e two crops in the year--so that
before the next winter came round we should have enough and to spare.

"While we stood by the table talking over these pleasant prospects, one
of the boys--Frank it was--suddenly shouted out, `Wheat! wheat!'

"I looked down to ascertain what he meant. He had been turning over the
yellow seeds of the maize, and, among them, had discovered several
grains of wheat. No doubt there had been wheat in the bag before the
corn had been put into it; and this was soon confirmed, as, on carefully
searching the bag, we found several of the precious pickles still
clinging between the seams. After separating the one species from the
other with great carefulness--for we did not wish to lose a single
seed--we found that our grains of wheat counted exactly one hundred!
This, to be sure, was a small quantity to go a-farming with, but we
remembered the old saving, `Great oaks grow from little acorns,' and we
knew the importance of these small grey seeds. In a couple of years we
should have large crops of wheat.

"`You see,' said I, addressing my little family, `how kind Providence
has been to us. Here, in the middle of the Desert, has He furnished us
with all the necessaries of life; and now, with a little patience, we
may promise ourselves many of its luxuries--for what can mamma not make
out of flour and sugar?'

"`Oh, everything!' cried Frank, who had grown enthusiastic at the
prospect of farming, for he was fond of agricultural pursuits; `we can
have venison-pasties with our flour.'

"`And fruit-pies,' added Harry; `there are plenty of fruits. I have
found wild plums and cherries, and mulberries as long as my finger, and
whortle-berries, too. What delicious puddings we can make.'

"`Yes,' said I; `now shall we care for coffee?'

"`No, no!' cried Frank and Harry in a breath.

"`Then you shall have it,' said their mother, with a smile of peculiar
meaning.

"`What! mother?' exclaimed Harry, `another tree?'

"`Yes, indeed, another.'

"`Not a coffee-plant?'

"`No; but a coffee-tree.'

"`A coffee-tree! why I thought, mamma, that they never grew, except in
the hottest parts of the tropics.'

"`That is true enough of the small tree or shrub which produces the
coffee you have been accustomed to drink; but not far from us there is a
very large tree, whose seed will give us a very palatable substitute.
Here is a specimen of it.'

"So saying, she threw down upon the table a large brown pod