U SUMMER IN A BOa. 



boiling. About midwiater, when other fruits 

 begin to pall upon the appetite, bring out the 

 _ elderberry jelly or jam and be surprised with 

 its wild, inviting tang. 



Memories are stirred into being. It recalls 

 the autumn and the afternoon tramp when the 

 berries were gathered. The tussocks of with- 

 ered sedge on which the bush grew — ^how you 

 stopped and drew back, remembering the holes 

 beside them where snakes might .easily hide, 

 and even the chance of quicksands ! Here and 

 there, where a spring oozed up, you were liable 

 to plump into a wet place. But mostly you 

 kept on the solid ground of the high bank 

 above the Eun; for, while the elder likes to 

 have water not far away, it stands on solid 

 ground by preference. 



The gathering of the glossy, dark bunches 

 and, later in the starlight, sitting on the friendly 

 porch plucking the berries from the stems, while 

 the family group is near, spinning yams and 

 retailing the day's doings before retiring to 

 resit, all come back to mind. And after that, 

 the peaceful slumber of the weary, for never is 

 sleep more perfect than after a day's outing: 

 picnicking, boating, nutting, elderberrying, in 

 the golden autumn sunshine among the woods 

 and swamps and streams which lie among the 

 hills of the terminal moraine in the Scioto basin. 



