OLD ADAM'S GAIETY 83 



at the ends of the stems? They haven't what I 

 call a real flower look. I mean they're not beau- 

 tiful, delicate things which make you want to look 

 at them more than you do at the leaves. I've seen 

 some grasses that were just as pretty as these little 

 blossoms. 



" But the odd thing about them is that they're 

 of two sorts. Those that are the least pretty are 

 the girl flowers, and the ones that have so many 

 little yellow things standing out and holding the 

 golden dust are their mates, or the boy flowers." 



I asked Tommy next if there were anything 

 queer about the Early Meadow Rue's leaves. 



" Only that they are divided up into so many 

 round, little leaflets, with notches in their ends," 

 he answered. " They have a purple, pinched- 

 together look before they unfold. Sometimes I 

 have almost mistaken them for Columbine's leaves. 

 Then the plant is all about in the spring woods, 

 and when Rock Pink and Columbine blow we pass 

 it nearly every tramp we take. It's best to know 

 its name, and some time you might pick a sprig 

 of it to put in a bouquet, — that is if Herr Wilhelm 

 Fritz had only a few ferns and wouldn't let you 

 have them." 



To-morrow will be the last day of Sallie's visit. 

 We have not done nearly all the things we thought 

 we would, although the only one we much regret 

 is not having the picnic, and eating our luncheon 

 on Old Adam. But it has been raining hard, and 



