19 



over a brush-grown road that leads for miles without a house, through 



the swamps, where, in June, 



" The Atlantic June, 

 Whose caleudar of perfect days is kept 

 By daily blossoming of some new flower." 



the azalea ( Rhodode7id7'07i nudijiorum ) blooms on acres and acres of 

 bushes, where the moccasin flower, or lady's slipper ( Cyptipedium 

 acaiile), another of the orchis family, boasts its careless wealth of 

 color, and where the coltimbine ( Aquilegia Canadensis ) , daintiest and 

 most graceful of flowers, welcomes tis to her home on the fern-covered 

 bank. Every little while we pass a deserted "cellar-hole" and tell 

 again the varying life histories of their former owners ; some sad, some 

 tragic, all pathetic. All the way we delight in the profusion of flowers, 

 for the pyrola and its white sisters lie in beds about us, the Indian-pipe 

 is tinder almost every bush and by every log, while the one-flowered 

 pyrola, the exquisite star of the Moneses grandifloi-a, forces an excla- 

 mation of genuine pleasure from us, when we see a great bed of its 

 pure white, wax}- petals under the spreading branches of a pine. 

 Abundant in this vicinity, it is unknown elsewhere in the county. The 

 swamps in the woods fairly glow with the beautiful blossoms of the 

 purple-fringed orchis { Habcnaria finibriafa ) , most precious and mo.st 

 sought-for of all the season's flowers. How the heart thrills at the 

 flrst sight of the delicate, fragile blos.soms gleaming white against the 

 dark background of the woods. Here in the dense woods, where the 

 sun never shines, 



" In the deep glen, oi- the close shade of pines," 

 we find the great green orchis {Habe7iaria oj-biculata) , \\\\os^ large, 

 ftill-orbed leaves add to its royal dignity. 



At the four corners we can go west to force a narrow way through 

 brush that sadly scratches the carriage to the little red schoolhouse on 

 the main Winchendon road ; and once we used to go east to the Junc- 

 tion, but now the road is discontinued. Here in the swamps, the curi- 

 ous fly-trap, or pitcher plants ( Sar7-ace7iia pn7p7i7-ca ) , grow in hundreds 

 and' we watch them 



" How at the dawn they wake, and open wide 

 Their little petal windows " 



safe here from all intrusion by man, and 



" The passion they express all day 

 In burning color, steals forth with the dew 

 All night in odor." 



and the ragged fringed-orchis ( Habcna7i'a lacera ) keeps them com- 

 pany. So we keep straight on to leave the woods at last at the A.stor 



