The beautiful red radishes from the garden made the most charming of
babies, with their leaves turned down for clothes and tied around with
blades of grass. These and the corn babies were Florence’s favorites.
[Illustration]
When the tender roasting ears were brought in from the garden the
children all agreed that they were such dainty babies, just as they
were, that it would spoil them to change them in any way.
All they needed to do was just to open the green husk a little and
there lay the most beautiful creamy white Corn Baby wrapped in the
daintiest of silken garments.
Florence hugged the Corn Baby close in her arms and as she rocked it
to sleep sang to it a soft crooning little lullaby which she and the
others had made up. Charlotte—and Mamma, too, had helped them a little
with both the tune and words. As Florence sang to the baby in her arms
the others joined her, singing softly always, and letting the song fade
away almost to a whisper at the end that the baby might not miss the
music when it was heard no more.
Then the Corn Baby was tenderly laid in a cradle Tom had made by gluing
two semi-circles of wood for rockers to a pasteboard spool box. The
wooden circle which he had cut in two had once had a bolt of ribbon
wrapped around it in a store.