Beyond the Mountains 



grass in the corner beds. One of the servants, "Uncle Stephen," 

 an autocratic white-haired old negro butler, announced as an un- 

 disputed fact that Easter eggs boiled with a kettle full of pink 

 hyacinths would absorb the lovely colour of the latter. The chil- 

 dren of that day were only too ready to believe him and gathered 

 masses of the fragrant blossoms for the purpose. When the eggs 

 remained hopelessly white "Uncle Stephen" was not in the least 

 embarrassed, but turned upon the old fat cook "Aunt Esther" and 

 accused her bitterly of conjuring them. 



The lower half of the garden was divided into rectangular 

 beds, and most of the small fruits, damsons, plums, currants, and 

 gooseberries, bordered them, while Indian peaches, wax-heart 

 cherries, Siberian crab-apples and golden-yellow pears were planted 

 in the long beds nearer the eastern fence. 



On the slope of the hill, and covering the space of two beds, 

 variety was given by a circle of cedar trees with low-growing 

 branches, that completely surrounded a large, octagonal summer- 

 house. The old variety of sweet pea — a hardy vine bearing clusters 

 of magenta-colored blossoms, struggled to keep a place with the 

 climbing roses tangled in the lattice. Sidney Lanier's lines always 

 seemed to express the feeling given by entering this covert sweet- 

 scented with cedar and violets: 



"O, braided dusk of the trees and woven shades of the vine, 

 While the riotous noonday sun of the June-day long did shine ; 

 Ye held me fast in your heart and I held you fast in mine." 



For five generations the children of The Meadows have played 

 in the old garden. In summer, hiding in the thick shrubbery, 

 pulling the flowers with a lavish hand and eating the fruit, ripe 

 and unripe. In winter, when the shrubs were half-buried by snow 

 and all paths obliterated, they have felt the spell of the garden 

 even more, perhaps. The exquisite stillness, the flash of a red- 

 bird and the scurry of a little molly-cottontail seeking shelter, are 

 apt to sink deep into a child's memory. 



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