ETHEL MORTON'S ENTERPRISE

By

MABELL S. C. SMITH

CONTENTS

I HOW IT STARTEDII A SNOW MAN AND SEED CATALOGUESIII DOROTHY TELLS HER SECRETIV GARDENING ON PAPERV A DEFECT IN THE TITLEVI WILD FLOWERS FOR HELEN'S GARDENVII COLOR SCHEMESVIII CAVE LIFEIX "NOTHING BUT LEAVES"X THE U. S. C. AND THE COMMUNITYXI THE FLOWER FESTIVALXII ENOUGH TO GIVE AWAYXIII IN BUSINESSXIV UNCLE DAN'S RESEARCHESXV FUR AND FOSSILSXVI FAIRYLANDXVII THE MISSING HEIRESS

CHAPTER I

HOW IT STARTED

Ethel Morton, called from the color of her eyes Ethel "Blue" todistinguish her from her cousin, also Ethel Morton, whose brown eyesgave her the nickname of Ethel "Brown, " was looking out of the window atthe big, damp flakes of snow that whirled down as if in a hurry to coverthe dull January earth with a gay white carpet. 

"The giants are surely having a pillow fight this afternoon, " shelaughed. 

"In honor of your birthday, " returned her cousin. 

"The snowflakes are really as large as feathers, " added Dorothy Smith, another cousin, who had come over to spend the afternoon. 

All three cousins had birthdays in January. The Mortons alwayscelebrated the birthdays of every member of the family, but since therewere three in the same month they usually had one large party andnoticed the other days with less ceremony. This year Mrs. Emerson, EthelBrown's grandmother, had invited the whole United Service Club, to whichthe girls belonged, to go to New York on a day's expedition. They hadascended the Woolworth Tower, gone through the Natural History Museum, seen the historic Jumel Mansion, lunched at a large hotel and gone tothe Hippodrome. Everybody called it a perfectly splendid party, andEthel Blue and Dorothy were quite willing to consider it as a part oftheir own birthday observances. 

Next year it would be Dorothy's turn. This year her party had consistedmerely in taking her cousins on an automobile ride. A similar ride hadbeen planned for Ethel Blue's birthday, but the giants had plans oftheir own and the young people had had to give way to them. Dorothy hadcome over to spend the afternoon and dine with her cousins, however. Shelived just around the corner, so her mother was willing to let her go inspite of the gathering drifts, because Roger, Ethel Brown's olderbrother, would be able to take her home such a short distance, even ifhe had to shovel a path all the way. 

The snow was so beautiful that they had not wanted to do anything allthe afternoon but gaze at it. Dicky, Ethel Brown's little brother, whowas the "honorary member" of the U. S. C. , had come in wanting to beamused, and they had opened the window for an inch and brought in a fewof the huge flakes which grew into ferns and starry crystals under themagnifying glass that Mrs. Morton always kept on the desk. 

"Wouldn't it be fun if our eyeth could thee thingth like that!"exclaimed Dicky, and the girls agreed with him that it would add manymarvels to our already marvellous world. 

"As long as our eyes can't see the wee things I'm glad Aunt Mariontaught us to use this glass when we were little, " said Ethel Blue whohad been brought up with her cousins ever since she was a baby. 

"Mother says that when she and Uncle Roger and Uncle Richard, " saidDorothy, referring to Ethel Brown's and Ethel Blue's fathers, heruncles--"were all young at home together Grandfather Morton used to makethem examine some new thing every day and tell him about it. Sometimesit would be the materials a piece of clothing was made of, or the paperof a magazine or a flower--anything that came along. "

[Illustration: "It looked just as if it were a house with a lot ofrooms"]

"When I grow up, " said Ethel Blue, "I'm going to have a large microscopelike the one they have in the biology class in the high school. Helentook me to the class with her one day and the teacher let me lookthrough it. It was perfectly wonderful. There was a slice of the stem ofa small plant there and it looked just as if it were a house with a lotof rooms. Each room was a cell, Helen said. "

"A very suitable name, " commented Ethel Brown. 

"What are you people talking about?" asked Helen, who came in at thatinstant. 

"I was telling the girls about that time when I looked through the highschool microscope, " answered Ethel Blue. 

[Illustration: Single Cell]

[Illustration: Double Cell]

"You saw among other things, some cells in the very lowest form of life. A single cell is all there is to the lowest animal or vegetable. "

[Illustration: Multiple Cells]

"What do you mean by a single cell?"

"Just a tiny mass of jelly-like stuff that is called protoplasm. Thecells grow larger and divide until there are a lot of them. That's theway plants and animals grow. "

"If each is as small as those I saw under the microscope there must bebillions in me!" and Ethel Blue stretched her arms to their widestextent and threw her head upwards as far as her neck would allow. 

"I guess there are, young woman, " and Helen went off to hang her snowycoat where it would dry before she put it in the closet. 

"There'th a thnow flake that lookth like a plant!" cried Dicky who hadslipped open the window wide enough to capture an especially largefeather. 

"It really does!" exclaimed Ethel Blue, who was nearest to her littlecousin and caught a glimpse of the picture through the glass before thesnow melted. 

"Did it have 'root, stem and leaves'?" asked Dorothy. "That's what Ialways was taught made a plant--root, stem and leaves. Would Helen calla cell that you couldn't see a plant?"

"Yes, " came a faint answer from the hall. "If it's living and isn't ananimal it's a vegetable--though way down in the lower forms it's next toimpossible to tell one from the other. There isn't any rule that doesn'thave an exception. "

"I should think the biggest difference would be that animals eat plantsand plants eat--what do plants eat?" ended Dorothy lamely. 

"That is the biggest difference, " assented Helen. "Plants are fed bywater and mineral substances that come from the soil directly, whileanimals get the mineral stuff by way of the plants. "

"Father told us once about some plants that caught insects. They eatanimals. "

"And there are animals that eat both vegetables and animals, you and I, for instance. So you can't draw any sharp lines. "

"When a plant gets out of the cell stage and has a 'root, stem andleaves' then you know it's a plant if you don't before, " insistedDorothy, determined to make her knowledge useful. 

"Did any of you notice the bean I've been sprouting in my room?" askedHelen. 

"I'll get it, I'll get it!" shouted Dicky. 

"Trust Dicky not to let anything escape his notice!" laughed his bigsister. 

Dicky returned in a minute or two carrying very carefully a shallowearthenware dish from which some thick yellow-green tips were sprouting. 

"I soaked some peas and beans last week, " explained Helen, "and whenthey were tender I planted them. You see they're poking up their headsnow. "

[Illustration: Bean Plant]

"They don't look like real leaves, " commented Ethel Blue. 

"This first pair is really the two halves of the bean. They hold thefood for the little plant. They're so fat and pudgy that they never dolook like real leaves. In other plants where there isn't so much foodthey become quite like their later brothers. "

"Isn't it queer that whatever makes the plant grow knows enough to sendthe leaves up and the roots down, " said Dorothy thoughtfully. 

"That's the way the life principle works, " agreed Helen. "This otherlittle plant is a pea and I want you to see if you notice any differencebetween it and the bean. "

She pulled up the wee growth very delicately and they all bent over itas it lay in her hand. 

"It hathn't got fat leaveth, " cried Dicky. 

[Illustration: The Pea Plant]

"Good for Dicky, " exclaimed Helen. "He has beaten you girls. You see thefood in the pea is packed so tight that the pea gets discouraged abouttrying to send up those first leaves and gives it up as a bad job. Theystay underground and do their feeding from there. "

"A sort of cold storage arrangement, " smiled Ethel Brown. 

"After these peas are a little taller you'd find if you pulled them upthat the supply of food had all been used up. There will be nothing downthere but a husk. "

"What happens when this bean plant uses up all its food?"

"There's nothing left but a sort of skin that drops off. You can see howit works with the bean because that is done above the ground. "

"Won't it hurt those plants to pull them up this way?"

"It will set them back, but I planted a good many so as to be able topull them up at different ages and see how they looked. "

"You pulled that out so gently I don't believe it will be hurt much. "

"Probably it will take a day or two for it to catch up with itsneighbors. It will have to settle its roots again, you see. "

"What are you doing this planting for?" asked Dorothy. 

"For the class at school. We get all the different kinds of seeds wecan--the ones that are large enough to examine easily with only amagnifying glass like this one. Some we cut open and examine carefullyinside to see how the new leaves are to be fed, and then we plant othersand watch them grow. "

"I'd like to know why you never told me about that before?" demandedEthel Brown. "I'm going to get all the grains and fruits I can right offand plant them. Is all that stuff in a horse chestnut leaf-food?"

"The horse chestnut is a hungry one, isn't it?"

"I made some bulbs blossom by putting them in a tall glass in a darkplace and bringing them into the light when they had started to sprout, "said Ethel Blue, "but I think this is more fun. I'm going to plant some, too. "

"Grandmother Emerson always has beautiful bulbs. She has plenty in hergarden that she allows to stay there all winter, and they come up andare scrumptious very early in the Spring. Then she takes some of theminto the house and keeps them in the dark, and they blossom all throughthe cold weather. "

"Mother likes bulbs, too, " said Dorothy, "crocuses and hyacinths andChinese lilies--but I never cared much about them. Somehow the bulbitself looks too fat. I don't care much for fat things or people. "

"Don't think of it as fat; it's the food supply. "

"Well, I think they're greedy things, and I'm not going ever to botherwith them. I'll leave them to Mother, but I am really going to plant agarden this summer. I think it will be loads of fun. "

"We haven't much room for a garden here, " said Helen, "but we alwayshave some vegetables and a few flowers. "

"Why don't we have a fine one this summer, Helen?" demanded Ethel Brown. "You're learning a lot about the way plants grow, I should think you'dlike to grow them. "

"I believe I should if you girls would help me. There never has been anymember of the family who was interested, and I wasn't wild about itmyself, and I just never got started. "

"The truth is, " confessed Ethel Brown, "if we don't have a good gardenDorothy here will have something that will put ours entirely in theshade. "

The girls all laughed. They never had known Dorothy until the previoussummer. When she came to live in Rosemont in September they had learnedthat she was extremely energetic and that she never abandoned any planthat she attempted. The Ethels knew, therefore, that if Dorothy wasgoing to have a garden the next summer they'd better have a garden, too, or else they would see little of her. 

"If we both have gardens Dorothy will condescend to come and see oursonce in a while and we can exchange ideas and experiences, " continuedEthel Brown. 

"I'd love to have a garden, " said Ethel Blue. "Do you suppose Rogerwould be willing to dig it up for us?"

"Dig up what?" asked Roger, stamping into the house in time to hear hisname. 

The girls told him of their new plan. 

"I'll help all of you if you'll plant one flower that I like; plantenough of it so that I can pick a lot any time I want to. The troublewith the little garden we've had is that there weren't enough flowersfor more than the centrepiece in the dining-room. Whenever I wanted anyI always had to go and give a squint at the dining room table and thendo some calculation as to whether there could be a stalk or two leftafter Helen had cut enough for the next day. "

"And there generally weren't any!" sympathized Helen. 

"What flower is it you're so crazy over?" asked Ethel Blue. 

"Sweetpeas, my child. Never in all my life have I had enough sweetpeas. "

"I've had more than enough, " groaned Ethel Brown. "One summer I stayed afortnight with Grandmother Emerson and I picked the sweetpeas for herevery morning. She was very particular about having them picked becausethey blossom better if they're picked down every day. "

"It must have taken you an awfully long time; she always has rows androws of them, " said Helen. 

"I worked a whole hour in the sun every single day! If we have acres ofsweetpeas we'll all have to help Roger pick. "

"I'm willing to, " said Ethel Blue. "I'm like Roger, I think they'redarling; just like butterflies or something with wings. "

"We'll have to cast our professional eyes into the garden and decide onthe best place for the sweetpeas, " said Roger. "They have to be plantedearly, you know. If we plant them just anywhere they'll be sure to be inthe way of something that grows shorter so it will be hidden. "

"Or grows taller and is a color that fights with them. "

"It would be hard to find a color that wasn't matched by one sweetpea oranother. They seem to be of every combination under the sun. "

"It's queer, some of the combinations would be perfectly hideous in adress but they look all right in Nature's dress. "

"We'll send for some seedsmen's catalogues and order a lot. "

"I suppose you don't care what else goes into the garden?" asked Helen. 

"Ladies, I'll do all the digging you want, and plant any old thing youask me to, if you'll just let me have my sweetpeas, " repeated Roger. 

"A bargain, " cried all the girls. 

"I'll write for some seed catalogues this afternoon, " said Helen. "It'sso appropriate, when it's snowing like this!"

"'Take time by the fetlock, ' as one of the girls says in 'LittleWomen, '" laughed Roger. "If you'll cast your orbs out of the windowyou'll see that it has almost stopped. Come on out and make a snow man. "

Every one jumped at the idea, even Helen who laid aside her writinguntil the evening, and there was a great putting on of heavy coats andovershoes and mittens. 

CHAPTER II

A SNOW MAN AND SEED CATALOGUES

The snow was of just the right dampness to make snowballs, and a snowman, after all, is just a succession of snowballs, properly placed. Roger started the one to go at the base by rolling up a ball beside thehouse and then letting it roll down the bank toward the gate. 

"See it gather moss!" he cried. "It's just the opposite of a rollingstone, isn't it?"

When it stopped it was of goodly size and it was standing in the middleof the little front lawn. 

"It couldn't have chosen a better location, " commended Helen. 

"We need a statue in the front yard, " said Ethel Brown. 

"This will give a truly artistic air to the whole place, " agreed EthelBlue. 

"What's the next move?" asked Dorothy, who had not had much experiencein this kind of manufacture. 

"We start over here by the fence and roll another one, smaller thanthis, to serve as the body, " explained Roger. "Come on here and help me;this snow is so heavy it needs an extra pusher already. "

Dorothy lent her muscles to the task of pushing on the snow man's"torso, " as Ethel Blue, who knew something about drawing figures, calledit. The Ethels, meanwhile, were making the arms out of small snowballsplaced one against the next and slapped hard to make them stick. Helenwas rolling a ball for the head and Dicky had disappeared behind thehouse to hunt for a cane. 

"Heigho!" Roger called after him. "I saw an old clay pipe stuck behind abeam in the woodshed the other day. See if it's still there and bring italong. "

Dicky nodded and raised a mittened paw to indicate that he understoodhis instructions. 

It required the united efforts of Helen and Roger to set the gentleman'shead on his shoulders, and Helen ran in to the cellar to get some bitsof coal to make his eyes and mouth. 

"He hasn't any expression. Let me try to model a nose for the poorlamb!" begged Ethel Blue. "Stick on this arm, Roger, while I sculpturethese marble features. "

By dint of patting and punching and adding a long and narrow lump ofsnow, one side of the head looked enough different from the other towarrant calling it the face. To make the difference more marked Dorothybroke some straws from the covering of one of the rosebushes and createdhair with them. 

"Now nobody could mistake this being his speaking countenance, " decidedHelen, sticking two pieces of coal where eyes should be and adding athird for the mouth. Dicky had found the pipe and she thrust it abovehis lips. 

"Merely two-lips, not ruby lips, " commented Roger. "This is an originalfellow; he's 'not like other girls. '"

"This cane is going to hold up his right arm; I don't feel so certainabout the left, " remarked Ethel Brown anxiously. 

"Let it fall at his side. That's some natural, anyway. He's walking, yousee, swinging one arm and with the other on the top of his cane. "

"He'll take cold if he doesn't have something on his head. I'm nervousabout him, " and Dorothy bent a worried look at their creation. 

"Hullo, " cried a voice from beyond the gate. "He's bully. Just make hima cap out of this bandanna and he'll look like a Venetian gondolier. "

James Hancock and his sister, Margaret, the Glen Point members of theUnited Service Club, came through the gate, congratulated Ethel Blue onher birthday, and paid elaborate compliments to the sculptors of theGondolier. 

"That red hanky on his massive brow gives the touch of color he needed, "said Margaret. 

"We don't maintain that his features are 'faultily faultless, '" quotedRoger, "but we do insist that they're 'icily regular. '"

"Thanks to the size of the nose Ethel Blue stuck on they're not'splendidly null. '"

"No, there's no 'nullness' about that nose, " agreed James. "That's'some' nose!"

When they were all in the house and preparing for dinner Ethel Blueunwrapped the gift that Margaret had brought for her birthday. It was ashallow bowl of dull green pottery in which was growing a grove ofthick, shiny leaves. The plants were three or four inches tall andseemed to be in the pink of condition. 

"This is for the top of your Christmas desk, " Margaret explained. 

"It's perfectly beautiful, " exclaimed not only Ethel Blue but all theother girls, while Roger peered over their shoulders to see what it was. 

"I planted it myself, " said Margaret with considerable pride. "Each oneis a little grapefruit tree. "

"Grapefruit? What we have for breakfast? It grows like this?"

"Mother has some in a larger bowl and it is really lovely as acentrepiece on the dining room table. "

"Watch me save grapefruit seeds!" and Ethel Brown ran out of the room toleave an immediate request in the kitchen that no grapefruit seedsshould be thrown away when the fruit was being prepared for the table. 

"When Mr. Morton and I were in Florida last winter, " said Mrs. Morton, "they told us that it was not a great number of years ago thatgrapefruit was planted only because it was a handsome shrub on the lawn. The fruit never was eaten, but was thrown away after it fell from thetree. "

"Now nobody can get enough of it, " smiled Helen. 

"Mother has a receipt for grapefruit marmalade that is better than theEnglish orange marmalade that is made of both sweet and sour oranges, "said Dorothy. "Sometimes the sour oranges are hard to find in themarket, but grapefruit seems to have both flavors in itself. "

"Is it much work?" asked Margaret. 

"It isn't much work at any one time but it takes several days to get itdone. "

"Why?"

"First you have to cut up the fruit, peel and all, into tiny slivers. That's a rather long undertaking and it's hard unless you have a very, very sharp knife. "

"I've discovered that in preparing them for breakfast. "

"The fruit are of such different sizes that you have to weigh the resultof your paring. To every pound of cut-up fruit add a pint of water andlet it stand over night. In the morning pour off that water and fill thekettle again and let it boil until the toughest bit of skin is soft, andthen let it stand over night more. "

"It seems to do an awful lot of resting, " remarked Roger. 

"A sort of 'weary Willie, '" commented James. 

"When you're ready to go at it again, you weigh it once more and addfour times as many pounds of sugar as you have fruit. "

"You must have to make it in a wash-boiler!"

"Not quite as bad as that, but you'll be surprised to find how muchthree or four grapefruit will make. You boil this together until it isas thick as you like to have your marmalade. "

"I can recommend Aunt Louise's marmalade, " said Ethel Brown. "It's thevery best I ever tasted. She taught me to make these grapefruit chips, "and she handed about a bonbon dish laden with delicate strips of sugaredpeel. 

"Let's have this receipt, too, " begged Margaret, as Roger went to answerthe telephone. 

"You can squeeze out the juice and pulp and add a quart of water to acup of juice, sweeten it and make grapefruit-ade instead of lemonade fora variety. Then take the skins and cut out all the white inside part aswell as you can, leaving just the rind. "

"The next step must be to snip the rind into these long, narrowshavings. "

"It is, and you put them in cold water and let them come to a boil andboil twenty minutes. Then drain off all the water and add cold water anddo it again. "

"What's the idea of two boilings?" asked James. 

"I suppose it must be to take all the bitterness out of the skin at thesame time that it is getting soft. "

"Does this have to stand over night?"

"Yes, this sits and meditates all night. Then you put it on to boilagain in a syrup made of one cup of water and four cups of sugar, andboil it until the bits are all saturated with the sweetness. If you wantto eat them right off you roll them now in powdered sugar orconfectioner's sugar, but if you aren't in a hurry you put them into ajar and keep the air out and roll them just before you want to servethem. "

"They certainly are bully good, " remarked James, taking several morepieces. 

"That call was from Tom Watkins, " announced Roger, returning from thetelephone, and referring to a member of the United Service Club who, with his sister, Della, lived in New York. 

"O dear, they can't come!" prophesied Ethel Blue. 

"He says he has just been telephoning to the railroad and they say thatall the New Jersey trains are delayed and so Mrs. Watkins thought he'dbetter not try to bring Della out. She sends her love to you, EthelBlue, and her best wishes for your birthday and says she's got a presentfor you that is different from any plant you ever saw in aconservatory. "

"That's what Margaret's is, " laughed Ethel. "Isn't it queer you twogirls should give me growing things when we were talking about gardensthis afternoon and deciding to have one this summer. "

"One!" repeated Dorothy. "Don't forget mine. There'll be two. "

"If Aunt Louise should find a lot and start to build there'd beanother, " suggested Ethel Brown. 

"O, let's go into the gardening business, " cried Roger. "I've alreadyoffered to be the laboring man at the beck and call of these young womenall for the small reward of having all the sweetpeas I want to pick. "

"What we're afraid of is that he won't want to pick them, " laughed EthelBrown. "We're thinking of binding him to do a certain amount of pickingevery day. "

"Anyway, the Morton-Smith families are going to have gardens and Helenis going to write for seed catalogues this very night before she seeksher downy couch--she has vowed she will. "

"Mother has always had a successful garden, she'll be able to give youadvice, " offered Margaret. 

"We'll ask it from every one we know, I rather imagine, " and Dorothybeamed at the prospect of doing something that had been one of her greatdesires all her life. 

The little thicket of grapefruit trees served as the centrepiece ofEthel Blue's dinner table, and every one admired all over again itsglossy leaves and sturdy stems. 

"When spring comes we'll set them out in the garden and see whathappens, " promised Ethel Blue. 

"We have grapefruit salad to-night. You must have sent a wireless overto the kitchen, " Ethel Brown declared to Margaret. 

It was a delicious salad, the cubes of the grapefruit being mixed withcubes of apple and of celery, garnished with cherries and served oncrisp yellow-green lettuce leaves with French dressing. 

Ethel Blue always liked to see her Aunt Marion make French dressing atthe table, for her white hands moved swiftly and skilfully among theingredients. Mary brought her a bowl that had been chilled on ice. Intoit she poured four tablespoonfuls of olive oil, added a scant halfteaspoonful of salt with a dash of red pepper which she stirred untilthe salt was dissolved. To that combination she added one tablespoonfuleither of lemon juice or vinegar a drop at a time and stirringconstantly so that the oil might take up its sharper neighbor. 

Dorothy particularly approved her Aunt Marion's manner of putting hersalads together. To-night, for instance, she did not have the platesbrought in from the kitchen with the salad already upon them. 

"That always reminds me of a church fair, " she declared. 

She was willing to give herself the trouble of preparing the salad forher family and guests with her own hands. From a bowl of lettuce sheselected the choicest leaves for the plate before her; upon these sheplaced the fruit and celery mixture, dotted the top with a cherry andpoured the dressing over all. It was fascinating to watch her, andMargaret wished that her mother served salad that way. 

The Club was indeed incomplete without the Watkinses, but the membersnevertheless were sufficiently amused by several of the "Does"--thingsto do--that one or another suggested. First they did shadow drawings. The dining table proved to be the most convenient spot for that. Theyall sat around under the strong electric light. Each had a block ofrather heavy paper with a rough surface, and each was given a camel'shair brush, a bottle of ink, some water and a small saucer. From a vaseof flowers and leaves and ferns which Mrs. Morton contributed to thegame each selected what he wanted to draw. Then, holding his leaf sothat the light threw a sharp shadow upon his pad, he quickly painted theshadow with the ink, thinning it with water upon the saucer so that thefinished painting showed several shades of gray. 

"The beauty of this stunt is that a fellow who can't draw at all canturn out almost as good a masterpiece as Ethel Blue here, who has themakings of a real artist, " and James gazed at his production with everyevidence of satisfaction. 

As it happened none of them except Ethel Blue could draw at all well, sothat the next game had especial difficulties. 

"All there is to it is to draw something and let us guess what it is, "said Ethel Blue. 

"You haven't given all the rules, " corrected Roger. "Ethel Blue makestwo dots on a piece of paper--or a short line and a curve--anything shefeels like making. Then we copy them and draw something that willinclude those two marks and she sits up and 'ha-has' and guesses what itis. "

"I promise not to laugh, " said Ethel Blue. 

"Don't make any such rash promise, " urged Helen. "You might do yourselfan injury trying not to when you see mine. "

It was fortunate for Ethel Blue that she was released from the promise, for her guesses went wide of the mark. Ethel Brown made something thatshe guessed to be a hen, Roger called it a book, Dicky maintained firmlythat it was a portrait of himself. The rest gave it up, and they allneeded a long argument by the artist to believe that she had meant todraw a pair of candlesticks. 

"Somebody think of a game where Ethel Brown can do herself justice, "cried James, but no one seemed to have any inspiration, so they all wentto the fire, where they cracked nuts and told stories. 

"If you'll write those orders for the seed catalogues I'll post themto-night, " James suggested to Helen. 

"Oh, will you? Margaret and I will write them together. "

"What's the rush?" demanded Roger. "This is only January. "

"I know just how the girls feel, " sympathized James. "When I make up mymind to do a thing I want to begin right off, and the first step of thisnew scheme is to get the catalogues hereinbefore mentioned. "

"We can plan out our back yards any time, I should think, " said Dorothy. 

