little chap, and only has a cent a week for pocket-money. He can’t
earn much, you know; so I’m going to kind of see to him;” and
good-hearted Tommy quite longed to begin.
“I think that’s a beautiful plan, and I’m not going to try to buy a
fiddle any more; I’m going to get Dan his net all myself, and if
there is any money left, I’ll do something to please poor Billy. He’s
fond of me, and though he isn’t poor, he’d like some little thing
from me, because I can make out what he wants better than the
rest of you.” And Nat fell to wondering how much happiness could
be got out of his precious three dollars.
“So I would. Now come and ask Mr. Bhaer if you can’t go in town
with me on Monday afternoon, so you can get the net, while I get
the microscope. Franz and Emil are going too, and we’ll have a
jolly time larking round among the shops.”
The lads walked away arm-in-arm, discussing the new plans with
droll importance, yet beginning already to feel the sweet
satisfaction which comes to those who try, no matter how humbly,
to be earthly providences to the poor and helpless, and gild their
mite with the gold of charity before it is laid up where thieves
cannot break through and steal.
“Come up and rest while we sort the leaves; it’s so cool and
pleasant here,” said Demi, as he and Dan came sauntering home
from a long walk in the woods.
“All right!” answered Dan, who was a boy of few words, and up
they went.
“What makes birch leaves shake so much more than the others?”
asked inquiring Demi, who was always sure of an answer from
Dan.
“They are hung differently. Don’t you see the stem where it joins
the leaf is sort of pinched one way, and where it joins the twig, it is
pinched another. This makes it waggle with the least bit of wind,
but the elm leaves hang straight, and keep stiller.”
“How curious! will this do so?” and Demi held up a sprig of
acacia, which he had broken from a little tree on the lawn, because
it was so pretty.
“No; that belongs to the sort that shuts up when you touch it. Draw
your finger down the middle of the stem, and see if the leaves don’t
curl up,” said Dan, who was examining a bit of mica.
Demi tried it, and presently the little leaves did fold together, till
the spray showed a single instead of a double line of leaves.
“I like that; tell me about the others. What do these do?” asked
Demi, taking up a new branch.
“Feed silk-worms; they live on mulberry leaves, till they begin to
spin themselves up. I was in a silk-factory once, and there were
rooms full of shelves all covered with leaves, and worms eating
them so fast that it made a rustle. Sometimes they eat so much
they die. Tell that to Stuffy,” and Dan laughed, as he took up
another bit of rock with a lichen on it.
“I know one thing about this mullein leaf: the fairies use them for
blankets,” said Demi, who had not quite given up his faith in the
existence of the little folk in green.
“If I had a microscope, I’d show you something prettier than
fairies,” said Dan, wondering if he should ever own that coveted
treasure. “I knew an old woman who used mullein leaves for a
night-cap because she had face-ache. She sewed them together,
and wore it all the time.”
“How funny! was she your grandmother?”
“Never had any. She was a queer old woman, and lived alone in a
little tumble-down house with nineteen cats. Folks called her a
witch, but she wasn’t, though she looked like an old rag-bag. She
was real kind to me when I lived in that place, and used to let me
get warm at her fire when the folks at the poorhouse were hard on
me.”
“Did you live in a poorhouse?”
“A little while. Never mind that I didn’t mean to speak of it;” and