Broun^ Cri^stal Xafte. 



For a varied and interesting drive start from Monument Square 

 and go past the green lawns on the hill, past the smooth, rich fields of 

 the Hey wood Farm, and turn to the left. Crystal Lake lies before us 

 as a brilliant jewel, with its setting of green; to the north, Monadnock, 



black and forbidding, bars the view. Bj' 

 the lakeside, in September, we chance 

 upon the latest, and almost the fairest of 

 the season's flowers — the wary, fringed 

 gentian {Gcntiana cri)iita) 



"colored with heaven's own blue," 

 the flower of which the poet sings, 



■•Four plumes from the bluel)ir<rs wing, as fast 



to the south he flew 

 The Angel of Flowers caught them up as they 



fell in the autumn dew, 

 And shaped with a twirl of her fingers this spire 



of feathery blue." 



By its side is the slender-twisted white 

 orchis, ladies' tresses {Spifanthcs cennia.) 

 Earlier in the year, the strange sundew 

 {Drosera rotiindifolia) , with carniverous 

 leaves feeding on insects attracted by the 

 sweet "dew" that glistens like a tiny web 

 of diamond dust, raises its drooping head 

 in the meadow farther north, and a great 

 bed of wood -sorrel {Oxalis acetosella) lights 

 itp the roadside at the archway under the 

 Fringed Gentian. trees. The rose-like blossoms of the purple 



flowering raspberry {Riibus odoratus^ , a plant somewhat uncommon in 

 Worcester County, attracts us to its home under some great oaks 

 and chestnuts, where its abundance gives it unusual dignity; while 

 over our heads, the golden woodpecker and oriole fly back and forth. 

 From otir windows in the winter we look out on the snow depths after 