"Father says that somebody--was it Bacon, Margaret?--says that a man'snature runs always either to herbs or to weeds. Let's start ours runningto herbs in the first month of the year and perhaps by the time theherbs appear we'll catch up with them. "

CHAPTER III

DOROTHY TELLS HER SECRET

"How queer it is that when you're interested in something you keepseeing and hearing things connected with it!" exclaimed Ethel Blue abouta week after her birthday, when Della Watkins came out from town tobring her her belated birthday gift. 

The present proved to be a slender hillock covered with a silky greengrowth exquisite in texture and color. 

"What is it? What is it?" cried Ethel Blue. "We mentioned plants andgardens on my birthday and that very evening Margaret brought me thisgrapefruit jungle and now you've brought me this. Do tell me exactlywhat it is. "

"A cone, child. That's all. A Norway spruce cone. When it is dry itsscales are open. I filled them with grass seed and put the cone in asmall tumbler so that the lower end might be damp all the time. Thedampness makes the scales close and starts the seed to sprouting. Thishas been growing a few days and the cone is almost hidden. "

"It's one of the prettiest plants--would you call it a plant or agreenhouse?--I ever saw. Does it have to be a Norway spruce cone?"

"O, no. Only they have very regular scales that hold the seed well. Ibrought you out two more of them and some grass seed and canary seed soyou could try it for yourself. "

"You're a perfect duck, " and Ethel gave her friend a hug. "Now let meshow you what one of the girls at school gave Ethel Brown. "

She indicated a strange-looking brown object hanging before the window. 

"What in the world is it? It looks--yes, it looks like a sweet potato. "

"That's what it is--a sweet potato with one end cut off and a cage oftape to hold it. You see it's sprouting already, and they say that thevines hang down from it and it looks like a little green hangingbasket. "

"What's the object of cutting off the end?"

"Anna--that's Ethel Brown's friend--said that she scooped hers out justa little bit and put a few drops of water inside so that the sunshouldn't dry it too much. "

"I should think it would grow better in a dark place. Don't you know howIrish potatoes send out those white shoots when they're in the cellar?"

"She said she started hers in the cellar and then brought them into thelight. "

"Just like bulbs. "

"Exactly. Aunt Louise is having great luck with her bulbs now. She hadthem in the cellar and now she is bringing them out a pot at a time, soshe has something new coming forward every few days. "

"Dorothy doesn't care much for bulbs, but I think it's pretty good fun. You can make them blossom just about when you please by keeping them inthe dark or bringing them into the light. I'm going to ask Aunt Louiseto give me some of hers when they're finished flowering. She says youcan plant them out of doors and next year they'll bloom in the garden. "

"Mother has some this winter, too. I'll ask her for them after she'sthrough forcing them. "

"I like them in the garden, too--tulips and hyacinths and daffodils andnarcissus and, jonquils. They come so early and give you a feeling thatspring really has arrived. "

"You look as if spring had really arrived in the house here. If therewasn't a little bit of that snow man left in front I shouldn't know ithad snowed last week. How in the world did you get all these shrubs toblossom now? They don't seem to realize that it's only January. "

"That's another thing that's happened since my birthday. Margaret toldus about bringing branches of the spring shrubs into the house andmaking them come out in water, so we've been trying it. She sent overthose yellow bells, the Forsythia, and Roger brought in the pussywillows from the brook on the way to Mr. Emerson's. "

"This thorny red affair is the Japan quince, but I don't recognize theseothers. "

"That's because you're a city girl! You'll laugh when I tell you whatthey are. "

"They don't look like flowering shrubs to me. "

"They aren't. They're flowering trees; fruit trees!"

"O-o! That really is a peach blossom, then!"

"The deep pink is peach, and the delicate pink is apple and the white isplum. "

"They're perfectly dear. Tell me how you coaxed them out. Surely youdidn't just keep them in water in this room?"

"We put them in the sunniest window we had, not too near the glass, because it wouldn't do for them to run any chance of getting chilled. They stayed there as long as the sun did, and then we moved them toanother warm spot and we were very careful about them at night. "

"How often do you change the water?"

"Every two or three days; and once in a while we spray them to keep theupper part fresh--and there you are. It's _fun_ to watch them come out. Don't want to take some switches back to town with you?"

Della did. 

"They make me think of a scheme that my Aunt Rose is putting intooperation. She went round the world year before last, " she said, "andshe saw in Japan lots of plants growing in earthenware vases hangingagainst the wall or in a long bamboo cut so that small water bottlesmight be slipped in. She has some of the very prettiest wall decorationsnow--a queer looking greeny-brown pottery vase has two or three sprigsof English ivy. Another with orange tints has nasturtiums and anothertradescantia. "

"Are they growing in water?"

"The ivy and the tradescantia are, but the nasturtiums and a perfectlydarling morning glory have earth. She's growing bulbs in them, too, only she doesn't use plain water or earth, just bulb fibre. "

"What's that?"

"Why, bulbs are such fat creatures that they don't need the outside foodthey would get from earth; all they want is plenty of water. This fibrestuff holds enough water to keep them damp all the time, and it isn'tmessy in the house like dirt. "

"What are you girls talking about?" asked Dorothy, who came in withEthel Brown at this moment. 

Both of them were interested in the addition that Della had made totheir knowledge of flowers and gardening. 

"Every day I feel myself drawn into more and more gardening, " exclaimedDorothy. "I've set up a notebook already. "

"In January!" laughed Della. 

"January seems to be the time to do your thinking and planning; that'swhat the people who know tell me. "

"It seems to be the time for some action, " retorted Della, waving herhand at the blossoming branches about the room. 

"Aren't they wonderful? I always knew you could bring them out quicklyin the house after the buds were started out of doors, but these fellowsdidn't seem to be started at all--and look at them!"

"Mother says they've done so well because we've been careful to keepthem evenly warm, " said Ethel Brown. "Dorothy's got the finest piece ofnews to tell you. If she doesn't tell you pretty soon I shall come outwith it myself!"

"O, let her tell her own secret!" remonstrated Blue. "What is it?"

You know that sloping piece of ground about a quarter of a mile beyondthe Clarks' on the road to Mr. Emerson's?"

"You don't mean the field with the brook where Roger got the pussywillows?"

"This side of it. There's a lovely view across the meadows on the otherside of the road, and the land runs back to some rocks and big trees. "

"Certainly I know it, " assented Ethel Blue. "There's a hillock on itthat's the place I've chosen for a house when I grow up and build one. "

"Well, you can't have it because I've got there first!"

"What do you mean? Has Aunt Louise--?"

"She has. "

"How grand! How _grand_! You'll be farther away from us than you are nowbut it's a dear duck of a spot--"

"And it's right on the way to Grandfather Emerson's, " added Ethel Brown. 

"Mother signed the papers this morning and she's going to begin to buildas soon as the weather will allow. "

"With peach trees in blossom now that ought not to be far off, " laughedDella, waving her hand again at the blossoms that pleased her so much. 

"How large a house is she going to build?" asked Ethel Blue. 

"Not very big. Large enough for her and me and a guest or two and ofcourse Elisabeth and Miss Merriam, " referring to a Belgian baby who hadbeen brought to the United Service Club from war-stricken Belgium, andto her caretaker, a charming young woman from the School of Mothercraft. 

"Will it be made of concrete?"

"Yes, and Mother says we may all help a lot in making the plans and indeciding on the decoration and everything. "

"Isn't she the darling! It will be the next best thing to building ahouse yourself!"

"There will be a garage behind the house. "

"A garage! Is Aunt Louise going to set up a car?"

"Just a small one that she can drive herself. Back of the garage there'splenty of space for a garden and she says she'll turn that over to me. Ican do anything I want with it as long as I'll be sure to have enoughvegetables for the table and lots of flowers for the house. "

"O, my; O, my; what fun we'll have, " ejaculated Della, who knew thatDorothy could have no pleasure that she would not share equally with therest of the Club. 

"I came over now to see if you people didn't want to walk over there andsee it. "

"This minute?"

"This minute. "

"Of course we do--if Della doesn't have to take the train back yet?"

"Not for a long time. I'd take a later one anyway; I couldn't wait untilthe Saturday Club meeting to see it. "

"How did you know I'd suggest a walk there for the Saturday Clubmeeting?"

"Could you help it?" retorted Della, laughing. 

They timed themselves so that they might know just how far away fromthem Dorothy was going to be and they found that it was just about halfway to Grandfather Emerson's. As somebody from the Mortons' went thereevery day, and as the distance was, in reality, not long, they werereassured as to the Smiths being quite out in the country as the changehad seemed to them at first. 

"You won't be able to live in the house this summer, will you?" askedEthel Blue. 

"Not until late in the summer or perhaps even later than that. Mothersays she isn't in a hurry because she wants the work to be done well. "

"Then you won't plant the garden this year?"

"Indeed I shall. I'm going to plant the new garden and the garden wherewe are now. "

"Roger will strike on doing all the digging. "

"He'll have to have a helper on the new garden, but I'll plant hissweetpeas for him just the same. At the new place I'm going to have alarge garden. "

"Up here on the hill?"

The girls were climbing up the ascent that rose sharply from the road. 

"The house will perch on top of this little hill. Back of it, you see, on top of the ridge, it's quite flat and the garden will be there. I wastalking about it with Mr. Emerson this morning--"

"Oho, you've called Grandfather into consultation already!"

"He's going to be our nearest neighbor on that side. He said that aridge like this was one of the best places for planting because it hasseveral exposures to the sun and you can find a spot to suit the fancyof about every plant there is. "

"Your garden will be cut off from the house by the garage. Shall youhave another nearer the road?"

"Next summer there will have to be planting of trees and shrubs andvines around the house but this year I shall attend to the one up herein the field. "

"Brrrr! It looks bleak enough now, " shivered Ethel Blue. 

"Let's go up in those woods and see what's there. "

"Has Aunt Louise bought them?"

"No, but she wants to. They don't belong to the same man who owned thispiece of land. They belong to the Clarks. She's going to see about itright off, because it looks so attractive and rocky and woodsy. "

"You'd have the brook, too. "

"I hope she'll be able to get it. Of course just this piece is awfullypretty, and this is the only place for a house, but the meadow with thebrook and the rocks and the woods at the back would be too lovely forwords. Why, you'd feel as if you had an estate. "

The girls laughed at Dorothy's enthusiasm over the small number of acresthat were included even in the combined lots of land, but they agreedwith her that the additional land offered a variety that was worthworking hard to obtain. 

They made their way up the slope and among the jumble of rocks thatlooked as if giants had been tossing them about in sport. Small treesgrew from between them as they lay heaped in disorder and taller growthsstretched skyward from an occasional open space. The brook began in aspring that bubbled clear and cold, from under a slab of rock. Roundabout it all was covered with moss, still green, though frozen stiff bythe snowstorm's chilly blasts. Shrivelled ferns bending over its mouthpromised summer beauties. 

"What a lovely spot!" cried Ethel Blue. "This is where fairies and woodnymphs live when that drift melts. Don't you know this must be a greatgathering place for birds? Can't you see them now dipping their beaksinto the water and cocking their heads up at the sky afterwards!" andshe quoted:--

 "Dip, birds, dip Where the ferns lean over, And their crinkled edges drip, Haunt and hover. "

"Here's the best place yet!" called Dorothy, who had pushed on and wasnow out of sight. 

"Where are you?"

"Here. See if you can find me, " came a muffled answer. 

"Where do you suppose she went to?" asked Ethel Brown, as they all threestraightened themselves, yet saw no sign of Dorothy. 

"I hope she hasn't fallen down a precipice and been killed!" said EthelBlue, whose imagination sometimes ran away with her. 

"More likely she has twisted her ankle, " practical Ethel Brown. 

"She wouldn't sound as gay as that if anything had happened to her, "Della reminded them. 

The cries that kept reaching them were unquestionably cheerful but wherethey came from was a problem that they did not seem able to solve. Itwas only when Dorothy poked out her head from behind a rock almost infront of them that they saw the entrance of what looked like a realcave. 

"It's the best imitation of a cave I ever did see!" the explorerexclaimed. "These rocks have tumbled into just the right position tomake the very best house! Come in. "

Her guests were eager to accept her invitation. There was space enoughfor all of them and two or three more might easily be accommodatedwithin, while a bit of smooth grass outside the entrance almost addedanother room, "if you aren't particular about a roof, " as Ethel Brownsaid. 

"Do you suppose Roger has never found this!" wondered Dorothy. "See, there's room enough for a fireplace with a chimney. You could cook here. You could sleep here. You could _live_ here!"

The others laughed at her enthusiasm, but they themselves were just asenthusiastic. The possibilities of spending whole days here in the shadeand cool of the trees and rocks and of imagining that they were in thehighlands of Scotland left them almost gasping. 

"Don't you remember when Fitz-James first sees Ellen in the 'Lady ofthe Lake'?" asked Ethel Blue. 

"He was separated from his men and found himself in a rocky glenoverlooking a lake. The rocks were bigger than these but we can pretendthey were just the same, " and she recited a few lines from a poem whosestory they all knew and loved. 

 "But not a setting beam could glow Within the dark ravines below, Where twined the path in shadow hid, Round many a rocky pyramid. "

"I remember; he looked at the view a long time and then he blew his hornagain to see if he could make any of his men hear him, and Ellen camegliding around a point of land in a skiff. She thought it was her fathercalling her. "

"And the stranger went home to their lodge and fell in love with her--O, it's awfully romantic. I must read it again, " and Dorothy gazed at therocks around her as if she were really in Scotland. 

"Has anybody a knife?" asked Della's clear voice, bringing them allsharply back to America and Rosemont. "My aunt--the one who has thehanging flowerpots I was telling you about--isn't a bit well and Ithought I'd make her a little fernery that she could look at as she liesin bed. "

"But the ferns are all dried up. "

"'Greenery' is a better name. Here's a scrap of partridge berry with ared berry still clinging to it, and here's a bit of moss as green as itwas in summer, and here--yes, it's alive, it really is!" and she held upin triumph a tiny fern that had been so sheltered under the edge of aboulder that it had kept fresh and happy. 

There was nothing more to reward their search, for they all hunted withDella, but she was not discouraged. 

"I only want a handful of growing things, " she explained. "I put thesein a finger bowl, and sprinkle a few seeds of grass or canary seed onthe moss and dash some water on it from the tips of my fingers. Anotherfinger bowl upside down makes the cover. The sick person can see what isgoing on inside right through the glass without having to raise herhead. "

"How often do you water it?"

"Only once or twice a week, because the moisture collects on the upperglass of the little greenhouse and falls down again on the plants andkeeps them, wet. "

"We'll keep our eyes open every time we come here, " promised Dorothy. "There's no reason why you couldn't add a little root of this or thatany time you want to. "

[Illustration: Partridge Berry]

"I know Aunty will be delighted with it, " cried Della, much pleased. "She likes all plants, but especially things that are a little bitdifferent. That's why she spends so much time selecting her wallvases--so that they shall be unlike other people's. "

"Fitz-James's woods, " as they already called the bit of forest thatDorothy hoped to have possession of, extended back from the road andspread until it joined Grandfather Emerson's woods on one side and whatwas called by the Rosemonters "the West Woods" on the other. The girlswalked home by a path that took them into Rosemont not far from thestation where Della was to take the train. 

"Until you notice what there really is in the woods in winter you thinkthere isn't anything worth looking at, " said Ethel Blue, walking alongwith her eyes in the tree crowns. 

"The shapes of the different trees are as distinct now as they are insummer, " declared Ethel Brown. "You'd know that one was an oak, and theone next to it a beech, wouldn't you?"

"I don't know whether I would or not, " confessed Dorothy honestly, "butI can almost always tell a tree by its bark. "

"I can tell a chestnut by its bark nowadays, " asserted Ethel Blue, "because it hasn't any!"

"What on earth do you mean?" inquired city-bred Della. 

"Something or other has killed all the chestnuts in this part of theworld in the last two or three years. Don't you see all these dead treesstanding with bare trunks?"

"Poor old things! Is it going to last?"

"It spread up the Hudson and east and west in New York andMassachusetts, and south into Pennsylvania. "

"Roger was telling Grandfather a few days ago that a farmer was tellinghim that he thought the trouble--the pest or the blight or whatever itwas--had been stopped. "

"I remember now seeing a lot of dead trees somewhere when one ofFather's parishioners took us motoring in the autumn. I didn't know thechestnut crop was threatened. "

"Chestnuts weren't any more expensive this year. They must have importedthem from far-off states. "

There were still pools of water in the wood path, left by the meltingsnow, and the grass that they touched seemed a trifle greener than thatbeside the narrow road. Once in a while a bit of vivid green betrayed aplant that had found shelter under an overhanging stone. The leaves werefor the most part dry enough again to rustle under their feet. Evergreens stood out sharply dark against the leafless trees. 

"What are the trees that still have a few leaves left clinging to them?"asked Della. 

"Oaks. Do you know why the leaves stay on?"

"Is it a story?"

"Yes, a pleasant story. Once the Great Evil Spirit threatened to destroythe whole world. The trees heard the threat and the oak tree begged himnot to do anything so wicked. He insisted but at last he agreed not todo it until the last leaf had fallen in the autumn. All the trees meantto hold On to their leaves so as to ward off the awful disaster, but oneafter the other they let them go--all except the oak. The oak never yethas let fall every one of its leaves and so the Evil Spirit never hashad a chance to put his threat into execution. "

"That's a lesson in success, isn't it? Stick to whatever it is you wantto do and you're sure to succeed. "

"Watch me make my garden succeed, " cried Dorothy. "If 'sticking' willmake it a success I'm a stick!"

CHAPTER IV

GARDENING ON PAPER

When Saturday came and the United Service Club tramped over Dorothy'snew domain, including the domain that she hoped to have but was not yetsure of, every member agreed that the prospect was one that gavesatisfaction to the Club as well as the possibility of pleasure andcomfort to Mrs. Smith and Dorothy. The knoll they hailed as the exactspot where a house should go; the ridge behind it as precisely suited tothe needs of a garden. 

As to the region of the meadow and the brook and the rocks and the treesthey all hoped most earnestly that Mrs. Smith would be able to buy it, for they foresaw that it would provide much amusement for all of themduring the coming summer and many to follow. 

Strangely enough Roger had never found the cave, and he looked on itwith yearning. 

"Why in the world didn't I know of that three or four years ago!" heexclaimed. "I should have lived out here all summer!"

"That's what we'd like to do, " replied the Ethels earnestly. "We'll letyou come whenever you want to. "

Roger gave a sniff, but the girls knew from his longing gaze that he wasquite as eager as they to fit it up for a day camp even if he wasnearly eighteen and going to college next autumn. 

When the exploring tour was over they gathered in their usual meetingplace--Dorothy's attic--and discussed the gardens which had taken sofirm a hold on the girls' imaginations. 

"There'll be a small garden in our back yard as usual, " said Roger in atone that admitted of no dispute. 

"And a small one in Dorothy's present back yard and a LARGE one on MissSmith's farm, " added Tom, who had confirmed with his own eyes theglowing tales that Della had brought home to him. 

"I suppose we may all have a chance at all of these institutions?"demanded James. 

"Your mother may have something to say about your attentions to your owngarden, " suggested Helen pointedly. 

"I won't slight it, but I've really got to have a finger in this pie ifall of you are going to work at it!"

"Well, you shall. Calm yourself, " and Roger patted him with a soothinghand. "You may do all the digging I promised the girls I'd do. "

A howl of laughter at James's expense made the attic ring. 

James appeared quite undisturbed. 

"I'm ready to do my share, " he insisted placidly. "Why don't we makeplans of the gardens now?"

"Methodical old James always has a good idea, " commended Tom. "Is thereany brown paper around these precincts, Dorothy?"

"Must it be brown?"

"Any color, but big sheets. "

"I see. There is plenty, " and she spread it on the table where James haddone so much pasting when they were making boxes in which to pack theirpresents for the war orphans. 

"Now, then, Roger, the first thing for us to do is to see--"

"With our mind's eye, Horatio?"

"--how these gardens are going to look. Take your pencil in hand anddraw us a sketch of your backyard as it is now, old man. "

"That's easy, " commented Roger. "Here are the kitchen steps; and here isthe drying green, and back of that is the vegetable garden and around itflower beds and more over here next the fence. "

"It's rather messy looking as it is, " commented Ethel Brown. "We neverhave changed it from the way the previous tenant laid it out. "

"The drying green isn't half large enough for the washing for our bigfamily, " added Helen appraisingly. "Mary is always lamenting that shecan hang out only a few lines-ful at a time. "

"Why don't you give her this space behind the green and limit yourflower beds to the fence line?" asked Tom, looking over Roger's shoulderas he drew in the present arrangement with some attention to thecomparative sizes. 

"That would mean cutting out some of the present beds. "

"It would, but you'll have a share in Dorothy's new garden in case Mrs. Morton needs more flowers for the house; and the arrangement I suggestmakes the yard look much more shipshape. "

"If we sod down these beds here what will Roger do for his sweetpeas?They ought to have the sun on both sides; the fence line wouldn't be thebest place for them. "

"Sweetpeas ought to be planted on chicken wire supported by stakes andrunning from east to west, " said Margaret wisely, "but under thecircumstances, I don't see why you couldn't fence in the vegetablegarden with sweetpeas. That would give you two east and west lines ofthem and two north and south. "

"And there would be space for all the blossoms that Roger would want topick on a summer's day, " laughed Della. 

"I've always wanted to have a garden of all pink flowers, " announcedDorothy. "My room in the new house is going to be pink and I'd like tokeep pink powers in it all the time. "

"I've always wanted to do that, too. Let's try one here, " urged EthelBrown, nodding earnestly at Ethel Blue. 

"I don't see why we couldn't have a pink bed and a blue bed and a yellowbed, " returned Ethel Blue whose inner eye saw the plants already wellgrown and blossoming. 

"A wild flower bed is what I'd like, " contributed Helen. 

"We mustn't forget to leave a space for Dicky, " suggested Roger. 

"I want the garden I had latht year, " insisted a decisive voice thatpreceded the tramp of determined feet over the attic stairs. 

"Where was it, son? I've forgotten. "

"In a corner of your vegetable garden. Don't you remember my radithethwere ripe before yourth were? Mother gave me a prithe for the firthtvegetableth out of the garden. "

"So she did. You beat me to it. Well, you may have the same corneragain. "

"We ought to have some tall plants, hollyhocks or something like that, to cover the back fence, " said Ethel Brown. 

"What do you say if we divide the border along the fence into four partsand have a wild garden and pink and yellow and blue beds? Then we cantransplant any plants we have now that ought to go in some other colorbed, and we can have the tall plants at the back of the right colors tomatch the bed in front of them?"

"There can be pink hollyhocks at the back of the pink bed and we alreadyhave pinks and bleeding heart and a pink peony. We've got a good startat a pink bed already, " beamed Ethel Brown. 

"We can put golden glow or that tall yellow snapdragon at the back ofthe yellow bed and tall larkspurs behind the blue flowers. "

"The Miss Clarks have a pretty border of dwarf ageratum--that bunchy, fuzzy blue flower. Let's have that for the border of our blue bed. "

"I remember it; it's as pretty as pretty. They have a dwarf marigoldthat we could use for the yellow border. "

"Or dwarf yellow nasturtiums. "

"Or yellow pansies. "

"We had a yellow stock last summer that was pretty and blossomedforever; nothing seemed to stop it but the 'chill blasts of winter. '"

"Even the short stocks are too tall for a really flat border that wouldmatch the others. We must have some 'ten week stocks' in the yellowborder, though. "

"Whatever we plant for the summer yellow border we must have the yellowspring bulbs right behind it--jonquils and daffodils and yellow tulipsand crocuses. "

"They're all together now. All we'll have to do will be to select thespot for our yellow bed. "

"That's settled then. Mark it on this plan. "

Roger held it out to Ethel Brown, who found the right place andindicated the probable length of the yellow bed upon it. 

"We'll have the wild garden on one side of the yellow bed and the blueon the other and the pink next the blue, " decreed Ethel Blue. 

"We haven't decided on the pink border, " Dorothy reminded them. 

"There's a dwarf pink candytuft that couldn't be beaten for thepurpose, " said James decisively. "Mother and I planted some last year tosee what it was like and it proved to be exactly what you want here. "

"I know what I'd like to have for the wild border--either wild ginger orhepatica, " announced Helen after some thought. 

"I don't know either of them, " confessed Tom. 

"You will after you've tramped the Rosemont woods with the U. S. C. Allthis spring, " promised Ethel Brown. "They have leaves that aren't unlikein shape--"

"The ginger is heart-shaped, " interposed Ethel Blue, "and the hepaticais supposed to be liver-shaped. "

"You have to know some physiology to recognize them, " said Jamesgravely. "There's where a doctor's son has the advantage, " and he pattedhis chest. 

"Their leaves seem much too juicy to be evergreen, but the hepatica doesstay green all winter. "

[Illustration: Wild Ginger]

"The ginger would make the better edging, " Helen decided, "because theleaves lie closer to the ground. "

"What are the blossoms?"

"The ginger has such a wee flower hiding under the leaves that itdoesn't count, but the hepatica has a beautiful little blue or purpleflower at the top of a hairy scape. "

"A hairy what?" laughed Roger. 

"A scape is a stem that grows up right from the or root-stock andcarries only a flower--not any leaves, " defined Helen. 

"That's a new one on me. I always thought a stem was a stem, whatever itcarried, " said Roger. 

