62 PLANTING IN THE SEED-BED 
“I have seen wren’s eggs that were stolen by bad 
boys,” Mrs. Keith answered, “but this is the first 
one I ever saw taken by a little girl.” 
Then she took Queenie away with her to the 
house to tell her how very wrong it was to steal 
birds’ eggs and to beg her never to do it again as 
long as she lived. Mrs. Keith always keeps a jar 
full of cookies in the pantry. Queenie is very 
fond of her. 
Joseph went on sowing. He next put in the 
oriental poppies and then the phloxes. These 
phlox Drummondi are annuals. I watched Joseph 
plant them, and saw that the furrow he had made 
was not more than an eighth of an inch deep. 
After planting these seeds, Joseph concluded he 
would do no more until the morrow. He had still 
to water them thoroughly with the rose-sprayer. 
Water falling on them heavily as from a hose 
would have greatly disturbed their position in the 
earth. It was growing late in the afternoon, and 
we were both eager to know what Queenie and 
Mrs. Keith were doing; so, after the watering was 
attended to, we went back to the house. 
We found Queenie sitting on the back veranda 
between Timothy and Mrs. Keith. She was listen- 
ing to a story that they were together telling her, 
and of which she said she did not believe a word. 
But Joseph knew it was a true story and very beau- 
tiful. 
It was of a caterpillar that spun about itself a 
