NEIGHBORING WITH NATURE. 



We were at breakfast one morning, 

 when a loitering breeze from the woods 

 filled the room with delicious aroma. The 

 graceful spring flowers and the wild fruit 

 trees were just beginning a life of prom- 

 ise. 



''There's sweet smelling fern in that," 

 exclaimed Charley, sniffing critically. 



"I think it's from the crab-apple trees 

 by the chalybeate spring," said grandma. 



"No, it's the chicksaw plums by the 

 creek," cried Margaret. 



"It 'mells 'ike 'bacco moss to me," mur- 

 mured Pearl, touching the tip of her nose 

 with her dainty forefinger. 



'T know what it is," asserted Grace ; 

 "it's the wild cherry tree ; it's full of blos- 

 soms." 



"There's Ginseng in it somewhere," 

 laughingly commented papa. 



"Ginseng?" cried the children. "What's 

 that?" 



"The name of a plant in the wood. The 

 word is supposed to be of Chinese origin. 

 The Iroquois called the root garentoqucu, 

 literally, legs and thighs separated. The 

 plant belongs to the genus Panax, and it 

 it is a great medicine with the Chinese. 

 We export it in large quantities, but 

 northern Asia grows it is well as we." 



"And there is some in our wood ?" 



"Yes, I saw some yesterday near the 

 tobacco-plant bed." 



"Can we go for some as soon as we 

 have finished breakfast?" 



"Yes, and I will go with you. A walk 

 through the wood will be good for us ; I 

 feel like I had slept a hundred years and 

 been one of Tennysons characters in The 

 Day Dream." 



"And I," said the artist, "will take my 

 pencil and sketching block." 



Six plants were found, all having good 

 long roots. 



"What you have now would cost you 

 a quarter of a dollar if you were buying 

 it," said papa. 



"One could live very well then, by 

 gathering Ginseng to sell," commented 

 practical Charley. 



"Why, yes, you remember old Uncle 

 B^askett, the colored doctor?" 



"Yes," said Margaret. "He cured 

 toothache by hanging a rabbit's foot 

 about your neck." 



"And fits with a four-leafed clover," 

 cried Gracie. 



"He made his living," went on papa, 

 "after he was freed, by collecting the 

 roots of Ginseng, Calamus and other 

 medicinal plants, and it was then, too, he 

 gained his almost marvelous knowledge 

 of herbs, becoming famous, even among 

 the white people, for his success in curing 

 certain diseases." 



"I think this leaf and root are accu- 

 rate," said the artist presenting the sketch. 



"To a 'T,' " cried the children. "You 

 must go with us every walk we take." 

 Sallie Margaret O'Malley. 



Gaunt shadows stretch along the hill; 



Cold clouds drift slowly west; 

 Soft flocks of vagrant snow flakes fill 



The redwing's empty nest. 



— Thomas Bailey Aldrich, " Landscape." 



157 



