OUR COUNTRY H () M E 



little group above the dead brown leaves seeming more beautiful 

 than the last. The cold wind did not seem to harm them, but 

 only in the sunshine would they spread their petals wide. Soon 

 afterward the bloodroot unfurled its curled leaf and rich ivory 

 flower, and then came the pert young jack-in-the-pulpit standing 

 arrogantly under his green or purple striped hood, preaching to us 

 many a sermon if we would but listen on the cheerful bearing of 

 discomfort perhaps, for the north wind blows chill in cloudy April. 

 The wild blue phlox joined him soon, with the anemones and 

 spring beauties, the bellworts and pussy willows; for it was still 

 early May. The shore path now was lined with marsh marigolds 

 brought by hundreds from a neighboring swamp. The ground 

 was blue with violets next. the bird-foot and the meadow, the 

 striped and the Canada; the sweet white and the downy yellow 

 in <juantities led us to the buttercups and wild geraniums, when 

 the shad-bush gleamed white in the forest. 



One spring we found a leaf-wrapped stem about six inches high 

 in the midst of the maidenhair dell. On searching, half a dozen 

 more were discovered; they looked like small corn, so sturdy and 

 fat were their stalks. We watched them from week to week, and 

 they grew and sent out long tapering leaves alternately on either 

 side; then at the height of four feet they began to bow gracefully, 

 and on the under side small tightly closed balls appeared. Still 

 they grew, until one was six feet high the giant Solomon's seal. 



Every year they come in the maidenhair dell, just six of them. 



ISO 



