96 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



the shade near my strawberry-beds, to 

 shell peas, Calvin is always lying near in 

 apparent obliviousness ; but not the 

 slightest unusual sound can be made in 

 the bushes, that he is not alert, and pre 

 pared to investigate the cause of it. It 

 is this habit of observation, so cultivated, 

 which has given him such a trained 

 mind, and made him so philosophical. 

 It is within the capacity of even the 

 humblest of us to attain this. 



And, speaking of the philosophical 

 temper, there is no class of men whose 

 society is more to be desired for this 

 quality than that of plumbers. They 

 are the most agreeable men I know ; 

 and the boys in the business begin to be 

 agreeable very early. I suspect the se 

 cret of it is, that they are agreeable by 

 the hour. In the dryest days, my foun 

 tain became disabled : the pipe was 

 stopped up. A couple of plumbers, 



