CHAPTER LXV

PRIZES AT THE COUNTY FAIR

“REMEMBER in all gardening, that experience is your best teacher. Do not become discouraged if you fail. Do not undertake too much. Remember that most people fail to get good plants because they do not prepare deep good beds, and do not ‘cultivate,’ or stir the ground. Watering is nothing like so necessary.”

This is what Mary Frances was telling a number of children in the garden one day as Billy came upon her unawares.

“You couldn’t have better advice, children,” he said.

“Than Billy gave me,” Mary Frances added. “He taught two friends and me so well, that next year we are each to have our own garden plot, and ‘race’ with Billy to see who can raise the finest vegetables.”

“Some of the very finest are to be sent to the County Fair,” stated Billy.

“And they’ll be ‘winners,’ you may be sure,” Bob prophesied as he and Eleanor joined the group.

“So will some of our flowers, won’t they, Nell?”

Before Eleanor could answer Mary Frances, there sounded the joyous shrill crow of Feather Flop.

“I’m sure they will!” it meant to the little girl, but none of the others seemed to hear the rooster.

Perhaps he did know—for one year from that day, each of the children received some premiums at the County Fair; but, to Mary Frances’ surprise, she had three more than Eleanor; two more than Bob, and one more than Billy!

“I wonder why your garden did better than all the rest,” said Bob. “You didn’t seem to work any harder than we did.”

“Oh, it was just a ‘happen so,’” answered Mary Frances, but she remembered that many a morning she had seen prints of the claws of Feather Flop in her garden, and a little pile of weeds at

THE END

The Mary Frances Books

For Teaching Useful Things in an Entertaining Way

By Jane Eayre Fryer

These are not mere story books to be read through and cast aside. They are instruction books in story form which the youthful readers joyfully study because they think it is play. But in this play they learn principles of usefulness which fascinate because of the manner in which these principles are presented.

=THE MARY FRANCES GARDEN BOOK, or Adventures Among the Garden People.= The spirit of comradeship and of loving understanding of little men and women thoroughly permeates this unique garden book. The enchantment of the story of Mary Frances’ gardens successfully carries the play-lesson idea, as the most potent method of creating a love for work and learning, into a realm undreamed of before. The little reader’s delight is heightened by cut-out gardens which are inserted in the book. These cut-out gardens are beautifully colored to show the natural color of the flowers, insects, etc. They include a playhouse, April and May garden, June and July garden, August and September garden, vegetable garden, etc., and will not only familiarize the child with the plants and their seasons of bloom, but also inspire a love for practical outdoor gardening. The world was begun in a garden, and the story of reproduction is given in a most reserved and skilful manner as the great plan for the perpetuation of life. Size 7¼ x 9½ inches. Illustrations on every page, with colored cut-out gardens. Cloth, with colored inlay on front.

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=THE MARY FRANCES COOK BOOK, or Adventures Among the Kitchen People.= This winsome book so happily combines fact and fancy that any girl who reads it will all unconsciously absorb the principles of cookery while devouring the most fascinating sort of story. It throws a glamor around the processes of baking and boiling and leads girls into pleasant habits of usefulness and industry. The book gives recipes in the simplest, plainest words. It describes every operation clearly—just what Mary Frances did, and how she learned to avoid mistakes. The book stimulates the imagination and creates a desire to follow Mary Frances’ example. Cloth, 170 pages. 7¼ x 9½ inches. Over 200 colored illustrations.

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=FAIRY TALES OF ALL NATIONS—By Logan Marshall.= The most beautiful book of fairy tales ever published. Thirty superb colored plates are the most prominent feature of this new copyrighted book. These plates are absolutely new and portray the times and customs of the subject they illustrate. The subjects were posed in costumes of the nation and time in which each story is set, and are unrivaled in rich color, lively drawing and dramatic interest. The text is original and interesting in that the famous fairy tales are taken from the folk-lore and literature of a dozen principal countries, thus giving the book its name. Many old favorites and numerous interesting stories from far-away lands, which most children have never heard, are brought together in this charming book. 8vo. Over 300 pages.

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=TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE—By Charles and Mary Lamb.= A superb edition of these familiar tales has been prepared in similar style to “Fairy Tales of All Nations.” Each of the twenty tales is illustrated with a magnificent color plate by a celebrated German artist. It is one of the finest gift books ever published for children, telling them in simple language, which is as nearly like that of Shakespeare as possible, the stories of the great plays. The subjects for the illustrations were posed in costumes of the nation and time in which each story is set and are unrivaled in rich color, lively drawing and dramatic interest. 320 pages. 20 full-page color plates.

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=RHYMES OF HAPPY CHILDHOOD—By Mrs. Andrew Ross Fillebrown.= A handsome holiday book of homely verses beautifully illustrated with nearly 100 color plates and drawings in black and red. Verses that sing the irrepressible joy of children in their home and play life, many that touch the heart closely with their mother love, and some not without pathos, have been made into a very handsome volume. Gilt top, uncut leaves.

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* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired. The character of y with a breve does not exist in utf-8 and so has been replaced in this text with a y with a circumflex ŷ.

Page 41, “Tausendschon” changed to “Tausendschön” (Baby Tausendschön)

Page 55, “Myotis” changed to “Myosotis” (Myosotis Palustris)

Page 71, “windows” changed to “window” (prettiest shallow window boxes)

Page 277, “see” changed to “seen” (You’ve often seen the)

End of Project Gutenberg's The Mary Frances Garden Book, by Jane Eayre Fryer