[Illustration: Hepatica]

"And a scape was a 'grace' or a 'goat' according to its activities, "concluded Tom. 

"The hepatica would make a border that you wouldn't have to renew allthe time, " contributed Dorothy, who had been thinking so deeply that shehad not heard a word of this interchange, and looked up, wondering whyevery one was laughing. 

"Dorothy keeps her eye on the ball, " complimented James. "Have wedecided on the background flowers for the wild bed?"

"Joe-Pye-Weed is tall enough, " offered James. "It's way up over myhead. "

"It wouldn't cover the fence much; the blossom is handsome but thefoliage is scanty. "

"There's a feathery meadow-rue that is tall. The leaves are delicate. "

"I know it; it has a fine white blossom and it grows in damp places. That will be just right. Aren't you going to have trouble with thesewild plants that like different kinds of ground?"

"Perhaps we are, " Helen admitted. "Our garden is 'middling' dry, but wecan keep the wet lovers moist by watering them more generously than therest. "

"How about the watering systems of all these gardens, anyway? You havetown water here and at Dorothy's, but how about the new place?"

"The town water runs out as far as Mr. Emerson's, luckily for us, andMother says she'll have the connection made as soon as the frost is outof the ground so the builders may have all they want for their work andI can have all I need for the garden there. "

"If you get that next field with the brook and you want to plantanything there you'll have to dig some ditches for drainage. "

"I think I'll keep up on the ridge that's drained by nature. "

"That's settled, then. We can't do much planning about the new gardenuntil we go out in a body and make our decisions on the spot, " saidMargaret. "We'll have to put in vegetables and flowers where they'drather grow. "

"That's what we're trying to do here, only it's on a small scale, "Roger reminded her. "Our whole garden is about a twentieth of the newone. "

"I shouldn't wonder if we had to have some expert help with that, "guessed James, who had gardened enough at Glen Point not to be ashamedto confess ignorance now and then. 

"Mr. Emerson has promised to talk it all over with me, " said Dorothy. 

"Let's see what there is at Dorothy's present abode, then, " said Rogergayly, and he took another sheet of brown paper and began to place on itthe position of the house and the existing borders. "Do I understand, madam, that you're going to have a pink border here?"

"I am, " replied his cousin firmly, "both here and at the new place. "

"Life will take on a rosy hue for these young people if they can makeit, " commented Della. "Pink flowers, a pink room--is there anything elsepink?"

"The name. Mother and I have decided on 'Sweetbrier Lodge. ' Don't youthink it's pretty?"

"Dandy, " approved Roger concisely, as he continued to draw. "Do you wantto change any of the beds that were here last summer?" he asked. 

"Mother said she liked their positions very well. This long, narrow onein front of the house is to be the pink one. I've got pink tulip bulbsin the ground now and there are some pink flowering shrubs--weigelia andflowering almond--already there against the lattice of the veranda. I'mgoing to work out a list of plants that will keep a pink bed blossomingall summer and we can use it in three places, " and she nodded dreamilyto her cousins. 

"We'll do that, but I think it would be fun if each one of us tried outa new plant of some kind. Then we can find out which are most suitablefor our needs next year. We can report on them to the Club when theycome into bloom. It will save a lot of trouble if we tell what we'vefound out about what some plant likes in the way of soil and positionand water and whether it is best to cut it back or to let it bloom allit wants to, and so on. "

"That's a good idea. I hope Secretary Ethel Blue is taking notes of allthese suggestions, " remarked Helen, who was the president of the Club. 

Ethel Blue said she was, and Roger complimented her faithfulness interms of extravagant absurdity. 

"Your present lot of land has the best looking fencing in Rosemont, tomy way of thinking, " approved Tom. 

"What is it? I hardly remember myself, " said Dorothy thoughtfully. 

"Why, across the front there's a privet hedge, clipped low enough foryour pink garden to be seen over it; and separating you from the Clarks'is a row of tall, thick hydrangea bushes that are beauties as long asthere are any leaves on them; and at the back there is osage orange toshut out that old dump; and on the other side is a row of small bluespruces. "

"That's quite a showing of hedges all in one yard. " exclaimed Ethel Blueadmiringly. "And I never noticed them at all!"

"At the new place Mother wants to try a barberry hedge. It doesn't growregularly, but each bush is handsome in itself because the branchesdroop gracefully, and the leaves are a good green and the clusters ofred berries are striking. "

"The leaves turn red in the autumn and the whole effect is stunning, "contributed Della. "I saw one once in New England. They aren't usualabout here, and I should think it would be a beauty. "

"You can let it grow as tall as you like, " said James. "Your house isgoing to be above it on the knoll and look right over it, so you don'tneed a low hedge or even a clipped one. "

"At the side and anywhere else where she thinks there ought to be a realfence she's going to put honey locust. "

They all laughed. 

"That spiny affair _will_ be discouraging to visitors!" Helen exclaimed. "Why don't you try hedges of gooseberries and currants and raspberriesand blackberries around your garden?"

"That would be killing two birds with one stone, wouldn't it!"

"You'll have a real problem in landscape gardening over there, " saidMargaret. 

"The architect of the house will help on that. That is, he and Motherwill decide exactly where the house is to be placed and how the drivewayis to run. "

"There ought to be some shrubs climbing up the knoll, " advised EthelBrown. "They'll look well below the house and they'll keep the bank fromwashing. I noticed this afternoon that the rains had been rather hardon it. "

"There are a lot of lovely shrubs you can put in just as soon as you'resure the workmen won't tramp them all down, " cried Ethel Blue eagerly. "That's one thing I do know about because I went with Aunt Marion lastyear when she ordered some new bushes for our front yard. "

"Recite your lesson, kid, " commanded Roger briefly. 

"There is the weigelia that Dorothy has in front of this house; andforsythia--we forced its yellow blossoms last week, you know; and theflowering almond--that has whitey-pinky-buttony blossoms. "

They laughed at Ethel's description, but they listened attentively whileshe described the spiky white blossoms of deutzia and the winding whitebands of the spiraea--bridal wreath. 

"I can see that bank with those white shrubs all in blossom, leaningtoward the road and beckoning you in, " Ethel ended enthusiastically. 

"I seem to see them myself, " remarked Tom, "and Dorothy can be sure thatthey won't beckon in vain. "

"You'll all be as welcome as daylight, " cried Dorothy. 

"I hate to say anything that sounds like putting a damper on thisoutburst of imagination that Ethel Blue has just treated us to, but I'dlike to inquire of Miss Smith whether she has any gardening tools, " saidRoger, bringing them all to the ground with a bump. 

"Miss Smith hasn't one, " returned Dorothy, laughing. "You forget thatwe only moved in here last September and there hasn't been need for anythat we couldn't borrow of you. "

[Illustration: Gardening Tools]

"You're perfectly welcome to them, " answered Roger, "but if we're allgoing to do the gardening act there'll be a scarcity if we don't add tothe number. "

"What do we need?"

"A rake and a hoe and a claw and a trowel and a spade and a heavy linewith some pegs to do marking with. "

"We've found that it's a comfort to your back to have another clawmounted on the end of a handle as long as a hoe, " contributed Margaret. 

"Two claws, " Dorothy amended her list, isn't many. "

"And a lot of dibbles. "

"Dibbles!"

"Short flat sticks whittled to a point. You use them when you'rechanging little plants from the to the hot bed or the hot bed to thegarden. "

"Mother and I ought to have one set of tools here and one set atSweetbrier Lodge, " decided Dorothy. 

"We keep ours in the shed. I'm going to whitewash the corner where theybelong and make it look as fine as a fiddle before the time comes to usethem. "

"We have a shed here where we can keep them but at Sweetbrier thereisn't anything, " and Dorothy's mouth dropped anxiously. 

"We can build you a tool house, " Tom was offering when James interruptedhim. 

"If we can get a piano box there's your toolhouse all made, " hesuggested. "Cover it with tar paper so the rain won't come in, and hangthe front on hinges with a hasp and staple and padlock, and what betterwould you want?"

"Nothing, " answered Ethel Brown, seriously. Ethel Blue noted it down inher book and Roger promised to visit the local piano man and see what hecould find. 

"We haven't finished deciding how we shall plant Dorothy's yard behindthis house, " Margaret reminded them. 

"We shan't attempt a vegetable garden here, " Dorothy said. "We'll startone at the other place so that the soil will be in good condition nextyear. We'll have a man to do the heavy work of the two places, he canbring over every morning whatever vegetables are ready for the day'suse. "

"You want more flowers in this yard, then?"

"You'll laugh at what I want!"

"Don't you forget what you promithed me, " piped up Dicky. 

"That's what I was going to tell them now. I've promised Dicky to planta lot of sunflowers for his hens. He says Roger never has had space toplant enough for him. "

"True enough. Give him a big bed of them so he can have all the seeds hewants. "

"I'd like to have a wide strip across the back of the whole place, rightin front of the osage orange hedge. They'll cover the lower part that'srather scraggly--then everywhere else I want nasturtiums, climbing anddwarf and every color under the sun. "

"That's a good choice for your yard because it's awfully stony andnasturtiums don't mind a little thing like that. "

"Then I want gourds over the trellis at the back door. "

"Gourds!"

"I saw them so much in the South that I want to try them. There's oneshape that makes a splendid dipper when it's dried and you cut a hole init; and there's another kind just the size of a hen's egg that I wantfor nest eggs for Dickey's hens; and there's the loofa full of fibrethat you can use for a bath sponge; and there's a pear-shaped onestriped green and yellow that Mother likes for a darning ball; andthere's a sweet smelling one that is as fragrant as possible in yourhandkerchief case. There are some as big as buckets and some like baseball bats, but I don't care for those. "

"What a collection, " applauded Ethel Brown. 

"Beside that my idea of Japanese morning glories and a hop vine for ourkitchen regions has no value at all, " smiled Helen. 

"I'm going to have hops wherever the vines can find a place to climb atSweetbrier, " Dorothy determined. "I love a hop vine, and it grows onforever. "

"James and I seem to be in the same condition. If we don't start homewe'll go on talking forever, " Margaret complained humorously. 

"There's to be hot chocolate for us down stairs at half past four, " saidDorothy, jumping up and looking at a clock that was tickingindustriously on a shelf. "Let's go down and get it, and we'll askMother to sing the funny old song of 'The Four Seasons' for us. "

"Why is it funny?" asked Ethel Blue. 

"It's a very old English song with queer spelling. "

"Something like mine?" demanded Della. 

Ethel Blue kissed her. 

"Never mind; Shakspere spelled his name in several different ways, " shesaid encouragingly, "Anyway, we can't tell how this is spelled when AuntLouise sings it. "

As they sat about the fire in the twilight drinking their chocolate andeating sandwiches made of nuts ground fine, mixed with mayonnaise andput on a crisp lettuce leaf between slices of whole wheat bread, Mrs. Smith sang the old English song to them. 

 "Springe is ycomen in, Dappled lark singe; Snow melteth, Runnell pelteth, Smelleth winde of newe buddinge. 

 "Summer is ycomen in, Loude singe cucku; Groweth seede, Bloweth meade, And springeth the weede newe. 

 "Autumne is ycomen in, Ceres filleth horne; Reaper swinketh, Farmer drinketh, Creaketh waine with newe corn. 

 "Winter is ycomen in, With stormy sadde cheere; In the paddocke, Whistle ruddock, Brighte sparke in the dead yeare. "

"That's a good stanza to end with, " said Ethel Blue, as she bade heraunt "Good-bye. " "We've been talking about gardens and plants andflowers all the afternoon, and it would have seemed queer to put on aheavy coat to go home in if you hadn't said 'Winter is ycomen in. '"

CHAPTER V

A DEFECT IN THE TITLE

In spite of their having made such an early start in talking aboutgardens the members of the United Service Club did not weary of the ideaor cease to plan for what they were going to do. The only drawback thatthey found in gardening as a Club activity was that the gardens were forthemselves and their families and they did not see exactly how there wasany "service" in them. 

"I'll trust you youngsters to do some good work for somebody inconnection with them, " asserted Grandfather Emerson one day when Rogerhad been talking over with him his pet plan for remodelling the oldEmerson farmhouse into a place suitable for the summer shelter of poorwomen and children from the city who needed country air and relief fromhunger and anxiety. 

"We aren't rushing anything now, " Roger had explained, "because we boysare all going to graduate this June and we have our examinations tothink about. They must come first with us. But later on we'll be readyfor work of some sort and we haven't anything on the carpet except ourgardens. "

"There are many good works to be done with the help of a garden, "replied Mr. Emerson. "Ask your grandmother to tell you how she has sentflowers into New York for the poor for many, many summers. There arepeople right here in Rosemont who haven't enough ground to raise anyvegetables and they are glad to have fresh corn and Brussels sproutssent to them. If you really do undertake this farmhouse scheme there'llhave to be a large vegetable garden planted near the house to supply it, and you can add a few flower beds. The old place will look betterflower-dressed than empty, and perhaps some of the women and childrenwill like to work in the garden. "

Roger went home comforted, for he was very loyal to the Club and itswork and he did not want to become so involved with other matters thathe could not give himself to the purpose for which the Club wasorganized--helping others. 

As he passed the Miss Clarks he stopped to give their furnace itsnightly shaking, for he was the accredited furnace man for them and hisAunt Louise as well as for his mother. He added the money that he earnedto the treasury of the Club so that there might always be enough thereto do a kind act whenever there should be a chance. 

As he labored with the shaker and the noise of his struggles was sentupward through the registers a voice called to him down the cellarstairs. 

"Ro-ger; Roger!"

"Yes, ma'am, " replied Roger, wishing the old ladies would let him aloneuntil he had finished his work. 

"Come up here, please, when you've done. "

"Very well, " he agreed, and went on with his racket. 

When he went upstairs he found that the cause of his summons was thearrival of a young man who was apparently about the age of EdwardWatkins, the doctor brother of Tom and Della. 

"My nephew is a law student, " said Miss Clark as she introduced the twoyoung people, "and I want him to know all of our neighbors. "

"My name is Stanley Clark, " said the newcomer, shaking hands cordially. "I'm going to be here for a long time so I hope I'll see you often. "

Roger liked him at once and thought his manner particularly pleasant inview of the fact that he was several years older. Roger was soaccustomed to the companionship of Edward Watkins, who frequently joinedthe Club in their festivities and who often came to Rosemont to call onMiss Merriam, that the difference did not seem to him a cause ofembarrassment. He was unusually easy for a boy of his age because he hadalways been accustomed to take his sailor father's place at home in theentertainment of his mother's guests. 

Young Clark, on his side, found his new acquaintance a boy worth talkingto, and they got on well. He was studying at a law school in the city, it seemed, and commuted every day. 

"It's a long ride, " he agreed when Roger suggested it, "but when I gethome I have the good country air to breathe and I'd rather have thatthan town amusements just now when I'm working hard. "

Roger spoke of Edward Watkins and Stanley was interested in thepossibility of meeting him. Evidently his aunts had told him all aboutthe Belgian baby and Miss Merriam, for he said Elisabeth would be thenearest approach to a soldier from a Belgian battlefield that he hadseen. 

Roger left with the feeling that his new acquaintance would be adesirable addition to the neighborhood group and he was so pleased thathe stopped in at his Aunt Louise's not only to shake the furnace but totell her about Stanley Clark. 

[Illustration: The Hot Bed]

During the next month they all came to know him well and they liked hischeerfulness and his interest in what they were doing and planning. OnSaturdays he helped Roger build a hot bed in the sunniest spot againstthe side of the kitchen ell. They found that the frost had not stiffenedthe ground after they managed to dig down a foot, so that the excavationwas not as hard as they had expected. They dug a hole the size of twowindow sashes and four feet deep, lining the sides with some old bricksthat they found in the cellar. At first they filled the entire bed withfresh stable manure and straw. After it had stayed under the glass twodays it was quite hot and they beat it down a foot and put on six inchesof soil made one-half of compost and one-half of leaf mould that theyfound in a sheltered corner of the West Woods. 

"Grandfather didn't believe we could manage to get good soil at thisseason even if we did succeed in digging the hole, but when I make up mymind to do a thing I like to succeed, " said Roger triumphantly when theyhad fitted the sashes on to planks that sloped at the sides so that rainwould run off the glass, and called the girls out to admire theirresult. 

"What are we going to put in here first?" asked Ethel Brown, who likedto get at the practical side of matters at once. 

"I'd like to have some violets, " said Ethel Blue. "Could I have a cornerfor them? I've had some plants promised me from the Glen Pointgreenhouse man. Margaret is going to bring them over as soon as I'mready for them. "

"I want to see if I can beat Dicky with early vegetables, " declaredRoger. "I'm going to start early parsley and cabbage and lettuce, cauliflower and egg plants, radishes and peas and corn in shallowboxes--flats Grandfather says they're called--in my room and the kitchenwhere it's warm and sunny, and when they've sprouted three leaves I'llset them out here and plant some more in the flats. "

"Won't transplanting them twice set them back?"

"If you take up enough earth around them they ought not to know thatthey've taken a journey. "

"I've done a lot of transplanting of wild plants from the woods, " saidStanley, "and I found that if I was careful to do that they didn't evenwilt. "

"Why can't we start some of the flower seeds here and have earlyblossoms?"

"You can. I don't see why we can't keep it going all the time and have aconstant supply of flowers and vegetables earlier than we should if wetrusted to Mother Nature to do the work unaided. "

"Then in the autumn we can stow away here some of the plants we want tosave, geraniums and begonias, and plants that are pretty indoors, andtake them into the house when the indoor ones become shabby. "

"Evidently right in the heart of summer is the only time this articlewon't be in use, " decided Stanley, laughing at their eagerness. "Haveyou got anything to cover it with when the spring sunshine grows toohot?"

"There is an old hemp rug and some straw matting in the attic--won'tthey do?"

"Perfectly. Lay them over the glass so that the delicate little plantswon't get burned. You can raise the sashes, too. "

"If we don't forget to close them before the sun sets and the nightchill comes on, I suppose, " smiled Ethel Blue. "Mr. Emerson says thatseeds under glass do better if they're covered with newspaper until theystart. "

It was about the middle of March when Mrs. Smith went in to call on herneighbors, the Miss Clarks, one evening. They were at home and after atalk on the ever-absorbing theme of the war Mrs. Smith said, "I really came in here on business. I hope you've decided to sell me themeadow lot next to my knoll. If you've made up your minds hadn't Ibetter tell my lawyer to make out the papers at once?"

"Sister and I made up our minds some time ago, dear Mrs. Smith, and wewrote to Brother William about it before he came to stay with us, and hewas willing, and Stanley, here, who is the only other heir of the estatethat we know about, has no objection. "

"That gives me the greatest pleasure. I'll tell my lawyer, then, to havethe title looked up right away and make out the deed--though I feel asif I should apologize for looking up the title of land that has been inyour family as long as Mr. Emerson's has been in his. "

"You needn't feel at all apologetic, " broke in Stanley. "It's never safeto buy property without having a clear title, and we aren't sure that weare in a position to give you a clear title. "

"That's why we haven't spoken to you about it before, " said the elderMiss Clark; "we were waiting to try to make it all straight before wesaid anything about it one way or the other. "

"Not give me a clear title!" cried Mrs. Smith. "Do you mean that I won'tbe able to buy it? Why, I don't know what Dorothy will do if we can'tget that bit with the brook; she has set her heart on it. "

"We want you to have it not only for Dorothy's sake but for our own. Itisn't a good building lot--it's too damp--and we're lucky to have anoffer for it. "

"Can you tell me just what the trouble is? It seems as if it ought to bestraight since all of you heirs agree to the sale. "

"The difficulty is, " said Stanley, "that we aren't sure that we are allthe heirs. We thought we were, but Uncle William made some inquiries onhis way here, and he learned enough to disquiet him. "

"Our father, John Clark, had a sister Judith, " explained the youngerMiss Clark. "They lived here on the Clark estate which had belonged tothe family for many generations. Then Judith married a man namedLeonard--Peter Leonard--and went to Nebraska at a time when Nebraska washarder to reach than California is now. That was long before the CivilWar and during those frontier days Aunt Judith and Uncle Peter evidentlywere tossed about to the limit of their endurance. Her letters came lessand less often and they always told of some new grief--the death of achild or the loss of some piece of property. Finally the letters ceasedaltogether. I don't understand why her family didn't hold her moreclosely, but they lost sight of her entirely. "

"Probably it was more her fault than theirs, " replied Mrs. Smith softly, recalling that there had been a time when her own pride had forbade herletting her people know that she was in dire distress. 

"It doesn't make much difference to-day whose fault it was, " declaredStanley Clark cheerfully; "the part of the story that interests us isthat the family thought that all Great-aunt Judith's children weredead. Here is where Uncle William got his surprise. When he was comingon from Arkansas he stopped over for a day at the town where Aunt Judithhad posted her last letter to Grandfather, about sixty years ago. Therehe learned from the records that she was dead and all her children weredead--_except one_. "

"Except one!" repeated Mrs. Smith. "Born after she ceased writing home?"

"Exactly. Now this daughter--Emily was her name--left the town after herparents died and there is no way of finding out where she went. One ortwo of the old people remember that the Leonard girl left, but nothingmore. "

"She may be living now. "

"Certainly she may; and she may have married and had a dozen children. You see, until we can find out something about this Emily we can't givea clear title to the land. "

Mrs. Smith nodded her understanding. 

"It's lucky we've never been willing to sell any of the old estate, "said Mr. William Clark, who had entered and been listening to the story. "If we had we should, quite ignorantly, have given a defective title. "

"Isn't it possible, after making as long and thorough a search as youcan, to take the case into court and have the judge declare the titleyou give to be valid, under the circumstances?"

"That is done; but you can see that such a decision would be grantedonly after long research on our part. It would delay your purchaseconsiderably. "

"However, it seems to me the thing to do, " decided Mrs. Smith, and sheand Stanley at once entered upon a discussion of the ways and means bywhich the hunt for Emily Leonard and her heirs was to be accomplished. It included the employment of detectives for the spring months, andthen, if they had not met with success, a journey by Stanley during theweeks of his summer vacation. 

Dorothy and Ethel were bitterly disappointed at the result of Mrs. Smith's attempt to purchase the coveted bit of land. 

"I suppose it wouldn't have any value for any one else on earth, " criedDorothy, "but I want it. "

"I don't think I ever saw a spot that suited me so well for a summerplay place, " agreed Ethel Blue, and Helen and Roger and all the rest ofthe Club members were of the same opinion. 

"The Clarks will be putting the price up if they should find out that wewanted it so much, " warned Roger. 

"I don't believe they would, " smiled Mrs. Smith. "They said they thoughtthemselves lucky to have a customer for it, because it isn't good forbuilding ground. "

"We'll hope that Stanley will unearth the history of his great-aunt, "said Roger seriously. 

"And find that she died a spinster, " smiled his Aunt Louise. "The fewerheirs there are to deal the simpler it will be. "

CHAPTER VI

WILD FLOWERS FOR HELEN'S GARDEN

Roger had a fair crop of lettuce in one of his flats by the middle ofMarch and transplanted the tiny, vivid green leaves to the hotbedwithout doing them any harm. The celery and tomato seeds that he hadplanted during the first week of the month were showing their headsbravely and the cabbage and cauliflower seedlings had gone to keep thelettuce company in the hotbed. On every warm day he opened the sashesand let the air circulate among the young plants. 

"Wordsworth says

 'It is my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes, '

and I suppose that's true of vegetables, too, " laughed Roger. 

The girls, meanwhile, had been planting the seeds of Canterbury bellsand foxgloves in flats. They did not put in many of them because theylearned that they would not blossom until the second year. The flatsthey made from boxes that had held tomato cans. Roger sawed through thesides and they used the cover for the bottom of the second flat. 

The dahlias they provided with pots, joking at the exclusiveness ofthis gorgeous flower which likes to have a separate house for each ofits seeds. These were to be transferred to the garden about the middleof May together with the roots of last year's dahlias which they weregoing to sprout in a box of sand for about a month before allowing themto renew their acquaintance with the flower bed. 

By the middle of April they had planted a variety of seeds and werewatching the growth or awaiting the germination of gay cosmos, shy fouro'clocks, brilliant marigolds, varied petunias and stocks, smoke-blueageratums, old-fashioned pinks and sweet williams. Each was plantedaccording to the instructions of the seed catalogues, and the younghorticulturists also read and followed the advice of the pamphlets on"Annual Flowering Plants" and "The Home Vegetable Garden" sent out bythe Department of Agriculture at Washington to any one who asks forthem. 

[Illustration: A Flat]

They were prudent about planting directly in the garden seeds which didnot require forcing in the house, for they did not want them to benipped, but they put them in the ground just as early as any of theseedsmen recommended, though they always saved a part of their supplyso that they might have enough for a second sowing if a frost shouldcome. 

Certain flowers which they wished to have blossom for a long time theysowed at intervals. Candytuft, for instance, they sowed first in Apriland they planned to make a second sowing in May and a third late in Julyso that they might see the pretty white border blossoms late in theautumn. Mignonette was a plant of which Mr. Emerson was as fond as Rogerwas of sweetpeas and the girls decided to give him a surprise by havingsuch a succession of blooms that they might invite him to a picking beeas late as the end of October. Nasturtiums also, they planted with aliberal hand in nooks and crannies where the soil was so poor that theyfeared other plants would turn up their noses, and pansies, whose demurelittle faces were favorites with Mrs. Morton, they experimented with invarious parts of the gardens and in the hotbed. 

