“Well, if it were any other subject than gardening, you couldn’t persuade me, young lady; but I guess I’ll go.”
“There are lots of beneficial insects named,” he said, coming out of the play house, “but the one you know best is a different kind of a bird from the feathered——”
“I know! I know!” eagerly interrupted Mary Frances, repeating the old rhyme—
“‘Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home!
Your house is on fire, and your children will burn.’”
“Good!” exclaimed Billy. “Ladybird or ladybug; but why they are given so charming a name, I can’t imagine.”
“I can imagine, Billy. Have you ever noticed, besides being so very pretty, how neat they are; how ladylike they look when they fold their wing covers and tuck in their inside wings; and did you ever see them wash themselves? They do it so carefully! I don’t wonder at their being named Ladybirds.”