CONCERNING ASTERS 291 



Even Goldenrod is beginning to turn brown and 

 dead-looking, for last night there was a frost which 

 nipped off its look of gold. 



The Blue Aster, or Smooth Aster, as a large sky- 

 blue one is called, is still here with Starwort in 

 fields and along the roadsides, and it grows, too, 

 by the side of Old Adam in the wood. I think it 

 is very kind of the Blue Aster not to forget the 

 old rock, for since the cool, autumn days have 

 come the flowers have left it quite alone. Only 

 green things and a few berries are there now. 



Tommy and I have wondered if the rock feels 

 shivery and cold when winter comes. Of course 

 there will be no chestnut gathering or Christmas 

 for Old Adam : winter can only make it feel cold. 



By the road outside the wood where Old Adam 

 sits there are many Golden Asters. Their stems are 

 covered with long, silky hairs, and although they 

 are yellow as sunflowers they look very much like 

 all the other Asters. In their flower-heads there 

 are the same two kinds of flowers; long, narrow 

 ones around the edges, and others crowded to- 

 gether in the centers that are the shape of tubes. 

 These center parts of the Asters I have heard 

 Tommy call their disks. 



One day when I was looking at the Golden As- 

 ters, I heard the long grass rustling beside me, 

 and soon Peter came and slipped his head under 

 my hand. Nobody had petted him very much 

 lately. I talked to him for a long time, but al- 



