"I wonder if I shall have a garden?" said Nat, thinking that evencorn-hoeing must be pleasant work.
"Of course you will," said a voice from below, and there was Mr. Bhaerreturned from his walk, and come to find them, for he managed to havea little talk with every one of the lads some time during the day, andfound that these chats gave them a good start for the coming week.
Sympathy is a sweet thing, and it worked wonders here, for each boy knewthat Father Bhaer was interested in him, and some were readier to opentheir hearts to him than to a woman, especially the older ones, wholiked to talk over their hopes and plans, man to man. When sick or introuble they instinctively turned to Mrs. Jo, while the little ones madeher their mother-confessor on all occasions.
In descending from their nest, Tommy fell into the brook; being used toit, he calmly picked himself out and retired to the house to be dried.This left Nat to Mr. Bhaer, which was just what he wished, and, duringthe stroll they took among the garden plots, he won the lad's heart bygiving him a little "farm," and discussing crops with him as gravely asif the food for the family depended on the harvest. From this pleasanttopic they went to others, and Nat had many new and helpful thoughts putinto a mind that received them as gratefully as the thirsty earth hadreceived the warm spring rain. All supper time he brooded over them,often fixing his eyes on Mr. Bhaer with an inquiring look, that seemedto say, "I like that, do it again, sir." I don't know whether the manunderstood the child's mute language or not, but when the boys were allgathered together in Mrs. Bhaer's parlor for the Sunday evening talk,he chose a subject which might have been suggested by the walk in thegarden.
As he looked about him Nat thought it seemed more like a great familythan a school, for the lads were sitting in a wide half-circle round thefire, some on chairs, some on the rug, Daisy and Demi on the knees ofUncle Fritz, and Rob snugly stowed away in the back of his mother'seasy-chair, where he could nod unseen if the talk got beyond his depth.
Every one looked quite comfortable, and listened attentively, for thelong walk made rest agreeable, and as every boy there knew that he wouldbe called upon for his views, he kept his wits awake to be ready with ananswer.
"Once upon a time," began Mr. Bhaer, in the dear old-fashioned way,"there was a great and wise gardener who had the largest garden everseen. A wonderful and lovely place it was, and he watched over it withthe greatest skill and care, and raised all manner of excellent anduseful things. But weeds would grow even in this fine garden; often theground was bad and the good seeds sown in it would not spring up. Hehad many under gardeners to help him. Some did their duty and earned therich wages he gave them; but others neglected their parts and let themrun to waste, which displeased him very much. But he was very patient,and for thousands and thousands of years he worked and waited for hisgreat harvest."
"He must have been pretty old," said Demi, who was looking straight intoUncle Fritz's face, as if to catch every word.
"Hush, Demi, it's a fairy story," whispered Daisy.
"No, I think it's an arrygory," said Demi.
"What is a arrygory?" called out Tommy, who was of an inquiring turn.
"Tell him, Demi, if you can, and don't use words unless you are quitesure you know what they mean," said Mr. Bhaer.
"I do know, Grandpa told me! A fable is a arrygory; it's a story thatmeans something. My 'Story without an end' is one, because the child init means a soul; don't it, Aunty?" cried Demi, eager to prove himselfright.
"That's it, dear; and Uncle's story is an allegory, I am quite sure; solisten and see what it means," returned Mrs. Jo, who always took part inwhatever was going on, and enjoyed it as much as any boy among them.
Demi composed himself, and Mr. Bhaer went on in his best English, for hehad improved much in the last five years, and said the boys did it.
"This great gardener gave a dozen or so of little plots to one of hisservants, and told him to do his best and see what he could raise. Nowthis servant was not rich, nor wise, nor very good, but he wanted tohelp because the gardener had been very kind to him in many ways. So hegladly took the little plots and fell to work. They were all sorts ofshapes and sizes, and some were very good soil, some rather stony, andall of them needed much care, for in the rich soil the weeds grew fast,and in the poor soil there were many stones."
"What was growing in them besides the weeds, and stones?" asked Nat; sointerested, he forgot his shyness and spoke before them all.
"Flowers," said Mr. Bhaer, with a kind look. "Even the roughest, mostneglected little bed had a bit of heart's-ease or a sprig of mignonettein it. One had roses, sweet peas, and daisies in it," here he pinchedthe plump cheek of the little girl leaning on his arm. "Another had allsorts of curious plants in it, bright pebbles, a vine that went climbingup like Jack's beanstalk, and many good seeds just beginning to sprout;for, you see, this bed had been taken fine care of by a wise old man,who had worked in gardens of this sort all his life."
