fit the
notes; it was just, "Trot, trot, trot, a boy rode a colt. The
colt sprang aside; down went the boy in the dirt."

"Aw, don't sing my song to that little red, pug-nosed bald-head!"
I said.

Really, it was a very nice baby; I only said that because I
wanted to hold it, and mother wouldn't give it up. I tried to
coax May to the dam snake hunting, but she couldn't go, so I had
to amuse myself. I had a doll, but I never played with it except
when I was dressed up on Sunday. Anyway, what's the use of a
doll when there's a live baby in the house? I didn't care much
for my playhouse since I had seen one so much finer that Laddie
had made for the Princess. Of course I knew moss wouldn't take
root in our orchard as it did in the woods, neither would willow