70 THE CORN LADY 



Wheaton, Iowa, May 5, 1911 



DEAR DADDY MINE: Our tulips have 

 blossomed and they are just glorious. Every- 

 one who passes, stops to look at their gold 

 and crimson beauty. But the children love 

 them best of all. The first morning that 

 they blossomed we were all out around the 

 bed before time for school. Each one 

 claimed his or her own blossoms and really 

 thought they were the prettiest ones in the 

 bed. 



And Charles my rough, motherless boy 

 who used to swear so at the beginning of 

 the year, loves them so. He is the boy w r ho, 

 when I talked with him about swearing said : 

 "Teacher, I don't want to swear. I'd want 

 you to lick me for it, if I thought it would 

 do any good; but it wouldn't. When I git 

 to playing ball and something goes wrong, 

 I just forget." Charles was down on his 

 knees that morning by the bed, touching two 

 great red blossoms with boyish eagerness 

 and saying, "Aw, you don't need to think 

 yours are the prettiest. Mine's the most 



