er, to persist in any plan which made Johnnie
unhappy, so Moses came down, and Johnnie was allowed to choose a picture
to fill his place. She selected a chromo of three little girls in a
swing, a dreadful thing, all blue and red and green, which Miss Inches
almost wept over. But it was a great comfort to Johnnie. I think it was
the chromo which put it into Mamma Marion's head that the course of
instruction chosen for her adopted child was perhaps a little above her
years. Soon after she surprised Johnnie by the gift of a doll, a boy
doll, dressed in a suit of Swedish gray, with pockets. In one hand the
doll carried a hammer, and under the other arm was tucked a small
portfolio.

"I like to make your sports a little instructive when I can," she said,
"so I have dressed this doll in the costume of Linnaeus, the great
botanist. See what a nice little herbarium he has got under his arm.
There are twenty-four tiny specimens in it, with the Latin and English
names of each written underneath. If you could learn these perfectly,
Johnnie, it would give you a real start in botany, which is the most
beautiful of the sciences. Suppose you try. What will you name your
doll, darling?"

"I don't know," replied Johnnie, glaring at the wax-boy with very
hostile feelings.

"Linnaeus? No, I don't quite like to give that name to a doll. Suppose,
Johnnie, we christen him _Hortus Siccus_. That's the Latin name for a
herbal, and will help you to remember it when you form one of your own.
Now take him and have a good play."

How was it possible to have a good play with a doll named _Hortus
Siccus_? Johnnie hated him, and could not conceal the fact. Miss Inches
was grieved and disappointed. But she said to herself, "Perhaps she is
just too old for dolls and just too young to care for pictures. It isn't
so easy to fix a child's mental position as I thought it would be. I
must try something else."

She really loved Johnnie and wished to make her happy, so the thought
occurred of giving her a child's party. "I don't approve of them," she
told her friends. "But perhaps it may be possible to combine some
instruction with the amusements, and Johnnie is _so_ pleased. Dear
little creature, she is only eleven, and small things are great at that
age. I suppose it is always so with youth."

Twenty children were asked to the party. They were to come at four, play
for two hours in the garden, then have supper, and afterward games in
the parlor.

J