MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBORS. 



WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? —LUKE 10: 29. 



pyELL, little friends, I have been enjoy- 

 ing myself for a few weeks hack 

 wonderfully ; in fact. I sometimes 

 feel almost guilty to feel tliat I liave 

 had so much enjoyment. I liave 

 been afraid, almost, that I did not deserve 

 it, and that ix'rliajis it was not (juite rigiit. 

 Do you want to know how V Well, it came 

 about by finding some new neighbois— or, at 

 least, some that 1 had not seen for a great 

 many years. They are small folks, these 

 neighbors of mine," but I think they will get 

 larger within the next year. They are just 

 as cute and pretty as they can l)e. and they 

 always stay outdoors ; in fact, I do not be- 

 lieve they ever live in houses at all. May be 

 they do, however; but i have never seen 

 them in liouses. Dnring the rush of busi- 

 ness in the past few months, I got very tired, 

 and almost worn out, and a good many of 

 the friends suggested that I should have a 

 vacation, and they spoke about traveling, 

 and going to see some of the sights of the 

 world, or the great cities. But I told my 

 wife I wonld rather have leisure to play with 

 these little neighbors, than to go anywhere 

 in the world. I told her that I might waste 

 some money with them, and may be they 

 Avonld never pay it back— that is, in dollars 

 and cents; but for all that, I believed it 

 would be a good investment, and very likely 

 it would not take as much money all togeth- 

 er as it wonld to go on some big excursion. 

 Xow do you want to know who these neigh- 

 bors f\re ? Well. T will tell von what they 



are ; but, don't laugh. They are just straw- 

 berry plants. Last fall I felt a longing for a 

 nice strawberry bed. and so I had one made. 

 The boys \vho"made it, though, did not love 

 strawberries particularlv. 1 guess, and they 

 did not get tlu' hang of it ; besides, we did 

 not get at it until it was too late. After it 

 was all made, I had it covered with straw, 

 vou know, the wav thev usually lio. Well, 

 in mv ig)iorance I used rye straw ; and 

 as there was a good deal of grain left in 

 the heads, this spring 1 had a beautiful field 

 of rve~a small tield, however. We made 

 the "ground rich with manure ; and when 

 the roots of the rve got down under the 

 straw, and found the ground enriched 

 with the contents of the poultry-liouse, etc., 

 the rye just reveled, and 1 made a splendid 

 success of it. A few days ago the thrasliers 

 were across the road at Neighbor II. "s. and I 

 carried over my rye, and got a whole bushel 

 and a lialf of great nice plump grains. Well, 

 I told mv wife that 1 was not going! to be 

 ['' licked'" on tryhig to raise strawberries, 

 \ and I looked over to my poor forlorn bed, 

 where occasionally a strawberry leaf could 

 be seen among tlie rve stubble. When Hen- 

 ry, the gardener, came (you see, we;have:got 

 a gardener), 1 told him llwanted my straw- 

 berry bed fixed up nice. He just laughed, 

 almost, and said the nicest way would be to 

 take the plow and turn it all t'other side up. 

 About tliis time. Peter Henderson sent me 

 a catalogue of plants and such like. You see, 

 Peter Jlenderson is one of the largest market 

 gardeners in tlie world ; or, at least, he is a 

 very large one any way; and besides, he al- 

 I jvays tella everybody who Avant's to know, 



