But you must not suppose these little masters and misses were so fond of gardening as to spend all their play-hours there. Oh, no; like most other children, they liked play and play-things. The girls all had dolls, and a pet rabbit and two little white poodles to amuse themselves with. Henry made kites, bows, arrows, and other toys, and Charles was quite fond of making and sailing little toy ships, while John, the youngest, liked nothing much better than playing with a ball or trundling his hoop. Still, the garden, after all, afforded them more real and lasting pleasure than any thing else.
THE TOY SHIP.
But the year I am telling you about,—the year in which our little friends built their arbor,—instead of presenting the bouquets as usual, they begged their parents to visit them at the arbor. The invitation was readily accepted, and the children accordingly made the necessary preparations. Having selected the very choicest fruits from their garden, they arranged it to the best advantage on the table, placing the two large bouquets in the center; they then each held the two smaller ones in their hands, and presented them, with their best wishes, as their parents entered the arbor.
I shall not attempt to tell you how delighted the young people all were on this occasion, when their neat little arbor, the work of their own hands, was thus honored with a visit from their parents. With some crowding, there was room for the eight persons, but mamma made a little more by taking the youngest up in her lap. Then the different fruits were handed round, and all partook of such as suited them best. Never were happier children assembled, or happier parents. Not even the finest fruit raised by their experienced gardener, ever tasted half as sweet as that which was eaten at the little feast in "Woodbine Arbor."
When it was over, mamma, at the urgent request of the children, sang one of her sweetest songs, and then they all took a walk through the garden. Many, very many, were the words of praise and encouragement spoken by the parents, as they beheld the neatness and good order in which every thing was kept. The handsomely laid out beds and borders, the straight rows of plants, the well-trained vines, the beautiful flowers, and the luxuriant growth of the little trees and shrubbery, without a single weed to mar the beauty of the garden, excited their highest admiration.
"My dear little ones," said Mr. Howard, "let the care which you have bestowed upon this sweet little spot, and the success which has attended your efforts, incite you to higher and nobler aims, which will most certainly be rewarded with higher and nobler results. With the same care and industry which you have bestowed upon your garden, cultivate your minds, and raise in them the lovely and unfading flowers of piety and virtue. Root out from them the noxious weeds of vice and evil habits, and train all your thoughts upward to your heavenly Father and Benefactor. Assist each other in this mental cultivation, with the same kindness which you have all shown in cultivating your garden; be ready at all rimes to share with the poor and needy the blessings which you enjoy, as freely as you have this day shared the productions of your garden with your parents. Then, like the plants which you have here cultivated, you will bear fruit and flowers to bless and cheer your fellow-men; and when you are removed from earth you will be transplanted in heaven, and blossom forever in the Garden of the Lord."
END.