STATK I'OMOLOGICAI^ SOCIKTV. 75 



AN HOUR IN WONDERLAND. 



Mrs. V. P. DeCoster, Buckfield, Alaine. 



When I was a small 'child I learned to believe in fairies and 1 

 still believe in them more and more. People may tell you that 

 there are no such things as fairies, but you will find that I am 

 telling you the truth, if you will go quietly to the fields and 

 woods, brooks and pastures, and watch and listen patiently. 

 But if you go whizzing through the country in an automobile 

 or an electric car, you will never become acquainted with the 

 fairies. They can be found on nearly every farm and in every 

 forest in the State of Maine. They may not look just as some 

 fairy books picture them, but they are just the nicest kinds of 

 fairies imaginable, when you get acquainted with them. 



A few weeks ago I discovered the headquarters of the fairies 

 in our town. It ,was in a beautiful hemlock grove where the 

 trees ran up tall antl straight, and the ground was free from un- 

 derbrush, caq^eted with evergreen needles, and outlined in beau- 

 tiful patterns with ferns, gold thread and partridge vines dotted 

 with red berries. Away up in the tree tops an old grey squirrel 

 keeps guard and warns the fairies of all intruders. The fairies 

 had held a grand carnival the night before, for there were many 

 tables and dancing pavilions, which looked like mushrooms. 

 Some were ,round and smooth and flat, some of shades of pink 

 and others of yellow and orange and brown. Some were shaped 

 like open umbrellas, others were inverted, and others almost 

 round. Many people eat mushrooms, but these which belong 

 to the fairies in the woods are very likely to be poisonous, and 

 it is never safe to eat even those gathered in the open pastures 

 unless collected by an expert. 



In this igrove the fairies keep their pipes, which are often 

 called Indian pipes, but I think they are fairies' pipes, because 

 they are so pink and white and waxy. 



Here also grows the coral root, with dainty orchid flowers 

 and yellow jointed roots, from which the fairies make coral 



