Life on a Wisconsin Farm 



another about the middle of the stem as an 

 involucre, and on the top of the stem the silky, 

 hairy long-tailed seeds formed a head like a 

 second flower. A little church was established 

 among the earlier settlers and the meetings at 

 first were held in our house. After working 

 hard all the week it was difficult for boys to sit 

 still through long sermons without falling 

 asleep, especially in warm weather. In this 

 drowsy trouble the charming anemone came 

 to our help. A pocketful of the pungent seeds 

 industriously nibbled while the discourses 

 were at their dullest kept us awake and filled 

 our minds with flowers. 



The next great flower wonders on which we 

 lavished admiration, not only for beauty of 

 color and size, but for their curious shapes, 

 were the cypripediums, called "lady's-slippers" 

 or "Indian moccasins." They were so different 

 from the familiar flowers of old Scotland. 

 Several species grew in our meadow and on 

 shady hillsides, — yellow, rose-colored, and 

 some nearly white, an inch or more in diameter, 



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