Oh, such a quantity as he picked! There were purple violets, and yellow ones, and white ones, and some wild, purple asters, and some blue fringed gentian, and some lovely light-purple wild geraniums, and several Jacks-in-the-pulpit, and many other kinds of flowers. And he made them into a nice bouquet with some ferns on the outside.
Then, just as he was hopping to school, what should happen but that a great big alligator jumped out of the bushes at him.
“Ha! What are you doing in my woods,” asked the alligator, crossly.
“If—if you please, I’m getting some flowers for my teacher, because I whispered,” said Bawly.
“Oh, in that case it’s all right,” said the alligator, smacking his jaws. “I like school teachers. Give her my regards,” and would you believe it? the savage creature crawled off, taking his double-jointed tail with him, and didn’t hurt Bawly a bit. The flowers made the alligator feel kind and happy.
Well, Bawly got to school all right, before any of the other children did, and he put the flowers on teacher’s desk, and he wrote a little note, saying:
“Dear teacher, I’m sorry I whispered, but I’m going to help you to-day, and not talk.”
And Bawly didn’t. It was quite hard in school that day, but at last it was over. And, just when the children were going home, the robin lady teacher said:
“Boys and girls, you have all helped me very much to-day by being good, and I thank you. And something else helped me. It was these flowers that Bawly brought me, for they remind me of the woods where I used to play when I was a little girl,” and then she smelled of the flowers, and Bawly saw something like two drops of water fall from the teacher’s eyes right into one of the Jacks-in-the-pulpit. I wonder if it was water?
And then school was over and all the children ran out to play and Bawly thought he never had had so much fun in all his life as when he and Bully and some of the others had a ball game, and Bawly knocked a fine home run.