The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1905-01-26
A WISE LITTLE elRL.
She Finds PIaymates and Playthluu,
In the Weede Around Her Home

She Finds PIaymates and Plsythlnu,
In the Weeds Around Her Home.
Across the commons from us therA
stands a little brown house, where
nothing thriyes but poverty and weeds
and happiness. Year after year thu
garden fails and the flowers die bm
the weeds grow tall and straight and
strong, and bring joy to the Little
Girl. The Little Girl is a strange H.
tie girl. All the drowsy summer aft,
ernoons she lies in the shade Of I'D
great ragweeds, and dreams and paA
To her the ragweeds are not raA
weeds; they are tall, glorious trees
wherein dwell wondrous songsters: a
ladybug is a red bird and a wander
ing fly a nightingale. At her head IN
a break in the rsgweeds grows a tan
buttonweed To the Little Girl Its
rich, golden blossom is as beautm
as the choicest rose. In the center is
a wonderful bed of stamens--and the
petals are a gayly painted fence. Oh,
sometimes, the Little Girl turns them
upside down, and 10! there stands an
ancient dame in green kirtle and
crumpled yellow petticoats. The seed.
pod is now less wonderful to her.
Many a time she has pondered over
its wondrous holding, and the blend.
ing shades Of green, light at the top
and shading down into dark, almost
black, This, inverted, the Little Gin
uses a sa potato masher for her peb'
bic potatoes-but in her heart there ia
no lack C., reverence.
At her feet, in company with the
tickle grass" the bull nettle and
n.ghtshade 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 Der
r!es Of the bullweed furnish oranges
daily for the dolly's table. The strangsI
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, starshaped
blossoms with their protrudlng little
yellow eyes. and could but agree
A vigorous growth of smartweet
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 50
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 a rich growth Of
| golden-rod, and this, unsullled by the
name of weed, is dearest Of all the
! blossoms in the Little Girls eyes, This
she never plucks, bat often, from my
window, | see her bend over and press
its sprays to her cheeks. Her big
brothers have never penetrated, even
in their widest games Of hide-andgo'
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
goldenrod, hangs over the Little Girl
and her treasures.-From THE Beauty
and Interest of Weeds" in St. Nicholas