nk 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