fell, and all was very sweet, but it could 

 hear the Mullein murmuring: 



"I am afraid that nothing will happen 

 to me. When morning dawned, who 

 should come along but the same little 

 girl, and a lady was with her, with bright 

 eyes, and a happy, eager look on her 

 face. 



She carried a curious frame work of 

 wood, and the little girl had two camp 

 chairs, and they sat down under a little 

 wild cherry tree, just across the road, 

 and on the wooden structure she fixed a 

 frame work with cloth stretched over it. 



But I must tell you that just as they 

 came up the little girl said : 



"Now, isn't it a big one?" and the lady 

 replied: "Splendid; just what I want- 

 ed." 



Then the Mullein and Morning-glory 

 were still for very wonder, and the lady 

 stirred and mixed something on a little 

 dark board, and brought it close to the 

 Mullein, and it was just the color of its 

 leaves, and she sat down and worked at 

 the cloth on the frame, while the little 

 girl ran around and picked clover blos- 

 soms, and sat at her feet in the grass, and 

 made a wreath. 



The Morning-glory was too busy wav- 

 ing about and growing to watch her very 

 closely, but the Mullein stood very still 

 and stiff and opened wide her golden 

 blossoms to see what it all meant. 



Oh, how lovely the lady was ! A little 

 sigh came from the heart of the Mullein 

 flowers because they were not the roses 

 that were pinned in her belt. 



We never know what is going to hap- 

 pen to us. The lady sat nearly still, 

 though her hands moved a little as she 

 made fine dashes on her canvas with a 

 tiny brush on a slender stick. The little 

 girl still wove clover stems. 



Suddenly there was a faint whir in the 

 air, and a glossy Blackbird with spots of 

 yellow and crimson on his wings lit on 

 the top of the Mullein stalk. 



It bent over with him, and he sat there 

 for half a minute for a little rest, then 

 lifted his light wings and flew, and he, 

 like the Mullein, did not know it was an 

 important moment. 



He never did know it, but the Mullein 

 heard the lady call to the child : 



"Wasn't that lovely? I've so long 

 wanted a picture of a Mullein stalk with 

 its silvery green leaves rising from the 

 grasses and clover, but I never dreamed 

 of having one with a bird on top of it. 

 Thank you, Mr. Blackbird, fof showing 

 me just how to make my painting. You 

 sat for your picture, and did not know 

 it." 



The Blackbird did not hear her, and 

 would not have cared, for his soul was 

 full of music, but the Mullein whispered 

 over and over : 



"My hour has come." 

 Then the little girl said to the lady, 

 "What will you do with your picture?" 

 The lady replied, "I will take it to a 

 great fair, where thousands of people 

 will look at it, and I think it will make 

 them glad, for people like common 

 things ; then I will sell it to a rich man 

 who once lived on a farm, and who 

 would love a picture like this better than 

 one of a wreath of hot-house flowers. He 

 will hang it in his gallery." 



Then the little girl said she was tired, 

 and went home, thinking all the way 

 how strange it was that common things 

 were as nice as fine things. 



And the lady stayed and painted, and 

 came the next day and painted again, 

 and the Mullein saw its picture with its 

 spike of pale yellow flowers bending with 

 the weight of the bird, and it said, "I am 

 content, something has happened to me." 

 Then it said to the Morning-glory : "I 

 am sorry she did not put you in. I 

 believe it was because you were too hand- 

 some." 



<l Then that is enough," said the Morn- 

 ing-glory. "I have air and sunshine, and 

 what could be better? I wonder if we 

 all get what we want. We all get some- 

 thing grand." 



"I believe we do," said the Mullein, 

 "but perhaps some of us do not know 

 about it. The Blackbird didn't." 



"Then it had something else to make 

 him happy," said the Morning-glory, 

 "and how nice it is that there are good 

 things happening for us of which we 

 never know." 



Anna R. Henderson. 





13 



