OUR MOUNTAIN GARDEN 



dignified by the name of spring, but which 

 keeps the adjacent ground moist, and in 

 spots even boggy. The colours of the 

 whole locality were a very deep, sombre 

 green, and stone gray, and here, methought, 

 the flames of cardinal flowers and tiger- 

 lilies, naturalized amidst the tall ferns and 

 grasses, would show forth wondrous well. 



I knew better by this time than to try 

 to plant them without due preparation of 

 the bed. But digging in this spot was not 

 for me, for the ground was covered with a 

 mat of impenetrable roots, which could only 

 be dislodged by a pickaxe in the hands of 

 a very strong man. I summoned there- 

 fore two giants, " Fafner and Fasolt " we 

 called them, fine fellows, both, with 

 bronzed cheeks, close-cut curly hair, and 

 muscles of steel; and with crowbars and 

 pickaxes they tore off roots, and wrenched 

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