blew her horn
Some peaceful evening hour,
And suddenly a blast replied
From every trumpet-flower,
While people's ears beat noisy drums
To 'Hail, the Conquering Hero Comes!'

"If barn-yard fowls had honey-combs,
What should we think, I wonder?
If lightning-bugs should swiftly strike,
Then peal with awful thunder?
And would it turn our pink cheeks pale
To see a comet switch its tail?"

The queer little fellow did not seem to be at all disturbed by the failure
of the company to answer his questions. He turned courteously to little
Ann.

"It's your turn to ask a riddle, you know," he reminded her.

To little Ann's astonishment a riddle popped right into her head--a rhymed
riddle, at that!

"Busy Mistress One-Eye
With her long white train
Dips her nose and down she goes--
Up she comes again.

"Not a hand and not a foot;
Has no need for those;
Makes her trip without a slip,
Following her nose.

"Two she has to guide her:
One, a sturdy chap,
Other, tall beside her,
In a silver cap.

"As she moves--how funny!
Yet it's very plain--
Brighter grows her one eye
And shorter grows her train.

"Now, what's the answer?" she cried.

"That's easy," the Fool said promptly. "The answer is, of course, a
mushroom."

Amos laughed loudly at that; but kind little Ann was distressed to think
what a pitifully poor guess her host had made.

"Oh, not a mushroom, Mr. Fool," she said. "Don't you see it has something
to do with sewing?"

"Then of course it's a mushroom," the Fool said calmly. "Don't I sow
mushrooms every year all over my backyard? Nobody can fool me," he
finished with a chuckle, "about mushrooms."

And after that naturally there was nothing more to be said.

The children were very reluctant to leave the April house; but J. M.
glanced at one of the many topsy-turvy clocks that hung from the ceiling
(of all places!), and reminded them that it was high time to be moving
on.

MAY

_V_

_MAY_

[Illustration: _Gemini_]

A green-thatched cottage was May's sweet home
With velvet moss for a floor,
And a clambering vine in the gay sunshine,
And a Maypole set by the door.
And May herself, with a dimple and curl,
Dressed in a flouncy gown,
Was filling baskets--the prettiest girl
In all of Zodiac Town!

[Illustration: _And May herself