e girls
that they would have their "jobs" given them later on, when there was
time to teach them. This did not at all content the enthusiastic spirits
who were burning to throw lessons to the winds and spend their days in
mixing putty, lime-washing hen-houses, and fixing up wire netting. They
hung about disconsolately, snatching at such opportunities of assistance
as holding ladders or handing nails.

"You _might_ let me tar the roof of the chicken-coop," begged Wendy.
"I'd just love to let it all squelch on, and I adore the smell!"

But Miss Carr, who the day before had rashly allowed Diana the use of
the lime-wash pail, was firm in her refusal.

"I haven't time to show you how, and I don't want things spoilt. Put
down that tar-brush, Wendy! If you get smears on your skirt, you'll
never get them off again."

"I don't see where _we_ come in!" groused Wendy. "I thought we were to
learn agriculture."

"You won't learn it by dabbing tar on the end of your nose," laughed
Miss Carr.

In the course of a few weeks, however, the preliminary stages were over.
Some fowl-houses and runs were finished, and their feathered occupants
arrived and took possession. A consignment of spades, rakes, and hoes
was delivered by the carrier, and arranged by the students in the new
tool-shed. Miss Carr announced herself ready to begin her course of
instruction. To the girls the crowning-point of the preparations was the
opening of several large boxes posted from a London shop. They contained
twenty land costumes in assorted sizes. The excitement of trying them on
was immense. Twenty little figures in smocks and gaiters went capering
about the school, wild with the fun of the new experiment, and feeling
themselves enthusiastic "daughters of the soil".

"It was A1 of Toddlekins to let us have a 'land uniform'."

"Couldn't do any decent work without, I should say."

"I believe Miss Carr insisted on it."

"Sensible woman!"

"It feels so delightfully business-like."

"Shall we win green armlets?"

"I'm just dying to start and dig!"

"And I want to climb a tree!"

Miss Chadwick and her students set to work methodically. They gave
classroom lectures on the principles of agriculture, and practical
demonstrations in the garden. The girls learnt the constituents of
soils, and also how to trench; the theory of scientific poultry-raising,
and the actual mixing of the food. They prepared plots that would be
sown in the spring, cleared an