272 A COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Beach Heather, Rabbit's Foot Clover and a wealth 

 of Asters; all growing in patches and long trails, 

 as if these gardens were the Magician's nurseries 

 for the testing and proving his wild -flower crop. 



As the tide rose, the sky grew more leaden, and 

 the surf called louder, the air became chilly, and 

 that night a fire on the hearth greeted the master, 

 twenty degrees having slid down the mercury in 

 the thermometer since noontime. Surely the New 

 England climate, mingling Autumn with Summer, 

 like all other things of the Magician's realm, man, 

 beast, bird, and flower, is a Composite! 