The gardens at the Mortons' and Smiths' were long established so thatthere was not any special inducement to change the arrangement of thebeds, except as the young people had planned way back in January for theenlargement of the drying green. The new garden, however, offered everyopportunity. Each bed was laid out with especial reference to the cropthat was to be put into it and the land was naturally so varied thatthere was the kind of soil and the right exposure for plants thatrequired much moisture and for those that preferred a sandy soil, forthe sun lovers and the shade lovers. 

The newly aroused interest in plants extended to the care of the houseplants which heretofore had been the sole concern of Mrs. Emerson andMrs. Morton. Now the girls begged the privilege of trimming off the deadleaves from the ivies and geraniums and of washing away with oil oflemon and a stiff brush the scale that sometimes came on the palms. Theyeven learned to kill the little soft white creature called aphis byputting under the plant a pan of hot coals with tobacco thrown on them. 

"It certainly has a sufficiently horrid smell, " exclaimed Ethel Brown. "I don't wonder the beasties curl up and die; I'd like to myself. "

"They say aphis doesn't come on a plant with healthy sap, " Ethel Bluecontributed to this talk, "so the thing to do is to make these plants sohealthy that the animals drop off starved. "

"This new development is going to be a great comfort to me if it keepson, " Mrs. Emerson confessed to her daughter humorously. "I shallencourage the girls to use my plants for instruction whenever they wantto. "

"You may laugh at their sudden affection, " returned Mrs. Mortonseriously, "but I've noticed that everything the U. S. C. Sets its hearton doing gets done, and I've no doubt whatever that they'll have whatRoger calls 'some' garden this next summer. "

"Roger has had long consultations with his grandfather about fertilizersand if he's interested in the beginnings of a garden and not merely inthe results I think we can rely on him. "

"They have all been absorbed in the subject for three months and now

 'Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come. '"

Roger maintained that his Aunt Louise's house ought to be begun at thetime that he planted his sweetpeas. 

"If I can get into the ground enough to plant, surely the cellar diggersought to be able to do the same, " he insisted. 

March was not over when he succeeded in preparing a trench a foot deepall around the spot which was to be his vegetable garden except for aspace about three feet wide which he left for an entrance. In the bottomhe placed three inches of manure and over that two inches of good soil. In this he planted the seeds half an inch apart in two rows and coveredthem with soil to the depth of three inches, stamping it down hard. Asthe vines grew to the top of the trench he kept them warm with the restof the earth that he had taken out, until the opening was entirelyfilled. 

The builder was not of Roger's mind about the cellar digging, but hereally did begin operations in April. Every day the Mortons and Smiths, singly or in squads, visited the site of Sweetbrier Lodge, as Mrs. Smithand Dorothy had decided to call the house. Dorothy had started anotebook in which to keep account of the progress of the new estate, butafter the first entry--"Broke ground to-day"--matters seemed to advanceso slowly that she had to fill in with memoranda concerning the growthof the garden. 

Even before the house was started its position and that of the garagehad been staked so that the garden might not encroach on them. Then thegarden had been laid out with a great deal of care by the united effortsof the Club and Mr. Emerson and his farm superintendent. 

Often the Ethels and Dorothy extended their walk to the next field andto the woods and rocks at the back. The Clarks had learned nothing moreabout their Cousin Emily, although they had a man searching records andtalking with the older people of a number of towns in Nebraska. Hereported that he was of the opinion that either the child had died whenyoung or that she had moved to a considerable distance from the town ofher birth or that she had been adopted and had taken the name of herfoster parents. At any rate consultation of records of marriages anddeaths in several counties had revealed to him no Emily Leonard. 

The Clarks were quite as depressed by this outcome of the search as wasMrs. Smith, but they had instructed the detective to continue hisinvestigation. Meanwhile they begged Dorothy and her cousins to enjoythe meadow and woods as much as they liked. 

The warm moist days of April tempted the girls to frequent searches forwild flowers. They found the lot a very gold mine of delight. There wasso much variety of soil and of sunshine and of shadow that plants ofmany different tastes flourished where in the meadow across the roadonly a few kinds seemed to live. It was with a hearty shout they hailedthe first violets. 

"Here they are, here they are!" cried Ethel Blue. "Aunt Marion said shewas sure she saw some near the brook. She quoted some poetry about it--

 "'Blue ran the flash across; Violets were born!'"

"That's pretty; what's the rest of it?" asked Ethel Brown, on her kneestaking up some of the plants with her trowel and placing them in herbasket so carefully that there was plenty of earth surrounding each oneto serve as a nest when it should be put into Helen's wild flower bed. 

"It's about something good happening when everything seems very bad, "explained Ethel Blue. "Browning wrote it. "

 "Such a starved bank of moss Till, that May morn, Blue ran the flash across: Violets were born!

 "Sky--what a scowl of cloud Till, near and far, Ray on ray split the shroud: Splendid, a star!

 "World--how it walled about Life with disgrace Till God's own smile came out: That was thy face!"

"It's always so, isn't it!" approved Dorothy. "And the more we thinkabout the silver lining to every cloud the more likely it is to showitself. "

"What's this delicate white stuff? And these tiny bluey eyes?" askedEthel Blue, who was again stooping over to examine the plants thatenjoyed the moist positions near the stream. 

"The eyes are houstonia--Quaker ladies. We must have a clump of them. Saxifrage, Helen said the other was. She called my attention the otherday to some they had at school to analyze. It has the same sort of stemthat the hepatica has. "

[Illustration: Yellow Adder's Tongue]

"I remember--a scape--only this isn't so downy. "

"They're pretty, aren't they? We must be sure to get a good sized patch;you can't see them well enough when there is only a plant or two. "

"Helen wants a regular village of every kind that she transplants. Shesays she'd rather have a good many of a few kinds than a single plant ofever so many kinds. "

"It will be prettier. What do you suppose this yellow bell-shaped floweris?"

"It ought to be a lily, hanging its head like that. "

"It is a lily, " corroborated Ethel Brown, "but it's called 'dog-toothviolet' though it isn't a violet at all. "

"What a queer mistake. Hasn't it any other name?"

"Adder's-tongue. That's more suitable, isn't it?"

"Yes, except that I hate to have a lovely flower called by a snake'sname!"

"Not all snakes are venomous; and, anyway, we ought to remember thatevery animal has some means of protecting himself and the snakes do itthrough their poison fangs. "

"Or through their squeezing powers, like that big constrictor we saw atthe Zoo. "

"I suppose it is fair for them to have a defence, " admitted Ethel Blue, "but I don't like them, just the same, and I wish this graceful flowerhad some other name. "

"It has. "

"O, _that_! 'Dog-tooth' is just about as ugly as 'adder's tongue'! Thebotanists were in bad humor when they christened the poor little thing!"

"Do you remember what Bryant says about 'The Yellow Violet'?" askedEthel Brown, who was always committing verses to memory. 

"Tell us, " begged Ethel Blue, who was expending special care on diggingup this contribution to the garden as if to make amends for theunkindness of the scientific world, and Ethel Brown repeated the poembeginning

 "When beechen buds begin to swell, And woods the blue-bird's warble know, The yellow violet's modest bell Peeps from last year's leaves below. "

Dorothy went into ecstasies over the discovery of two roots of whiteviolets, but there seemed to be no others, though they all soughtdiligently for the fragrant blossoms among the leaves. 

A cry from Ethel Blue brought the others to a drier part of the field ata distance from the brook. There in a patch of soil that was almostsandy was a great patch of violets of palest hue, with deep orange eyes. They were larger than any of the other violets and their leaves wereentirely different. 

"What funny leaves, " cried Dorothy. "They look as if some one hadcrumpled up a real violet leaf and cut it from the edge to the stem intoa fine fringe. "

"Turn it upside down and press it against the ground. Don't you think itlooks like a bird's claw?"

"So it does! This must be a 'bird-foot violet, '"

"It is, and there's more meaning in the name than in the one the yellowbell suffers from. Do you suppose there are any violets up in thewoods?"

"They seem to fit in everywhere; I shouldn't be a bit surprised if therewere some there. "

Sure enough, there were, smaller and darker in color than the flowersdown by the brook and hiding more shyly under their shorter-stemmedleaves. 

"Helen is going to have some trouble to make her garden fit the tastesof all these different flowers, " said Ethel Brown thoughtfully. "I don'tsee how she's going to do it. "

"Naturally it's sort of half way ground, " replied Ethel Blue. "She canenrich the part that is to hold the ones that like rich food and putsand where these bird foot fellows are to go, and plant the wet-loversat the end where the hydrant is so that there'll be a temptation to givethem a sprinkle every time the hose is screwed on. "

[Illustration: Blue Flag]

"The ground is always damp around the hydrant; I guess she'll manage toplease her new tenants. "

"If only Mother can buy this piece of land, " said Dorothy, "I'm going toplant forget-me-nots and cow lilies and arum lilies right in the stream. There are flags and pickerel weed and cardinals here already. It willmake a beautiful flower bed all the length of the field. "

"I hope and hope every day that it will come out right, " sighed EthelBlue. "Of course the Miss Clarks are lovely about it, but you can't dothings as if it were really yours. "

Almost at the same instant both the Ethels gave a cry as each discovereda plant she had been looking for. 

"Mine is wild ginger, I'm almost sure, " exclaimed Ethel Brown. "Come andsee, Dorothy. "

"Has it a thick, leathery leaf that lies down almost flat?" askedDorothy, running to see for herself. 

"Yes, and a blossom you hardly notice. It's hidden under the leaves andit's only yellowish-green. You have to look hard for it. "

"That must be wild ginger, " Dorothy decided. "What's yours, Ethel Blue?"

"I know mine is hepatica. See the 'hairy scape' Helen talked about? Andsee what a lovely, lovely color the blossom is? Violet with a hint ofpink?"

"That would be the best of all for a border. The leaves stay green allwinter and the blossoms come early in the spring and encourage you tothink that after a while all the flowers are going to awaken. "

"It's a shame to take all this out of Dorothy's lot. "

"It may never be mine, " sighed Dorothy. "Still, perhaps we ought not totake too many roots; the Miss Clarks may not want all the flowers takenout of their woods. "

"We'll take some from here and some from Grandfather's woods, " decidedEthel Brown. "There are a few in the West Woods, too. "

So they dug up but a comparatively small number of the hepaticas, nordid they take many of the columbines nodding from a cleft in thepiled-up rocks. 

"I know that when we have our wild garden fully planted I'm not going towant to pick flowers just for the sake of picking them the way I usedto, " confessed Ethel Blue. "Now I know something about them they seem soalive to me, sort of like people--I'm sure they won't like to be takentravelling and forced to make a new home for themselves. "

"I know how you feel, " responded Dorothy slowly. "I feel as if thosecolumbines were birds that had perched on those rocks just for a minuteand were going to fly away, and I didn't want to disturb them beforethey flitted. "

They all stood gazing at the delicate, tossing blossoms whose spurredtubes swung in every gentlest breeze. 

"It has a bird's name, too, " added Dorothy as if there had been nosilence; "_aquilegia_--the eagle flower. "

"Why eagle? The eagle is a strenuous old fowl, " commented Ethel Brown. "The name doesn't seem appropriate. "

"It's because of the spurs--they suggest an eagle's talons. "

"That's too far-fetched to suit me, " confessed Ethel Brown. 

"It is called 'columbine' because the spurs look a little like dovesaround a drinking fountain, and the Latin word for dove is '_columba_, "said Dorothy. 

"It's queer the way they name flowers after animals--" said Ethel Blue. 

"Or parts of animals, " laughed her cousin. "Saxifrage isn't; Helen toldme the name meant 'rock-breaker, ' because some kinds grow in the cleftsof rocks the way the columbines do. "

"I wish we could find a trillium, " said Ethel Blue. "The _tri_ in thatname means that everything about it is in threes. "

"What is a trillium?" asked Ethel Brown. 

"Roger brought in a handful the other day. 'Wake-robin' he called it. "

"O, I remember them. There was a bare stalk with three leaves and theflower was under the leaves. "

"There were three petals to the corolla and three sepals to the calyx. He had purple ones and white ones. "

"Here's a white one this very minute, " said Dorothy, pouncing upon aplant eight or ten inches in height whose leaves looked eager andstrong. 

"See, " she said as they all leaned over to examine it; "the blossom hastwo sets of leaves. The outer set is usually green or some color not sogay as to attract insects or birds that might destroy the flower when itis in bud. These outer leaves are called, all together, the calyx, andeach one of them is called a sepal. "

"The green thing on the back of a rose is the calyx and each of itsleaflets is called a sepal, " said Ethel Brown by way of fixing thedefinition firmly in her mind. 

"The pretty part of the flower is the corolla which means 'littlecrown, ' and each of its parts is called a petal. "

"How did you learn all that?" demanded Ethel Brown admiringly. 

"Your grandmother told me the other day. "

"You've got a good memory. Helen has told me a lot of botanical terms, but I forget them, "

"I try hard to remember everything I hear any one say about flowers orvegetables or planting now. You never can tell when it may be useful, "and Dorothy nodded wisely. 

"Shall we take up this wake-robin?" asked Ethel Blue. 

"Let's not, " pleaded Ethel Brown. "We shall find others somewhere andthere's only one here. "

[Illustration: Wind Flower]

They left it standing, but when they came upon a growth of wind-flowersthere were so many of them that they did not hesitate to dig themfreely. 

"I wonder why they're called 'wind-flowers'?" queried Ethel Brown, whose curiosity on the subject of names had been aroused. 

"I know that answer, " replied Ethel Blue unexpectedly. "That is, nobodyknows the answer exactly; I know that much. "

The other girls laughed. 

"What is the answer as far as anybody knows it?" demanded Dorothy. 

"The scientific name is 'anemone. ' It comes from the Greek word meaning'wind. '"

"That seems to be a perfectly good answer. Probably it was given becausethey dance around so prettily in the wind, " guessed Dorothy. 

"Helen's botany says that it was christened that either because it grewin windy places or because it blossomed at the windy season. "

"Dorothy's explanation suits me best, " Ethel Brown decided. "I shallstick to that. "

"I think it's prettiest myself, " agreed Dorothy. 

"She's so much in earnest she doesn't realize that she's decidingagainst famous botanists, " giggled Ethel Brown. 

"It _is_ prettier--a lot prettier, " insisted Ethel Blue. "I'm glad I'vea cousin who can beat scientists!"

"What a glorious lot of finds!" cried Ethel Brown. "Just think of ourgetting all these in one afternoon!"

"I don't believe we could except in a place like this where any plantcan have his taste suited with meadow or brookside or woods or rocks. "

"And sunshine or shadow. "

They were in a gay mood as they gathered up their baskets and trowelsand gently laid pieces of newspaper over the uprooted plants. 

"It isn't hot to-day but we won't run any risk of their getting aheadache from the sun, " declared Dorothy. 

"These woodsy ones that aren't accustomed to bright sunshine may besensitive to it, " assented Ethel Blue. "We must remember to tell Helenin just what sort of spot we found each one so she can make its cornerin the garden bed as nearly like it as possible. "

"I'm going to march in and quote Shakespeare to her, " laughed EthelBrown. "I'm going to say

 'I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlip and the nodding violet grows, '

and then I'll describe the 'bank' so she can copy it. "

"If she doesn't she may have to repeat Bryant's 'Death of theFlowers':--

 'The windflower and the violet, they perished long ago. '"

CHAPTER VII

COLOR SCHEMES

"Look out, Della; don't pick that! _Don't_ pick that, it's poison ivy!"cried Ethel Brown as all the Club members were walking on the roadtowards Grandfather Emerson's. A vine with handsome glossy leavesreached an inviting cluster toward passers-by. 

"Poison ivy!" repeated Della, springing back. "How do you know it is? Ithought it was woodbine--Virginia creeper. "

"Virginia creeper has as many fingers as your hand; this ivy has onlythree leaflets. See, I-V-Y, " and Ethel Blue took a small stick andtapped a leaflet for each letter. 

"I must tell Grandfather this is here, " said Helen. "He tries to keepthis road clear of it even if he finds it growing on land not his own. It's too dangerous to be so close to the sidewalk. "

"It's a shame it behaves so badly when it's so handsome. "

"It's not handsome if 'handsome is as handsome does' is true. But thisis stunning when the leaves turn scarlet. "

"It's a mighty good plan to admire it from a distance, " decided Tom, whohad been looking at it carefully. "Della and I being 'city fellers, 'we're ignorant about it. I'll remember not to touch the three-leavedI-V-Y, from now on. "

The Club was intent on finishing their flower garden plans thatafternoon. They had gathered together all the seedsmen's catalogues thathad been sent them and they had also accumulated a pile of gardenmagazines. They knew, however, that Mr. Emerson had some that they didnot have, and they also wanted his help, so they had telephoned over tofind out whether he was to be at home and whether he would help themwith the laying out of their color beds. 

"Nothing I should like better, " he had answered cordially so now theywere on the way to put him to the test. 

"We already have some of our color plants in our gardens left over fromlast year, " Helen explained, "and some of the others that we knew we'dwant we've started in the hotbed, and we've sowed a few more in the openbeds, but we want to make out a full list. "

"Just what is your idea, " asked Mr. Emerson, while Grandmother Emersonsaw that the dining table around which they were sitting had on it aplentiful supply of whole wheat bread sandwiches, the filling beingdates and nuts chopped together. 

Helen explained their wish to have beds all of one color. 

"We girls are so crazy over pink that we're going to try a pink bed atboth of Dorothy's gardens as well as in ours, " she laughed. 

"You'd like a list of plants that will keep on blooming all summer sothat you can always run out and get a bunch of pink blossoms, Isuppose. "

"That's exactly what we want, " and they took their pencils to note downany suggestions that Mr. Emerson made. 

"We've decided on pink candytuft for the border and single pinkhollyhocks for the background with foxgloves right in front of them tocover up the stems at the bottom where they haven't many leaves and amedium height phlox in front of that for the same reason. "

"You should have pink morning glories and there's a rambler rose, a pinkone, that you ought to have in the southeast corner on your back fence, "suggested Mr. Emerson. "Stretch a strand or two of wire above the topand let the vine run along it. It blooms in June. "

"Pink rambler, " they all wrote. "What's its name?"

"Dorothy--"

"Smith?"

"Perkins. "

James went through a pantomime that registered severe disappointment. 

"Suppose we begin at the beginning, " suggested Mr. Emerson. "I believewe can make out a list that will keep your pink bed gay from May tillfrost. "

"That's what we want. "

"You had some pink tulips last spring. "

"We planted them in the autumn so that they'd come out early thisspring. By good luck they're just where we've decided to have a pinkbed. "

"There's your first flower, then. They're near the front of the bed, Ihope. The low plants ought to be in front, of course, so they won't behidden. "

"They're in front. So are the hyacinths. "

"Are you sure they're all pink?"

"It's a great piece of good fortune--Mother selected only pink bulbs anda few yellow ones to put back into the ground and gave the other colorsto Grandmother. "

"That helps you at the very start-off. There are two kinds of pinks thatought to be set near the front rank because they don't grow verytall--the moss pink and the old-fashioned 'grass pink. ' They arecharming little fellows and keep up a tremendous blossoming all summerlong. "

"'Grass pink, '" repeated Ethel, Brown, "isn't that the same as 'spicepink'?"

"That's what your grandmother calls it. She says she has seen peoplegoing by on the road sniff to see what that delicious fragrance was. Isuppose these small ones must be the original pinks that the seedsmenhave burbanked into the big double ones. "

"'Burbanked'?"

"That's a new verb made out of the name of Luther Burbank, the man whohas raised such marvelous flowers in California and has turned thecactus into a food for cattle instead of a prickly nuisance. "

"I've heard of him, " said Margaret. "'Burbanked' means 'changed intosomething superior, ' I suppose. "

"Something like that. Did you tell me you had a peony?"

There's a good, tall tree peony that we've had moved to the new bed. "

"At the back?"

"Yes, indeed; it's high enough to look over almost everything else weare likely to have. It blossoms early. "

"To be a companion to the tulips and hyacinths. "

"Have you started any peony seeds?"

"The Reine Hortense. Grandmother advised that. They're well up now. "

"I'd plant a few seeds in your bed, too. If you can get a good stand ofperennials--flowers that come up year after year of their own accord--itsaves a lot of trouble. "

"Those pinks are perennials, aren't they? They come up year after yearin Grandmother's garden. "

"Yes, they are, and so is the columbine. You ought to put that in. "

"But it isn't pink. We got some in the woods the other day. It is red, "objected Dorothy. 

"The columbine has been 'burbanked. ' There's a pink one among thecultivated kinds. They're larger than the wild ones and very lovely. "

"Mother has some. Hers are called the 'Rose Queen, '" said Margaret. "There are yellow and blue ones, too. "

"Your grandmother can give you some pink Canterbury bells that willblossom this year. They're biennials, you know. "

"Does that mean they blossom every two years?"

"Not exactly. It means that the ones you planted in your flats willonly make wood and leaves this year and won't put out any flowers untilnext year. That's all these pink ones of your grandmother's did lastseason; this summer they're ready to go into your bed and be useful. "

"Our seedlings are blue, anyway, " Ethel Blue reminded the others. "Theymust be set in the blue bed. "

"How about sweet williams?" asked Mr. Emerson. "Don't I remember some inyour yard?"

"Mother planted some last year, " answered Roger, "but they didn'tblossom. "

"They will this year. They're perennials, but it takes them one seasonto make up their minds to set to work. There's an annual that you mightsow now that will be blossoming in a few weeks. It won't last over, though. "

"Annuals die down at the end of the first season. I'm getting theseterms straightened in my so-called mind, " laughed Dorothy. 

"You said you had a bleeding heart--"

"A fine old perennial, " exclaimed Ethel Brown, airing her newinformation. 

"--and pink candy-tuft for the border and foxgloves for the back; arethose old plants or seedlings?"

"Both. "

"Then you're ready for anything! How about snapdragons?"

"I thought snapdragons were just common weeds, " commented James. 

"They've been improved, too, and now they are large and very handsomeand of various heights. If you have room enough you can have a lovelybed of tall ones at the back, with the half dwarf kind before it and thedwarf in front of all. It gives a sloping mass of bloom that is lovely, and if you nip off the top blossoms when the buds appear you can makethem branch sidewise and become thick. "

"We certainly haven't space for that bank arrangement in our garden, "decided Roger, "but it will be worth trying in Dorothy's new garden, "and he put down a "D" beside the note he had made. 

"The snapdragon sows itself so you're likely to have it return of itsown accord another year, so you must be sure to place it just whereyou'd like to have it always, " warned Mr. Emerson. 

"The petunia sows itself, too, " Margaret contributed to the generalstock of knowledge. "You can get pretty, pale, pink petunias now, andthey blossom at a great rate all summer. "

"I know a plant we ought to try, " offered James. "It's the plant theymake Persian Insect Powder out of. "

"The Persian daisy, " guessed Mr. Emerson. "It would be fun to try that. "

"Wouldn't it be easier to buy the insect powder?" asked practical EthelBrown. 

"Very much, " laughed her grandfather, "but this is good fun because itdoesn't always blossom 'true, ' and you never know whether you'll get apink or a deep rose color. Now, let me see, " continued Mr. Emersonthoughtfully, "you've arranged for your hollyhocks and yourphlox--those will be blooming by the latter part of July, and I supposeyou've put in several sowings of sweetpeas?"

They all laughed, for Roger's demand for sweetpeas had resulted in ahuge amount of seeds being sown in all three of the gardens. 

"Where are we now?" continued Mr. Emerson. 

"Now there ought to be something that will come into its glory about thefirst of August, " answered Helen. 

"What do you say to poppies?"

"Are there pink poppies?"

"O, beauties! Big bears, and little bears, and middle-sized bears;single and double, and every one of them a joy to look upon!"

"Put down poppies two or three times, " laughed Helen in answer to hergrandfather's enthusiasm. 

"And while we're on the letter 'P' in the seed catalogue, " added Mr. Emerson, "order a few packages of single portulaca. There are delicateshades of pink now, and it's a useful little plant to grow at the feetof tall ones that have no low-growing foliage and leave the groundbare. "

"It would make a good border for us at some time. "

"You might try it at Dorothy's large garden. There'll be space there tohave many different kinds of borders. "

"We'll have to keep our eyes open for a pink lady's slipper over in thedamp part of the Clarks' field, " said Roger. 

"O, I speak for it for my wild garden, " cried Helen. 

"You ought to find one about the end of July, and as that is a long wayoff you can put off the decision as to where to place it when youtransplant it, " observed their grandfather dryly. 

"Mother finds verbenas and 'ten week stocks' useful for cutting, " saidMargaret. "They're easy to grow and they last a long time and there arealways blossoms on them for the house. "

"Pink?" asked Ethel Blue, her pencil poised until she was assured. 

"A pretty shade of pink, both of them, and they're low growing, so youcan put them forward in the beds after you take out the bulbs thatblossomed early. "

"How are we going to know just when to plant all these things so they'llcome out when we want them to?" asked Della, whose city life had limitedher gardening experience to a few summers at Chautauqua where they wentso late in the season that their flower beds had been planted for themand were already blooming when they arrived. 

"Study your catalogues, my child, " James instructed her. 

"But they don't always tell, " objected Della, who had been looking overseveral. 

