t he had to feed his pets and to water his
garden before the sun got too hot: and by then it was time for
breakfast. He and his Mother were always very happy at breakfast (except
when there was a pigeon in the chimney). Generally they talked about the
garden, and when the seeds were coming up Widow Dumpty used to send
Little Dumpty running out to chivvy off the sparrows and starlings who
wanted to eat all the young sprouts. In the spring they talked about
tadpoles, and wondered how long it would be before they lost their
tails; and in the summer time they wondered when Little Dumpty would
get a bath; and in the autumn they talked about the circus which was
coming; and in the winter about their "poetry" which they made up, or
about the bulbs in the pots at the window, which always looked like
blooming for Christmas, and never _did_ bloom till March. Oh, and lots
of other things!

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Little Dumpty generally had bread and milk for breakfast and finished
up with honey--for Mrs. Dumpty kept dear little bees in her garden, so
there was always plenty of that:--but on Sundays Dumpty had a poached
egg for breakfast, for a treat. When he'd done his breakfast Dumpty used
to have to look sharp and open the shop for his Mother and sweep the
step, and by then it was time for school, so he got his books together
and trotted off.

He used always to meet his "chum" on the way; _his_ name was Binkie, and
he lived with his father at the Blacksmith's--his father _was_ the
Blacksmith, and there was no Mrs. Blacksmith because she was dead, but
Binkie's aunt, who was a very kind lady, used to take care of Binkie;
_her_ name was Miss Amelia Bloater.

Well, every morning Binkie and Dumpty trudged off to school together.
Dumpty's favourite lesson was writing, he simply _loved_ doing copies,
and once he got a prize for writing; he was quite delighted about it,
and often wished he could get another, and after being at school four
years, at last he did--that was for scripture.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Dumpty used to stay at school all day and had dinner with the big boys;
in the afternoon there was "prep," and at four o'clock school was over
and all the boys were jolly glad.

On his way home from school Dumpty used to stop and get cow-parsley for
his rabbits, and when silkworms were "in" he used to have to go into
Binkie's garden to get mulberry leaves, because Binkie's father had a
mulb