The Rescue of an Old Place 



till, no doubt, they regard it as an ancient 

 castle, of which they are the chatelaines ; 

 and I am sure that dignified Narcissus 

 must have a history. There is a sweet 

 A fragrant June Honeysuckle straggling there which 

 breathes an old-time fragrance, and the 

 tiny petals of the pale pink Bridal Rose 

 which flutters beside it have the very tint 

 of soft color one sees in the cheek of an 

 ancient maiden. A wild Clematis seems to 

 grow out of the wall itself, I have never 

 been able to find its root, and every 

 fall a Prince's-feather waves its tall plume 

 where once it danced with a Lady's-slip- 

 per. The Pansies have all degenerated 

 into Lady's-delights, and the Hollyhocks 

 come up single, but here they grow and 

 blossom beside a pendulous Forsythia, 

 the seed of which was, no doubt, sown by 

 some passing bird, for it is not, I think, 

 one of the older shrubs in this village. 

 FiewfrtM The rest of the garden is perfectly 

 tkgfraa - formless and wild. Nothing has been 

 done to the old part of the farm, except to 

 clean away the weeds and sticks that en- 

 cumbered it, and the old plants have grown 

 lank and tall along the fence and under 

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