“Mrs. Tompkins, it must be your sublime faith that the creatures won’t injure your flowers, that keeps them from doing any harm,” remarked Norma. “Just like Daniel when he was in the lion’s den, you know. If he had wavered and thought to himself: ‘Oh, I wonder if God really will bother to keep the lions’ jaws closed’ maybe he wouldn’t have come out of that experience quite so remarkably.”
Mrs. Tompkins laughed heartily at the comparison, and added: “I see you know something of the Scriptures, Norma, so I can say, and you will understand, the line that goes thus: ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ I trust to my faith in good creatures and hope that they will respond to my loving faith in them, and sure enough! the evidence of such things generally appears to me.”
“Why can’t I encourage the same sort of faith in my ideals for a garden, Mrs. Tompkins? I know a garden of flowers must be good because flowers are beautiful things created by God. So I can hold to my faith until I see the evidence appear, eh?”
Mrs. Tompkins smiled and nodded, then added: “I want to say, that in speaking of entertaining the little feathered angel birds, in my flower garden, I also entertain them in beneficent ways unseen by me. For bees and birds are necessary and valuable for your flowers. The bees have panniers on their legs where they carry the pollen to the hives, and many a tiny bit of pollen falls from these well-packed panniers to fall into the heart of the blossom from which the bee is gathering nectar. In this bit of pollen lies the secret of the fertilization of other flowers.
“Can you picture my flower garden without the darling humming-birds and bees that buzz and sing about it all day long?”
“I wish we could coax all the different birds in the county to live on the farm. I’d love it!” declared Norma fervently.
“You can have them, if you will work to attract them,” was Mrs. Tompkins’s reply.
“Jimmy said that she never saw so many different kinds of wild song birds in any place, as she has seen since coming to Green Hill. She told me that the only regret is that she has not built any bird houses to offer them for homes.”
“Why lose any more time, then? Begin to fix up some bird houses at once, and you will see what a difference they will make about your place.”
“I thought we would have to send to the city and buy the houses,” ventured Norma.