ed his
tax-money. And then I used to wake up and cry, till the pillow was so
wet, I had to turn it. The boys never seemed to mind, but then boys
don't think about things; so that I was quite surprised when one day I
found Sandy alone in our field with Perronet in his arms, crying, and
feeding him with cake; and I found he was crying about the tax-money.

I cannot bear to see boys cry. I would much rather cry myself, and I
begged Sandy to leave off, for I said I was quite determined to try
and think of something.

It certainly was remarkable that the very next day should be the day
when we heard about the flower-show.

It was in school--the village school, for Mother could not afford to
send us anywhere else--and the schoolmaster rapped on his desk and
said, "Silence, children!" and that at the agricultural show there was
to be a flower-show this year, and that an old gentleman was going to
give prizes to the school-children for window-plants and for the best
arranged wild flowers. There were to be nosegays and wreaths, and
there was to be a first prize of five shillings, and a second prize of
half-a-crown, for the best collection of wild flowers with the names
put to them.

"The English names," said the schoolmaster; "and there may
be--silence, children!--there may be collections of ferns, or grasses,
or mosses to compete, too, for the gentleman wishes to encourage a
taste for natural history."

And several of the village children said, "What's that?" and I
squeezed Sandy's arm, who was sitting next to me, and whispered, "Five
shillings!" and the schoolmaster said, "Silence, children!" and I
thought I never should have finished my lessons that day for thinking
of Perronet's tax-money.

July is not at all a good month for wild flowers; May and June are far
better. However, the show was to be in the first week in July.

I said to the boys, "Look here: I'll do a collection of flowers. I
know the names, and I can print. It's no good two or three people
muddling with arranging flowers; but; if you will get me what I want,
I shall be very much obliged. If either of you will make another
collection, you know there are ten kinds of mosses by the brook; and
we have names for them of our own, and they are English. Perhaps
they'll do. But everything must come out of Our Field."

The boys agreed, and they were very good. Richard made me a box,
rather high at the back. We put sand at the bottom and damped it, and
then Fea