"That's because the seedsmen sell to people all over the country--peopleliving in all sorts of climates and with all sorts of soils. The bestway is to ask the seedsman where you buy your seeds to indicate on thepackage or in a letter what the sowing time should be for our part ofthe world. "

"Then we'll bother Grandfather all we can, " threatened Ethel Brownseriously. "He's given us this list in the order of their blossoming--"

"More or less, " interposed Mr. Emerson. "Some of them over-lap, ofcourse. It's roughly accurate, though. "

"You can't stick them in a week apart and have them blossom a weekapart?" asked Della. 

"Not exactly. It takes some of them longer to germinate and make readyto bloom than it does others. But of course it's true in a general waythat the first to be planted are the first to bloom. "

"We haven't put in the late ones yet, " Ethel Blue reminded Mr. Emerson. 

"Asters, to begin with. I don't see how there'll be enough room in yoursmall bed to make much of a show with asters. I should put some in, ofcourse, in May, but there's a big opportunity at the new garden to havea splendid exhibition of them. Some asters now are almost as large andas handsome as chrysanthemums--astermums, they call them--and the pinkones are especially lovely. "

"Put a big 'D' against 'asters, '" advised Roger. "That will mean thatthere must be a large number put into Dorothy's new garden. "

"The aster will begin to blossom in August and will continue until lightfrost and the chrysanthemums will begin a trifle later and will last alittle longer unless there is a killing frost. "

"Can we get blossoms on chrysanthemums the first, year?" askedMargaret, who had not found that true in her experience in her mother'sgarden. 

"There are some new kinds that will blossom the first year, the seedsmenpromise. I'd like to have you try some of them. "

"Mother has two or three pink ones--well established plants--that she'sgoing to let us move to the pink bed, " said Helen. 

"The chrysanthemums will end your procession, " said Mr. Emerson, "butyou mustn't forget to put in some mallow. They are easy to grow andblossom liberally toward the end of the season. "

"Can we make candy marshmallows out of it?"

"You can, but it would be like the Persian insect powder--it would beeasier to buy it. But it has a handsome pink flower and you must surelyhave it on your list. "

"I remember when Mother used to have the greatest trouble getting cosmosto blossom, " said Margaret. "The frost almost always caught it. Nowthere is a kind that comes before the frost. "

"Cosmos is a delight at the end of the season, " remarked Mr. Emerson. "Almost all the autumn plants are stocky and sturdy, but cosmos is asgraceful as a summer plant and as delicate as a spring blossom. You canwind up your floral year with asters and mallow and chrysanthemums andcosmos all blooming at once. "

"Now for the blue beds, " said Tom, excusing himself for looking at hiswatch on the plea that he and Della had to go back to New York by acomparatively early train. 

"If you're in a hurry I'll just give you a few suggestions, " said Mr. Emerson. "Really blue flowers are not numerous, I suppose you havenoticed. "

"We've decided on ageratum for the border and larkspur and monkshood forthe back, " said Ethel Brown. 

"There are blue crocuses and hyacinths and 'baby's breath' for yourearliest blossoms, and blue columbines as well as pink and yellow ones!and blue morning glories for your 'climber, ' and blue bachelors' buttonsand Canterbury bells, and mourning bride, and pretty blue lobelia forlow growing plants and blue lupine for a taller growth. If you arewilling to depart from real blue into violet you can have heliotrope andviolets and asters and pansies and primroses and iris. "

"The wild flag is fairly blue, " insisted Roger, who was familiar withthe plants that edged the brook on his grandfather's farm. 

"It is until you compare it with another moisture lover--forget-me-not. "

"If Dorothy buys the Clarks' field she can start a colony of flags andforget-me-nots in the stream, " suggested James. 

"Can you remember cineraria? There's a blue variety of that, and one ofsalpiglossis, which is an exquisite flower in spite of its name. "

"One of the sweetpea packages is marked 'blue, '" said Roger, "I wonderif it will be a real blue?"

"Some of them are pretty near it. Now this isn't a bad list for a ratherdifficult color, " Mr. Emerson went on, looking over Ethel Blue's paper, "but you can easily see that there isn't the variety of the pink listand that the true blues are scarce. "

"We're going to try it, anyway, " returned Helen. "Perhaps we shall runacross some others. Now I wrote down for the yellows, yellow crocusesfirst of all and yellow tulips. "

"There are many yellow spring flowers and late summer brings goldenrod, so it seems as if the extremes liked the color, " said Margaretobservantly. 

"The intermediate season does, too, " returned Mr. Emerson. 

"Daffodils and jonquils are yellow and early enough to suit the mostimpatient, " remarked James. 

"Who wrote this, " asked Mr. Emerson, from whom Ethel Brown inherited herlove of poetry:

 "I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high on vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd A host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. "

"Wordsworth, " cried Ethel Brown. 

"Wordsworth, " exclaimed Tom Watkins in the same breath. 

"That must mean that daffies grow wild in England, " remarked Dorothy. 

"They do, and we can have something of the same effect here if we plantthem through a lawn. The bulbs must be put in like other bulbs, in theautumn. Crocuses may be treated in the same way. Then in the springthey come gleaming through the sod and fill everybody with Wordsworth'sdelight. "

"Here's another competition between Helen's wild garden and the colorbed; which shall take the buttercups and cowslips?"

"Let the wild bed have them, " urged Grandfather. "There will be plentyof others for the yellow bed. "

"We want yellow honeysuckle climbing on the high wire, " declared Roger. 

"Assisted by yellow jessamine?" asked Margaret. 

"And canary bird vine, " contributed Ethel Blue. 

"And golden glow to cover the fence, " added Ethel Brown. 

"The California poppy is a gorgeous blossom for an edge, " said EthelBlue, "and there are other kinds of poppies that are yellow. "

"Don't forget the yellow columbines, " Dorothy reminded them, "and theyellow snapdragons. "

"There's a yellow cockscomb as well as a red. "

"And a yellow verbena. "

"Being a doctor's son I happen to remember that calendula, which takesthe pain out of a cut finger most amazingly, has a yellow flower. "

"Don't forget stocks and marigolds. "

"And black-eyed-Susans--rudbeckia--grow very large when they'recultivated. "

"That ought to go in the wild garden, " said Helen. 

"We'll let you have it, " responded Roger generously, "We can put theAfrican daisy in the yellow bed instead. "

"Calliopsis or coreopsis is one of the yellow plants that theDepartment of Agriculture Bulletin mentions, " said Dorothy. "It tellsyou just how to plant it and we put in the seeds early on that account. "

"Gaillardia always reminds me of it a bit--the lemon color, " said EthelBrown. 

"Only that's stiffer. If you want really, truly prim things tryzinnias--old maids. "

[Illustration: Rudbeckia--Black-eyed Susan]

"Zinnias come in a great variety of colors now, " reported Mr. Emerson. "A big bowl of zinnias is a handsome sight. "

"We needn't put any sunflowers into the yellow bed, " Dorothy remindedthem, "because almost my whole back yard is going to be full of them. "

"And you needn't plant any special yellow nasturtiums because Motherloves them and she has planted enough to give us flowers for the house, and flowers and leaves for salads and sandwiches, and seeds for pickleto use with mutton instead of capers. "

"There's one flower you must be sure to have plenty of even if youdon't make these colored beds complete, " urged Mr. Emerson; "that's the'chalk-lover, ' gypsophila. "

"What is it?"

"The delicate, white blossom that your grandmother always puts among cutflowers. It is feathery and softens and harmonizes the hues of all therest. 

 'So warm with light his blended colors flow, '

in a bouquet when there's gypsophila in it. "

"But what a name!" ejaculated Roger. 

CHAPTER VIII

CAVE LIFE

The dogwood was in blossom when the girls first established themselvesin the cave in the Fitz-James woods. Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Smith thoughtit was rather too cool, but the girls invited them to come and haveafternoon cocoa with them and proved to their satisfaction that therocks were so sheltered by their position and by the trees that toweredabove them that it would take a sturdy wind to make them reallyuncomfortable. 

Their first duty had been to clean out the cave. 

"We can pretend that no one ever has lived here since the days wheneverybody lived in caves, " said Ethel Blue, who was always pretendingsomething unusual. "We must be the first people to discover it. "

"I dare say we are, " replied Dorothy. 

"Uhuh, " murmured Ethel Brown, a sound which meant a negative reply. "Here's an old tin can, so we aren't the very first. "

"It may have been brought here by a wolf, " suggested Ethel Blue. 

"Perhaps it was a werwolf, " suggested Dorothy. 

"What's that?"

"A man turned by magic into a wolf but keeping his human feelings. Themore I think of it the more I'm sure that it was a werwolf that broughtthe can here, because, having human feelings, he would know about cansand what they had in them, and being a wolf he would carry it to hislair or den or whatever they call it, to devour it. "

"Really, Dorothy, you make me uncomfortable!" exclaimed Ethel Blue. 

"That may be one down there in the field now, " continued Dorothy, enjoying her make-believe. 

The Ethels turned and gazed, each with an armful of trash that she hadbrought out of the cave. There was, in truth, a figure down in the fieldbeside the brook, and he was leaning over and thrusting a stick into theground and examining it closely when he drew it out. 

"That can't be a werwolf, " remonstrated Ethel Brown. "That's a man. "

"Perhaps in the twentieth century wolves turn into men instead of menturning into wolves, " suggested Dorothy. "This may be a wolf with aman's shape but keeping the feelings of a wolf, instead of the other wayaround. "

"Don't, Dorothy!" remonstrated Ethel Blue again. "He does look like ahorrid sort of man, doesn't he?"

They all looked at him and wondered what he could be doing in the MissClarks' field, but he did not come any nearer to them so they did nothave a chance to find out whether he really was as horrid looking asEthel Blue imagined. 

It was not a short task to make the cave as clean as the girls wanted itto be. The owner of the tin can had been an untidy person or else hisoccupation of Fitz-James's rocks had been so long ago that Nature hadaccumulated a great deal of rubbish. Whichever explanation was correct, there were many armfuls to be removed and then the interior of the cavehad to be subjected to a thorough sweeping before the girls' ideas oftidiness were satisfied. They had to carry all the rubbish away to somedistance, for it would not do to leave it near the cave to be an eyesoreduring the happy days that they meant to spend there. 

It was all done and Roger, who happened along, had made a bonfire forthem and consumed all the undesirable stuff, before the two mothersappeared for the promised cocoa and the visit of inspection. 

The girls at once set about the task of converting them to a belief inthe sheltered position of the cave and then they turned their attentionto the preparation of the feast. They had brought an alcohol stove thatconsisted of a small tripod which held a tin of solid alcohol andsupported a saucepan. When packing up time came the tripod and the canfitted into the saucepan and the handles folded about it compactly. 

"We did think at first of having an old stove top that Roger saw thrownaway at Grandfather's, " Ethel Brown explained. "We could build two bricksides to hold it up and have the stone for a back and leave the frontopen and run a piece of stove pipe up through that crack in the rocks. "

Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Smith, who were sitting on a convenient bit of rockjust outside the cave, peered in as the description progressed. 

"Then we could burn wood underneath and regulate the draft by making asort of blower with some piece of old sheet iron. "

The mothers made no comment as Ethel Brown seemed not to have finishedher account. 

"Then we thought that perhaps you'd let us have that old oil stove up inthe attic. We could set it on this flat rock on this side of the cave. "

"We thought there might be some danger about that because it isn't very, _very_ large in here, so we finally decided on this alcohol stove. It'ssafe and it doesn't take up any room and this solid alcohol doesn't sloparound and set your dress afire or your table cloth, and we can reallycook a good many things on it and the rest we can cook in our own littlekitchen and bring over here. If we cover them well they'll still be warmwhen they get here. "

"That's a wise decision, " assented Mrs. Morton, nodding toward hersister-in-law. "I should be afraid that the stove top arrangement mightbe like the oil stove--the fuel might fall about and set fire to yourfrocks. "

"And it would take up much more space in the cave, " suggested Mrs. Smith. "Here's a contribution to your equipment, " and she brought out abox of paper plates and cups, and another of paper napkins. 

"These are fine!" cried Ethel Blue. "They'll save washing. "

"Here's our idea for furnishing. Do you want to hear it?" asked Dorothy. 

"Of course we do. "

"Do you see that flat oblong space there at the back? We're going tofit a box in there. We'll turn it on its side, put hinges and a padlockon the cover to make it into a door, and fix up shelves. "

"I see, " nodded her mother and aunt. "That will be your store cupboard. "

"And our sideboard and our linen closet, all in one. We're going to makeit when we go home this afternoon because we know now what themeasurements are and we've got just the right box down in the cellar. "

"Where do you get the water?"

"Roger is cleaning out the spring now and making the basin under it alittle larger, so we shall always have fresh spring water. "

"That's good. I was going to warn you always to boil any water from thebrook. "

"We'll remember. "

The water for the cocoa was now bubbling in the saucepan. Ethel Bluetook four spoonfuls of prepared cocoa, wet it with one spoonful of waterand rubbed it smooth. Then she stirred it into a pint of the boilingwater and when this had boiled up once she added a pint of milk. Whenthe mixture boiled she took it off at once and served it in the papercups that her aunt had brought. To go with it Ethel Brown had preparedalmond biscuit. They were made by first blanching two ounces of almondsby pouring boiling water on them and then slipping off their brownovercoats. After they had been ground twice over in the meat chopperthey were mixed with four tablespoonfuls of flour and one tablespoonfulof sugar and moistened with a tablespoonful of milk. When they werethoroughly mixed and rolled thin they were cut into small rounds andbaked in a quick oven for ten or fifteen minutes. 

"These are delicious, my dear, " Mrs. Smith said, smiling at her nieces, and the Ethels were greatly pleased at their Aunt Louise's praise. 

They sat about on the rocks and enjoyed their meal heartily. The birdswere busy over their heads, the leaves were beginning to come thickly inthe tree crowns and the chipmunks scampered busily about, seeming to benot at all frightened by the coming of these new visitors to theirhaunts. Dorothy tried to coax one to eat out of her hand. He was curiousto try the food that she held out to him and his courage brought himalmost within reach of her fingers before it failed and sent himscampering back to his hole, the stripes on his back looking likeribbons as he leaped to safety. 

Within a month the cave was in excellent working order. The box provedto be a success just as the girls had planned it. They kept there suchstores as they did not care to carry back and forth--sugar, salt andpepper, cocoa, crackers--and a supply of eggs, cream-cheese and cookiesand milk always fresh. Sometimes when the family thermos bottle was notin use they brought the milk in that and at other times they brought itin an ordinary bottle and let it stand in the hollow below the spring. Glass fruit jars with screw tops preserved all that was entrusted tothem free from injury by any marauding animals who might be tempted bythe smell to break open the cupboard. These jars the girls placed on thetop shelf; on the next they ranged their paper "linen"--which they usedfor napkins and then as fuel to start the bonfire in which theydestroyed all the rubbish left over from their meal. This fire wasalways small, was made in one spot which Roger had prepared byencircling it with stones, and was invariably put out with a saucepanfulof water from the brook. 

"It never pays to leave a fire without a good dousing, " he alwaysinsisted. "The rascally thing may be playing 'possum and blaze out laterwhen there is no one here to attend to it. "

A piece of board which could be moved about at will was used as a tablewhen the weather was such as to make eating inside of the cavedesirable. One end was placed on top of the cupboard and the other on anarrow ledge of stone that projected as if made for the purpose. One ortwo large stones and a box or two served as seats, but there was notroom inside for all the members of the Club. When there was a generalmeeting some had to sit outside. 

They added to their cooking utensils a few flat saucepans in which waterwould boil quickly and they made many experiments in cooking vegetables. Beans they gave up trying to cook after several experiments, becausethey took so long--from one to three hours--for both the dried and thefresh kinds, that the girls felt that they could not afford so muchalcohol. They eliminated turnips, too, after they had prodded afrequent fork into some obstinate roots for about three quarters of anhour. Beets were nearly as discouraging, but not quite, when they wereyoung and tender, and the same was true of cabbage. 

"It's only the infants that we can use in this affair, " declared Dorothyafter she had replenished the saucepan from another in which she hadbeen heating water for the purpose, over a second alcohol stove that hermother had lent them. Spinach, onions and parsnips were done in half anhour and potatoes in twenty-five minutes. 

They finally gave up trying to cook vegetables whole over this stove, for they concluded that not only was it necessary to have extremelyyoung vegetables but the size of the cooking utensils must of necessitybe too small to have the proceedings a success. They learned one way, however, of getting ahead of the tiny saucepan and the small stove. Thatwas by cutting the corn from the cob and by peeling the potatoes andslicing them very thin before they dropped them into boiling water. Thenthey were manageable. 

"Miss Dawson, the domestic science teacher, says that the water you cookany starchy foods in must always be boiling like mad, " Ethel Blueexplained to her aunt one day when she came out to see how matters weregoing. "If it isn't the starch is mushy. That's why you mustn't beimpatient to put on rice and potatoes and cereals until the water isjust bouncing. "

"Almost all vegetables have some starch, " explained Mrs. Morton. "Water_really_ boiling is your greatest friend. When you girls are old enoughto drink tea you must remember that boiling water for tea is somethingmore than putting on water in a saucepan or taking it out of a kettle onthe stove. "

"Isn't boiling water boiling water?" asked Roger, who was listening. 

"There's boiling water _and_ boiling water, " smiled his mother. "Waterfor tea should be freshly drawn so that there are bubbles of air in itand it should be put over the fire at once. When you are waiting for itto boil you should scald your teapot so that its coldness may not chillthe hot water when you come to the actual making of the tea. "

"Do I seem to remember a rule about using one teaspoonful of tea foreach person and one for the pot?" asked Tom. 

"That is the rule for the cheaper grades of tea, but the better gradesare so strong that half a teaspoonful for each drinker is enough. "

"Then it's just as cheap to get tea at a dollar a pound as the fiftycent quality. "

"Exactly; and the taste is far better. Well, you have your teapot warmand your tea in it waiting, and the minute the water boils vigorouslyyou pour it on the tea. "

"What would happen if you let it boil a while?"

"If you should taste water freshly boiled and water that has beenboiling for ten minutes you'd notice a decided difference. One has alively taste and the other is flat. These qualities are given to thepot of tea of course. "

"That's all news to me, " declared James. "I'm glad to know it. "

"I used to think 'tea and toast' was the easiest thing in the world toprepare until Dorothy taught me how to make toast when she was fixinginvalid dishes for Grandfather after he was hurt in the fire atChautauqua, " said Ethel Brown. "She opened my eyes, " and she noddedaffectionately at her cousin. 

"There's one thing we must learn to make or we won't be true campers, "insisted Tom. 

"What is it? I'm game to make it or eat it, " responded Roger instantly. 

"Spider cakes. "

"Spiders! Ugh!" ejaculated Della daintily. 

"Hush; a spider is a frying pan, " Ethel Brown instructed her. "Tell ushow you do them, Tom, " she begged. 

"You use the kind of flour that is called 'prepared flour. ' It riseswithout any fuss. "

The Ethels laughed at this description, but they recognized the value incamp of a flour that doesn't make any fuss. 

"Mix a pint of the flour with half a pint of milk. Let your spider gethot and then grease it with butter or cotton seed oil. "

"Why not lard. "

"Lard will do the deed, of course, but butter or a vegetable fat alwaysseems to me cleaner, " pronounced Tom wisely. 

"Won't you listen to Thomas!" cried Roger. "How do you happen to knowso much?" he inquired amazedly. 

"I went camping for a whole month once and I watched the cook a lot andsince then I've gathered ideas about the use of fat in cooking. Aslittle frying as possible for me, thank you, and no lard in mine!"

They smiled at his earnestness, but they all felt the same way, for thegirls were learning to approve of delicacy in cooking the more theycooked. 

"Go ahead with your spider cake, " urged Margaret, who was writing downthe receipt as Tom gave it. 

"When your buttered spider is ready you pour in half the mixture youhave ready. Spread it smooth over the whole pan, put on a cover thatyou've heated, and let the cake cook four minutes. Turn it over and letthe other side cook for four minutes. You ought to have seen our campcook turn over his cakes; he tossed them into the air and he gave thepan such a twist with his wrist that the cake came down all turned overand ready to let the good work go on. "

"What did he do with the other half of his batter?" asked Ethel Brown, determined to know exactly what happened at every stage of proceedings. 

"When he had taken out the first cake and given it to us he put in theremainder and cooked it while we were attacking the first installment. "

"Was it good?"

"You bet!"

"I don't know whether we can do it with this tiny fire, but let'stry--what do you say?" murmured Ethel Brown to Ethel Blue. 

"We ought to have trophies of our bow and spear, " Roger suggested whenhe was helping with the furnishing arrangements. 

"There aren't any, " replied Ethel Brown briefly, "but Dicky has a glassbowl full of tadpoles; we can have those. "

So the tadpoles came to live in the cave, carried out into the lightwhenever some one came and remembered to do it, and as some one camealmost every day, and as all the U. S. C. Members were considerate of theneeds and feelings of animals as well as of people, the tiny creaturesdid not suffer from their change of habitation. 

Dicky had taken the frogs' eggs from the edge of a pool on hisgrandfather's farm. They looked like black dots at first. Then theywriggled out of the jelly and took their place in the world as tadpoles. It was an unfailing delight to all the young people, to look at themthrough a magnifying glass. They had apparently a round head with sidegills through which they breathed, and a long tail. After a time tinylegs appeared under what might pass as the chin. Then the body grewlonger and another pair of legs made their appearance. Finally the tailwas absorbed and the tadpole's transformation into a frog was complete. All this did not take place for many months, however, but through thesummer the Club watched the little wrigglers carefully and thought thatthey could see a difference from week to week. 

CHAPTER IX

"NOTHING BUT LEAVES"

When the leaves were well out on the trees Helen held an ObservationClass one afternoon, in front of the cave. 

"How many members of this handsome and intelligent Club know what leavesare for?" she inquired. 

"As representing in a high degree both the qualities you mention, MadamPresident, " returned Tom, with a bow, "I take upon myself the duty ofreplying that perhaps you and Roger do because you've studied botany, and maybe Margaret and James do because they've had a garden, and it'spossible that the Ethels and Dorothy do inasmuch as they've had thegreat benefit of your acquaintance, but that Della and I don't know thevery first thing about leaves except that spinach and lettuce are goodto eat. "

"Take a good, full breath after that long sentence, " advised James. "Goahead, Helen. I don't know much about leaves except to recognize themwhen I see them. "

"Do you know what they're for?" demanded Helen, once again. 

"I can guess, " answered Margaret. "Doesn't the plant breathe and eatthrough them?"

"It does exactly that. It takes up food from water and from the soil byits roots and it gets food and water from the air by its leaves. "

"Sort of a slender diet, " remarked Roger, who was blessed with a heartyappetite. 

"The leaves give it a lot of food. I was reading in a book on botany theother day that the elm tree in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under whichWashington reviewed his army during the Revolution was calculated tohave about seven million leaves and that they gave it a surface of aboutfive acres. That's quite a surface to eat with!"

"Some mouth!" commented Roger. 

"If each one of you will pick a leaf you'll have in your hand anillustration of what I say, " suggested Helen. 

[Illustration: Lily of the Valley Leaf]

They all provided themselves with leaves, picking them from the plantsand shrubs and trees around them, except Ethel Blue, who already had alily of the valley leaf with some flowers pinned to her blouse. 

"When a leaf has everything that belongs to it it has a little stalk ofits own that is called a _petiole_; and at the foot of the petiole ithas two tiny leaflets called _stipules_, and it has what we usuallyspeak of as 'the leaf' which is really the _blade_. "

They all noted these parts either on their own leaves or theirneighbors', for some of their specimens came from plants that hadtransformed their parts. 

"What is the blade of your leaf made of?" Helen asked Ethel Brown. 

"Green stuff with a sort of framework inside, " answered Ethel, scrutinizing the specimen in her hand. 

"What are the characteristics of the framework?"

"It has big bones and little ones, " cried Della. 

"Good for Delila! The big bones are called ribs and the fine ones arecalled veins. Now, will you please all hold up your leaves so we can allsee each other's. What is the difference in the veining between EthelBrown's oak leaf and Ethel Blue's lily of the valley leaf?"

[Illustration: Ethel Brown's Oak Leaf]

After an instant's inspection Ethel Blue said, "The ribs and veins on myleaf all run the same way, and in the oak leaf they run every whichway. "

"Right, " approved Helen again. "The lily of the valley leaf isparallel-veined and the oak leaf is net-veined. Can each one of youdecide what your own leaf is?"

"I have a blade of grass; it's parallel veined, " Roger determined. Allthe others had net veined specimens, but they remembered that iris andflag and corn and bear-grass--yucca--all were parallel. 

"Yours are nearly all netted because there are more net-veined leavesthan the other kind, " Helen told them. "Now, there are two kinds ofparallel veining and two kinds of net veining, " she went on. "All theparallel veins that you've spoken of are like Ethel Blue's lily of thevalley leaf--the ribs run from the stem to the tip--but there's anotherkind of parallel veining that you see in the pickerel weed that'sgrowing down there in the brook; in that the veins run parallel from astrong midrib to the edge of the leaf. "

James made a rush down to the brook and came back with a leaf of thepickerel weed and they handed it about and compared it with the lily ofthe valley leaf. 

"Look at Ethel Brown's oak leaf, " Helen continued. "Do you see it has abig midrib and the other veins run out from it 'every which way' asEthel Blue said, making a net? Doesn't it remind you of a feather?"

