“But they don’t taste like anything,” complained the little girl.

“Our carrots are nice and sweet,” said Mab.  “You’ll like these.  My brother and I eat them.”

“They look nice and yellow,” said the little girl.  “Maybe I will like these.”

Hal and Mab had sold several boxes of beans and tomatoes and about half a dozen bunches of carrots, in an hour, and now they began putting their store counter in order again, for it was rather untidy.  Daddy Blake had told them to do this.

Once or twice the children could not make the right change when customers stopped to buy things, but Aunt Lolly was near at hand, on the porch, and she came to their aid, so there was no trouble.

It was rather early in the morning when Hal and Mab started their store, and by noon they had sold everything, and had taken in over two dollars in “real” money.

“Isn’t it a lot!” cried Hal, as he saw the pile of copper, nickle and silver coins in the little box they used for a cash drawer.

“A big pile,” answered Mab.  “We’ll sell more things to-morrow.”

“No, I think not,” spoke Daddy Blake, coming along just then.  “We must not take too much from our garden to sell.  But you have done better than I thought you would.  Over two dollars!”

“What shall we do with it?” asked Hal.

“Well, you may have some to spend, but we’ll save most of it,” his father answered.  “This is the first money you ever earned from your garden, and I want you to think about it.  Just think what Mother Nature did for you, with your help, of course.

“In the ground you planted some tiny seeds and now they have turned into money.  No magician’s trick could be more wonderful than that.  This money will pay for almost all the seed I bought for the garden.  Of course our work counts for something, but then we have to work anyhow.”

Hal and Mab began to understand what a wonderful earth this of ours is, and how much comes out of the brown soil which, with the help of the air, the rain and sunlight, can take a tiny seed, no larger than the head of a pin, and make from it a great, big green tomato vine, that blossoms and then has on it red tomatoes, which may be eaten or sold for money.  And the beans and carrots did the same, each one coming from a small seed.

Sammie Porter came out two or three times and watched Hal and Mab selling things at their vegetable store.  The little boy seemed to be wondering what was going on, and Hal and Mab told him as well as they could.

“Sammie goin’ to have a ’mato store,” he said when the two Blake children had sold all their things, and were moving their empty boxes and door into the barn.  “Me goin’ to sell ’matoes.”

“I wonder what he will do?” said Mab.

“Maybe he’ll take a lot of things from his father’s garden,” suggested Hal.  “We better tell him not to.”

“Well, Mr. Porter is working among his potatoes so I guess Sammie can’t do much harm,” Mab said.