The secret garden — Chapter Nine Behind the garden walls

　　"Yes, they"re tiny green growing things. They might be little flowers, like Ben said. So it isn"t a completely dead garden. Even if the poor roses are dead, there are other things that are alive!" she said softly. She felt extremely happy. She went around the garden to see if there were more tiny green plants. Happily, they were everywhere.

　　It seemed to Mary that the little plants didn"t have room to grow, because of the dead grass all around them. The grass seemed to be choking the plants. She found a sharp stick and dug up the dead grass until there were clear spaces around a few of the plants. "There, now you have some room to breathe in," she said. "I"m going to help as many of these plants as I can today. Then I"ll come back tomorrow and the next day and do more," she said. She was very happy with this idea.

　　Mary went from place to place. She removed dead grass and weeds from around the little green plants. How happy she was! She soon became very warm, and took off her coat. She breathed in the smell of the fresh black soil. She didn"t realize that she was smiling as she worked. The little plants looked so much better when they didn"t have all that dead grass around them!

_小精灵 儿童网