broken.

That evening Bobby told Father all about his kites. Then Father
remembered something; but he said nothing about it just then.

The next morning, he called Bobby to him. "I have a present for you," he
said. "Come to the carriage-house and you may see it."

"What is it like?" asked Bobby, as they walked along.

"It is something that flies," said Father.

"A bird," said Bobby.

"Wrong," said Father.

"A ball?" guessed Bobby.

"No. One more guess," said Father.

"I don't know anything else that flies," said Bobby, "except a
butterfly."

"How about a bumblebee?" asked Father.

"Oh, Father, you couldn't catch a bumblebee," said Bobby. "And if you
did, it would sting you."

"How about a kite?" asked Father.

"That would be grand," said Bobby. "Did you get one in the city?"

"Look under the buggy seat," said Father.

Bobby climbed into the buggy and reached under the seat and began to
pull something out.

"Why, it looks just like the tail to my kite," said he.

"Why, it _is_ my kite," he shouted, as he saw his name on the
cross-piece. "Where did you get it?"

Father told him.

"I'll tie the string together and fly it again," said Bobby.

"You had better get some stronger cord," said Father. "I might not
happen to find it if it flew away again."

Bobby rode to the village when John went to the blacksmith shop. He went
to Mr. Brown's store and bought a ball of strong cord. Then he ran all
the way home with it, because he did not want to wait for the blacksmith
to finish shoeing the horse.

And it wasn't long before Bobby's kite had climbed high into the sky
again.

People driving along the road saw it and said, "What a fine kite!"

Father saw it this time.

As he was going down the lane, he stopped a few moments to watch it.
Then he waved his hand to Bobby and started on.

"I am glad it flew across my path," he said.

[Illustration: THE OLD BROWN HEN]

III

In the Spring, at Cloverfield Farm, all the family made gardens and
sowed seeds.

Mother sowed pansy seed in a round bed in the side yard. When the little
plants came up, she watered them and weeded them and kept the ground
soft and fine, so they could grow.

All the time she was tending them, she kept thinking, "How nice it will
be to have all these lovely pansies to look at this Summer!"

Father sowed some radish seed in the garden. When the little plants
came up, he weeded them and hoed them and kept the ground s