Uncle Roberts Geography | Page 5

Her pleasant face glowed
with a happy smile as Frank drew rein before the door.
Then such a time!
Uncle Robert sprang from the seat beside Frank, hugged Mrs. Leonard,
then Susie, then both together.
Donald, who was seated in the back of the wagon on Uncle Robert's
trunk, turned a handspring, landed on his feet somehow or other, and
stood grinning at Susie.
Mr. Leonard had also heard the sound of the wheels. He hurried from
the barn, calling Peter to come and help him carry Uncle Robert's trunk
upstairs.
Jane came to the door of the dining-room, eager to see the Uncle
Robert of whom she had heard so much. Then, with a nod of her head,
she ran back, slipped the pan of biscuits into the oven, and put the

kettle on to boil.
Uncle Robert had come! Everybody was happy. No one more so than
Uncle Robert himself.
"Now, this is good," he said, when at length they were seated around
the supper table. "I feel at home already. Susie, did those violets on my
table grow in your garden?"
[Illustration: Violets.]
"Oh, no," replied Susie. "I found them in the woods by the creek. And
the buttercups, didn't you see them in the glass, too?"
"Buttercups so early ?" asked Uncle Robert. "Oh, yes, the low ones do
come early. You must take me down where they grow some day."
"We'll go to-morrow," said Susie.
Uncle Robert smiled at the eager little face, and, turning to Mr. Leonard,
said:
"Frank tells me the farm is looking well this spring."
"Yes, it looks fairly well," replied Mr. Leonard. "The seed is all in but
the corn. That is a little late. The water on the bottom land stayed
longer than usual this year."
"Peter thinks we can start the planting to-morrow," said Frank.
"Yes," replied his father, "I think so, too."
When supper was over they all went out on the side porch. The sun was
setting. The air was soft and spring-like. The lilacs along the fence
filled the air with fragrance.
"Don't you want to see Susie's garden, Robert?" asked Mrs. Leonard,
"Yes, indeed," said Uncle Robert. "Susie wrote me some nice little

letters about that garden."
As they walked along the narrow paths Susie showed him where the
seeds were already planted, and told him what she thought she would
have in the other beds.
"This is phlox," said Susie, leading Uncle Robert by the hand; "and
marigolds are here, and sweet peas over there by the fence. That place
between mother's garden and mine is filled with rosebushes, syringas,
and hollyhocks."
"I still call the vegetable garden mine, but the boys do most of the
work," said Mrs. Leonard. "That big bush at the end of the row is an
elder."
"This is to be my pansy bed," said Susie. "The pansies are not set out
yet. They are growing in a box in the kitchen window. I love them best
of all. Don't they look like funny little faces in bonnets?"
[Illustration: Pansies.]
"That is what the Germans think, Susie," said Uncle Robert, laughing.
"They call them 'little stepmothers.'"
"I think it will be safe to put them out soon, Susie," said Mrs. Leonard.
"Mother," called Donald from the vegetable garden, "the lettuce and
radishes are growing finely, and here's a bean. Oh, there are lots of
them just putting their heads through!"
They all went over to look at the beans, and then walked down to the
end of the garden where the currant and gooseberry bushes grew.
"Oh, uncle," exclaimed Susie, "I wish you had come in time to see the
trees in blossom! They were all pink and white. It was just lovely! only
the flowers stayed such a little while."
"I think Susie lived in the orchard those days," said Mrs. Leonard,
smiling. "If I wanted her I was very sure to find her there."

"I don't blame Susie," said Uncle Robert. "I would have stayed, too.
There is nothing sweeter than apple blossoms. But you have other fruits
besides apples, haven't you?"
[Illustration: Apple Blossoms.]
"Oh, yes," said Frank, who had just come from the barn, where he had
gone after supper with his father. "There are pears and cherries and a
few peach trees. But peaches don't do well here."
"The blossoms are lovely," said Susie.
"I believe Susie cares more for the flowers than she does for the fruit,"
said Donald. "I don't. I like the fruit, and plenty of it."
"How many kinds of apples have you?" asked Uncle Robert.
"About ten," replied Frank. "But father budded quite a number last year.
The twigs came from Kansas."
"They have fine apples in Kansas some years," said Uncle Robert. "I
wonder if the budding is done as