s just as they
make the flowers on her bonnet. But I like the kind that grow, don't
you, Mr. Spider?"

Mr. Spider said that he was no judge of poetry, but he was inclined to
be of her opinion; which made Miss Muffet very happy, for she had not
been used to having people agree with her,--at least before she had a
party.

It was very pleasant in the garden, for the noisier children had not
found it out. It was surprising how many things were in it. There was a
little river with golden sand; and the tiniest mountain, which looked as
high as the sky when you got the right point of view; and there were
ships and pirates and a beautiful cow. When you looked in the right
direction, you could see the big world stretching away much further than
the eye could reach.

[Illustration: _He was a little prudent_]

[Illustration: _The Rockaby Lady saying good-night_]

Miss Muffet watched a wide-eyed little boy who was wandering about and
having such an adventurous time as never was. Everything was so great
and strange, yet he wasn't a bit afraid, only now and then when he
turned a corner he was a little prudent, as any traveler would be who
had come to the end of the world and was not sure that the next step
might not take him off the edge. But it never did, for no matter how far
he went, there was always a next step for him, as if the good Scotch
gardener who had laid out the paths had known that such a great traveler
was coming. As she left the garden she heard him singing to himself his
glad little song,--

"The world is so full of a number of things,
I think we should all be as happy as Kings."

The idea of the little song was exactly the same that Miss Muffet had
had in her head for a long time, though she hadn't been able to express
it so well. Even after she came back to the company, she kept repeating
the words to herself.

"I think the nicest part about being happy," she confided to the spider,
"is that it keeps you from being lonesome, and it makes you like such a
number of things."

"And such a number of people," added Mr. Spider.

"Yes; all the different kinds. It's not because they are so very pretty.
You like the queer ones too, and you are glad that the world's full of
them. There's Rumpelstiltzkin, he's not at all like anybody else, and
his features aren't regular, but I'm glad he came to the party. He's so
interesting."

Mr. Spider was sure that if he could get every one to feel that