They all agreed that it did, and they passed around Margaret's hat whichhad a quill stuck in the band, and compared it with the oak leaf. 

"That kind of veining is called pinnate veining from a Latin word thatmeans 'feather, '" explained Helen. "The other kind of net veining isthat of the maple leaf. "

Tom and Dorothy both had maple leaves and they held them up for generalobservation. 

"How is it different from the oak veining?" quizzed Helen. 

"The maple is a little like the palm of your hand with the fingersrunning out, " offered Ethel Brown. 

"That's it exactly. There are several big ribs starting at the sameplace instead of one midrib. Then the netting connects all thesespreading ribs. That is called _palmate_ veining because it's like thepalm of your hand. "

"Or the web foot of a duck, " suggested Dorothy. 

[Illustration: Tom and Dorothy both had Maple Leaves]

"I should think all the leaves that have a feather-shaped frameworkwould be long and all the palm-shaped ones would be fat, " guessed Della. 

"They are, and they have been given names descriptive of their shape. The narrowest kind, with the same width all the way, is called'_linear_. '"

"Because it's a line--more or less, " cried James. 

"The next wider, has a point and is called '_lance-shaped_. ' The'_oblong_' is like the linear, the same size up and down, but it's muchwider than the linear. The '_elliptical_' is what the oblong would be ifits ends were prettily tapered off. The apple tree has a leaf whoseellipse is so wide that it is called '_oval_. ' Can you guess what'_ovate_' is?"

"'Egg-shaped'?" inquired Tom. 

"That's it; larger at one end than the other, while a leaf that isalmost round, is called '_rotund_. '"

"Named after Della, " observed Della's brother in a subdued voice thatnevertheless caught his sister's ear and caused an oak twig to fly inhis direction. 

"There's a lance-shaped leaf that is sharp at the base instead of thepoint; that's named '_ob-lanceolate_'; and there's one called'_spatulate_' that looks like the spatula that druggists mix thingswith. "

[Illustration: Linear Lance-shaped Oblong Elliptical Ovate]

"That ought to be rounded at the point and narrow at the base, " said thedoctor's son. 

"It is. The lower leaves of the common field daisy are examples. How doyou think the botanists have named the shape that is like an egg upsidedown?"

"'_Ob-ovate_', if it's like the other _ob_, " guessed Dorothy. 

"The leaflets that make up the horse-chestnut leaf are '_wedge-shaped_'at the base, " Helen reminded them. 

"Then there are some leaves that have nothing remarkable about theirtips but have bases that draw your attention. One is'_heart-shaped_'--like the linden leaf or the morning-glory. Another is'_kidney-shaped_'. That one is wider than it is long. "

[Illustration: Shield-shaped Oblancolate Spatulate Rotund Crenate Edge]

[Illustration: Heart-shaped Kidney-shaped]

"The hepatica is kidney-shaped, " remarked James. 

"The '_ear-shaped_' base isn't very common in this part of the world, but there's a magnolia of that form. The '_arrow-shaped_' base you canfind in the arrow-weed in the brook. The shape like the old-time weapon, the '_halberd_' is seen in the common sorrel. "

"That nice, acid-tasting leaf?"

"Yes, that's the one. What does the nasturtium leaf remind you of?"

"Dicky always says that when the Jack-in-the-Pulpit stops preaching hejumps on the back of a frog and takes a nasturtium leaf for a shield andhops forth to look for adventures, " said Roger, to whom Dicky confidedmany of his ideas when they were working together in the garden. 

[Illustration: Arrow-shaped Ear-shaped Halberd-shaped]

"Dicky is just right, " laughed Helen. "That is a '_shield-shaped_'leaf. "

"Do the tips of the leaves have names?"

"Yes. They are all descriptive--'_pointed_, ' '_acute_, ' '_obtuse_, ''_truncate_, ' '_notched_, ' and so on, " answered Helen. "Did you notice aminute ago that I spoke of the 'leaflet' of a horse-chestnut leaf?What's the difference between a 'leaflet' and a 'leaf'?"

"To judge by what you said, a leaflet must be a part of a leaf. One ofthe five fingers of the horse-chestnut leaf is a leaflet, " Dellareasoned out in answer. 

[Illustration: Obtuse Truncated Notched]

"Can you think of any other leaves that have leaflets?"

"A locust?"

"A rose?"

[Illustration: Pinnate Pinnate, tendrils Locust Leaf Sweet Pea Leaf]

"A sweetpea?"

The latter answer-question came from Roger and produced a laugh. 

"All those are right. The leaves that are made up of leaflets arecalled '_compound_' leaves, and the ones that aren't compound are'_simple_. '"

"Most leaves are simple, " decided Ethel Brown. 

"There are more simple than compound, " agreed Helen. "As you recall themdo you see any resemblance between the shape of the horse-chestnut leafand the shape of the rose leaf and anything else we've been talkingabout this afternoon?"

"Helen is just naturally headed for the teaching profession!" exclaimedJames in an undertone. 

Helen flushed. 

"I do seem to be asking about a million questions, don't I?" sheresponded good naturedly. 

"The rose leaf is feather-shaped and the horse-chestnut is palm-shaped, "Ethel Blue thought aloud, frowning delicately as she spoke. "They'relike those different kinds of veining. "

"That's it exactly, " commended her cousin. "Those leaves are '_pinnatelycompound_' and '_palmately compound_' according as their leaflets arearranged like a feather or like the palm of your hand. When you begin tonotice the edges of leaves you see that there is about every degree ofcutting between the margin that is quite smooth and the margin that isso deeply cut that it is almost a compound leaf. It is never a realcompound leaf, though, unless the leaflets are truly separate and allbelong on one common stalk. "

"My lily of the valley leaf has a perfectly smooth edge, " said EthelBlue. 

"That is called '_entire_. ' This elm leaf of mine has a '_serrate_' edgewith the teeth pointing forward like the teeth of a saw. When theypoint outward like the spines of a holly leaf they are'_dentate_-'toothed. The border of a nasturtium leaf is '_crenate_' orscalloped. Most honeysuckles have a '_wavy_' margin. When there aresharp, deep notches such as there are on the upper leaves of the fielddaisy, the edge is called '_cut_. '"

"This oak leaf is 'cut, ' then. "

"When the cuts are as deep as those the leaf is '_cleft_. ' When they goabout half way to the midrib, as in the hepatica, it is '_lobed_' andwhen they almost reach the midrib as they do in the poppy it is'_parted_. '"

[Illustration: Dentate Wavy]

"Which makes me think our ways must part if James and I are to get homein time for dinner, " said Margaret. 

"There's our werwolf down in the field again, " exclaimed Dorothy, peering through the bushes toward the meadow where a man was stoopingand standing, examining what he took up from the ground. 

"Let's go through the field and see what he's doing, " exclaimed Roger. "He's been here so many times he must have some purpose. "

But when they passed him he was merely looking at a flower through asmall magnifying glass. He said "Good-afternoon" to them, and they sawas they looked back, that he kept on with his bending and rising andexamination. 

"He's like us, students of botany, " laughed Ethel Blue. "We ought tohave asked him to Helen's class this afternoon. "

"I don't like his looks, " Dorothy decided. "He makes me uncomfortable. Iwish he wouldn't come here. "

Roger turned back to take another look and shook his head thoughtfully. 

"Me neither, " he remarked concisely, and then added as if to take thethoughts of the girls off the subject, "Here's a wild strawberry plantfor your indoor strawberry bed, Ethel Brown, " and launched into therecitation of an anonymous poem he had recently found. 

 "The moon is up, the moon is up! The larks begin to fly, And, like a drowsy buttercup, Dark Phoebus skims the sky, The elephant with cheerful voice, Sings blithely on the spray; The bats and beetles all rejoice, Then let me, too, be gay. "

CHAPTER X

THE U. S. C. AND THE COMMUNITY

Roger's interest in gardening had extended far beyond fertilizers andsweetpeas. It was not long after the discussion in which the Mortons'garden had been planned on paper that he happened to mention to themaster of the high school, Mr. Wheeler, what the Club was intending todo. Mr. Wheeler had learned to value the enthusiasm and persistency ofthe U. S. C. Members and it did not take him long to decide that he wantedtheir assistance in putting through a piece of work that would be bothpleasant and profitable for the whole community. 

"It seems queer that here in Rosemont where we are on the very edge ofthe country there should be any people who do not have gardens, " he saidto Roger. 

"There are, though, " responded Roger. "I was walking down by the stationthe other day where those shanties are that the mill hands live in and Inoticed that not one of them had space for more than a plant or two andthey seemed to be so discouraged at the prospect that even the plant ortwo wasn't there. "

"Yet all the children that live in those houses go to our publicschools. Now my idea is that we should have a community garden, plantedand taken care of by the school children. "

"Bully!" exclaimed Roger enthusiastically. "Where are you going to getyour land?"

"That's the question. It ought to be somewhere near the graded school, and there isn't any ploughed land about there. The only vacant landthere is is that cheerful spot that used to be the dump. "

"Isn't that horrible! One corner of it is right behind the house wheremy aunt Louise lives. Fortunately there's a thick hedge that shuts itoff. "

"Still it's there, and I imagine she'd be glad enough to have it madeinto a pleasant sight instead of an eyesore. "

"You mean that the dump might be made into the garden?"

"If we can get people like Mrs. Smith who are personally affected by it, and others who have the benefit of the community at heart to contributetoward clearing off the ground and having it fertilized I believe thatwould be the right place. "

"You can count on Aunt Louise, I know. She'd be glad to help. Anybodywould. Why it would turn that terrible looking spot into almost a park!"

"The children would prepare the gardens once the soil was put intosomething like fair condition, but the first work on that lot is tooheavy even for the larger boys. "

"They could pick up the rubbish on top. "

"Yes, they could do that, and the town carts could carry it away andburn it. The town would give us the street sweepings all spring andsummer and some of the people who have stables would contributefertilizer. Once that was turned under with the spade and topped off bysome commercial fertilizer with a dash of lime to sweeten matters, thechildren could do the rest. "

"What is your idea about having the children taught? Will the regularteachers do it?"

"All the children have some nature study, and simple gardening can berun into that, our superintendent tells me. Then I know something aboutgardening and I'll gladly give some time to the outdoor work. "

"I'd like to help, too, " said Roger unassumingly, "if you think I knowenough. "

"If you're going to have a share in planting and working three gardens Idon't see why you can't keep sufficiently ahead of the children to beable to show them what to do. We'd be glad to have your help, " and Mr. Wheeler shook hands cordially with his new assistant. 

Roger was not the only member of his family interested in the new plan. His Grandfather was public-spirited and at a meeting of citizens calledfor the purpose of proposing the new community venture he offered money, fertilizer, seeds, and the services of a man for two days to help in thefirst clearing up. Others followed his example, one citizen giving aliberal sum of money toward the establishment of an incinerator whichshould replace in part the duties of the dump, and another heading asubscription list for the purchase of a fence which should keep outstray animals and boys whose interests might be awakened at the timethe vegetables ripened rather than during the days of preparation andbackache. Mrs. Smith answered her nephew's expectations by adding to thefund. The town contributed the lot, and supported the new workgenerously in more than one way. 

When it came to the carrying out of details Mr. Wheeler made furtherdemands upon the Club. He asked the boys to give some of their Saturdaytime to spreading the news of the proposed garden among the people whomight contribute and also the people who might want to have theirchildren benefit by taking the new "course of study. " Although James andTom did not live in Rosemont they were glad to help and for severalSaturdays the Club tramps were utilized as a means of spreading the goodnews through the outskirts of the town. 

The girls were placed among the workers when the day came to registerthe names of the children who wanted to undertake the plots. There wereso many of them that there was plenty to do for both the Ethels and forDorothy and Helen, who assisted Mr. Wheeler. The registration was basedon the catalogue plan. For each child there was a card, and on it thegirls wrote his name and address, his grade in school and a numbercorresponding to the number of one of the plots into which the big fieldwas divided. It did not take him long to understand that on the day whenthe garden was to open he was to hunt up his plot and that after that heand his partner were to be responsible for everything that happened toit. 

Two boys or two girls were assigned to each plot but more childrenapplied than there were plots to distribute. The Ethels were disturbedabout this at first for it seemed a shame that any one who wanted tomake a garden should not have the opportunity. Helen reminded them, however, that there might be some who would find their interest growfaint when the days grew hot and long and the weeds seemed to wax tallat a faster rate than did the desirable plants. 

"When some of these youngsters fall by the wayside we can supply theirplaces from the waiting list, " she said. 

"There won't be so many fall by the wayside if there is a waiting list, "prophesied her Aunt Louise who had come over to the edge of the groundto see how popular the new scheme proved to be. "It's human nature towant to stick if you think that some one else is waiting to take yourplace. "

The beds were sixteen feet long and five feet wide and a path ran allaround. This permitted every part of the bed to be reached by hand, anddid away with the necessity of stepping on it. It was decreed that allthe plots were to be edged with flowers, but the workers might decidefor themselves what they should be. The planters of the first ten percent. Of the beds that showed seedlings were rewarded by being allowedthe privilege of planting the vines and tall blossoming plants that wereto cover the inside of the fence. 

Most of the plots were given over to vegetables, even those cared for bysmall children, for the addition of a few extras to the family table wasmore to be desired than the bringing home of a bunch of flowers, buteven the most provident children had the pleasure of picking the whitecandytuft or blue ageratum, or red and yellow dwarf nasturtiums thatformed the borders. 

Once a week each plot received a visit from some one qualified toinstruct the young farmer and the condition of the plot was indicated onhis card. Here, too, and on the duplicate card which was filed in theschoolhouse, the child's attendance record was kept, and also the amountof seed he used and the extent of the crop he harvested. In this way thecost of each of the little patches was figured quite closely. As itturned out, some of the children who were not blessed with many brothersand sisters, sold a good many dimes' worth of vegetables in the courseof the summer. 

"This surely is a happy sight!" exclaimed Mr. Emerson to his wife as hepassed one day and stopped to watch the children at work, some, justarrived, getting their tools from the toolhouse in one corner of thelot, others already hard at work, some hoeing, some on their kneesweeding, all as contented as they were busy. 

"Come in, come in, " urged Mr. Wheeler, who noticed them looking over thefence. "Come in and see how your grandson's pupils are progressing. "

The Emersons were eager to accept the invitation. 

"Here is the plan we've used in laying out the beds, " explained Mr. Wheeler, showing them a copy of a Bulletin issued by the Department ofAgriculture. "Roger and I studied over it a long time and we came to theconclusion that we couldn't better this. This one is all vegetables, you see, and that has been chosen by most of the youngsters. Some of thegirls, though, wanted more flowers, so they have followed this one. "

[Illustration: Plan of a vegetable Plan of a combined school garden vegetable and flower school garden]

"This vegetable arrangement is the one I've followed at home, " saidRoger, "only mine is larger. Dicky's garden is just this size. "

"Would there be any objection to my offering a small prize?" asked Mr. Emerson. 

"None at all. "

"Then I'd like to give some packages of seeds--as many as you thinkwould be suitable--to the partners who make the most progress in thefirst month. "

"And I'd like to give a bundle of flower seeds to the border that is inthe most flourishing condition by the first of August, " added Mrs. Emerson. 

"And the United Service Club would like to give some seeds for theearliest crop of vegetables harvested from any plot, " promised Roger, taking upon himself the responsibility of the offer which he was surethe other members would confirm. 

Mr. Wheeler thanked them all and assured them that notice of the prizeswould be given at once so that the competition might add to the presententhusiasm. 

"Though it would be hard to do that, " he concluded, smiling withsatisfaction. 

"No fair planting corn in the kitchen and transplanting it the way I'mdoing at home, " decreed Roger, enlarging his stipulations concerning theClub offer. 

"I understand; the crop must be raised here from start to finish, "replied Mr. Wheeler. 

The interest of the children in the garden and of their parents and thepromoters in general in the improvement that they had made in the oldtown dump was so great that the Ethels were inspired with an idea thatwould accomplish even more desirable changes. The suggestion was givenat one of the Saturday meetings of the Club. 

"You know how horrid the grounds around the railroad station are, " EthelBlue reminded them. 

"There's some grass, " objected Roger. 

"A tiny patch, and right across the road there are ugly weeds. I thinkthat if we put it up to the people of Rosemont right now they'd bewilling to do something about making the town prettier by planting in alot of conspicuous places. "

"Where besides the railroad station?" inquired Helen. 

"Can you ask? Think of the Town Hall! There isn't a shrub within a halfmile. "

"And the steps of the high school, " added Ethel Brown. "You go over themevery day for ten months, so you're so accustomed to them that you don'tsee that they're as ugly as ugly. They ought to have bushes planted ateach side to bank them from sight. "

"I dare say you're right, " confessed Helen, while Roger nodded assentand murmured something about Japan ivy. 

"Some sort of vine at all the corners would be splendid, " insisted EthelBrown. "Ethel Blue and Dorothy and I planted Virginia Creeper and Japanivy and clematis wherever we could against the graded school building;didn't we tell you? The principal said we might; he took theresponsibility and we provided the plants and did the planting. "

"He said he wished we could have some rhododendrons and mountain laurelfor the north side of the building, and some evergreen azalea bushes, but he didn't know where we'd get them, because he had asked thecommittee for them once and they had said that they were spending alltheir money on the inside of the children's heads and that the outsideof the building would have to look after itself. "

"That's just the spirit the city fathers have been showing about thepark. They've actually got that started, though, " said Roger gratefully. 

"They're doing hardly any work on it; I went by there yesterday, "reported Dorothy. "It's all laid out, and I suppose they've plantedgrass seed for there are places that look as if they might be lawns inthe dim future. "

"Too bad they couldn't afford to sod them, " remarked James, wisely. 

"If they'd set out clumps of shrubs at the corners and perhaps put acarpet of pansies under them it would help, " declared Ethel Blue, whohad consulted with the Glen Point nurseryman one afternoon when the Clubwent there to see Margaret and James. 

"Why don't we make a roar about it?" demanded Roger. "Ethel Blue had theright idea when she said that now was the time to take advantage of thecitizens' interest. If we could in some way call their attention to thehigh school and the Town Hall and the railroad station and the park. "

"And tell them that the planting at the graded school as far as it goes, was done by three little girls, " suggested Tom, grinning at thedisgusted faces with which the Ethels and Dorothy heard themselvescalled "little girls"; "that ought to put them to shame. "

"Isn't the easiest way to call their attention to it to have a piece inthe paper?" asked Ethel Brown. 

"You've hit the right idea, " approved James. "If your editor is like theGlen Point editor he'll be glad of a new crusade to undertake. "

"Particularly if it's backed by your grandfather, " added Della shrewdly. 

The result of this conference of the Club was that they laid the wholematter before Mr. Emerson and found that it was no trouble at all toenlist his interest. 

"If you're interested right off why won't other people be?" asked EthelBrown when it was clear that her grandfather would lend his weight toanything they undertook. 

"I believe they will be, and I think you have the right idea aboutmaking a beginning. Go to Mr. Montgomery, the editor of the Rosemont_Star_, and say that I sent you to lay before him the needs of thiscommunity in the way of added beauty. Tell him to 'play it up' so thatthe Board of Trade will get the notion through their heads that peoplewill be attracted to live here if they see lovely grounds about them. He'll think of other appeals. Go to see him. "

The U. S. C. Never let grass grow under its feet. The Ethels and Dorothy, Roger and Helen went to the office of the _Star_ that very afternoon. 

"You seem to be a delegation, " said the editor, receiving them with asmile. 

"We represent our families, who are citizens of Rosemont, " answeredRoger, "and who want your help, and we also represent the United ServiceClub which is ready to help you help them. "

"I know you!" responded Mr. Montgomery genially. "Your club is wellnamed. You've already done several useful things for Rosemont people andinstitutions. What is it now?"

Roger told him to the last detail, even quoting Tom's remark about the"three little girls, " and adding some suggestions about town prizes forfront door yards which the Ethels had poured into his ears as they cameup the stairs. While he was talking the editor made some notes on a padlying on his desk. The Ethels were afraid that that meant that he wasnot paying much attention, and they glanced at each other with growingdisappointment. When Roger stopped, however, Mr. Montgomery noddedgravely. 

"I shall be very glad indeed to lend the weight of the _Star_ toward thecarrying out of your proposition, " he remarked, seeming not to noticethe bounce of delight that the younger girls could not resist. "Whatwould you think of a series of editorials, each striking a differentnote?" and he read from his pad;--Survey of Rosemont; Effect ofAppearance of Railroad Station, Town Hall, etc. , on Strangers; Value ofBeauty as a Reinforcement to Good Roads and Good Schools. "That is, asan extra attraction for drawing new residents, " he explained. "We havegood roads and good schools, but I can conceive of people who might saythat they would have to be a lot better than they are before they'd livein a town where the citizens had no more idea of the fitness of thingsthan to have a dump heap almost in the heart of the town and to let theTown Hall look like a jail. "

The listening party nodded their agreement with the force of thisargument. 

"'What Three Little Girls Have Done, '" read Mr. Montgomery. "I'll inviteany one who is interested to take a look at the graded schoolhouse andsee how much better it looks as a result of what has been accomplishedthere. I know, because I live right opposite it, and I'm much obliged toyou young ladies. "

He bowed so affably in the direction of the Ethels and Dorothy, and"young ladies" sounded so pleasantly in their ears that they weredisposed to forgive him for the "little girls" of his title. 

"I have several other topics here, " he went on, "some appealing to ourcitizens' love of beauty and some to their notions of commercial values. If we keep this thing up every day for a week and meanwhile work upsentiment, I shouldn't wonder if we had some one calling a publicmeeting at the end of the week. If no one else does I'll do it myself, "he added amusedly. 

"What can we do?" asked Ethel Brown, who always went straight to thepractical side. 

"Stir up sentiment. You stirred your grandfather; stir all yourneighbors; talk to all your schoolmates and get them to talk at homeabout the things you tell them. I'll send a reporter to write up alittle 'story' about the U. S. C. With a twist on the end that thegrown-ups ought not to leave a matter like this for youngsters tohandle, no matter how well they would do it. "

"But we'd like to handle it, " stammered Ethel Blue. 

"You'll have a chance; you needn't be afraid of that. The willing horsemay always pull to the full extent of his strength. But the citizens ofRosemont ought not to let a public matter like this be financed by a fewkids, " and Mr. Montgomery tossed his notebook on his desk with a forcethat hinted that he had had previous encounters with an obstinateelement in his chosen abiding place. 

The scheme that he had outlined was followed out to the letter, withadditions made as they occurred to the ingenious minds of the editor orof his clever young reporters who took an immense delight in runningunder the guise of news items, bits of reminder, gentle gibes atslowness, bland comments on ignorance of the commercial value of beauty, mild jokes at letting children do men's work. It was all so good-naturedthat no one took offence, and at the same time no one who read the_Star_ had the opportunity to forget that seed had been sown. 

It germinated even more promptly than Mr. Montgomery had prophesied. Heknew that Mr. Emerson stood ready to call a mass meeting at any momentthat he should tell him that the time was ripe, but both he and Mr. Emerson thought that the call might be more effective if it came from aperson who really had been converted by the articles in the paper. Thisperson came to the front but five days after the appearance of thefirst editorial in the surprising person of the alderman who had beenforemost in opposing the laying out of the park. 

"You may think me a weathercock, " he said rather sheepishly to Mr. Montgomery, "but when I make up my mind that a thing is desirable I putmy whole strength into putting it through. When I finally gave my votefor the park I was really converted to the park project and I tell youI've been just frothing because the other aldermen have been so slowabout putting it in order. I haven't been able to get them toappropriate half enough for it. "

Mr. Montgomery smothered a smile, and listened, unruffled, to hiscaller's proposal. 

"My idea now, " he went on, "is to call a mass meeting in the Town Hallsome day next week, the sooner the better. I'll be the chairman or Mr. Emerson or you, I don't care who it is. We'll put before the people allthe points you've taken up in your articles. We'll get people whounderstand the different topics to talk about them--some fellow on thecommercial side and some one else on the beauty side and so on; andwe'll have the Glen Point nurseryman--"

"We ought to have one over here, " interposed Mr. Montgomery. "

"We will if this goes through. There's a new occupation opened here atonce by this scheme! We'll have him give us a rough estimate of how muchit would cost to make the most prominent spots in Rosemont look decentinstead of like a deserted ranch, " exclaimed the alderman, becomingincreasingly enthusiastic. 

"I don't know that I'd call Rosemont that, " objected the editor. "Peopledon't like to have their towns abused too much; but if you can work upsentiment to have those public places fixed up and then you can get towork on some sort of plan for prizes for the prettiest front yards andthe best grown vines over doors and-so on, and raise some competitivefeeling I believe we'll have no more trouble than we did about theschool gardens. It just takes some one to start the ball rolling, andyou're the person to do it, " and tactful Mr. Montgomery laid anapproving hand on the shoulder of the pleased alderman. 

If it had all been cut and dried it could not have worked out better. The meeting was packed with citizens who proved to be so full ofenthusiasm that they did not stand in need of conversion. They moved, seconded and passed resolution after resolution urging the aldermen tovote funds for improvements and they mentioned spots in need ofimprovement and means of improving them that U. S. C. Never would have hadthe courage to suggest. 

