Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-26

AS write am thinking of time thirty years
ago, when little boy and little girl clung to my
skirts and followed my footsteps wherever trod.
Never tiring, they followed me to the milk pas
ture, the dairy the garden, the poultry yard, and
the kitchen, aye, even to the parlor, when I re-
ceived my guests, though that was hardly the
correct thing for them to DO. They my little
shadows, but not silent shadows I assure you,
for wherever l went they piled me with questions,
asking the why and the wherefore of everything
I did. When 1 would go to the garden, they
would run hand in hand before me that I
could scarce keep from walking over them, and
when l would give directions TO the gardener,
to how the soil should be prepared for the seeds,
Toto would quickly ask:
What for?" and I would then explain to him
why the seeds required a certain soil, rich
poor; coarse, or prepared with extra care. When
l would tell the gardener that the seed must be
covered with not more than two inches of earth,
Daisy,-we called her that because she was
timid little thing with pretty, round, dower-like
face with bright starry eyes-woud look up and
ask, What makes you cover em up so deep that
they can't get out"
Then I would explain that they needed the
moisture which they could not get too near the
surface; that after awhile the hard shell which
covered the seed would swell and burst, and the
roots would strike deeper down into the ground,
while the tender little vine would have to struggle
up to the sunlight through it's covering Of earth
that while they could not be planted too near the
surface, they must not be planted too deep.
'"rhen what makes you not up the ozzer
title seeds at ALL"
Because" I would answer "they very
fine and small that they will get enough mos-
ture in the little cracks where they lodge, from
the first rainfall; their tender little roots will
strike right down in the fine earth, and their little
green hair-like stems will shoot right up. If I
covered them up neither the root the tender
green blade would have strength enough to bur-
through the earth, and would therefore de-
cay" And I gradually taught them, little by
little, all knew without even thinking of it.
By and by they wanted little garden for them
selves; so l had David, the gardener, who was
very fond of them, and would answer their ques-
tions by the hour-prepare little square of nice
ground for them, for they were not strong enough
to dig yet which they hedged about with beautiful
flowers, in order to separate it from mine. And
they had their little hoes, and spades, and rakes,
and here they would work day after day, growing
strong and robust, so that by the time they were
ten and twelve years old, they could make as fine
a garden as mine, and often had their vegetables
a week or two earlier, for theirs in nice
sheltered sunny spot, and two pairs of busy little
hands could tend a small square much easier than
David could whole big garden. For these early
vegetables of course paid big premium, "the
highest market price," they Immediately set
up little savings bank with their earnings.
One summer, when knew that onion sets would
bring fine price, | gave them an extra square OF
ground that they might plant some, and they
broke their bank to purchase the seed, which
were quite high; but they planted and tended
them so carefully that they got over a hundred
dollars from their little square of ground. Then
they opened up bank account in the little village
and have kept one there ever since.
Just as these two little tots, "Toto," that was
the nickname Daisy had given him because she
could not call his real name, Theodore" and
Daisy, followed me to the garden, so they did to