This was a new surprise for the good mother.

She could not sufficiently express her astonishment and delight, when Jack and Francis, taking their flageolets, accompanied their brothers, who sung the following verse, which Ernest had added to his former attempt.
Dear mother, let this gift be mine, Accept the Grotto Ernestine.
May all your hours be doubly blest Within this tranquil place of rest.
Then from this quiet, lovely home Never, never may we roam; All we love around us smile.
Joyful is our desert isle! What cause had we to rejoice in our children! we could not but shed tears to witness their affection and perfect happiness.
Below the vase of flowers, on the block of salt, Ernest had written:-- Ernest, assisted by his brother Fritz, Has prepared this grotto, As a retreat for his beloved mother, When she visits her garden.
Ernest then conducted his mother to one of the benches, which he had covered with soft moss, as a seat for her, and there she rested at her ease to hear the history of the discovery of the grotto.

It was now my turn to offer my present; the garden, the embankment, the pond, and the arbour.

She walked, supported by my arm, to view her little empire, and her delight was extreme; the pond, which enabled her to water her vegetables, particularly pleased her, as well as her shady arbour, under which she found all her gardening tools, ornamented with flowers, and augmented by two light _watering-pans,_ constructed by Jack and Francis, from two gourds.

They had canes for spouts, with the gourd bottles at the end, pierced with holes, through which the water came in the manner of a watering-pan.