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Maggie's Very Own Secret
Mr. and Mrs. Squeaky were two little, gray mice. They lived away back in the corner of
a great, big, empty box in the cellar.
One morning Mr. Squeaky went up the cellar stairs on tiptoes, to hunt for some bread
and cheese in the kitchen.
All at once he heard some one talking, and he hid behind the broom and was as still as
he could be.
It was the little boy Johnnie, who lived up-stairs. He had a big hammer and a saw in his hand,
and he was talking to his little sister.
"I think that big, empty box down cellar would make a fine dolls' house, Maggie. I can fix
a little porch on it, and make an up-stairs and a down-stairs," the little boy said.
Mr. and Mrs. Squeaky were two little, gray mice. They lived away back in the corner of
a great, big, empty box in the cellar.
One morning Mr. Squeaky went up the cellar stairs on tiptoes, to hunt for some bread
and cheese in the kitchen.
All at once he heard some one talking, and he hid behind the broom and was as still as
he could be.
It was the little boy Johnnie, who lived up-stairs. He had a big hammer and a saw in his hand,
and he was talking to his little sister.
"I think that big, empty box down cellar would make a fine dolls' house, Maggie. I can fix
a little porch on it, and make an up-stairs and a down-stairs," the little boy said.
"Oh, Johnnie, that will be lovely," his little sister said. "I'll do something for you sometime.
Maybe—maybe—I'll draw a whole slate full of el'phants, for you to look at!"
Then they started down the cellar steps.
Mr. Squeaky was so frightened that he almost tumbled down the stairs.
"Oh, my dear," he whispered, "they are going to break up our house with a big hammer and
a saw, and make a dolls' house out of it! Let's run as fast as we can!"
Poor little Mrs. Squeaky began to cry.
"Where shall we go?" she whispered. "Oh, I am so afraid, and there are always those dreadful
traps around to catch us!"
Now where do you think they found themselves? Right inside of an old shoe! The hole that
they came through was just a hole in the shoe and made a nice little door. And there was
another hole a little higher up that made a nice little window to peep out of.
"Why, this is the dearest little house, so cozy and warm," Mrs. Squeaky said. "Nobody
will ever find us in here, I know."
After they lived there a while, a whole family of little pink baby mice came to live with
them. The papa mouse and the mama mouse were so proud and so glad, they got little bits
of cotton and soft paper and rags, and made the nicest little beds you ever saw.
The little pink baby mice could only say, "Squeak! Squeak!" and cuddle up under the
warm covers, but Mr. and Mrs. Squeaky laughed, and thought they were the smartest babies
in the whole world.
"Why, I feel like 'The Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe and had so many children she didn't
know what to do,'" Mrs. Squeaky said one day. She was sitting by the little window rocking
the baby mouse and taking a little rest.
Mr. Squeaky had gone out to hunt for some supper, and the four other little mice were
peeping out of the little hole in the toe of their shoe house, for Papa to come home.
All at once, Maggie, the little girl who lived up-stairs, ran into the dark corner to hide
from Johnnie, just for fun. And what do you think she saw?
The four little mice peeping out of the door, and the poor, frightened mama mouse and the
little baby at the window.
Maggie stopped just a minute to whisper gently to little, gray Mrs. Squeaky, "Don't be frightened,
'Little Old Woman Who Lives in the Shoe.' I'll never, never tell anybody where you live.
No, I won't even tell Johnnie or my kitty. They might try to catch you. It shall be my
very own secret—and yours!"
So nobody but little Maggie ever knew about Mr. and Mrs. Squeaky, and their little pink
babies in the old shoe—until long afterward, when she told me the story, as I have told
it to you.