Sowing Seeds in Danny

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Sowing Seeds in Danny by Nellie L. McClung
This story is lovingly dedicated to my dear mother.
"SO MANY FAITHS--SO MANY CREEDS,-- SO MANY PATHS THAT WIND AND WIND WHILE JUST THE ART OF BEING KIND,-- IS WHAT THE OLD WORLD NEEDS!"

People of the Story
MRS. BURTON FRANCIS--a dreamy woman, who has beautiful theories.
MR. FRANCIS--her silent husband.
CAMILLA ROSE--a capable young woman who looks after Mrs. Francis's domestic affairs, and occasionally helps her to apply her theories.
THE WATSON FAMILY, consisting of--
JOHN WATSON--a man of few words who works on the "Section."
MRS. WATSON--who washes for Mrs. Francis.
PEARL WATSON--an imaginative, clever little girl, twelve years old, who is the mainstay of the family.
MARY WATSON--a younger sister.
TEDDY WATSON.
BILLY WATSON.
JIMMY WATSON.
PATSEY WATSON.
TOMMY WATSON.
ROBERT ROBLIN WATSON, known as "Bugsey."
DANIEL MULCAHEY WATSON--"Wee Danny."
"Teddy will be fourteen on St. Patrick's Day and Danny will be four come March."
MRS. McGUIRE--an elderly Irishwoman of uncertain temper who lives on the next lot.
DR. BARNER--the old doctor of the village, clever man in his profession, but of intemperate habits.
MARY BARNER--his beautiful daughter.
DR. HORACE CLAY--a young doctor, who has recently come to the village.
REV. HUGH GRANTLEY--the young minister.
SAMUEL MOTHERWELL--a well off but very stingy farmer.
MRS. MOTHERWELL--his wife.
TOM MOTHERWELL--their son.
ARTHUR WEMYSS--a young Englishman who is trying to learn to farm.
JIM RUSSELL--an ambitious young farmer who lives near the Motherwells.
JAMES DUCKER--a retired farmer, who has political aspirations.

CONTENTS
I. Sowing Seeds in Danny II. The Old Doctor III. The Pink Lady IV. The Band of Hope V. The Relict of the Late McGuire VI. The Musical Sense VII. "One of Manitoba's Prosperous Farmers" VIII. The Other Doctor IX. The Live Wire X. The Butcher Ride XI. How Pearl Watson Wiped out the Stain XII. From Camilla's Diary XIII. The Fifth Son XIV. The Faith that Moveth Mountains XV. "Inasmuch" XVI. How Polly Went Home XVII. "Egbert and Edythe" XVIII. The Party at Slater's XIX. Pearl's Diary XX. Tom's New Viewpoint XXI. The Crack in the Granite XXII. Shadows XXIII. Saved XXIV. The Harvest XXV. Cupid's Emissary XXVI. The Thanksgiving Conclusion: Convincing Camilla

Sowing Seeds in Danny
CHAPTER I
SOWING SEEDS IN DANNY
In her comfortable sitting room Mrs. J. Burton Francis sat, at peace with herself and all mankind. The glory of the short winter afternoon streamed into the room and touched with new warmth and tenderness the face of a Madonna on the wall.
The whole room suggested peace. The quiet elegance of its furnishings, the soft leather-bound books on the table, the dreamy face of the occupant, who sat with folded hands looking out of the window, were all in strange contrast to the dreariness of the scene below, where the one long street of the little Manitoba town, piled high with snow, stretched away into the level, white, never-ending prairie. A farmer tried to force his tired horses through the drifts; a little boy with a milk-pail plodded bravely from door to door, sometimes laying down his burden to blow his breath on his stinging fingers.
The only sound that disturbed the quiet of the afternoon in Mrs. Francis's sitting room was the regular rub-rub of the wash-board in the kitchen below.
"Mrs. Watson is slow with the washing to-day," Mrs. Francis murmured with a look of concern on her usually placid face. "Possibly she is not well. I will call her and see."
"Mrs. Watson, will you come upstairs, please?" she called from the stairway.
Mrs. Watson, slow and shambling, came up the stairs, and stood in the doorway wiping her face on her apron.
"Is it me ye want ma'am?" she asked when she had recovered her breath.
"Yes, Mrs. Watson," Mrs. Francis said sweetly. "I thought perhaps you were not feeling well to-day. I have not heard you singing at your work, and the washing seems to have gone slowly. You must be very careful of your health, and not overdo your strength."
While she was speaking, Mrs. Watson's eyes were busy with the room, the pictures on the wall, the cosey window-seat with its numerous cushions; the warmth and brightness of it all brought a glow to her tired face.
"Yes, ma'am," she said, "thank ye kindly, ma'am. It is very kind of ye to be thinkin' o' the likes of me."
"Oh, we should always think of others, you know," Mrs. Francis replied quickly with her most winning smile, as she seated herself in a rocking-chair. "Are the children all well? Dear little Danny, how is he?"
"Indade, ma'am, that same Danny is the upsettinest one of the nine, and him only four come March. It was only this morn's mornin' that he sez to me, sez he, as I was comin' away, 'Ma, d'ye think she'll give ye pie for your dinner? Thry and remimber the taste of it, won't ye ma, and tell us when ye come home,' sez he."
"Oh, the sweet prattle of childhood," said Mrs. Francis, clasping her shapely white hands. "How very