SINCE AUTUMN HAS COME 257 



of the little hill long before Jack Frost comes, 

 Perhaps it's only when they're picked and taken in 

 the house that they live so long. 



I don't suppose either Philip or Francis have 

 seen any more fairies than I have ; yet it does seem 

 strange that they both should have heard stories 

 about mischievous evil ones. I used to think all 

 fairies were good and kind. 



Anyway no fairy could have had a spite against 

 Thistles. They bloom and fade just as they please, 

 and come up in the pasture wherever their seeds 

 have been sown by the wind. The bumblebees are 

 their best friends. 



I have found out lately that all Thistles are not 

 alike. In our meadow there are two kinds, and it 

 is quite easy to tell them apart. One has a thick 

 stem and its flower-heads are very large. It is 

 called Spear Thistle, or Common Burr Thistle. 

 The other one's flower-heads are smaller, and the 

 plant has many branches for them to grow on. 

 This last one besides is tall, and people call it 

 Roadside Thistle. This doesn't mean that it only 

 grows along the roadsides, but that there it has one 

 of its favorite places. 



Uncle Hiram's back meadows are so full of 

 Thistles that his cows must be quite miserable. 

 They can't eat their very prickly stems any more 

 than they like to eat Black-eyed Susans with the 

 grass-like hairs on their stalks. It's a good thing 

 for the Thistles, though, that they have these sharp 



