r seen anything more wonderful than the
little round lettuce-seeds. They were so tiny that it did not seem
possible that green lettuce leaves could come from them. But they surely
would.

Mother and father and Margery were late to supper that evening. But they
were all so happy that it did not matter. The last thing Margery
thought of, as she went to sleep at night, was the dear, smooth little
garden, with its funny footpath, and with the little sticks standing at
the ends of the rows, labelled "lettuce," "beets," "helianthus," and so
on.

"I have a garden! I have a garden!" was Margery's last thought as she
went off to dreamland.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] I have always been inclined to avoid, in my work among children,
the "how to make" and "how to do" kind of story; it is too likely to
trespass on the ground belonging by right to its more artistic and less
intentional kinsfolk. Nevertheless, there is a legitimate place for the
instruction-story. Within its own limits, and especially in a school
use, it has a real purpose to serve, and a real desire to meet. Children
have a genuine taste for such morsels of practical information, if the
bites are not made too big and too solid. And to the elementary teacher,
from whom so much is demanded in the way of practical instruction, I
know that these stories are a boon. They must be chosen with care, and
used with discretion, but they need never be ignored.

I venture to give some little stories of this type, which I hope may be
of use in the schools where country life and country work is an unknown
experience to the children.

THE LITTLE COTYLEDONS

This is another story about Margery's garden.

The next morning after the garden was planted, Margery was up and out at
six o'clock. She could not wait to look at her garden. To be sure, she
knew that the seeds could not sprout in a single night, but she had a
feeling that _something_ might happen at any moment. The garden was just
as smooth and brown as the night before, and no little seedlings were in
sight.

But a very few mornings after that, when Margery went out, she saw a
funny little crack opening up through the earth, the whole length of the
patch. Quickly she knelt down on the footpath, to see. Yes! Tiny green
leaves, a whole row of them, were pushing their way through the crust!
Margery knew what she had put there: it was the radish-row; these must
be radish leaves. She examined them very closely, so that she