"Unless you weed and water your garden to-day, Polly, I shall take it away from you altogether.""All right, Daddy, I"ll do it to-day," said Polly. And she really meant to, because, although she had neglected it so long, she did not at all like the idea of not having any garden of her own. But somehow she forgot all about it. So Mother gave her a reminder.
"Run along and weed your garden now, dear," she said;" you know you promised Daddy you would do it to-day." "Yes, Mummy," murmured Polly, looking up from thebook she was reading, "I"ll do it presently.""I should do it now, and finish the story afterwards," saidMother.
Polly got up with a sigh. She walked into the garden, but- she took the story-book with her.
"I must finish this story first," she said to herself, and she sat down to read. She was just finding her place when a fat, green caterpillar fell from the tree above, plop on to the open page.
"Oh!" said Polly, and she picked a leaf, let the caterpillarcrawl on to it, and then flung it over the garden wall.
She sat down again and opened her book. A lady-bird flew on to the page and walked slowly across it. Polly told it to fly away home, and gave it a little push with her finger.
"Ah! this is where I was," murmured Polly, again settling to read, when a big fat bumble bee buzzed round her head- buzz, buzz, buzz-and bumped against her nose.
"Go away," cried the little girl, crossly, shaking her head.
She had lost her place again, and was just trying to find it when a large spider, with long, long legs and a little round body, walked on to the page.
"Oh!" cried Polly, and flung the book, spider and all, fromher. " I can"t read here at all."
Then she caught sight of her little garden all choked withweeds, the poor flowers all droopy for want of a drink.
"It"s really in a dreadful state," she said. "I"d better do it at once." So she set to work and weeded till there wasn"t a weed left; and she watered till the ground was nice and soft. As the water sank into the hard ground, the flowers slowly liftedtheir heads once more.
" That"s right, dear," said Mother;"how nice it looks! Daddy will be pleased. I was afraid you would read your book and forget all about it again."And then Polly told Mother about the caterpillar and the lady-bird, the bee and the spider, and Mother said:
"I think they came to tell you to get on with the weeding."And I really believe they did, for, when Polly sat reading in the garden after tea, under that very same tree, not a creature of any sort disturbed her.
From Tiny Tots.
Author.-The author was an unknown writer in Tiny Tots, an English magazine for children.
General Notes.-What was Polly"s chief fault? What helped her tocure it? What other animals do you find in gardens?
Lesson 5
WAlkINg TO SCHOOl
Now I am five, my father says
(And what he says you"ve got to mind) That mother"s not to hold my hand,Or even follow me behind
To see I"m safe. But, down the road, And all the way up the next street,I am to walk now quite alone,
No matter what the things I meet.
Though horrid horses rear and plunge, And cows come trampling, big and bold,And fighting boys are strutting out,
I shall have no one"s hand to hold.
Still, five is really very old;
It"s pretty close to being a man. Since I a soldier wish to be,I s"pose it"s time that I began.
I"ll swell my chest right out, like this, And swing my books behind, just so,And wear my hat stuck sideways on, And whistle all the way I go.
There is a little boy I pass,
He"s always swinging on the gate. He"ll think that I am very old-Perhaps he"ll think I"m seven, or eight.
Drawn by W.S. Wemyss
Off to School
There is a little girl I see,
She"s always standing at her door. When I come whistling boldly past,She"ll wish that she were more than four.
What I mind most of all are dogs; My sister says dogs seldom bite,But how can I be sure of this?
Your sisters are not always right.
There is an awful dog I hear;
It barks and barks as I go by.
I know some day it will get loose,
And fiercely at my throat will fly.
And other dogs come round and sniff (I"ve sandals, and my legs are bare);Perhaps it"s true they will not bite, Perhaps some day I will not care.
When you were five and walked to school,
And you met things to tremble at, Were you as brave as great big men,Or did your heart go pit-a-pat?
Etiiel Turner
Author.-Etiiel Turner was born in England in 1872. She came to Australia at the age of nine, and for a time attended the Girls" High School, Sydney. Later she wrote many books for children, the bestknown of which are Seven Little Australians, The Family at Misrule, The Little Larrikin, Miss Bobbie, Three Little Maids, and Little Mother Meg. She married a lawyer, Mr. H. B. Curlewis. He has since become a judge.
General Notes.-Can you remember being five years old? What things was this boy afraid of? How did he keep up his courage?
Lesson 6
MATES
One warm day, some years ago, a boy was sitting at a little table in an office. He was employed in that big building. One of his mates had gone away the day before, and several other boys had come for the place. None of them had been engaged.
Then came another boy, late in the day, who was about the same age as the one that sat at the table. He was hot and tired. "Do you know if they want a boy here? I heard they did," said the newcomer.
The boy in the chair looked up quickly at the other one, and then went into an inner room. A man came out at once. Now the new boy, though poorly dressed, was clean, and he had frank, blue eyes. "What is your name? " asked the man, quickly. "Thomas Dent, sir," said the boy.
The man put a number of questions to Tom. He then read a letter that the boy"s teacher had given him. It was very good, so the boy was engaged.