CHAPTER XLIV 



CONCERNING ASTERS 



When Philip came home from New England 

 he noticed that Tommy had stopped talking about 

 flowers being related. This was because the Asters 

 had come. He said that any one could see they 

 all belonged to one great family and that he knew 

 it had about two hundred and fifty members. 

 *' Even if they were boys and girls," he said, " I 

 think it would take a long time to learn all their 

 names and what each one looks like. Perhaps we 

 shall never see them all, for some live only on 

 high mountain-peaks, while others can only be 

 found in the Far West, or in the North, and some 

 only grow by the seashore. These are the ones 

 that Sallie will see." 



The asters came into the meadows and by the 

 roadsides very quickly. It seemed to me there 

 were only a few of them one day, and then while 

 I slept, or forgot about looking at them, they 

 opened thousands and thousands of either purple 

 or white flowers. 



Tommy didn't talk about bunks either when the 

 Asters came. We never hunted for them — they 

 were everywhere. 



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