150 ADVENTURES IN IDEALISM 



worth her tears ?" And, telling her gently to be care- 

 ful next time, he sent her away. 



A citizen, the father of several children to-day, told 

 me that when a student at the Agricultural School, 

 he was walking one moonlight night with two young 

 ladies, and, happening to pass the greenhouse where 

 he had planted the flowers himself the girls expressed 

 a wish for some, when he gathered a bouquet and gave 

 it to them. But the vigilant gardener was on the watch, 

 and he ran after the party and made a scene, and 

 brought the boy to the office. 



After hearing the complaint, my husband asked the 

 gardener whether he had ever been young and walked 

 with a pretty girl in the moonlight ? If he had, what 

 would he have done? and dismissed the youthful 

 transgressor at once. 



Mrs. E. W told me that when a school-girl of 



twelve, the road over which the children had daily to 

 travel to school was in very bad condition. It was 

 almost impassable for their bicycles, on which they had 

 not only to transport themselves but their lunch-boxes 

 and books. A group of boys and girls, none of them 

 over twelve, decided to petition the only person they 

 knew they could reach. They came to my husband and 

 explained their difficulties in a most businesslike man- 

 ner. He gravely listened to their tale, and turning to 

 his stenographer, dictated the following petition, in 

 due form: 



"We, the undersigned, wish to put before Dennis- 



