Children's literature -- Periodicals; Christian literature for children -- Periodicals
The first robin had come, so had the first bluebird and the first
hand-organ man; caterpillars were beginning to crawl along the sunny
side of the fence rails and everybody was housecleaning, so it was
quite certain that spring was here.
With it there came to the three little Ashley sisters three packets of
seeds.
A lady friend of their mother had sent them. Every one of them had
printed on it, "A Surprise Collection."
When the little, light-brown envelopes were opened, they were found to
contain several varieties of seeds. Some were like little, round,
brown pills--those were "sweet-peas," mamma said. Others were very
small indeed, like grains of powder, and some were like tiny,
grayish-green sticks--somebody said those were verbena seeds; and,
well, dear me, there were all kinds and shapes and sizes and grays and
browns.
Three neat, round beds were spaded up on the lawn, and Amy, Enid and
Ruth raked them over, smoothed and patted the rich soil, and then
planted their seeds.
Of course, you know what happened next. There had to be waiting,
watching, weeding and watering. Most of the seeds sprouted and grew,
and soon the dark brown earth was covered by green shoots and trailing
sprays.
By and by, buds began to appear and tiny bits of color to show, and
then how happy the little girls were!
All but Enid. She was pleased, but also a little disappointed.
Now, it so happened, that Ruth's "Surprise Collection" turned out to
be pansies, asters, phlox and ragged sailors--all posies of bright
pink, purple and crimson in various shades. Amy's garden plot was gay
with marigolds, four-o'clocks, larkspurs, and bachelor's-buttons--all
orange and yellow, blue and purple.
[Illustration: Enid was pleased.]
But Enid's flowers were nearly all white, and it was truly a surprise,
though not a very agreeable one. She had white verbenas, sweet
alyssum, candytuft, daisies and gillyflowers.
Consequently, her flower bed did not attract as much attention from
the passers-by as did the gay ones of her sisters.
"Anyhow, almost all my posies are sweet-smelling," the little girl
said, trying her best to be contented. For, after all, to own flowers,
every one of which was fragrant, was a comfort.
Then, there came another comfort--a real "surprise" comfort. Late one
evening, after the family had been away all day, attending the
Sunday-school picnic, and drove home in the moonlight, what do you
suppose they saw as they turned in at the gateway? Why, there on the
lawn, was a great circle of white, gleaming like frosted silver.
"Wonder if a sheet has blown off the clothesline," said grandma.
"Oh, it isn't a sheet--it's my flower bed! It's my dear, darling white
posies!"
And, sure enough, the white flowers could be seen in the dark, when
all the gay reds and yellows and blues and purples were dim and dull.
Enid felt very happy.
"I like 'surprise collections' you can see at night," she said.
* * * * *
TRUE LOVE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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