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Show AAPy GRAiSM BONNER. mtKt n vwtui Htvitina unto- , VEGETABLE RACE Two little boys and their small sister sis-ter were making the garden grow. Onco a week a gardener came nnd did all the heavy work, and at night their daddy would help to water the little growing green things. But all the rest of the work they did themselves. It took a great deal of time, too, but It was such fun. And oh, there was great rejoicing when first the seeds showed above the ground, and when the plants that had been put in the hotbeds began to look so handsome and green I The children used to hoe around the beans and potato plants; then they would weed nnd make the dirt nice and soft around the vegetables. They would water them so they would have cooling drinks and. be re freshed. The plants were warmed and helped to grow b,y the sun. It really was a very fine looking garden, and all the vegetables seemed to be thriving splendidly. They were still a little young, though the lettuce was almost ready to be eaten that is. If people didn't mind just having a tiny taste of lettuce, let-tuce, for the leaves were very small. The children kept from picking the lettuce until It really' grew enough, for they wanted to make a showing, but they did begin picking it as soon as they could. They grew to know what all the little green stalks and leaves meant and what vegetables they were. They loved the green of the carrot talks, and they thought it quite IBImIm But They Did Begin Picking. funny that such a plain, substantial vegetable should be so dressed up. The beets had such nice reddish-green reddish-green leaves, and they liked the thin stalks of the little onions. The radishes were coming nlong so nicely, and the potatoes and the tomato to-mato vines and the beans, and the parsley were all growing beautifully. After the first crop of lettuce was almost finished they started a second crop, and a second crop of radishes too. .Now one night the Fairy Queen took a walk through that garden, nnd sho heard all the vegetables talking and whispering to themselves. No one else, of course, could have understood their talk. "What are you saying, vegetables?" she asked. "We are saying that we love to race. Of course we do not get ahead of each other If it Is not right for us to do so. "Some of us come along ahead of others, but each races to do the best possible work for the vegetable family fami-ly to which It belongs. "Each vegetable wants to be the first of Its family to be eaten. "And oh, what fun we have here, so nicely taken care of and looked after. "But we'll tell you a secret, Fairy Queen." "What Is It?" she asked. "We're going to whisper suggestions to the children that they sell some of us and make some money, and we're going to help them all we can." "Fine," said the Fairy Queen. And the children made their vegetable vege-table gurden pay. It was such fuu! |