The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-02-10
A WISE LITTLE GIRL.
she Finds PIsymates and Playthlngs
in the Weeds Around Her Home.

she Finds Plsymates and PlaythIngs
in the Weeds Around Her Home.
Across the commons from us there
stands O little brown house. where
nothing thrives but poverty and weeds
and happiness. Year after year the
garden fails and the flowers die, but
the weeds grow tall and straight and
strong, and bring joy to the Lttle
Girl The Little Girl is a strange 1T
tie girl. All the drowsy summer ait
ernoons she lies in the shade OF the
great ragweeds, and dreams ana plays.
To her the ragweeds are not rag
weeds; they are tall, glorious trees,
wherein dwell wondrous songsters;
ladybug is red bird and wander
ing fly a nightingale. At her head in
a break in the ragweeds grows tall
buttonweed To the Little Girl it's
rich, golden blossom is as beautiful
as the choicest rose. In the center is
a wonderful bed of stamens-and the
petals are a gayly painted fence Or,
sometimes, the Little Girl turns them
ancient dame in green kirtle and
crumpled yellow petticoats. The seed
pod is now less wonderful to her.
Many time she has pondered over
it's wondrous molding, and the blend
ing shades of green, light at the top
and shading down into dark, almost
black. This, Inverted, the Little Girl
uses sa potato masher for her peb-
bic potatoes-but in her heart there is
no lack G. reverence.
At her feet, in company with the
"ticklegrass," the bull nettle and
nightshade grow side by side. To the
Little Girl the berries of the latter
two are the most beautiful Of all the
weeds Big brothers have forbidden
her to touch them, but she does not
understand, and the green-golden ber-
ries of the bullweed furnish oranges
daily for the dolly's table. The strange
structure of the nightshade berries
she cannot understand; the thin trans
parent green walls through which the
| tiny seeds can be seen puzzle her.
81 guess they were made that way
SO that they could look up and see
the stars" she confided to me one day.
She meant the pure white, star-shaped
blossoms with their protruding little
yellow eyes, and could but agree.
A vigorous growth of smartweed
with the delicate pink and red white
blossoms fringes her playhouse-some
of the plants at least two feet high.
These the Little Girl does not value so
much; she plucks them to pieces, par
by part, to see how many different col
ors of pink she can find, and then, IN
a fit of contrition, drops the poor
mangled blossoms into the pan of cool
water placed in the weeds for the
chickens.
But far in the heart of the great
weed patch there is rich growth OF
golden-rod, and this, unsullied by the
name of weed, is dearest of all the
blossoms in the Little Girls eyes. This
she never plucks, but often, from my
window, l see her bend over and press
its sprays to her cheeks. Her big
brothers have never penetrated, even
in their widest games Of hide-and-go-
seek; only the Little Girl, seeing with
finer eyes, knows the heart of gold in
the refuse And so an interest, subtle
and strange as the fragrance OF the
golden-rod hangs over the Little Girl
and her treasures.-From "The Beauty
and Interest of Weeds" in st. Nicholas.