"We certainly are indebted to you young people for a big move towardbenefiting Rosemont, " said Mr. Montgomery to the Club as he passed thesettee where they were all seated together. "It's going to be one of thebeauty spots of New Jersey before this summer is over!"

"And the Ethels are the authors of the ideal" murmured Tom Watkins, applauding silently, as the girls blushed. 

CHAPTER XI

THE FLOWER FESTIVAL

The Idea of having a town flower-costume party was the Ethels', too. Itcame to them when contributions were beginning to flag, just as theydiscovered that the grounds around the fire engine house were a disgraceto a self-respecting community, as their emphatic friend, the alderman, described them. 

"People are always willing to pay for fun, " Ethel Brown said, "and thisought to appeal to them because the money that is made by the party willgo back to them by being spent for the town. "

Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Emerson and Mrs. Smith thought the plan waspossible, and they offered to enlist the interest of the various clubsand societies to which they belonged. The schools were closed now sothat there was no opportunity of advertising the entertainment throughthe school children, but all the clergymen co-operated heartily in everyway in their power and Mr. Montgomery gave the plan plenty of freeadvertising, not only in the advertising columns but through the meansof reading notices which his reporters prepared with as much interestand skill as they had shown in working up public opinion on the generalimprovement scheme. 

"It must be in the school house hall so everybody will go, " declaredHelen. 

"Why not use the hall and the grounds, too?" inquired Ethel Blue. "Ifit's a fine evening there are various things that would be prettier tohave out of doors than indoors. "

"The refreshments, for instance, " explained Ethel Brown. "Every onewould rather eat his ice cream and cake at a table on the lawn in frontof the schoolhouse than inside where it may be stuffy if it happens tobe a warm night. "

"Lanterns on the trees and candles on each table would make lightenough, " decided Ethel Blue. 

"There could be a Punch and Judy show in a tent at the side of theschoolhouse, " suggested Dorothy. 

"What is there flowery about a Punch and Judy show?" asked Rogerscornfully. 

"Nothing at all, " returned Dorothy meekly, "but for some reason or otherpeople always like a Punch and Judy show. "

"Where are we going to get a tent?"

"A tent would be awfully warm, " Ethel Brown decided. "Why couldn't wehave it in the corner where there is a fence on two sides? We could laceboughs back and forth between the palings and make the fence higher, andon the other two sides borrow or buy some wide chicken wire from thehardware store and make that eye-proof with branches. "

"And string an electric light wire over them. I begin to getenthusiastic, " cried Roger. "We could amuse, say, a hundred people at atime at ten cents apiece, in the side-show corner and keep them awayfrom the other more crowded regions. "

"Exactly, " agreed Dorothy; "and if you can think of any other side showthat the people will like better than Punch and Judy, why, put it ininstead. "

"We might have finger shadows--rabbits' and dogs' heads and so on;George Foster does them splendidly, and then have some one recite andsome one else do a monologue in costume. "

"Aren't we going to have that sort of thing inside?"

"I suppose so, but if your idea is to give more space inside, considering that all Rosemont is expected to come to this festivity, wemight as well have a performance in two rings, so to speak. "

"Especially as some of the people might be a little shy about cominginside, " suggested Dorothy. 

"Why not forget Punch and Judy and have the same performance exactly inboth places?" demanded Roger, quite excited with his idea. "The Clubgives a flower dance, for instance, in the hall; then they go into theyard and give it there in the ten cent enclosure while number two of theprogram is on the platform inside. When number two is done inside it isput on outside, and so right through the whole performance. "

"That's not bad except that the outside people are paying ten cents tosee the show and the inside people aren't paying anything. "

"Well, then, why not have the tables where you sell things--if you aregoing to have any?"--

"We are, " Helen responded to the question in her brother's voice. 

"--have your tables on the lawn, and have everybody pay to see theperformance--ten cents to go inside or ten cents to see the same thingin the enclosure?"

"That's the best yet, " decided Ethel Brown. "That will go through wellif only it is pleasant weather. "

"I feel in my bones it will be, " and Ethel Blue laughed hopefully. 

The appointed day was fair and not too warm. The whole U. S. C. Which wenton duty at the school house early in the day, pronounced the behavior ofthe weather to be exactly what it ought to be. 

The boys gave their attention to the arrangement of the screen of boughsin the corner of the school lot, and the girls, with Mrs. Emerson, Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Smith, decorated the hall. Flowers were to be soldeverywhere, both indoors and out, so there were various tables about theroom and they all had contributed vases of different sorts to hold theblossoms. 

"I must say, I don't think these look pretty a bit, " confessed Dorothy, gazing with her head on one side at a large bowl of flowers of allcolors that she had placed in the middle of one of the tables. 

Her mother looked at it and smiled. 

"Don't try to show off your whole stock at once, " she advised. "Have afew arranged in the way that shows them to the best advantage and letEthel Blue draw a poster stating that there are plenty more behind thescenes. Have your supply at the back or under the table in large jarsand bowls and replenish your vases as soon as you sell their contents. "

The Ethels and Dorothy thought this was a sensible way of doing thingsand said so, and Ethel Blue at once set about the preparation of threeposters drawn on brown wrapping paper and showing a girl holding aflower and saying "We have plenty more like this. Ask for them. " Theyproved to be very pretty and were put up in the hall and the outsideenclosure and on the lawn. 

"There are certain kinds of flowers that should always be kept low, "explained Mrs. Smith as they all sorted over the cut flowers that hadbeen contributed. "Flowers that grow directly from the ground likecrocuses or jonquils or daffodils or narcissus--the spring bulbs--shouldbe set into flat bowls through netting that will hold them upright. There are bowls sold for this purpose. "

"Don't they call them 'pansy bowls'?"

"I have heard them called that. Some of them have a pierced china top;others have a silver netting. You can make a top for a bowl of any sizeby cutting chicken wire to suit your needs. "

"I should think a low-growing plant like ageratum would be pretty in avase of that sort. "

"It would, and pansies, of course, and anemones--windflowers--heldupright by very fine netting and nodding in every current of air as ifthey were still in the woods. "

"I think I'll make a covering for a glass bowl we have at home, "declared Ethel Brown, who was diligently snipping ends of stems as shelistened. 

"A glass bowl doesn't seem to me suitable, " answered her aunt. "Can youguess why?"

Ethel Brown shook her head with a murmured "No. " It was Della whooffered an explanation. 

"The stems aren't pretty enough to look at, " she suggested. "When youuse a glass bowl or vase the stems you see through it ought to begraceful. "

"I think so, " responded Mrs. Smith. "That's why we always take pleasurein a tall slender glass vase holding a single rose with a long stemstill bearing a few leaves. We get the effect that it gives us out ofdoors. "

"That's what we like to see, " agreed Mrs. Morton. "Narcissus springingfrom a low bowl is an application of the same idea. So are these fewsprays of clematis waving from a vase made to hang on the wall. Theyaren't crowded; they fall easily; they look happy. "

"And in a room you would select a vase that would harmonize with thecoloring, " added Margaret, who was mixing sweetpeas in loose buncheswith feathery gypsophila. 

"When we were in Japan Dorothy and I learned something about theJapanese notions of flower arrangement, " continued Mrs. Smith. "Theyusually use one very beautiful dominating blossom. If others are addedthey are not competing for first place but they act as helpers to add tothe beauty of the main attraction. "

"We've learned some of the Japanese ways, " said Mrs. Emerson. "Iremember when people always made a bouquet perfectly round and of asmany kinds of flowers as they could put into it. "

"People don't make 'bouquets' now; they gather a 'bunch of flowers, ' orthey give you a single bloom, " smiled her daughter. "But isn't it truethat we get as much pleasure out of a single superb chrysanthemum orrose as we do out of a great mass of them?"

"There are times when I like masses, " admitted Mrs. Emerson. "I likeflowers of many kinds if the colors are harmoniously arranged, and Ilike a mantelpiece banked with the kind of flowers that give youpleasure when you see them in masses in the garden or the greenhouse. "

"If the vases they are in don't show, " warned Mrs. Smith. 

Mrs. Emerson agreed to that. 

"The choice of vases is almost as important as the choice of flowers, "she added. "If the stems are beautiful they ought to show and you musthave a transparent vase, as you said about the rose. If the stems arenot especially worthy of admiration the better choice is an opaque vaseof china or pottery. "

"Or silver or copper?" questioned Margaret. 

"Metals and blossoms never seem to me to go well together, " confessedMrs. Emerson. "I have seen a copper cup with a bunch of violets looselyarranged so that they hung over the edge and the copper glinted throughthe blossoms and leaves and the effect was lovely; but flowers to be putinto metal must be chosen with that in mind and arranged with especialcare. "

"Metal _jardinières_ don't seem suitable to me, either, " confessed Mrs. Emerson. "There are so many beautiful potteries now that it is possibleto something harmonious for every flowerpot. "

"You don't object to a silver centrepiece on the dining table, do you?"

"That's the only place where it doesn't seem out of place, " smiled Mrs. Emerson. "There are so many other pieces of silver on the table that itis merely one of the articles of table equipment and therefore is notconspicuous. Not a standing vase, mind you!" she continued. "I don'tknow anything more irritating than to have to dodge about thecentrepiece to see your opposite neighbor. It's a terrible bar toconversation. "

They all had experienced the same discomfort, and they all laughed atthe remembrance. 

"A low bowl arranged flat is the rule for centrepieces, " repeated Mrs. Emerson seriously. 

"Mother always says that gay flowers are the city person's greatest helpin brightening up a dark room, " said Della as she laid aside all thecalliopsis from the flowers she was sorting. "I'm going to take a bunchof this home to her to-night. "

"I always have yellow or white or pink flowers in the dark corner of oursitting room, " said Mrs. Smith. "The blue ones or the deep red ones orthe ferns may have the sunny spots. "

"Father insists on yellow blossoms of some kind in the library, " addedMrs. Emerson. "He says they are as good as another electric light tobrighten the shadowy side where the bookcases are. "

"I remember seeing a gay array of window boxes at Stratford-on-Avon, once upon a time, " contributed Mrs. Morton. "It was a sunshiny day whenI saw them, but they were well calculated to enliven the very grayestweather that England can produce. I was told that the house belonged toMarie Corelli, the novelist. "

"What plants did she have?" asked Dorothy. 

"Blue lobelia and scarlet geraniums and some frisky little yellow bloom;I couldn't see exactly what it was. "

"Red and yellow and blue, " repeated Ethel Brown. "Was it pretty?"

"Very. Plenty of each color and all the boxes alike all over the frontof the house. "

"We shouldn't need such vividness under our brilliant American skies, "commented Mrs. Smith. "Plenty of green with flowers of one color makes awindow box in the best of taste, to my way of thinking. "

"And that color one that is becoming to the house, so to speak, " smiledHelen. "I saw a yellow house the other day that had yellow flowers inthe window boxes. They were almost extinguished by their background. "

"I saw a white one in Glen Point with white daisies, and the effect wasthe same, " added Margaret. "The poor little flowers were lost. There areivies and some small evergreen shrubs that the greenhouse-men raiseespecially for winter window boxes now. I've been talking a lot with thenurseryman at Glen Point and he showed me some the other day that hewarranted to keep fresh-looking all through the cold weather unlessthere were blizzards. "

"We must remember those at Sweetbrier Lodge, " Mrs. Smith said toDorothy. 

"Why don't you give a talk on arranging flowers as part of the programthis evening?" Margaret asked Mrs. Smith. 

"Do, Aunt Louise. You really ought to, " urged Helen, and the Ethelsadded their voices. 

"Give a short talk and illustrate it by the examples the girls have beenarranging, " Mrs. Morton added, and when Mrs. Emerson said that shethought the little lecture would have real value as well as interestMrs. Smith yielded. 

"Say what you and Grandmother have been telling us and you won't need toadd another thing, " cried Helen. "I think it will be the very bestnumber on the program. "

"I don't believe it will compete with the side show in the yard, "laughed Mrs. Smith, "but I'm quite willing to do it if you think it willgive any one pleasure. "

"But you'll be part of the side show in the yard, " and they explainedthe latest plan of running the program. 

When the flowers had all been arranged to their satisfaction the girlswent into the yard where they found the tables and chairs placed for theserving of the refreshments. The furniture had been supplied by thelocal confectioner who was to furnish the ice cream and give themanagement a percentage of what was received. The cake was all suppliedby the ladies of the town and the money obtained from its sale was clearprofit. 

The girls covered the bleakness of the plain tables by placing acentrepiece of radiating ferns flat on the wood. On that stood a smallvase, each one having flowers of but one color, and each one having adifferent color. 

Under the trees among the refreshment tables, but not in their way, werethe sales tables. On one, cut flowers were to be sold; on another, potted plants, and a special corner was devoted to wild plants from thewoods. A seedsman had given them a liberal supply of seeds to sell oncommission, agreeing to take back all that were not sold and tocontribute one per cent. More than he usually gave to his sales people, "for the good of the cause. "

Every one in the whole town who raised vegetables had contributed to theHousewives' Table, and as the names of the donors were attached thetable had all the attraction of an exhibit at a county fair and wassurrounded all the time by so many men that the women who bought thevegetables for home use had to be asked to come back later to get them, so that the discussion of their merits among their growers mightcontinue with the specimens before them. 

"That's a hint for another year, " murmured Ethel Blue to Ethel Brown. "We can have a make-believe county fair and charge admission, and givemedals--"

"Of pasteboard. "

"Exactly. I'm glad we thought to have a table of the school gardenproducts; all the parents will be enormously interested. It will bringthem here, and they won't be likely to go away without: spending nickelor a dime on ice cream. "

A great part of the attractiveness of the grounds was due to thecontribution of a dealer in garden furniture. In return for beingallowed to put up advertisements of his stock in suitable places wherethey would not be too conspicuous, he furnished several artisticsettees, an arbor or two and a small pergola, which the Glen Pointgreenhouseman decorated in return for a like use of his advertisingmatter. 

Still another table, under the care of Mrs. Montgomery, the wife of theeditor, showed books on flowers and gardens and landscape gardening andtook subscriptions for several of the garden and home magazines. Last ofall a fancy table was covered with dolls and paper dolls dressed likethe participants in the floral procession that was soon to form and passaround the lawn; lamp shades in the form of huge flowers; hats, flower-trimmed; and half a hundred other small articles including manyfor ten, fifteen and twenty-five cents to attract the children. 

At five o'clock the Flower Festival was opened and afternoon tea wasserved to the early comers. All the members of the United Service Cluband the other boys and girls of the town who helped them wore flowercostumes. It was while the Ethels were serving Mrs. Smith and the MissClarks that the latter called their attention to a man who sat at atable not far away. 

"That man is your rival, " they announced, smiling, to Mrs. Smith. 

"My rival! How is that?" inquired Mrs. Smith. 

"He wants to buy the field. "

They all exclaimed and looked again at the man who sat quietly eatinghis ice cream as if he had no such dreadful intentions. The Ethels, however, recognized him as he pushed back a lock of hair that fell overhis forehead. 

"Why, that's our werwolf!" they exclaimed after taking a good look athim, and they explained how they had seen him several times in thefield, always digging a stick into the ground and examining what itbrought up. 

"He says he's a botanist, and he finds so much to interest him in thefield that he wants to buy it so that he may feel free to work there, "said Miss Clark the younger. 

"That's funny, " commented Ethel Blue. "He almost never looks at anyflowers or plants. He just pokes his stick in and that's all. "

"He offered us a considerable sum for the property but we told him thatyou had an option on it, Mrs. Smith, and we explained that we couldn'tgive title anyway. "

"Did his interest seem to fail?"

"He asked us a great many questions and we told him all about our auntand the missing cousin. I thought you might be interested to know thatsome one else besides yourself sees some good in the land. "

"It's so queer, " said the other Miss Clark. "That land has never had anoffer made for it and here we have two within a few weeks of eachother. "

"And we can't take advantage of either of them!"

The Ethels noticed later on that the man was joined by a girl abouttheir own age. They looked at her carefully so that they would recognizeher again if they saw her, and they also noticed that the werwolf, as hetalked to her, so often pushed back from his forehead the lock of hairthat fell over it that it had become a habit. 

The full effect of the flower costumes was seen after the lanterns werelighted, when some of the young married women attended to the tableswhile their youngers marched around the lawn that all might see thecostumes and be attracted to the entertainment in the hall and behindthe screen in the open. 

Roger led the procession, impersonating "Spring. "

"That's a new one to me, " ejaculated the editor of the _Star_ insurprise. "I always thought 'Spring' was of the feminine gender. "

"Not this year, " returned Roger merrily as he passed by. 

He was dressed like a tree trunk in a long brown cambric robe thatfitted him closely and gave him at the foot only the absolute space thathe needed for walking. He carried real apple twigs almost entirelystripped of their leaves and laden with blossoms made of white and pinkpaper. The effect was of a generously flowering apple tree and every onerecognized it. 

Behind Roger came several of the spring blossoms--the Ethels first, representing the yellow crocus and the violet. Ethel Brown wore a whitedress covered with yellow gauze sewn with yellow crocuses. A ring ofcrocuses hung from its edge and a crocus turned upside down made afascinating cap. All the flowers were made of tissue paper. Ethel Blue'sdress was fashioned in the same way, her violet gauze being covered withviolets and her cap a tiny lace affair with a violet border. In her caseshe was able to use many real violets and to carry a basket of the freshflowers. The contents was made up of small bunches of buttonhole sizeand she stepped from the procession at almost every table to sell abunch to some gentleman sitting there. A scout kept the basket alwaysfull. 

Sturdy James made a fine appearance in the spring division in thecostume of a red and yellow tulip. He wore long green stockings and astriped tulip on each leg constituted his breeches. Another, with thepoints of the petals turning upwards, made his jacket, and yet another, a small one, upside down, served as a cap. James had been rather averseto appearing in this costume because Margaret had told him he lookedbulbous and he had taken it seriously, but he was so applauded that hecame to the conclusion that it was worth while to be a bulb if you couldbe a good one. 

Helen led the group of summer flowers. As "Summer" she wore bunches ofall the flowers in the garden, arranged harmoniously as in one of theold-fashioned bouquets her grandmother had spoken of in the morning. Ithad been a problem to keep all these blossoms fresh for it would not bepossible for her to wear artificial flowers. The Ethels had found asolution, however, when they brought home one day from the drug storeseveral dozen tiny glass bottles. Around the neck of each they fasteneda bit of wire and bent it into a hook which fitted into an eye sewed onto the old but pretty white frock which Helen was sacrificing to thegood cause. After she had put on the dress each one of these bottles wasfitted with its flowers which had been picked some time before andrevived in warm water and salt so that they would not wilt. 

"These bottles make me think of a story our French teacher told usonce, " Helen laughed as she stood carefully to be made into a bouquet. "There was a real Cyrano de Bergerac who lived in the 17th century. Hetold a tale supposed to be about his own adventures in which he saidthat once he fastened about himself a number of phials filled with dew. The heat of the sun attracted them as it does the clouds and raised himhigh in the air. When he found that he was not going to alight on themoon as he had thought, he broke some of the phials and descended toearth again. "

"What a ridiculous story, " laughed Ethel Blue, kneeling at Helen's feetwith a heap of flowers beside her on the floor. 

"The rest of it is quite as foolish. When he landed on the earth againhe found that the sun was still shining, although according to hiscalculation it ought to be midnight; and he also did not recognize theplace he dropped upon in spite of the fact that he had apparently gonestraight up and fallen straight down. Strange people surrounded him andhe had difficulty in making himself understood. After a time he wastaken before an official from whom he learned that on account of therotation of the earth under him while he was in the air, although he hadrisen when but two leagues from Paris he had descended in Canada. "

The younger girls laughed delightedly at this absurd tale, as theyworked at their task. Bits of trailing vine fell from glass to glass sothat none of the holders showed, but a delicate tinkling sounded fromthem like the water of a brook. 

"This gown of yours is certainly successful, " decided Margaret, surveying the result of the Ethels' work, "but I dare say it isn'tcomfortable, so you'd better have another one that you can slip intobehind the scenes after you've made the rounds in this. "

Helen took the advice and after the procession had passed by, she put ona pretty flowered muslin with pink ribbons. 

Dorothy walked immediately behind Helen. She was dressed like a gardenlily, her petals wired so that they turned out and up at the tips. Shewore yellow stockings and slippers as a reminder of the anthers orpollen boxes on the ends of the stamens of the lilies. 

Dicky's costume created as much sensation as Roger's. He was aJack-in-the-Pulpit. A suit of green striped in two shades fitted himtightly, and over his head he carried his pulpit, a wire frame coveredwith the same material of which his clothes were made. The shape wasexact and he looked so grave as he peered forth from his shelter thathis appearance was saluted with hearty hand clapping. 

Several of the young people of the town followed in the Summerdivision. One of them was a fleur-de-lis, wearing a skirt of green leafblades and a bodice representing the purple petals of the blossom. George Foster was monkshood, a cambric robe--a "domino"--serving to givethe blue color note, and a very correct imitation of the flower's helmetanswering the purpose of a head-dress. Gregory Patton was Grass, andachieved one of the successful costumes of the line with a robe thatrippled to the ground, green cambric its base, completely covered withgrass blades. 

"That boy ought to have a companion dressed like a haycock, " laughed Mr. Emerson as Gregory passed him. 

Margaret led the Autumn division, her dress copied from a chestnut treeand burr. Her kirtle was of the long, slender leaves overlapping eachother. The bodice was in the tones of dull yellow found in the velvetyinside of the opened burr and of the deep brown of the chestnut itself. This, too, was approved by the onlookers. 

Behind her walked Della, a combination of purple asters and golden rod, the rosettes of the former seeming a rich and solid material from whichthe heads of goldenrod hung in a delicate fringe. 

A "long-haired Chrysanthemum" was among the autumn flowers, his tissuepaper petals slightly wired to make them stand out, and a stalk ofJoe-Pye-Weed strode along with his dull pink corymb proudly elevatedabove the throng. 

All alone as a representative of Winter was Tom Watkins, decoratedsuperbly as a Christmas Tree. Boughs of Norway spruce were bound uponhis arms and legs and covered his body. Shining balls hung from thetwigs, tinsel glistened as he passed under the lantern light, andstrings of popcorn reached from his head to his feet. There was noquestion of his popularity among the children. Every small boy who sawhim asked if he had a present for him. 

The flower procession served to draw the people into the hall and thescreened corner. They cheerfully yielded up a dime apiece at theentrance to each place, and when the "show" was over they werere-replaced by another relay of new arrivals, so that the program wasgone through twice in the hall and twice in the open in the course ofthe evening. 

A march of all the flowers opened the program. This was not difficult, for all the boys and girls were accustomed to such drills at school, butthe effect in costumes under the electric light was very striking. Roger, still dressed as an apple tree, recited Bryant's "Planting of theApple Tree. " Dicky delivered a brief sermon from his pulpit. GeorgeFoster ordered the lights out and went behind a screen on which he madeshadow finger animals to the delight of every child present. Mrs. Smithgave her little talk on the arrangement of flowers, illustrating it bythe examples around the room which were later carried out to the openwhen she repeated her "turn" in the enclosure. The cartoonist of the_Star_ gave a chalk talk on "Famous Men of the Day, " reciting an amusingbiography of each and sketching his portrait, framed in a rose, a daisy, mountain laurel, a larkspur or whatever occurred to the artist as hetalked. 

There was music, for Mr. Schuler, who formerly had taught music in theRosemont schools and who was now with his wife at Rose House, where theUnited Service Club was taking care of several poor women and children, had drilled some of his former pupils in flower choruses. One of these, by children of Dicky's age, was especially liked. 

Every one was pleased and the financial result was so satisfactory thatRosemont soon began to blossom like the flower from which it was named. 

"Team work certainly does pay, " commented Roger enthusiastically whenthe Club met again to talk over the great day. 

And every one of them agreed that it did. 

CHAPTER XII

ENOUGH TO GIVE AWAY

At the very beginning of his holidays Stanley Clark had gone to Nebraskato replace the detective who had been vainly trying to find some traceof his father's cousin, Emily Leonard. The young man was eager to havethe matter straightened out, both because it was impossible to sell anyof the family land unless it were, and because he wanted to please Mrs. Smith and Dorothy, and because his orderly mind was disturbed at therebeing a legal tangle in his family. 

Perhaps he put into his search more clearness of vision than thedetective, or perhaps he came to it at a time when he could takeadvantage of what his predecessor had done;--whatever the reason, he didfind a clue and it seemed a strange coincidence that it was only a fewdays after the Miss Clarks had received the second offer for their fieldthat a letter came to them from their nephew, saying that he had notonly discovered the town to which Emily's daughter had gone and the nameof the family into which she had been adopted, but had learned the factthat the family had later on removed to the neighborhood of Pittsburg. 

"At least, this brings the search somewhat nearer home, " Stanley wrote, "but it also complicates it, for 'the neighborhood of Pittsburg' is veryvague, and it covers a large amount of country. However, I am going tostart to-night for Pittsburg to see what I can do there. I've grown soaccustomed to playing hide-and-seek with Cousin Emily and I'm so pleasedwith my success so far that I'm hopeful that I may pick up the trail inwestern Pennsylvania. "

The Clarks and the Smiths all shared Stanley's hopefulness, for it didindeed seem wonderful that he should have found the missing evidenceafter so many weeks of failure by the professional detective, and, if hehad traced one step, why not the next?

