going wading?"

That was great fun. Sunny Boy rolled his trousers up as far as they would
go and took off his shoes and stockings. The water was not deep, but, my!
wasn't it cold? Little baby fish darted in and out, and ever so many
times Sunny thought he had a handful of them. But when he unclosed his
hands there was never anything in them but water, and not much of that.

"If I did catch a fish, could I keep him, Daddy?" Sunny asked. "I could
carry home some brook for him to live in."

Sunny meant some of the brook water. Daddy explained that the baby fish,
minnows they are called, would not be happy living in a bowl as the
goldfish Sunny once had were.

"And you wouldn't want a fish to be unhappy, would you?" questioned
Daddy. "Of course you wouldn't. But I'll tell you something better to do
than trying to catch fish that only want to be left alone."

"Something to do with my shoes and stockings off?" stipulated Sunny
anxiously. "I haven't been wading hardly a minute yet, Daddy."

Daddy laughed a little. He was lying flat on his stomach as Sunny had
done, peering over the bank down at the water. He seemed to be having a
very good time, did Daddy.

"This is something you can do without your shoes and stockings," he
assured the small figure standing in the middle of the brook. "Indeed, I
thought of it because you are all fixed for doing it. You know Mother was
talking about her Christmas presents last night?"

Sunny nodded.

"She's sewing a bag for Aunt Bessie," he confided, "and Grandma is
getting ready, too. But I think Christmas is about a year off, Daddy."

"Not a year--about five months," corrected Daddy. "That seems like a long
time to you. But Mother likes to start early and make many of her
presents. And a very good way it is, too. Well, Sunny Boy, I once heard
Mother say that she would like to try making an indoor garden for some of
her friends who live in apartments and have no gardens of their own.
Only, Mother said, she must experiment first and find out what would grow
best."

"What's an indoor garden?"

"Oh, there are different kinds," answered Daddy. "But I think the kind
Mother is anxious to try is very simple. Just damp moss and a vine or two
put into a glass bowl. They will grow and keep green all Winter and be
pretty to look at."

"I could get her some moss," said Sunny quickly. "See, those stones are
all covered, Daddy."

"That's just what I want you to do," agreed Daddy. "We'll ta