They had reached the Nest by this time, and Uncle Ben was so interested, that he said he would step in and help put the six romping sisters and brothers to bed. Maggie was over-awed!
Uncle Ben took quick notice of the cleanliness of the Nest, and the crude attempts at decoration. Maggie had gathered wild flowers and filled empty tin cans with water to hold the lovely blossoms. The very arrangement of the colors and ferns showed her artistic temperament that so pleased the visitor.
“Why did you remove all the paper from the cans, Maggie? Didn’t you like the gay colors of the printing, and the pictures of tomatoes, and corn, and squash on the outside?”
“Oh sakes alive! Dem ain’t pickshers! Dey is awful ink ads. what folks have to make to boost dere stuff er not sell it!” returned Maggie, scornfully.
Uncle Ben laughed aloud. Here was truth indeed!
“So you thought that flashy tin was better, eh?”
“Not much better, Mister Uncle Ben, but cleaner—besides de flowers said dey wouldn’t stay fresh if dey had to drink water from a tin what told everyone it had one time been full of beans!” said Maggie, with disgust at the very idea!
Uncle Ben could hardly keep from laughing again, but he did not want to offend the little girl he was questioning. Now he said:
“Maybe you’d like something nicer to hold flowers?”
“’Tain’t no use wishin’—I hain’t even got any green paint to paint dese tin cans wid. If dey was green dey would look all right, ’cause you see everyt’ing—the grass, the trees, the plants demselves, is all green before the flower shoots up and opens. An’ a green can would look more like leaves for the flowers to stick up from,” explained Maggie.