Daddy Takes Us to the Garden | Page 2

know you wouldn't let
that happen. But why is it so warm; do you know?"
"'Cause it's Spring," answered Hal. "Everybody knows that."
"Oh, no, not everybody," replied his mother. "Your dog Roly-Poly
doesn't know it."
"Oh, yes, Mother! I think he does!" cried Mab. "He was rolling over
and over in the grass to-day, even if it was all wet like a sponge. He
never did that in the Winter."
"Well, perhaps dogs and cats do know when it is Spring. The birds do,
I'm sure, for then they come up from the South, where they have spent
the Winter, and begin to build their nests. So you think it is warm
to-day because it is Spring; do you, Hal?"

"Yes, Mother," he replied. "It's time Winter was gone, anyhow. And the
trees know it is going to be Summer soon, for they are swelling out
their buds."
"And after a while there'll be flowers," added Mab. "Didn't we have fun,
Hal, when Daddy took us hunting flowers?"
"Yes, and when he took us to the woods, and to see the different kinds
of birds," added the little boy. "We had lots of fun then."
"I wish we could have some of that kind of fun now," went on Mab.
"When's Daddy coming home, Mother?"
"Oh, not for quite a while. He has to work and earn money you know.
He has to earn more than ever, now that everything costs so much on
account of the war. Daddies don't have a very easy time these days."
"Do Mothers?" asked Mab, thinking of how she played mother to her
dolls. Maybe, she thought, she could make up a new game, pretending
how hard it was for dolls' mothers these days.
"Well, mothers have to do many things they did not have to do when
things to eat and wear did not cost so much," spoke Mother Blake. "We
have to make one loaf of bread go almost as far as two loaves used to
go, and as for clothes--well, I am mending some of yours, Hal, that, last
year, I thought were hardly useful any more. But we must save all we
can. So that's why Daddy has to work harder and longer, and why he
can't come home Saturday afternoons as early as he used to."
It was a Saturday afternoon when Hal and Mab found so much fault
about not having any fun. Almost any other day they would have been
in school, and have been busy over their lessons. But just now they
wanted to play and they were not having a very jolly time, for they
could not think of anything to do. Or, at least, they thought they could
not.
"What makes it Spring?" asked Hal, after a bit, as he watched his
mother putting a patch on his little trousers. Hal remembered how he

tore a hole in them one day sliding down a cellar door.
"Tell us what makes Spring, Mother," went on Mab. "That will be as
much fun as playing, I guess."
"The sun makes the Spring," said Mrs. Blake "Spring is one of the four
seasons. I wonder if you can tell me the others?"
"Which one starts?" asked Hal.
"Spring, of course," exclaimed Mab. "You have to start with something
growing, and things grow in the Spring."
"That is right," said Mrs. Blake. "Spring is the beginning of life in the
world, when the flowers and birds begin to grow; the flowers from little
buds and the birds from little eggs. What comes next?"
"Summer!" cried Hal. "Then's when we can have fun. The ground is
dry, so we can play marbles and fly kites. And we can go in swimming
and have a long vacation. Summer's the jolly time!"
"It is a time when things grow that start in the Spring," said Mother
Blake. "What comes after Summer?"
"Autumn," answered Mab. "Some folks call it Fall. Why do they,
Mother?"
"Because the leaves fall from the trees, perhaps. It is a time when the
trees and bushes go to sleep, and when most birds fly down to the
warm South. And what comes after Autumn or Fall?"
"Christmas!" cried Hal.
"Yes, so it does!" laughed Mrs. Blake. "And I guess most children
would say the same thing. But I meant what season."
"It's Winter," Hal said. "Let's see if I know 'em. Spring, Summer,
Autumn, Winter," he recited. "Four seasons, and this is Spring. I wish it
would hurry up and be Summer."

"So do I," agreed Mab. "You can't have any fun now. It's too wet to go
without your rubbers, too cold to go without a coat and almost too hot
to wear one. I like Summer best."
"And I like Fall and Winter," said Hal. "But let's