MAKING THE SUMMER-HOUSE 91 



The boy nodded respectful assent. 



"Mr. Trommel, wouldn't you let me help? I 

 could nail on those laths. "We do carpenter work at 

 school, you know." 



"Shall we let him try, William?" asked Herr 

 Trommel. 



"Maybe 't would n't do no harm," was the carpen- 

 ter's non-committal reply. "Begin at the bottom, 

 young feller, and put them just where I 've marked 

 six inches apart." 



"That is not so bad, eh, William?" observed 

 Herr Trommel, judiciously inspecting the new assis- 

 tant's work. 



But the carpenter only grunted. 



"I have a garden, too, Mr. Trommel," said the 

 boy, rather shyly, after working in silence for some 

 minutes. 



"Yes ? And what have you in it ? " 



"Mine 's all vegetables peas and radishes and let- 

 tuce, and corn, too. It 's only just planted." 



"No flowers?" inquired Herr Trommel. 



"No ; I have n't a very big patch." 



"That is wrong," said Herr Trommel, decisively. 

 "The liebe Gott did not make us all stomach ; he 

 did not make all the growing things to put in the 



