"These plants all grow from seed. And when the land is heavily grazed they don't have a chance to plant themselves. They become--what do you call it--extinguished?" "Extinct," prompted Janet. "On my ranch, about twelve miles from here, it is n't what it used to be in springtime. We've got it pretty heavily stocked; we 're working it over into shorthorn. This place that we're on now has a fence all around it; the country is becoming crowded. And they are breaking farms all the time, too. It won't last long." "Won't that be a shame!" said Janet. "People spoil everything, don't they? I am glad I came down here just to see the Texas prairie in spring. Even if I do have to go back again. Just look at that!" She reached out, and, grasping a handful, she bent the still rooted bouquet so that the light shone full upon its countenance. "How did you come to know the names of them all?" he asked. "Why, we grow them in gardens up North. I know their names in that way. They are old acquaintances." "Oh, that's it. Well, it is n't hard to grow them here. Us fellows out on the prairie make all our flower-beds round." Janet paused. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "You mean the _horizon_. Is n't that an idea! I am going to tell that to Ruth Ferguson the first time I write." Steve made no reply. Janet gave her attention for a space to the beans. Then, suddenly reminded, she put down her fork. "Mr. Brown! If you were teaching just ten or twelve children, would n't it strike you as rather foolish to call the roll every morning? You know there were only fourteen pupils in the school where I was substituting; so of course I got acquainted with them all right away. Well, one morning when the weather was bad there were only six present; so when the hour came I just began to teach. But a little boy who is in the first reader held up his hand and told me I had to call the roll first. I could hardly keep from smiling. As if I could n't see the six that were there. Then I made inquiry and I found that Miss Porter called the roll when there were only four there. Does n't it seem funny for a person to go through a formality like that just because--well, just because?" "That's because you 've got sense," said Steve. She dropped her eyes and ate. When this remark had had time to pass over, Janet's sociable spirit, never self-conscious for long, began to unfold its leaves and raise its stems and lift up its branches again.