COLUMBINE'S GLORY 69 



Peter loves the woods best on such days and 

 climbs to the highest places with his master. 

 Sometimes they meet no one whom they know; 

 but Tommy doesn't mind that, for he talks as much 

 to flowers and to birds as he does to people. When 

 he came to see Grandmother in the afternoon he 

 told us about this long walk he and Peter had had, 

 and then said: 



" There's a bunk of Columbine not too high 

 nor too rough for you to reach; and it's there, if 

 anywhere, that you can see its full glory." 



Grandmother said she should like to see it 

 blooming at its best, and that there was no time 

 like the present. So we started. Tommy being 

 the guide. 



What we had not expected was that he would 

 take us into our own woods, for they are flat, with 

 only the Bloodroot Ridge and Old Adam for a 

 rock. About there now there are but a few Col- 

 umbines. 



We went on over the ridge, and soon Tommy 

 bent down and crawled under some bushes. He 

 held them up then for Grandmother to pass 

 through, and I slipped under next. 



Before this Tommy had shown me these bushes. 

 They were Maple-leaved Arrow-woods, and higher 

 than Grandmother's head. Besides, they were in 

 bloom. Very many of theit tiny white flowers grew 

 together in flat bunches, and the leaves had al- 

 most exactly the same look as those of a young 



