22 



AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



lawn, 'tis a place for archery; a spot, too, for box- 

 wood hedges and a sundial. Croquet, however, has 

 had its innings as the favorite outdoor amusement, and 



"wild flowers and ferns.' 



many a stiff game of quoits has been pitched across 

 the sward with horseshoes. 



Waxwings build their nests amid the cedar boughs 

 that brush the house; a bluebird yearly has its home in 

 the hollow limb of a dead sweet cherry; the little nests 

 of song sparrows are well concealed there among the 

 blaclcberries; and English sparrov/s chirp and twitter 

 about the eaves, and long straws from their nests hang 

 from the corners. In the days cardinals and robins 

 and many other beautifully colored birds come whis- 

 ling and fluting about it; toward nightfall swallows 

 dart and soar above, and bats flutter and girate to and 

 fro, while katydids rasp away in the maples, and the 

 crickets drone out in the fields; and later, in the dusky 

 places, the whip-poor-wills and screech owls cry, while 

 round about whispers the never-ending soughing of the 

 pines and spruces. 



