`` Anemone ; do spell it properly , or you 'll get laughed at , '' answered Gus , wildly struggling to make his lines express great ardor , without being `` too spoony , '' as he expressed it . `` No , I should n't . This person never laughs at other persons ' mistakes , as some persons do , '' replied Jill , with dignity . Jack was desperately chewing his pencil , for he could not get on at all ; but Ed had evidently prepared his poem , for his paper was half full already , and Merry was smiling as she wrote a friendly line or two for Ralph 's basket , as she feared he would be forgotten , and knew he loved kindness even more than he did beauty . `` Now let 's read them , '' proposed Molly , who loved to laugh even at herself . The boys politely declined , and scrambled their notes into the chosen baskets in great haste ; but the girls were less bashful . Jill was invited to begin , and gave her little piece , with the pink hyacinth basket before her , to illustrate her poem . `` TO MY LADY `` There are no flowers in the fields , No green leaves on the tree , No columbines , no violets , No sweet anemone . So I have gathered from my pots All that I have to fill The basket that I hang to-night , With heaps of love from Jill . '' `` That 's perfectly sweet ! Mine is n't ; but I meant it to be funny , '' said Molly , as if there could be any doubt about the following ditty : -- `` Dear Grif , Here is a whiff Of beautiful spring flowers ; The big red rose Is for your nose , As toward the sky it towers . `` Oh , do not frown Upon this crown Of green pinks and blue geranium But think of me When this you see , And put it on your cranium . '' `` O Molly , you will never hear the last of that if Grif gets it , '' said Jill , as the applause subsided , for the boys pronounced it `` tip-top . '' `` Do n't care , he gets the worst of it any way , for there is a pin in that rose , and if he goes to smell the mayflowers underneath he will find a thorn to pay for the tack he put in my rubber boot . I know he will play me some joke to-night , and I mean to be first if I can , '' answered Molly , settling the artificial wreath round the orange-colored canoe which held her effusion . `` Now , Merry , read yours : you always have sweet poems ; '' and Jill folded her hands to listen with pleasure to something sentimental . `` I ca n't read the poems in some of mine , because they are for you ; but this little verse you can hear , if you like : I 'm going to give that basket to Ralph . He said he should hang one for his grandmother , and I thought that was so nice of him , I 'd love to surprise him with one all to himself . He 's always so good to us ; '' and Merry looked so innocently earnest that no one smiled at her kind thought or the unconscious paraphrase she had made of a famous stanza in her own `` little verse . '' `` To one who teaches me The sweetness and the beauty Of doing faithfully And cheerfully my duty . ''
`` He will like that , and know who sent it , for none of us have pretty pink paper but you , or write such an elegant hand , '' said XXXXX , admiring the delicate white basket shaped like a lily , with the flowers inside and the note hidden among them , all daintily tied up with the palest blush-colored ribbon .
Anemone Ed Grif Jack Jill Merry Molly cranium geranium mayflowers