o. Why
don't you get a job somewhere and earn some money instead of loafing
around begging for your meals?"

The man paused, with his fork half way to his mouth, surprised at the
child's keen observations. Then he answered, lightly, "I do sometimes,
but a feller can't work all the time, can he?"

"Well, most folks have to, though I never could see why they all can't
have vacations like we do at school. This is our last day until next
fall."

"Is that what you and the kids gathered the flowers for?"

"Yes, and for the minister's reception tonight. We went early this
morning 'fore the rest of the folks were up; and mercy, but didn't Faith
scold when we got back! She said we ought all of us to be whipped and
sent to bed. Faith is real ugly when she's making cakes. We did get
awfully wet,--I had no notion it would be so bad. But we got the flowers
anyway. We made some baskets yesterday out of birch bark and moss. Here
comes Allee with them now. She doesn't go to school yet, but sometimes
she visits with Cherry and me, and today is one of the times. Ain't the
baskets pretty?"

"Scrumptious!" was the admiring answer, as the man clumsily lifted one
of the dainty boats filled with dog-tooth violets and drank in its
perfume with the delight of a child. "What wouldn't city people give for
these little nosegays from the woods! They would go like hot cakes."

"What do you mean?" asked mystified Peace, failing to understand what
connection her beloved flowers could have with hot cakes.

"Why, in big cities, at almost any of the important business corners,
you will see little boys and girls selling sweet peas and daisies
and--yes, they sometimes sell cowslips and wood violets, but only in
bunches--never in such cunning little baskets. Why, tucked down in that
damp moss, your flowers will keep fresh for hours; while a bunch from a
city flower-seller's stock withers as soon as it is taken out of water."

"Would folks in Martindale buy them?"

"Yes, indeed! They are a breath from the woods, and lots of people would
be glad to get them. You see--"

"Peace Greenfield, it's time to start! Do you want to be late the last
day of school?"

"That's Cherry. I must go. I wish I could stop and talk some more. When
you finish your breakfast, just take the dishes around to the kitchen
steps, and--if you have time and want to do it--you might weed those
flower gardens in the front yard and the onion patch behind the shed. If
you don't,