THE FANTASIES OF FERNS 



member, but all the rest seemed alike to me, com- 

 mon Ferns. 



"Lately, however, since fate has decided that I 

 must live in the real country for more than half the 

 year, and I 've taken to following you * thorough 

 brake, thorough briar ' like an obedient spaniel, I 've 

 noticed a great deal of expression in these same com- 

 mon Ferns. They seem to have little ways all their 

 own, and meanings, too, if we could read them, 

 nothing wonderful, nothing really grand like what 

 the trees whisper to one, only something airy and 

 mysterious, scraps of songs without words which 

 they think to themselves perhaps." 



w< If trees are Nature's thoughts or dreams, 



And witness how her great heart yearns, 

 Then she has only shown, it seems, 

 Her lightest fantasies in ferns,'" 



I quoted, "and if you wish to see a score or more 

 of these common Ferns in their haunts, and call 

 each one by a name easy to remember, this is the 

 season, for all Ferns have reached perfection now; 

 and this is the place also, for here in a half-mile 

 circle through Time o' Year's country, grow most 

 of the familiar landscape Ferns which you would 

 find if you tramped New England over. 



