IKIlbcn (Brass is <5reen 



these flesh-eating plants. The side-saddle flower, 

 that is a thrifty growth by the pond-side, has an 

 elaborate trap for flies, and even for the young 

 salamanders that have been found venturing up 

 their sides or was it accidental? and in the 

 water of many a brook and pond the bladder- 

 worts catch fish and eat them. Curious this may 

 all be, but it is a bit depressing after all, death 

 figures so prominently, and life is the keynote of 

 a bright May morning. Glancing about for yet 

 other forms of plant-life, I spy an enormous grape- 

 vine, one that has been figuring in all my life, for 

 I love just as much to swing in it now at fifty as 

 I ever did at five. Perhaps not quite so well, for 

 the old familiar faces of forty years ago are now 

 all gone, and not all retrospection is pleasant. 



This grapevine where it leaves the ground, and 

 for many feet, is eleven inches in diameter, and 

 how long are the various branches can only be 

 estimated. I tried such measurement once, but 

 gave up in despair. I could only mark off one 

 thousand feet, and the end was not yet in sight. 

 How these vines climb to the tops of the highest 

 trees and swing clear of the ground, often for one 

 hundred feet between the tree and the root-hold 

 of the vine, is not quite clear, but then who has 

 traced the process from the beginning to the end? 

 This grapevine is very old. It was here when 

 the Indians were in possession ; so much is posi- 

 tively known ; but how much of a vine it was two 

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