94 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



indifferent ; but I presume he knows that 

 the toad is the most useful animal in the gar- 

 den. I think the Agricultural Society ought 

 to offer a prize for the finest toad. When 

 Polly comes to sit in the shade near my 

 strawberry-beds, to shell peas, Calvin is al- 

 ways lying near in apparent obliviousness ; 

 but not the slightest unusual sound can be 

 made in the bushes that he is not alert, and 

 prepared 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 be- 

 gin to be agreeable very early. I suspect the 

 secret of it is that they are agreeable by the 

 hour. In the driest days, my fountain be- 

 came disabled : the pipe was stopped up. A 



