REAL AUTUMN 297 



or Wild Roses clung to people it would be very 

 different; but these mischievous seeds are all as 

 ugly to look at as ugly can be. 



Herr Wilhelm Fritz says: " Dey make der peo- 

 ple do tings ven dey don't vant ter, and dat is not 

 der fair play." 



If we wished to sow seeds we would buy them 

 in little packages and drop them in the rows of 

 earth that Herr Wilhelm Fritz makes so neatly. 



But the mischievous seeds take hold of us, and 

 cling to us without our knowing it, and when we 

 stop to pick them off, we are really sowing them, 

 as they wish us to do. Most often we pick them 

 off in the meadow, or along the road before we 

 come home. 



Unless it is the wind, I think no one has sown 

 so many mischievous seeds this autumn as Peter. 

 He has gone to live now with Uncle Hiram, and 

 he only visits Tommy when he feels like it. Yes- 

 terday we passed him on the road, and so many 

 little, roundish seed-pods were clinging to his long 

 hair that he looked very funny. Burdock burrs 

 were on his tail, and Spanish Needles were sticking 

 out around the edges of his ears. His feet were 

 wet and muddy as though he had been walking 

 through a swamp and there were red marks in his 

 eyes. Tommy hardly noticed him as we passed, 

 and after the dog had barked and wagged his 

 tail at me, he went on down the road by himself. 



Tommy began to whistle. It wasn't the kind 



