The Young Gardener.



LITTLE Bessie is quite a gardener, and sometimes she helps gardener Jenks arrange the flowerpots.

One day, Bessie was in the garden with her, little brothers. "Oh, what little seeds!" she said. "Can it be that plants grow up from such little things as these?"  "Of course they do," said Master Edward, as he came along with a wheelbarrow full of rich, soft loam. "My flower-bed is full of them; and, when I have covered them up with this earth, they will begin to sprout, and at last grow up nearly as high as my head."  "Yes, Eddy.," said little Hiram, " you give them something to eat out of your wheelbarrow row, and I will give them something to drink out of my watering pot; and they will grow up just as we do, Bessie."  "Do you know," said the old gardener, who was transplanting some choice slips near by, "that you are sowing just such seeds all the time; and that they will grow up to be flowers, weeds, trees, and shrubs, after a while?"

"Your garden is the world. When you do all you can to make others happy, you are planting the little seeds of kindness and love. When you do any unintentional mischief at home or at school, and frankly confess it, without any wicked attempt of concealment, you are planting the precious seeds of truth. When you give your money, or a part of your food and clothing, to the poor and suffering, you are planting the seeds of generosity and mercy. When you pray to our Father in Heaven, and seek to walk in the love of Christ, and to do, for his sake what he would have you do, you are planting the seeds of holiness. And these seeds, will grow up into the most beautiful flower and delicious fruits in after-life aye, and throughout eternity."




 The Children's Album