40 Bog-Trotting for Orchids 



as I met her on the road. My evident annoyance and 

 embarrassment under this scrutiny probably confirmed 

 her suspicions. Nevertheless, she so far forgot her 

 interest in this subject as to tell me to-day that 

 Lorenna, on her way home with the cows the night 

 previous, had found one of the strangest little flowers. 

 None of them had ever seen the blossom before, nor did 

 they know its name. She felt sure, however, that it 

 belonged to the Nervine Family, — as they locally call 

 the Moccasin-Flowers in many New England towns, 

 — from the leaves and the little shoe-shaped flower. 



That evening, as soon as the sun sank in the west, 

 and the cool hours of twilight came, I sought Lorenna' s 

 house in the vale below Mount CEta. As I sauntered 

 through the fields, the distant sounds of Pownal's 

 church bells and the barking of dogs and the rolling 

 wheels of the home-coming farmers' wagons arose 

 from the valley. 



Under my arm I had tucked Baldwin's Orchids of 

 New Englajid, a book which I had drawn from the 

 North Adams Library, with permission to keep it as 

 long as I desired, the calls for such books being very 

 infrequent. This work contains many illustrations of 

 species of orchids found in the New England States, 

 and more especially in Vermont, the author having 

 made his excursions and collections of species near 

 Burlington, in the northwestern portion of the State. 

 Among the sketches is one of the Ram's-Head Cypri- 

 pedium,' the species having been collected by him 



' Henry Baldwin, Orchids of New England, Plate 8, 1894. 



