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CARDENINC 

 YOUNG FOLKS 



CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



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Christmas All The Year Round 



THE TRUE STORY OF ROGER NEWTON PERRY, OF WORCESTER, MASS. 



(Editor's Note — The following story shows what a boy can do with his garden even when he is physically handicapped. Roger has never been to school an 

 entire year in his life. He has dug health, his life work, and a greenhouse, right out of his backyard. We feel that this story in spirit typifies Christmas. It is printed 

 with a Merry Christmas to all our young readers, and with a wish for them to go and do likewise.) 



The Year of 1902 



"Hello, Nellie. I'm so glad to get home. I 

 know you were very homesick without me. Oh, 

 here are my beets, and my squashes, and my cucum- 

 bers. Didn't they grow while I was away! 



" What good times we've had all summer in my 

 garden, but this morning when I went into it every- 

 thing was dead. The cook told me Jack Frost 

 did it. I hate him 'cause he made my garden die. 

 When I cried about it, cook said 'I've bought all 

 your vegetables this summer. Now count your 

 pennies and see how much you have made.' I 

 opened my safe and counted two hundred and fifty. 

 Ain't I rich? It's most a millun, I bet, and I'm 

 only eight years old. 



"Papa, to-morrow is Christmas, you know, and 

 I want something very, very badly, too. Can I 

 have all the land I want for Christmas?" 



"Yes, all you want." 



The Year of 1903 



" It seems, though, I can't hardly wait for March 

 to come. I'll be nine then and besides the snow 

 will be gone and I can have my garden again. 



"Come on, Nellie, I'm going to put this string 

 down just as the gardener does. See what it says: 

 twenty-five this way and four this way. This is 

 going to be all my garden, and I'm going to have 

 squash, some beets, some cucumbers and some corn. 



"You're a good dog to drive these old toads out 

 of my garden, Nellie. I shooed the bees out too but 

 they chased me and I was 'fraid. We don't want 

 anything but plants in here, do we? 



"Oh! dear, seems as though we just get our gar- 

 den started when Jack Frost comes along as he did 

 last night, but nurse says my garden has to go to 

 sleep and rest just as much as I do and by and by 

 it will be covered with a blanket of leaves and snow 

 to keep £it warm. While my garden is sleeping 

 guess I'll count my money. I forgot my birthday 

 money and all are put in together so I can't tell but 

 I know it must be a millun, anyway. 



The Year of 1904 



"Well, Nellie, it is kind of cold, but Christmas 

 has come and gone, and I guess my garden must be 

 waking up for the blankets are all off. We'd better 

 hurry up and begin 

 our garden again. We'll 

 make it twenty-five this 

 way and ten — fifteen, 

 twenty-nine — no, make 

 it thirty this way. 



"Nellie, come here — 

 I've got a secret to tell 

 you. Don't ever tell 

 any body will you? 

 Promise me, wag your 

 tail, shake hands. 

 That's a good doggie. 

 Now get your ear right 

 tight up to my mouth 

 so I can whisper it real 

 soft. Last night when 

 I was going into my pa- 

 pa's office I heard my 

 papa tell a man this. 

 'My little boy is very 

 deaf. He can't see — 

 only a little with one 

 eye. His joints are 

 grown out with rheuma- 



tism. The doctor says keep him out of doors in 

 the dirt. Yes, he's all we've got. He's been 

 this way since he was five years old. No! no 

 hope for him, whatever, only from day to day. 

 Should he live he'll never be able to earn a 

 dollar in his life.' Nellie, do you s'pose my 

 papa meant me ? I'm all the little boy he's 

 got. He looks so sad all the time. Don't you 

 s'pose I see like other little boys? I can see 

 you now. I can see my papa when he is tight up 

 to me. I can see my plants if I crawl on my hands 

 and knees and they are grown big enough. I can 

 use a trowel to hoe them with even if my wrists 



Roger's first means of transportation 



are too sore and lame to use my hoe. I know I 

 dig up the plants because I can't see the weeds 

 from the plants until they get awful big but haven't 

 I got my garden, and don't I love it? I've got 

 you too. I've got my potatoes, my cabbage, my 

 tomatoes, my peas, my corn, my beets. 



"What did you do then, chase a toad out ? No, 

 Nellie, you mustn't do it this year. A man told 

 me a story how they eat up the bugs that would eat 

 my plants, so I'm going to let them live in here 

 with us too and I'm not going to chase the bees out 

 either. He said they helped me some. 



Can youhearthatbirdie singing? Hesayscheerup. 

 What makes him say that to us? We're cheered 

 up all the time. We are the happiest folks in the 

 whole world, and isn't my garden almost as big as 



Showing tlae evolution in transportation from a market basket to an automobile truck 



ini 



the whole world? I'm going to ask the cook to 

 pick some of my peas for dinner. I love them but 

 can't pick them cause I can't see them from the 

 leaves — wish they were red. 



"Oh, what happened to my garden last night? I 

 guess its gone to sleep again for the winter. It 

 makes me sad. I'd better see how much money I 

 made. Oh! good. I'm ten years old and I've 

 made ten dollars. 



"When Christmas comes and some one says 'What 

 do you want for Christmas?' I am going to say, 

 'The skylight window that was taken out of my 

 room.' Then I'll ask the gardener to help me make 

 a little hotbed of my own just like his." 



The Year of 1905 



"It has been a week since my hotbed was made, 

 so to-day I can sow lettuce, tomato, and cabbage 

 seed. I'm going to plant peas, corn, carrots, beans, 

 parsley, parsnip and turnip in my garden and in 

 July I'm going to set out some celery plants. 



"I've just heard about some prizes given to 

 children down to Horticultural Hall and to-morrow 

 I'm going to take my vegetables down there. I've 

 got a dollar on them. Some one said to me ' Down 

 in Boston they are going to give a prize, too.' 

 Guess I'll try there. 



"A reporter has just called up and says I won 

 first prize, five dollars, in Boston on my vegetables. 

 I can't hardly believe it. Now I'll see how much of 

 a Christmas present my garden made me this year. 

 Seventeen dollars and thirty cents! I'll go right 

 up to the bank with it. 



"I'm going to ask for a cart for you, Nellie, this 

 year for my Christmas present. Then I'll make a 

 harness and you can help me peddle." 



The Year of 1906 



"You remember, Nellie, what I asked for last 

 Christmas. Well, I've got it now and here is a 

 little harness for you, too. I'm in such a hurry 

 to start out peddling, I can hardly wait. I'm 

 going to make my hotbed and Mrs. D. wants me to 

 raise some aster plants for her. Guess I'll raise 

 some other flowers, too. Yesterday they told me 

 to bring my parsley up to the State Mutual Restau- 

 rant. We will take it up with our cart to-day. 



"We've sold lots of 

 things from our cart 

 this summer and I'm 

 glad, for this morning 

 I found the garden all 

 gone. We can't do any- 

 thing else so let's count 

 what we've done. 



" I've taken money 

 at the show here, two 

 first prizes in the Bos- 

 ton shows and I've 

 made thirty dollars and 

 forty-eight cents this 

 year. Now I'm think- 

 ing hard what I want 

 for Christmas this 

 year. 



"I'll ask Pa to buy 

 more land so I can raise 

 more flowers." 



The Year of 1907 



"He's bought more 

 land so now I'm going 



