RECOLLECTIONS 145 



a quaint sight to see her toddling after him, wherever 

 he could possibly permit it, about the fields and or- 

 chards. A born teacher, he answered all her ques- 

 tions with care and consideration, feeding her mind 

 with what it could assimilate, and incidentally instruct- 

 ing her about the facts of life, as well as about the 

 creatures, the soil and the growing plant life. 



A story of that period will show what a small ex- 

 pert the child became, and how expedient her knowl- 

 edge could prove. The two had gone for a long 

 walk, which, as usual, ended with Marie, tired but tri- 

 umphant, on her father's shoulders. When he turned 

 to go back, however, my husband, thinking to take a 

 short cut lost his way through the woods and in the 

 similarity of the flat fields. His confidence failed 

 him, but he felt that if he could only strike the borders 

 of the estate he could find his way. Emerging from 

 a clearing in the forest, they came upon another seem- 

 ingly endless field of grain. He set the child down for 

 a moment and gazed around. Marie put an end to his 

 perplexity: 



"Father," she said, embracing the tall stalks. "Our 

 wheat!" 



He was surprised and incredulous. 



"Our wheat!" she insisted. 



And so it was. . . . 



When, from Fort Collins, he went to New York 

 City at the invitation of the Baron de Hirsch Fund 

 Committee, she went with him. 



