258 MARY'S GARDEN AND HOW IT GREW 



"I 've pulled up all the dead flower-stalks, and the 

 sweet peas top, and I put the dead vines on the beds 

 to keep the perennials warmer. I mulshed them. 

 It 's very interesting, is n't it, Mr. Trommel, the way 

 flowers keep on being useful after they 're dead ? " 



"Very," said Herr Trommel. 



"And I 've put the stable litter and manure over 

 my flower-beds, I've mulshed them, I mean, and 

 it 's all put to sleep. But it does n't look very 

 pretty," she added. 



"Never mind ; you must think of the roots that are 

 safe and warm, and the brown bulbs we have in the 

 ground, the crocuses and daffodils and tulips, and the 

 little snowdrops, that are now seeing the Mother 

 Earth. Did you ever hear of the little spirit that 

 stays for a while in the garden after the flowers are 

 gone?" 



"No," said Mary, immediately interested; "tell 

 me about him, Mr. Trommel. Is he a fairy, like 

 Cinderella's godmother, or a genius like Aladdin's, 

 or-?" 



"No, no ; it is just a little fellow that lives in the 

 flowers " 



"Oh, I know ! like Ariel ; he slept in the cowslips, 

 Mr. Troihmel. 



