274 IN BERKSHIRE FIELDS 



way.) Then, seeing my face, he added, "I suppose 

 you think I ought to have left them?" 



There are moments when one regrets the inhibi- 

 tions of courtesy! 



I presume by now he has reshingled the ell, also. 

 Which naturally makes me think of the Poindexter 

 sisters. When the Poindexter sisters first moved 

 into the small cottage they bought on the one street 

 of the little village, they attracted the attention of 

 their neighbors by tugging pails of earth right into 

 the house from the garden, and then reappearing at 

 the second-story front windows, whence they pro- 

 ceeded to throw the dirt out upon the roof of the 

 porch. Naturally they were at once pronounced 

 "queer." But queerer, less understandable still, 

 were their subsequent actions. They went to the 

 woods for moss and wild flowers, and then, to the 

 complete amazement of the village, planted these 

 things on the shingles! The process was completed 

 by the acquisition of several Virginia creepers, set in 

 against the pillars below. 



The village thought something certainly should 

 be done about it, so the carpenter, a kindly man and 

 an authority, naturally, called to remonstrate, warn- 

 ing them that the dirt and moss would rot the roof. 



"Then we'll get you to build us a new one," the 

 Poindexter sisters assured him. "We've got to have 

 moss on our roof, and we just can't wait for a tree 

 to grow and shadow the house, and make the moss." 



"But what do you want moss on your roof for?" 

 the poor man asked. "It '11 make it leak." 



"We can put up umbrellas," the sisters replied. 

 "We must have moss!" 



