TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
3ST
July, 1940
Junior King's Business By MARTHA S. HOOKER Member of Faculty , Bible Institute o f bos Angeles
STRANGE SEEDS FOR A GARDEN By E l m e r O l e s o n , J r .
G LORIA LAURENCE ran to the door as she heard the postman arriving. She had been doing that ever since her parents had left for a trip to Boston and she had met Ade laide Barker. Surely, she wouldn’t be disappointed this time! Her heart skipped a beat as she saw thè postmark on the letter. It must be from Adelaide. No, it was typed; she’d never take time to type a letter. Gloria ripped open one end of the envelope, and a small packet fell to tfce floor. After picking it up, she read; "Dear Gloria: “I hear 'that you are Intending to plant a garden this year. I am sending you some flower seeds from my last garden. Won’t you plant these to remember me by? Just sow them on the surface of the ground any time now;, they are an nuals and won’t need replanting- ev ery year. I haven’t time to write more now, but I’ll be back in town for a visit in a couple of months and shall hope to see you then. “Sincerely, “BOB.” Bob Hilton! Why, no one in their family had heard from him since he went into training for the ministry. Bob was Gloria’s older brother’s best friend. Whatever made him write, and to her, a girl so much younger than he ? Gloria looked again at the packet of seeds and was delighted, with the as sortment. She began wondering who had told Bob about her garden. Prob ably Mrs. Colfax had. Gloria looked out of the window. She could see Mrs. Colfax working in her own beautiful garden. That was the reason she had wanted one. Mrs. Col fax would like to hear news from Bob, since she had been the one who had en couraged him to go to school. Gloria ran out the back door, letting it slam behind her. “Mrs. Colfax, I heard from Bob to day!” she called. “You did ? What did he have to say ?” “Oh, nothing much. He sent me some seeds for my garden. See, here they are!” She handed the seeds to her and went on talking. "This garden is going to be a big
surprise to my mother and father when they come back. ” Mrs. Colfax examined the seeds. • “I don’t believe I’d plant these in my garden if I were you, Gloria,” she said. “I’ll give you some of my seeds, though, if you want them.” She took a slip from one of the more luxuriant plants and handed it to the girl. Gloria was puzzled and amazed. (She should have known better than to show the seeds to her, she thought bitterly. Mrs. Colfax was always telling her she shouldn’t do this or that. Oh, well!) She took the flower slip and went back to her own garden and started sowing the seeds. (She’d show Mrs. Colfax who was living her life.) Gloria scattered thé seeds carelessly over the rocks and sod. That was the nice fea ture about using these seeds in her gar den—they were easy to plant. “Mrs. Colfax is just jealous because Bob didn’t send her some seeds,” she
told a friend that afternoon as they in spected the garden. Again she shw the postman coming up the street, and she went to meet him. He handed her a letter. It was an invi tation from Kay to come to visit her— and Kay lived in the very town where Bob was studying and preaching, though Gloria didn’t think of that. * * * Gloria and Kay had two wonderful months together—at least they thought they were wonderful. Some of the par ties they attended were not the kind that Gloria’s parents would have ap proved, but Gloria tried not to care about that. She was sorry that her visit was drawing to a close. Then one day the girls met Bob on the street.
“I’m driving up your way tomorrow," he told Gloria. “You wouldn’t want to go along, would you?” Of coUrse she would! duffer Little Children' * * * * U • WOODS Ri D S S
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