22 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



lawn, 'tis a place for archery; a spot, too, for box- 

 wood hedges and a sundial. Croquet, however, has 

 had its innings as the favorite outdoor amusement, and 



"WILD FLOWERS AND FERNS.' 



many a stiff game of quoits has been pitched across 

 the sward with horseshoes. 



Waxwings build their nests amid the cedar boughs 

 that brush the house; a bluebird yearly has its home in 

 the hollow limb of a dead sweet cherry; the little nests 

 of song sparrows are well concealed there among the 

 blackberries; and English sparrows chirp and twitter 

 about the eaves, and long straws from their nests hang 

 from the corners. In the days cardinals and robins 

 and many other beautifully colored birds come whis- 

 ling and fluting about it; toward nightfall swallows 

 dart and soar above, and bats flutter and girate to and 

 fro, while katydids rasp away in the maples, and the 

 crickets drone out in the fields; and later, in the dusky 

 places, the whip-poor-wills and screech owls cry, while 

 round about whispers the never-ending soughing of the 

 pines and spruces. 



