any amusement in it. Then, if you have any thing
else to play with, you can neglect your garden a long time, and let the
weeds grow, and not come and pull them up until you get tired of other
play, and happen to feel like working in your garden."

"I should not think that that would be a very good plan," said Rollo.

"Why, yes," replied his father; "I do not know but that it is a good plan
enough,--that is, for _play_. It is right for you to play sometimes; and I
do not know why you might not play with a piece of ground, and seeds, as
well as with any thing else."

"Well, father, how should I manage my garden if I was going to make _work_
of it?"

"O, then you would not do it for amusement, but for the useful results.
You would consider what you could raise to best advantage, and then lay
out your garden; not as you might happen to _fancy_ doing it, but so as to
get the most produce from it. When you come to dig it over, you would not
consider how long you could find amusement in digging, but how much
digging is necessary to make the ground productive; and so in all your
operations."

"Well, father, which do you think would be the best plan for me?"

"Why, I hardly know. By making play of it, you will have the greatest
pleasure as you go along. But, in the other plan, you will have some good
crops of vegetables, fruits, and flowers."

"And shouldn't I have any crops if I made play of my garden?"

"Yes; I think you might, perhaps, have some flowers, and, perhaps, some
beans and peas."

Rollo hesitated for some time which plan he should adopt. He had worked
enough to know that it was often very tiresome to keep on with his work
when he wanted to go and play; but then he knew that after it was over,
there was great satisfaction in thinking of useful employment, and in
seeing what had been done.

That afternoon he went out into the garden to consider what he should do,
and he found his father there, staking out some ground.

"Father," said he, "whereabouts should you give me the ground for my
garden?"

"Why, that depends," said his father, "on the plan you determine upon. If
you are going to make play of it, I must give you ground in a back corner,
where the irregularity, and the weeds, will be out of sight. But if you
conclude to have a real garden, and to work industriously a little while
every day upon it, I should give it to you there, just beyond the
pear-tree."

Rollo looked at the two places, but he