really feared that nothing
would find time to grow, Nat kept up such a stirring of the soil; so he
gave him easy jobs in the flower garden or among the strawberries, where
he worked and hummed as busily as the bees booming all about him.

"This is the crop I like best," Mrs. Bhaer used to say, as she pinched
the once thin cheeks, now getting plump and ruddy, or stroked the bent
shoulders that were slowly straightening up with healthful work, good
food, and the absence of that heavy burden, poverty.

Demi was his little friend, Tommy his patron, and Daisy the comforter of
all his woes; for, though the children were younger than he, his timid
spirit found a pleasure in their innocent society, and rather shrunk
from the rough sports of the elder lads. Mr. Laurence did not forget
him, but sent clothes and books, music and kind messages, and now and
then came out to see how his boy was getting on, or took him into town
to a concert; on which occasions Nat felt himself translated into the
seventh heaven of bliss, for he went to Mr. Laurence's great house, saw
his pretty wife and little fairy of a daughter, had a good dinner, and
was made so comfortable, that he talked and dreamed of it for days and
nights afterward.

It takes so little to make a child happy that it is a pity, in a world
so full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any
wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts. Feeling this, the
Bhaers gathered up all the crumbs they could find to feed their flock of
hungry sparrows, for they were not rich, except in charity. Many of
Mrs. Jo's friends who had nurseries sent her they toys of which their
children so soon tired, and in mending these Nat found an employment
that just suited him. He was very neat and skillful with those slender
fingers of his, and passed many a rainy afternoon with his gum-bottle,
paint-box, and knife, repairing furniture, animals, and games, while
Daisy was dressmaker to the dilapidated dolls. As fast as the toys were
mended, they were put carefully away in a certain drawer which was
to furnish forth a Christmas-tree for all the poor children of the
neighborhood, that being the way the Plumfield boys celebrated the
birthday of Him who loved the poor and blessed the little ones.

Demi was never tired of reading and explaining his favorite books, and
many a pleasant hour did they spend in the old willow, revelling over
"Robinson Crusoe," "Arabian Nights," "Edgeworth's T