CHAPTER ly 



VIOLET MYSTERIES 



The way I first knew that Violets had come 

 was by finding two little dead ones lying in the 

 middle of a dusty road. I thought that some 

 child had found them close by, and dropped them 

 there. I climbed over the fence that separates the 

 road from a large field, where usually the men 

 plant corn. There I hunted for a long time, hop- 

 ing every minute to see a Violet. But when the 

 bell rang for me to go in to luncheon, my hands 

 were still empty. 



Grandmother asked me what I had been doing 

 so long in the corn-field, and why I looked so dis- 

 appointed. I told her all about my search, and 

 showed her the two dead Violets I had found in 

 the road. 



" It may be," she said, " you have not looked 

 in the right places for Violets. Later we will go 

 out together, although not in the corn-field." 



Grandmother loves wild Violets quite as much 

 as I do. She says they make her think of her own 

 childhood, and the joy she had when they returned 

 each spring, and the turf grew soft and green. 

 Tommy didn't go with us that day. Grand- 

 mother knows even better than he where Violets 