At this part of the "arrygory," Demi put his head on one side like aninquisitive bird, and fixed his bright eye on his uncle's face, as if hesuspected something and was on the watch. But Mr. Bhaer looked perfectlyinnocent, and went on glancing from one young face to another, with agrave, wistful look, that said much to his wife, who knew how earnestlyhe desired to do his duty in these little garden plots.
"As I tell you, some of these beds were easy to cultivate, that meansto take care of Daisy, and others were very hard. There was oneparticularly sunshiny little bed that might have been full of fruits andvegetables as well as flowers, only it wouldn't take any pains, and whenthe man sowed, well, we'll say melons in this bed, they came to nothing,because the little bed neglected them. The man was sorry, and kept ontrying, though every time the crop failed, all the bed said, was, 'Iforgot.'"
Here a general laugh broke out, and every one looked at Tommy, who hadpricked up his ears at the word "melons," and hung down his head at thesound of his favorite excuse.
"I knew he meant us!" cried Demi, clapping his hands. "You are the man,and we are the little gardens; aren't we, Uncle Fritz?"
"You have guessed it. Now each of you tell me what crop I shall try tosow in you this spring, so that next autumn I may get a good harvest outof my twelve, no, thirteen, plots," said Mr. Bhaer, nodding at Nat as hecorrected himself.
"You can't sow corn and beans and peas in us. Unless you mean we are toeat a great many and get fat," said Stuffy, with a sudden brightening ofhis round, dull face as the pleasing idea occurred to him.
"He don't mean that kind of seeds. He means things to make us good; andthe weeds are faults," cried Demi, who usually took the lead in thesetalks, because he was used to this sort of thing, and liked it verymuch.
"Yes, each of you think what you need most, and tell me, and I will helpyou to grow it; only you must do your best, or you will turn out likeTommy's melons, all leaves and no fruit. I will begin with the oldest,and ask the mother what she will have in her plot, for we are all partsof the be
autiful garden, and may have rich harvests for our Master if welove Him enough," said Father Bhaer.
"I shall devote the whole of my plot to the largest crop of patience Ican get, for that is what I need most," said Mrs. Jo, so soberly thatthe lads fell to thinking in good earnest what they should say whentheir turns came, and some among them felt a twinge of remorse, thatthey had helped to use up Mother Bhaer's stock of patience so fast.
Franz wanted perseverance, Tommy steadiness, Ned went in for goodtemper, Daisy for industry, Demi for "as much wiseness as Grandpa," andNat timidly said he wanted so many things he would let Mr. Bhaer choosefor him. The others chose much the same things, and patience, goodtemper, and generosity seemed the favorite crops. One boy wished to liketo get up early, but did not know what name to give that sort of seed;and poor Stuffy sighed out,
"I wish I loved my lessons as much as I do my dinner, but I can't."
"We will plant self-denial, and hoe it and water it, and make it grow sowell that next Christmas no one will get ill by eating too much dinner.If you exercise your mind, George, it will get hungry just as your bodydoes, and you will love books almost as much as my philosopher here,"said Mr. Bhaer; adding, as he stroked the hair off Demi's fine forehead,"You are greedy also, my son, and you like to stuff your little mindfull of fairy tales and fancies, as well as George likes to fill hislittle stomach with cake and candy. Both are bad, and I want you totry something better. Arithmetic is not half so pleasant as 'ArabianNights,' I know, but it is a very useful thing, and now is the time tolearn it, else you will be ashamed and sorry by and by."
"But, 'Harry and Lucy,' and 'Frank,' are not fairy books, and theyare all full of barometers, and bricks, and shoeing horses, and usefulthings, and I'm fond of them; ain't I, Daisy?" said Demi, anxious todefend himself.
"So they are; but I find you reading 'Roland and Maybird,' a great dealoftener than 'Harry and Lucy,' and I think you are not half so fond of'Frank' as you are of 'Sinbad.' Come, I shall make a little bargain withyou both, George shall eat but three times a day, and you shall read butone story-book a week, and I will give you the new cricket-ground; only,you must promise to play in it," said Uncle Fritz, in his persuasiveway, for Stuffy hated to run about, and Demi was always reading in playhours.
"But we don't like cricket," said Demi.
"Perhaps not now, but you will when you know it. Besides, you do like tobe generous, and the other boys want to play, and you can give them thenew ground if you choose."
This was taken them both on the right side, and they agreed to thebargain, to the great satisfaction of the rest.
There was a little more talk about the gardens, and then they all sangtogether. The band delighted Nat, for Mrs. Bhaer played the piano, Franzthe flute, Mr. Bhaer a bass viol, and he himself the violin. A verysimple little concert, but all seemed to enjoy it, and old Asia, sittingin the corner, joined at times with the sweetest voice of any, for inthis family, master and servant, old and young, black and white, sharedin the Sunday song, which went up to the Father of them all. After thisthey each shook hands with Father Bhaer; Mother Bhaer kissed them everyone from sixteen-year-old Franz to little Rob, how kept the tip of hernose for his own particular kisses, and then they trooped up to bed.
