an to see Betsy Butterfly flitting
from flower to flower in the sunshine, followed by her admirers.

"What _can_ they see in that gaudy creature?" Mrs. Ladybug often asked
her friends.

It will appear, from this, that Mrs. Ladybug was not always as pleasant
as she might have been. Moreover, she was something of a busybody and
too fond of prying into the affairs of others. And if she didn't happen
to approve of her neighbors, or their ways, Mrs. Ladybug never hesitated
to speak her mind.

When she first appeared on Farmer Green's place, wearing her bright red
gown with its black spots, everyone supposed that Mrs. Ladybug was
dressed in her working clothes. And indeed she was! Nor did she ever don
any other.

"I've no time to fritter away," she declared when somebody asked her
what she was going to wear to Betsy Butterfly's party. "If I go to the
party I'll just drop in for a few minutes as I am, in my polka dot."

Her neighbors thought that very strange. They even whispered to one
another that they didn't believe Mrs. Ladybug had anything else to
wear.

Nor had she. Nor did she want any. And it wasn't long before everybody
understood Mrs. Ladybug's ways. She was so earnest that they couldn't
help liking her, no matter if her remarks were a bit tart now and then.

II

BUSTER'S RESOLVE

NOT only was Betsy Butterfly a beautiful creature. She was pleasant to
everybody. And almost all her neighbors were just as pleasant to her.
Mrs. Ladybug was one of the few that were sometimes disagreeable to
Betsy. For Mrs. Ladybug did not approve of her. She thought that Betsy
Butterfly was frivolous. And she frowned whenever she saw Betsy in her
beautiful costume.

"She _never_ wears working clothes," Mrs. Ladybug often complained, when
talking to her friends. "Now, if Betsy Butterfly would only wear
something plain and serviceable, as I do, once in a while, people might
have a different opinion of her. She ought to try this hard-finished red
and black polka dot of mine. It's a wonderful piece of goods."

One day Mrs. Ladybug was gossiping in that fashion with Mehitable Moth,
a soberly clad person who was always a bit jealous of the gorgeous
Betsy. And Mehitable Moth nodded her head to everything that little Mrs.
Ladybug said.

"What do you think of Betsy Butterfly's wings?" Miss Moth inquired.

"They're all for show," Mrs. Ladybug declared. "They're so flimsy and
delicate that Betsy Butterfly never dares venture