The Road to Dumbiedykes 



breast becomes the altar upon which 

 something must be sacrificed to the 

 household gods. Our oaks are not 

 such stately ones as you may see 

 growing out of deeper soils. The black 

 ones are already gone, and the gnarled 

 limbs of a group of burr oaks speak 

 plainly of the struggle they have had 

 with their feet standing in a clay as 

 hard as iron. 



Upon the plastered outer walls the 

 ampelopsis Veitchii spreads its dainty 

 tendrils, and now and then yields up 

 the ghost unto our savage winters. 

 On the north walls it will be all right, 

 but a southern exposure encourages it 

 too late in the autumn, and rather too 

 early in the spring, for its own good. 

 On the garage the unkillable woodbine 

 flourishes unrestrained. This particu- 

 lar Virginia creeper has caught the 

 electric light wires in its grasp, and is 

 slowly but surely traveling across the 

 lawn upon a support which apparently 

 is stimulating. 



[96] 



