ABOUT BLOODROOTS 39 



saw yesterday wide open were tightly closed, like 

 buds. I had no idea when they might awake, so 

 I began passing from one to another, looking un- 

 der the closed heads to see if there were anything 

 like two thin, brown leaves. After a while I won- 

 dered if Tommy had not made a mistake. 



" It was lonely in the wood with only the Blood- 

 roots about me, and they fast asleep. Soon it 

 seemed to me as if they were awakening. The 

 sunshine had begun to slant In upon them. In- 

 deed they were opening. One was wide awake. 

 A green leaf that I watched appeared still a little 

 uncertain about opening very far to let the bud 

 come out, so I slipped my finger down through Its 

 top, and helped it along a little. The bud on the 

 straight stalk inside was snug and warm. And 

 something else I saw: the two mysterious little 

 leaves. They clasped the white bud like a brown 

 paper wrapping. Tommy was quite right. I 

 broke off the stalks close to the ground, and here 

 they are, just as I found them, the green leaf 

 wrapped around the bud, with its thin, brown 

 leaves underneath. My hands, after picking them, 

 were covered with a red and yellow stain." 



I took the Bloodroots from Sallle and put them 

 in a cool spot on the window-sill. 



" It seems as if I had been gone a long time 

 from the house," she said, " I am so hungry." 



" You will both be botanists when you grow 

 up," Grandmother said, as she laughed. " It will 



