THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT.
But I must tell you what happened to poor Toady one day, and see if you
wonder that Violet felt badly.
She was sitting on the doorstep sewing, with kitty in her lap, sound
asleep, and the three toads watching her from the walk--as happy a
little girl as ever breathed.
It was her birthday; and when she awoke that morning, the first thing
her eyes rested upon was the largest bunch of sweet violets she had ever
seen in her life. They were set in a beautiful white cup, with VIOLET
printed in gold letters on the front.
She hardly stopped to look twice at them, but, in her nightgown, ran to
the door to find and thank her good, kind parents. They were not in the
field or the garden; and then Violet remembered that this was market
day, and they must have gone to the town, and might not be home again
until afternoon.
It was an hour before Violet could dress herself. She looked at and
smelt of the flowers a hundred times--set them in every corner and on
every ledge to see where they would look prettiest--talked to them, and
danced around them, and even pinched her finger to see if she could be
awake.
All these beautiful, fragrant blossoms her own for a whole day--for a
week--as long as they did not fade!
Then she went to the brook for water, and setting her basin on the bank,
knelt down among the dewy flowers to wash her face and smooth her long,
soft, golden hair, and as she went home, sang her morning hymn; for
Violet knew that every morning the birds poured forth their songs, and
the flowers their odors, and the brook its vapor wreaths, in gratitude
to Heaven; and she had no idea of being the only ungrateful thing on
earth.
She met kitty, and taking her in her arms, hurried into the house,
thinking how surprised and delighted puss would be with the violets. But
kitty was thinking of something else; she only sneezed when Violet put
her nose among the wet flowers, and struggled to get away.
"Well, there--go," said Violet, a little hurt.
Puss had no thought of going; she purred louder than ever, and rubbed
her white face against Violet's dress, and looked up at her wistfully.
"O, you greedy kit!" said Violet, at last; "you're thinking about
breakfast, and not my flowers. I'll eat it right away, so as to leave
you some."
But, for joy, she could hardly eat a spoonful; and however kitty
slighted what was in the gilded cup, it was plain enough that she
enjoyed the contents of the old tin porringer.
While puss was eating, Violet brought her flowers to the door again, and
began to look about for the toads. Pretty soon out they hopped from the
wet grass, half drowned themselves in dew, and hop, hop, hop they came
towards Violet.
You may think she was very silly; but you must remember she was all
alone out in the fields, and had no other playmates; so she made the
most of these.
The toads stood still when they came to the cup of violets, and looked
up at her, winking their round, lazy eyes, until she felt sure they were
trying to congratulate her and praise her flowers.
Then kitty came along, gaping, for she had eaten more breakfast than
usual; and Love reminded Violet that she had work to do, although it was
her birthday; so she took kitty in her lap, left the toads staring at
her flowers, and seated herself on the doorstep to sew.