er states on the Gulf of
Mexico. September is the most rainy month; December the least. The mean
annual temperature near the mouth of the Rio Grande is 72 deg.; while along
the Red River the mean annual temperature is only 80 deg.. In the
northwestern part of the state the mean annual--"

"Alma, please," begged Tilly, in mock horror, raising both her hands,
"_please_ don't give us any more of those mean annual temperatures. I'm
sure if they can be any _meaner_ than the temperature right here to-day
is," she sighed, as she fell to fanning herself vigorously, "I don't
want to know what it is!"

"Tilly!" gasped Cordelia, in shocked disapproval. "What would Genevieve
say!"

Tilly shrugged her shoulders.

"Say? She wouldn't say anything--she couldn't," declared Tilly,
unexpectedly, "because she'd be laughing at us so for digging into Texas
like this and unearthing all its poor little secrets!"

"But, Tilly, I think we ought to study it," reproved Cordelia,
majestically, above the laugh that followed Tilly's speech. "Elsie--I
mean, Miss Martin,--what did you find out to-day?"

Elsie wrinkled her nose in a laughing grimace at Tilly, then began to
speak in an exaggeratedly solemn tone of voice.

"I find Texas is so large, and contains so great a variety of soil, and
climate, that any product of the United States can be grown within its
limits. It is a leader on cotton. Corn, wheat, rice, peanuts, sugar cane
and potatoes are also grown, besides tobacco."

"And watermelons, Elsie," cut in Bertha Brown. "I found in a paper that
just last year Texas grew 140,000,000 watermelons."

"I was coming to the watermelons," observed Elsie, with dignity.

"Wish I were--I dote on watermelons!" pouted Tilly in an audible aside
that brought a chuckle of appreciation from Harold Day.

Cordelia gave her a reproachful look. Elsie went on, her chin a little
higher.

"Texas is the greatest producer of honey in the United States. As for
the cattle--prior to 1775 there were vast ranches all over Southwestern
Texas, and herds of hundreds of wild cattle were gathered and driven to
New Orleans. I found some figures that told the number of animals in
1892, or about then. I'll give them. They're old now, of course, but
they'll do to show what a lot of animals there were there then."

Elsie paused to take breath, but for only a moment.

"There were 7,500,000 head of cattle, 5,000,000 sheep, and 1,210,000
horses, besides more than 2,321,000