From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:

This is the day that Miss Hare wanted us to tell her why a day in June is so rare. I didn’t know because I thought about Florence Nightingale instead. It didn’t make any difference though, because the whole class talked about it anyhow. Miss Hare started off by asking us what the word rare meant, and Robert said that it meant a steak that wasn’t well cooked and still looked bloody. Miss Hare said that was only one meaning but not the meaning of rare in the poem. She said in the poem the word meant something precious and beautiful like a diamond or a pearl or a perfect sunset. Then she went from one pupil to another and asked each of us what we thought was rare about a June day. Someone said that most of the month of June the school was closed and then vacation began and someone else said “June Bugs” but Miss Hare said that bugs aren’t beautiful but that’s not true as they are so I raised my hand and told her so. I said that ladybugs are very beautiful, all shiny, brown and red with little white specks. She said perhaps I was right, that she had never noticed them and then everyone else said all kinds of different things like red roses and clouds and sunshine and the smell of woods. I’m still not sure what rare means.