A Little Garden
Calendar
For Boys and Girls
by
Albert Bigelow Paine
Author of "The Little Lady, Her Book,"
"The Arkansaw Bear," Etc.
With Forty-six Illustrations
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
Copyright, 1905, by Henry Altemus
Published March, 1905
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
| The Little Lady, Her Book, | $1.00 |
| The Arkansaw Bear, | 1.00 |
| The Wanderings of Joe and Little Em, | .50 |
A Word to Teachers andParents
When Dr. S. P. Langley, Secretary of theSmithsonian Institution, established the Children's Room in that greatmuseum, he took for his motto, "Knowledge begins in wonder," and he putinto this room a selection of specimens especially intended to exciteinterest in the young mind. The biggest bird and the littlest wereplaced side by side; curious eggs, nests, and insects—not manyin number, but temptingly displayed—were ranged about to attractattention and to awake the desire to know more. It was the same Dr.Langley who had once declared that his chief interests in life werechildren and fairy stories, and it is in the little Washington roomthat we seem to find the thought embodied, for the children are there,and the fairy stories of nature are suggested on every hand.
It is with Dr. Langley's motto in mind that the "Little GardenCalendar" is offered to[vi] parents and teachers, and to childrenthemselves who are old enough to read. The author has tried to tell insimple language a few of the wonders of plant life, and to set downcertain easy methods of observation, including planting, tending, andgathering the harvests, from month to month, throughout the year. Alongwith this it has been his aim to call attention to the more curiouscharacteristics of certain plants—the really human instincts andhabits of some, the family relations of others, the dependence of manyupon mankind, animals, and insects, and the struggle for exi