n she met
Mehitable Moth or Mrs. Ladybug she always said, "How do you do?" and
"Isn't this a _lovely_ day?" in the sweetest tone you could imagine.

And of course there was nothing a body could do except to agree with
Betsy Butterfly. For it was bound to be a beautiful, bright day, or she
wouldn't have been out.

So even those that didn't like Betsy had to give up trying to quarrel
with her.

II

JOHNNIE GREEN'S NET

JOHNNIE GREEN was never quite happy unless he was collecting something.
One year he went about with a hammer, chipping a piece off almost every
rock in Pleasant Valley. And of course he gathered birds' eggs.

After he tired of that he began collecting postage stamps. Next he
turned his attention to tobacco tags, even hailing travellers who passed
the house, to ask them whether they hadn't a "hard one," meaning by that
a tag that was hard to get.

When he felt quite sure that he had a sample of every kind of tobacco
tag in the whole world, Johnnie Green had to think of something else
to collect. And since it was summer, and a good time to find them, he
decided to start a collection of butterflies.

News spreads fast among the field people; and almost as soon as Johnnie
Green had made up his mind about his new collection, the whole Butterfly
family knew of it.

Old Mr. Crow was the one that first learned of Johnnie's plan. And he
was not pleased, either.

"Butterflies!" he scoffed. "I should think Johnnie Green might better
spend his time doing something worth while. Butterflies, indeed! Now,
if he would only collect Crows there'd be some sense in that!"

But that was before old Mr. Crow and his neighbors understood exactly
what a collection was. And the Butterflies felt quite proud because
Johnnie Green was going to busy himself with them.

Later, when the field people discovered that collecting Butterflies
meant catching them and sticking pins through their heads, the Butterfly
family became greatly excited and worried. And as for old Mr. Crow, he
was very glad that Johnnie had not decided to collect him and his
relations.

Well, if you had been in Pleasant Valley that summer, on almost any fine
day you might have seen Johnnie Green running about the fields or the
flower garden with a butterfly net in his hand.

He had made the net from a barrel hoop and a piece of mosquito netting,
to which he nailed an old broomstick for a handle. And for the first few
days when he started makin