The light of the shaded lamp that burned in the nursery shone softly ona picture hanging at the foot of Nat's bed. There were several otherson the walls, but the boy thought there must be something peculiar aboutthis one, for it had a graceful frame of moss and cones about it, andon a little bracket underneath stood a vase of wild flowers freshlygathered from the spring woods. It was the most beautiful picture ofthem all, and Nat lay looking at it, dimly feeling what it meant, andwishing he knew all about it.
"That's my picture," said a little voice in the room. Nat popped up hishead, and there was Demi in his night-gown pausing on his way back fromAunt Jo's chamber, whither he had gone to get a cot for a cut finger.
"What is he doing to the children?" asked Nat.
"That is Christ, the Good Man, and He is blessing the children. Don'tyou know about Him?" said Demi, wondering.
"Not much, but I'd like to, He looks so kind," answered Nat, whose chiefknowledge of the Good Man consisted in hearing His name taken in vain.
"I know all about it, and I like it very much, because it is true," saidDemi.
"Who told you?"
"My Grandpa, he knows every thing, and tells the best stories inthe world. I used to play with his big books, and make bridges, andrailroads, and houses, when I was a little boy," began Demi.
"How old are you now?" asked Nat, respectfully.
"'Most ten."
"You know a lot of things, don't you?"
"Yes; you see my head is pretty big, and Grandpa says it will take agood deal to fill it, so I keep putting pieces of wisdom into it as fastas I can," returned Demi, in his quaint way.
Nat laughed, and then said soberly,
"Tell on, please."
And Demi gladly told on without pause or punctuation. "I found a verypretty book one day and wanted to play with it, but Grandpa said Imustn't, and showed me the pictures, and told me about them, and I likedthe stories very much, all about Joseph and his bad brothers, and thefrogs that came up out of the sea, and dear little Moses in the water,and ever so many more lovely ones, but I liked about the Good Man bestof all, and Grandpa told it to me so many times that I learned it byheart, and he gave me this picture so I shouldn't forget, and it wasput up here once when I was sick, and I left it for other sick boys tosee."'
"What makes Him bless the children?" asked Nat, who found something veryattractive in the chief figure of the group.
"Because He loved them."
"Were they poor children?" asked Nat, wistfully.
"Yes, I think so; you see some haven't got hardly any clothes on, andthe mothers don't look like rich ladies. He liked poor people, and wasvery good to them. He made them well, and helped them, and told richpeople they must not be cross to them, and they loved Him dearly,dearly," cried Demi, with enthusiasm.
"Was He rich?"
"Oh no! He was born in a barn, and was so poor He hadn't any house tolive in when He grew up, and nothing to eat sometimes, but what peoplegave Him, and He went round preaching to everybody, and trying to makethem good, till the bad men killed Him."
"What for?" and Nat sat up in his bed to look and listen, so interestedwas he in this man who cared for the poor so much.
"I'll tell you all about it; Aunt Jo won't mind;" and Demi settledhimself on the opposite bed, glad to tell his favorite story to so gooda listener.
Nursey peeped in to see if Nat was asleep, but when she saw what wasgoing on, she slipped away again, and went to Mrs. Bhaer, saying withher kind face full of motherly emotion,
"Will the dear lady come and see a pretty sight? It's Nat listeningwith all his heart to Demi telling the story of the Christ-child, like alittle white angel as he is."
Mrs. Bhaer had meant to go and talk with Nat a moment before he slept,for she had found that a serious word spoken at this time often didmuch good. But when she stole to the nursery door, and saw Nat eagerlydrinking in the words of his little friends, while Demi told the sweetand solemn story as it had been taught him, speaking softly as he satwith his beautiful eyes fixed on the tender face above them, her ownfilled with tears, and she went silently away, thinking to herself,
"Demi is unconsciously helping the poor boy better than I can; I willnot spoil it by a single word."
The murmur of the childish voice went on for a long time, as oneinnocent heart preached that great sermon to another, and no one hushedit. When it ceased at last, and Mrs. Bhaer went to take away the lamp,Demi was gone and Nat fast asleep, lying with his face toward thepicture, as if he had already learned to love the Good Man who lovedlittle children, and was a faithful friend to the poor. The boy's facewas very placid, and as she looked at it she felt that if a single dayof care and kindness had done so much, a year of patient cultivationwould surely bring a gratef
ul harvest from this neglected garden, whichwas already sown with the best of all seed by the little missionary inthe night-gown.