Roses of Yesterday 473 



The Rose bush furnished another comestible for 

 the children's larder, the red succulent shoots of 

 common garden and wild Roses. These were known 

 by the dainty name of " brier candy," a name appro- 

 priate and characteristic, as the folk-names devised 

 by children frequently are. 



On the post-road in southern New Hampshire 

 stands an old house, which according to its license 

 was once " improved " as a tavern, and was famous 

 for its ghost and its Roses. The tavern was owned 

 by a family of two brothers and two sisters, all un- 

 married, as was rather a habit in the Mason family ; 

 though when any of the tribe did marry, a vast 

 throng of children quickly sprung up to propagate 

 the name and sturdy qualities of the race. The 

 men were giants, and both men and women were 

 hard-working folk of vast endurance and great thrift, 

 and, like all of that ilk in New England, they pros- 

 pered and grew well-to-do ; great barns and out- 

 buildings, all well filled, stretched down along the 

 roadside below the house. Joseph Mason could lay 

 more feet of stone wall in a day, could plough more 

 land, chop down more trees, pull more stumps, than 

 any other man in New Hampshire. His sisters 

 could bake and brew, make soap, weed the garden, 

 spin and weave, unceasingly and untiringly. Their 

 garden was a source of purest pleasure to them, as 

 well as of hard work ; its borders were so stocked 

 with medicinal herbs that it could supply a town- 

 ship ; and its old-time flowers furnished seeds and 

 slips and bulbs to every other garden within a day's 

 driving distance ; but its glory was a garden side to 



