44 JOSEPH DOES TRANSPLANTING 
Mr. Hayden is a very large man, and his way 
of speaking reminds me of the blowing of the wind. 
There appears to be always a strong current of air 
about him, although Joseph has noticed that he is 
never cold. We have heard that Mr. Hayden is 
very proud of his eldest son, who will soon be home 
from college. He says that Ben and Harry are 
both fat and lazy, and that he will have to send 
them out West as cowboys to get some sense 
knocked into their heads. But even Joseph has 
learned not to take Mr. Hayden quite seriously. 
We both know, however, that the boys at Nestly 
Heights seldom go into the gardens and that, when 
they do, the gardeners invariably complain about 
them. The boys think gardening stupid and have 
been amazed at Joseph’s interest in his seeds and 
planting. 
“We never sow or plant here,” Ben told him. 
“Our flowers come up by themselves.” 
Joseph concluded that he must be sadly ignorant 
about flowers, and ceased to talk with him on the 
subject. 
While Mr. Hayden was walking with us at 
the Six Spruces, and Joseph was telling him some 
of his ideas about the vines he intended to plant 
along the wall which separates our place from his 
own, Timothy came with a straggly, unattractive 
shrub which he wished to set out. It was a present 
from himself. Of course, Joseph and I knew it 
must be the “queer one” he had told us would 
