children ran and played and danced and sang in the garden. It was
several weeks before they saw her at all, and I am not sure they would
ever have done so but that one day the kitten ran away, and in chasing
her they came close to the wall, and saw Piccola's black eyes looking
through the hole in the stones. They were a little frightened at
first, and did not speak to her; but the next day she was there again,
and Rose, the oldest girl, went up to the wall and talked to her a
little while. When the children found that she had no one to play with
and was very lonely, they talked to her every day, and often brought
her fruits and candies, and passed them through the hole in the wall.

One day they even pushed the kitten through; but the hole was hardly
large enough for her, and she mewed and scratched, and was very much
frightened. After that the little boy said he should ask his father if
the hole might not be made larger, and then Piccola could come in and
play with them. The father had found out that Piccola's mother was a
good woman, and that the little girl herself was sweet and kind, so
that he was very glad to have some of the stones broken away, and an
opening made for Piccola to come in.

How excited she was, and how glad the children were when she first
stepped into the garden! She wore her best dress, a long bright-
colored woolen skirt and a white waist. Round her neck was a string of
beads, and on her feet were little wooden shoes. It would seem very
strange to us--would it not?--to wear wooden shoes; but Piccola and
her mother had never worn anything else, and never had any money to
buy stockings. Piccola almost always ran about barefooted, like the
kittens and the chickens and the little ducks. What a good time they
had that day, and how glad Piccola's mother was that her little girl
could have such a pleasant, safe place to play in, while she was away