was at school and the house was still.

Then he gazed far down below him on the ground; and there, just
beneath, was a little Violet, She had uncurled her purple petals a few
days before, and was waiting to welcome the first leaf-bud that came
out.

So when the Maple-leaf looked down, she smiled up at him and said,
"Good-morning." He answered her politely, but he was very little, and
did not know quite what to say, so he didn't talk any more that day.

The next morning they greeted each other again, and soon they grew to
be good friends, and talked together very happily all day. The Maple-
leaf lived so high up in the tree that he could easily see across the
fields, and he watched every day for Bessie as she started for school.
When she came out of her door, he told the Violet, and the Violet
always said every morning, "Dear Bessie! I should like to see her,
too!"

Sometimes, when the day was chilly and it was almost too damp in the
shade, the Violet used to wish she might be high up on the branch
above her, waving about in the sunshine like the Maple-leaf; but she
was a contented little thing, and never fretted long for what she
could not have.

It was generally pleasant on the ground, and the bugs and caterpillars
and worms, as they crawled about at her roots, often told her very
interesting things about their families and their troubles.

One day it was very dry and warm. The Maple-leaf was not at all