84 



THE BROOK BOOK 



her ears now and then just because we begged 

 her to. But it was not until I left the flats and 

 climbed the hill that I became thoroughly recon- 

 ciled to the jewel- 

 weed and learned the 

 little game it was 

 quietly playing while 

 other plants seemed 

 content to sit still in 

 their places and be 

 choked out by what- 

 ever ambitious vege- 

 table happened to 

 come along. 



In August and Sep- 

 tember I explored 

 many runs, brooks 

 gone dry for the sea- 

 son and "improved 

 rills." All these were 

 rapidly being occu- 

 pied by meadow 

 plants driven thither by the plow and the fire- 

 brand. I saw goldenrod peering over the brink 

 of a little gorge and sending out scouts to get a 

 footing far below on the thinly covered rocks. 

 Aster was at the same game. Such "beggars' 

 ticks " and pitchforks, two-tined, as could be 

 gathered at the bottom if one cared to venture 

 down 1 But jewel-weed outdid them all in num- 

 bers and in vigor. Climbing from the lower land 

 up the narrow ravines, year by year it staked out 



LIKE "EAR-BOBS' 



