boy there knew that he would
be called upon for his views, he kept his wits awake to be ready with an
answer.

"Once upon a time," began Mr. Bhaer, in the dear old-fashioned way,
"there was a great and wise gardener who had the largest garden ever
seen. A wonderful and lovely place it was, and he watched over it with
the greatest skill and care, and raised all manner of excellent and
useful things. But weeds would grow even in this fine garden; often the
ground was bad and the good seeds sown in it would not spring up. He
had many under gardeners to help him. Some did their duty and earned the
rich wages he gave them; but others neglected their parts and let them
run to waste, which displeased him very much. But he was very patient,
and for thousands and thousands of years he worked and waited for his
great harvest."

"He must have been pretty old," said Demi, who was looking straight into
Uncle Fritz's face, as if to catch every word.

"Hush, Demi, it's a fairy story," whispered Daisy.

"No, I think it's an arrygory," said Demi.

"What is a arrygory?" called out Tommy, who was of an inquiring turn.

"Tell him, Demi, if you can, and don't use words unless you are quite
sure you know what they mean," said Mr. Bhaer.

"I do know, Grandpa told me! A fable is a arrygory; it's a story that
means something. My 'Story without an end' is one, because the child in
it means a soul; don't it, Aunty?" cried Demi, eager to prove himself
right.

"That's it, dear; and Uncle's story is an allegory, I am quite sure; so
listen and see what it means," returned Mrs. Jo, who always took part in
whatever was going on, and enjoyed it as much as any boy among them.

Demi composed himself, and Mr. Bhaer went on in his best English, for he
had improved much in the last five years, and said the boys did it.

"This great gardener gave a dozen or so of little plots to one of his
servants, and told him to do his best and see what he could raise. Now
this servant was not rich, nor wise, nor very good, but he wanted to
help because the gardener had been very kind to him in many ways. So he
gladly took the little plots and fell to work. They were all sorts of
shapes and sizes, and some were very good soil, some rather stony, and
all of them needed much care, for in the rich soil the weeds grew fast,
and in the poor soil there were many stones."

"What was growing in them besides the weeds, and stones?" asked Nat; so
interested, he forgot