2ln to JSSarn 



through cracks in the barn's wall, now lingered 

 hopelessly in the unhealthy shade. Wherever 

 water lodged and dust collected, seeds of small 

 plants had taken root, and the choked gutter of 

 the south front was as well rilled with weeds as 

 ever a long window-box was thick with bloom. 



Even in the cracks of beams and boards, wher- 

 ever exposed to the sunlight, seeds had found lodg- 

 ment and germinated ; and in one corner, to which 

 the sunlight came but for a short time, but where 

 there was pretty constant moisture, an acorn 

 placed there by a jay or squirrel had sprouted. 

 Necessarily its career would be soon cut short, 

 and already a great mouse-colored spider had 

 rather closely invested it with cobwebs. The won- 

 derful change which nature was steadily effecting 

 was just beginning, it is true ; but, could the old 

 barn remain, it would soon be more open than 

 now to both sunlight and showers, and then what 

 a rank growth would cluster about it, both within 

 and without ! Even the heavy threshing-floor 

 would be lifted up and sturdy tree-growths push 

 aside every obstacle. Strange as it may seem, 

 unchecked vegetation can absorb or digest even so 

 huge a mouthful as a barn. How clearly all that 

 I saw hinted of that which is to come, unless man 

 should interfere. Nature, with artistic fingers, has 

 already cast a veil over the clumsy handiwork of 

 man, and leaving to her the task, the old and once 

 ugly barn would become really beautiful. 

 164 