The success of the gardens planted by the U. S. C. Had been remarkable. The plants had grown as if they wanted to please, and when blossomingtime came, they bloomed with all their might. 

"Do you remember the talk you and I had about Rose House just before theFresh Air women and children came out?" asked Ethel Blue of her cousin. 

Ethel Brown nodded, and Ethel Blue explained the conversation toDorothy. 

"We thought Roger's scheme was pretty hard for us youngsters to carryout and we felt a little uncertain about it, but we made up our mindsthat people are almost always successful when they _want_ likeeverything to do something and _make up their minds_ that they are goingto put it through and _learn how_ to put it through. "

"We've proved it again with the gardens, " responded Ethel Brown. "Wewanted to have pretty gardens and we made up our minds that we could ifwe tried and then we learned all we could about them from people andbooks. "

"Just see what Roger knows now about fertilizers!" exclaimed Dorothy ina tone of admiration. "Fertilizers aren't a bit interesting until youthink of them as plant food and realize that plants like different kindsof food and try to find out what they are. Roger has studied it out andwe've all had the benefit of his knowledge. "

"Which reminds me that if we want any flowers at all next week we'dbetter put on some nitrate of soda this afternoon or this dry weatherwill ruin them. "

"Queer how that goes right to the blossoms and doesn't seem to make thewhole plant grow. "

"I did a deadly deed to one of my calceolarias, " confessed Ethel Blue. "I forgot you mustn't use it after the buds form and I sprinkled awayall over the plant just as I had been doing. "

"Did you kill the buds?"

"It discouraged them. I ought to have put some crystals on the ground alittle way off and let them take it in in the air. "

"It doesn't seem as though it were strong enough to do either good orharm, does it? One tablespoonful in two gallons of water!"

"Grandfather says he wouldn't ask for plants to blossom better than oursare doing. " Ethel Brown repeated the compliment with just pride. 

"It's partly because we've loved to work with them and loved them, "insisted Ethel Blue. "Everything you love answers back. If you hate yourwork it's just like hating people; if you don't like a girl she doesn'tlike you and you feel uncomfortable outside and inside; if you don'tlike your work it doesn't go well. "

"What do you know about hating?" demanded Dorothy, giving Ethel Blue ahug. 

Ethel flushed. 

"I know a lot about it, " she insisted. "Some days I just despisearithmetic and on those days I never can do anything right; but when Itry to see some sense in it I get along better. "

They all laughed, for Ethel Blue's struggles with mathematics werecalculated to arouse sympathy even in a hardened breast. 

"It's all true, " agreed Helen, who had been listening quietly to whatthe younger girls were saying, "and I believe we ought to show peoplemore than we do that we like them. I don't see why we're so scared tolet a person know that we think she's done something well, or tosympathize with her when she's having a hard time. "

"O, " exclaimed Dorothy shrinkingly, "it's so embarrassing to tell aperson you're sorry. "

"You don't have to tell her in words, " insisted Helen. "You can make herrealize that you understand what she is going through and that you'dlike to help her. "

"How can you do it without talking?" asked Ethel Brown, the practical. 

"When I was younger, " answered Helen thoughtfully, "I used to be ratherafraid of a person who was in trouble. I thought she might think I wasintruding if I spoke of it. But Mother told me one day that a person whowas suffering didn't want to be treated as if she were in disgrace andnot to be spoken to, and I've always tried to remember it. Now, when Iknow about it or guess it I make a point of being just as nice as I knowhow to her. Sometimes we don't talk about the trouble at all; sometimesit comes out naturally after a while. But even if the subject isn'tmentioned she knows that there is at least one person who is interestedin her and her affairs. "

"I begin to see why you're so popular at school, " remarked Margaret, whohad known for a long time other reasons for Helen's popularity. 

Helen threw a leaf at her friend and asked the Ethels to make somelemonade. They had brought the juice in a bottle and chilled water in athermos bottle, so that the preparation was not hard. There were coldcheese straws to eat with it. The Ethels had made them in their smallkitchen at home by rubbing two tablespoonfuls of butter into fourtablespoonfuls of flour, adding two tablespoonfuls of grated cheese, seasoning with a pinch of cayenne, another of salt and another of mace, rolling out to a thickness of a quarter of an inch, cutting into stripsabout four inches long and half an inch wide and baking in a hot oven. 

"'Which I wish to remark and my language is plain, '" Helen quoted, "thatin spite of Dicky's picking all the blossoms we have so many flowers nowthat we ought to do--give them away. 

"Ethel Blue and I have been taking some regularly every week to the oldladies at the Home, " returned Ethel Brown. 

"I was wondering if there were enough to send some to the hospital atGlen Point, " suggested Margaret. "The Glen Point people are pretty goodabout sending flowers, but the hospital is an old story with them andsometimes they don't remember when they might. "

"I should think we might send some there and some to the Orphanage, "said Dorothy, from whose large garden the greater part of the supplywould have to come. "Have the orphans any gardens to work in?"

"They have beds like your school garden here in Rosemont, but they haveto give the vegetables to the house and I suppose it isn't much fun toraise vegetables and then have them taken away from you. "

"They eat them themselves. "

"But they don't know Willy's tomato from Johnny's. If Willy and Johnnywere allowed to sell their crops they'd be willing to pay out of theprofit for the seed they use and they'd take a lot of interest in it. The housekeeper would buy all they'd raise, and they'd feel that theirgardens were self-supporting. Now they feel that the seed is given tothem out of charity, and that it's a stingy sort of charity after allbecause they are forced to pay for the seed by giving up theirvegetables whether they want to or not. "

"Do they enjoy working the gardens?"

"I should say not! James and I said the other day that they were themost forlorn looking gardeners we ever laid our eyes on. "

"Don't they grow any flowers at all?"

"Just a few in a border around the edge of their vegetable gardens andsome in front of the main building where they'll be seen from thestreet. "

The girls looked at each other and wrinkled their noses. 

"Let's send some there every week and have the children understand thatyoung people raised them and thought it was fun to do it. "

"And can't you ask to have the flowers put in the dining-room and theroom where the children are in the evening and not in the reception roomwhere only guests will see them?"

"I will, " promised Margaret. "James and I have a scheme to try to havethe children work their gardens on the same plan that the children dohere, " she went on. "We're going to get Father to put it before theBoard of Management, if we can. "

"I do hope he will. The kiddies here are so wild over their gardens thatit's proof to any one that it's a good plan. "

"Oo-hoo, " came Roger's call across the field. 

"Oo-hoo. Come up, " went back the answer. 

"What are you girls talking about?" inquired the young man, arranginghimself comfortably with his back against a rock and accepting a papertumbler of lemonade and some cheese straws. 

Helen explained their plan for disposing of the extra flowers from theirgardens. 

"It's Service Club work; we ought to have started it earlier, " sheended. 

"The Ethels did begin it some time ago; I caught them at it, " heaccused, shaking his finger at his sister and cousin. 

"I told the girls we had been taking flowers to the Old Ladies' Home, "confessed Ethel Brown. 

"O, you have! I didn't know that! I did find out that you were supplyingthe Atwoods down by the bridge with sweetpeas. "

"There have been such oodles, " protested Ethel Blue. 

"Of course. It was the right thing to do. "

"How did you know about it, anyway? Weren't you taking flowers thereyourself?"

"No, ma'am. "

"What were you doing?"

"I know; I saw him digging there one day. "

"O, keep still, Dorothy, " Roger remonstrated. 

"You might as well tell us about it. "

"It isn't anything. I did look in one day to ask if they'd like somesweetpeas, but I found the Ethels were ahead of me. The old lady has afine snowball bush and a beauty syringa in front of the house. When Ispoke about them she said she had always wanted to have a bed of whiteflowers around the two bushes, so I offered to make one for her. That'sall. "

"Good for Roger!" cried Margaret. "Tell us what you put into it. We'vehad pink and blue and yellow beds this year; we can add white nextyear. "

"Just common things, " replied Roger. "It was rather late so I plantedseeds that would hurry up; sweet alyssum for a border, of course, andwhite verbenas and balsam, and petunias, and candytuft and, phlox andstocks and portulaca and poppies. Do you remember, I asked you, Dorothy, if you minded my taking up that aster that showed a white bud? That wentto Mrs. Atwood. The seeds are all coming up pretty well now and the oldlady is as pleased as Punch. "

"I should think she might be! Can the old gentleman cultivate them or ishis rheumatism too bad?"

"I put in an hour there every once in a while, " Roger admittedreluctantly. 

"It's nothing to be ashamed of!" laughed Helen encouragingly. "What Iwant to know is how we are to send our flowers in to New York to theFlower and Fruit Guild. Della said she'd look it up and let us know. "

"She did. I saw Tom yesterday and he gave me these slips and asked me totell you girls about them and I forgot it. "

Roger bobbed his head by way of asking forgiveness, which was granted bya similar gesture. 

"It seems that the National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild willdistribute anything you send to it at 70 Fifth Avenue; or you can selectsome institution you're interested in and send your stuff directly toit, and if you use one of these Guild pasters the express companies willcarry the parcel free. "

"Good for the express companies!" exclaimed Ethel Brown. 

"Here's one of the pasters, " and Roger handed one of them to Margaretwhile the others crowded about to read it. 

 APPROVED LABEL NATIONAL PLANT, FLOWER AND FRUIT GUILD, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City. 

Express Companies Adams American Great Northern National United States Wells Fargo Western

WILL DELIVER FREE

Within a distance of one hundred (100) miles from stations on theirlines to any charitable institution or organization within the deliverylimits of adjacent cities. If an exchange of baskets is made they willbe returned without charge. 

Conditions

This property is carried at owner's risk of loss or damage. No box orbasket shall exceed twenty (20) pounds in weight. All jellies to becarefully packed and boxed. All potted plants to be set in boxes. 

For _Chapel of Comforter_, _10 Horatio Street_, _New York City_. 

From _United Service Club_, _Rosemont, New Jersey_. 

KINDLY DELIVER PROMPTLY. 

"Where it says 'For, '" explained Roger, "you fill in, say, 'Chapel ofthe Comforter, 10 Horatio Street' or 'St. Agnes' Day Nursery, 7 CharlesStreet, ' and you write 'United Service Club, Rosemont, N. J. , ' after'From. '"

"It says 'Approved Label' at the top, " Ethel Brown observedquestioningly. 

"That's so people won't send flowers to their friends and claim freecarriage from the express companies on the ground that it's forcharity, " Roger went on. "Then you fill out this postcard and put itinto every bundle you send. 

Sender Will Please Fill Out One of These Cards as far as"Received by" and Enclose in Every Shipment. National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild. National Office: 70 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. C. 

SenderTownSends to-day (Date)Plants Flowers (Bunches)Fruit or Vegetables Quarts or BushelsJelly, Preserved Fruit or Grape Juice (estimated @ 1/2 pint as a glass) Glasses. Nature MaterialTo (Institution)Rec'd by

AddressCondition Date

"That tells the people at the Day Nursery, for instance, just what youpacked and assures them that the parcel hasn't been tampered with; theyacknowledge the receipt at the foot of the card, --here, do you see?--andsend it to the 'New York City Branch, National Plant, Flower and FruitGuild, 70 Fifth Ave. , New York City. ' That enables the Guild to see thatthe express company is reporting correctly the number of bundles it hascarried. "

"They've worked out the best way after long experience, Tom says, andthey find this is excellent. They recommend it to far-off towns thatsend to them for help about starting a guild. "

"Let's send our flowers to Mr. Watkins's chapel, " suggested Ethel Blue. "Della told me the people hardly ever see a flower, it's so far to anyof the parks where there are any. "

"Our women at Rose House were pathetic over the flowers when they firstcame, " said Helen. "Don't you remember the Bulgarian? She was a countrygirl and she cried when she first went into the garden. "

"I'm glad we planted a flower garden there as well as a vegetablegarden. "

"It has been as much comfort to the women as ours have been to us. "

"I think they would like to send in some flowers from their garden bedsto the chapel, " suggested Ethel Blue. "I was talking with Mrs. Paternothe other day and she said they all felt that they wanted all theirfriends to have a little piece of their splendid summer. This will be away for them to help. "

"Mr. Watkins's assistant would see that the bunches were given to theirfriends if they marked them for special people, " said Ethel Brown. 

"Let's get it started as soon as we can, " said Helen. "You're secretary, Ethel Blue; write to-day to the Guild for some pasters and postcards andtell them we are going to send to Mr. Watkins's chapel; and Ethel Brown, you seem to get on pretty well with Bulgarian and Italian and a few ofthe other tongues that they speak at Rose House--suppose you try to makethe women understand what we are going to do. Tell them we'll let themknow on what day we're going to send the parcel in, so that they can cuttheir flowers the night before and freshen them in salt and water beforethey travel. "

"Funny salt should be a freshener, " murmured Dorothy, as the Ethelsmurmured their understanding of the duties their president assigned tothem. 

CHAPTER XIII

IN BUSINESS

It was quite clear to the Clarks that the "botanist" had not given uphis hope of buying the field, in spite of the owners' insistence thatnot only was its title defective but that the option had been promisedto Mrs. Smith. He roamed up and down the road almost every day, goinginto the field, as the girls could see from their elevation inFitz-James's woods, and stopping at the Clarks' on his return if he sawany of the family on the veranda, to inquire what news had come fromtheir nephew. 

"I generally admire persistency, " remarked Mr. Clark one day to Mrs. Smith and Dorothy, and the Ethels, "but in this case it irritates me. When you tell a man that you can't sell to him and that you wouldn't ifyou could it seems as if he might take the hint and go away. "

"I don't like him, " and Mrs. Smith gave a shrug of distaste. "He doesn'tlook you squarely in the face. "

"I hate that trick he has of brushing his hair out of his eyes. It makesme nervous, " confessed the younger Miss Clark. 

"I can't see why a botanist doesn't occasionally look at a plant, "observed Dorothy. "We've watched him day after day and we've almostnever seen him do a thing except push his stick into the ground andexamine it afterwards. "

"Do you remember that girl who was with him at the Flower Festival?"inquired Ethel Brown. "I saw her with him again this afternoon at thefield. When he pushed his cane down something seemed to stick to it whenit came up and he wiped it off with his hand and gave it to her. "

"Could you see what it was like?"

"It looked like dirt to me. "

"What did she do with it?"

"She took it and began to turn it around in her hand, rubbing it withher fingers the way Dorothy does when she's making her clay things. "

Mr. Clark brought down his foot with a thump upon the porch. 

"I'll bet you five million dollars I know what he's up to!" heexclaimed. 

"What?" "What?" "What?" rang out from every person on the porch. 

"I'll go right over there this minute and find out for myself. "

"Find out what?"

"Do tell us. "

"What do you think it is?"

Mr. Clark paused on the steps as he was about to set off. 

"Clay, " he answered briefly. "There are capital clays in different partsof New Jersey. Don't you remember there are potteries that makebeautiful things at Trenton? I shouldn't wonder a bit if that field haspretty good clay and this man wants to buy it and start a potterythere. "

"Next to my house!" exclaimed Mrs. Smith disgustedly. 

"Don't be afraid; if we're ever able to sell the field you're the personwho will get it, " promised the old gentleman's sisters in chorus. "Wedon't want a pottery on the street any more than you do, " they added, and expressed a wish that their brother might be able to convince thepersistent would-be purchaser of the utter hopelessness of his wishes. 

"What do you hear from Stanley?" Mrs. Smith asked. 

"He's still quite at sea in Pittsburg--if one may use such an expressionabout a place as far from the ocean as that!" laughed Miss Clark. "Hethinks he'll go fast if ever he gets a start, but he hasn't found anytrace of the people yet. He's going to search the records not only inAllegheny County but in Washington and Westmoreland and Fayette Countiesand the others around Pittsburg, if it's necessary. He surely ispersistent. "

"Isn't it lucky he is? And don't you hope he'll find some clue beforehis holidays end? That detective didn't seem to make any progress atall!"

Mr. Clark came back more than ever convinced that he had guessed thecause of the "botanist's" perseverance. 

"Unless my eyes and fingers deceive me greatly this is clay and prettysmooth clay, " he reported to the waiting group, and Dorothy, who knewsomething about clay because she had been taught to model, said shethought so, too. 

"We know his reason for wanting the land, then, " declared Mr. Clark;"now if we could learn why he can't seem to take it in that he's notgoing to get it, no matter what happens, we might be able to make himtake his afternoon walks in some other direction. "

"Who is he? And where is he staying?" inquired Mrs. Smith. 

"He calls himself Hapgood and he's staying at the Motor Inn. "

"Is the little girl his daughter?"

"I'll ask him if he ever comes here again, " and Mr. Clark looked as ifhe almost wished he would appear, so that he might gratify hiscuriosity. 

The Motor Inn was a house of no great size on the main road to JerseyCity. A young woman, named Foster, lived in it with her mother andbrother. The latter, George, was a high school friend of Helen andRoger. Miss Foster taught dancing in the winter and, being anenterprising young woman, had persuaded her mother to open the old housefor a tea room for the motorists who sped by in great numbers on everyfair day, and who had no opportunity to get a cup of tea and a sandwichany nearer than Glen Point in one direction and Athens Creek in theother. 

"Here are we sitting down and doing nothing to attract the money out oftheir pockets and they are hunting for a place to spend it!" she hadexclaimed. 

The house was arranged like the Emerson farmhouse, with a wide halldividing it, two rooms on each side. Miss Foster began by putting out arustic sign which her brother made for her. 

 MOTOR INN TEA and SANDWICHES LUNCHEON DINNER

it read. The entrance was attractive with well-kept grass and prettyflowers. Miss Foster took a survey of it from the road and thought shewould like to go inside herself if she happened to be passing. 

They decided to keep the room just in front of the kitchen for thefamily, but the room across the hall they fitted with small tables ofwhich they had enough around the house. The back room they reserved fora rest room for the ladies, and provided it with a couch and a dressingtable always kept fully, equipped with brushes, pins and hairpins. 

"If we build up a real business we can set tables here in the hall, "Miss Foster suggested. 

"Why not on the veranda at the side?" her mother asked. 

"That's better still. We might put a few out there to indicate thatpeople can have their tea there if they want to, and then let them taketheir choice in fair weather. "

The Inn had been a success from the very first day when a car stoppedand delivered a load of people who ate their simple but well-cookedluncheon hungrily and liked it so well that they ordered dinner for thefollowing Sunday and promised to send other parties. 

"What I like best about your food, if you'll allow me to say so, " thehost of the machine-load said to Miss Foster, "is that your sandwichesare delicate and at the same time there are more than two bites to them. They are full-grown sandwiches, man's size. "

"My brother calls them 'lady sandwiches' though, " laughed Miss Foster. "He says any sandwich with the crust cut off is unworthy a man'sattention. "

"Tell him for me that he's mistaken. No crust on mine, but a whole sliceof bread to make up for the loss, " and he paid his bill enthusiasticallyand packed away into his thermos box a goodly pile of themuch-to-be-enjoyed sandwiches. 

People for every meal of the day began to appear at the Motor Inn, forit was surprising how many parties made a before-breakfast start toavoid the heat of the day on a long trip, and turned up at the Inn abouteight or nine o'clock demanding coffee and an omelette. Then one or twoRosemont people came to ask if friends of theirs might be accommodatedwith rooms and board for a week or two, and in this way the old house bythe road grew rapidly to be more like the inn its sign called it thanthe tea room it was intended to be. Servants were added, another verandawas built on, and it looked as if Miss Foster would not teach dancingwhen winter came again but would have to devote herself to themanagement of the village hotel which the town had always needed. 

It was while the members of the U. S. C. Were eating ices and cakes therelate one afternoon when they had walked to the station with thedeparting Watkinses that the Ethels had one of the ideas that so oftenstruck them at almost the same moment. It came as they watched a motorparty go off, supplying themselves with a box of small cakes for thechildren after trying to buy from Miss Foster the jar of wild iris thatstood in state on the table in the hall. It was not fresh enough totravel they had decided when their hostess had offered to give it tothem and they all had examined the purple heads that showed themselvesto be past their prime when they were brought out into the light fromthe semi-darkness of the hall. 

"Couldn't we--?" murmured Ethel Blue with uplifted eye-brows, glancingat Ethel Brown. 

"Let's ask her if we may?" replied Ethel Brown, and without any morediscussion than this they laid before Miss Foster the plan that hadpopped into their minds ready made. Ethel Brown was the spokeswoman. 

"Would you mind if we had a flower counter here in your hall?" sheasked. "We need to make some money for our women at Rose House. "

"A flower counter? Upon my word, children, you take my breath away!"responded Miss Foster. 

"We'd try not to give you any trouble, " said Ethel Blue. "One of uswould stay here every day to look after it and we'd pay rent for the useof the space. "

"Upon my word!" exclaimed Miss Foster again. "You must let me think aminute. "

She was a rapid thinker and her decision was quickly made. 

"We'll try it for a week, " she said. "Perhaps we'll find that thereisn't enough demand for the flowers to make it worth while, thoughpeople often want to buy any flowers they see here, as those people yousaw did. "

"If you'll tell us just what space we can have we'll try not to botheryou, " promised Ethel Blue again, and Miss Foster smiled at hereagerness. 

"We want it to be a regular business, so will you please tell us howmuch rent we ought to pay?" asked Ethel Brown. 

Miss Foster smiled again, but she was trying to carry on a regularbusiness herself and she knew how she would feel if people did not takeher seriously. 

"We'll call it five per cent of what you sell, " she said. "I don't thinkI could make it less, " and she smiled again. 

"That's five cents on every dollar's worth, " calculated Ethel Brownseriously. "That isn't enough unless you expect us to sell a great manydollars' worth. "

"We'll call it that for this trial week, anyway, " decided Miss Foster. "If the test goes well we can make another arrangement. If you have apretty table it will be an attraction to my hall and perhaps I shallwant to pay you for coming, " she added good naturedly. 

She pointed out to them the exact spot on which they might place theirflowers and agreed to let them arrange the flowers daily for her roomsand tables and to pay them for it. 

"I have no flowers for cutting this summer, " she said, "and I've beenbothered getting some every day. It has taken George's time when heshould have been doing other things. "

"We'll do it for the rent, " offered Ethel Blue. 

"No, I've been buying flowers outside and using my own time in arrangingthem. It's only fair that I should pay you as I would have paid some onelong ago if I could have found the right person. I stick to thepercentage arrangement for the rent. "

On the way home the girls realized with some discomfiture that withoutconsulting Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Smith they had made an arrangement thatwould keep them away from home a good deal and put them in a ratherexposed position. 

"What do you suppose Mother and Aunt Louise will say?" asked Ethel Browndoubtfully. 

"I think they'll let us do it. They know we need the money for RoseHouse just awfully, and they like Miss Foster and her mother--I've heardAunt Marion say they were so brave about undertaking the Inn. "

Her voice quavered off into uncertainty, for she realized as she spokethat what a young woman of Miss Foster's age did in connection with hermother was a different matter from a business venture entered into aloneby girls of fourteen. 

The fact that the business venture was to be carried on under the eye ofMrs. Foster and her daughter, ladies whom Mrs. Morton knew well andrespected and admired, was the turning point in her decision to allowthe girls to conduct the affair which had entered their minds sosuddenly. She and Mrs. Smith went to the Inn and assisted in thearrangement of the first assortment of flowers and plants, saw to itthat there was a space on the back porch where they could be handledwithout the water or vases being in the way of the workers in the Inn, suggested that an additional sign reading

 PLANTS and CUT FLOWERS

be hung below the sign outside and that a card

 FOR THE BENEFIT OF ROSE HOUSE

be placed over the table inside, and then went away and left the girlsto manage affairs themselves. 

It was while Ethel Blue was drawing the poster to hang over the tablethat the "botanist" walked into the hall and strolled over toinvestigate the addition to the furnishings. He asked a question or twoin a voice they did not like. They noticed that the young girl with himcalled him "Uncle Dan" and that he called her "Mary. "

The girls had arranged their flowers according to Mrs. Smith's and Mrs. Emerson's ideas, not crowding them but showing each to its bestadvantage and selecting for each a vase that suited its form andcoloring. Their supplies were kept out of sight in order not to mar theeffect. The tables of the tea rooms were decorated with pink on thisopening day, both because they thought that some of the guests mightsee some connection between pink and the purpose of the sale, helping_Rose House_--and for the practical reason that they had more pinkblossoms than any other color, thanks to their love of that gay hue. 

It was noon before any people outside of the resident guests of the Innstopped at the house. Then a party of people evidently from a distance, for they were covered with dust, ordered luncheon. While the women werearranging their hair in the dressing room the men came over to theflower table and asked countless questions. 

"Here, Gerald, " one called to another, "these young women have justbegun this business to-day and they haven't had a customer yet. I'mgoing to be the first; you can be the second. "

"Nothing of the sort; I'll be the first myself, " and "Gerald" tossedhalf a dollar on to the table with an order for "Sweetpeas, all pink, please. "

Ethel Blue, flushed with excitement over this first sale, set aboutfilling a box with the fresh butterfly blossoms, while Ethel Brownattended to the man who had begun the conversation. He wanted "A bunchof bachelor's buttons for a young lady with blue eyes. " An older man whocame to see what the younger ones were doing bought buttonholes for allthe men and directed that a handful of flowers of different kinds beplaced beside each plate on the large table on the shady porch wherethey were to have their meal. 

When the women appeared they were equally interested, and inquired allabout Rose House. One of them directed that enough ferns for therenewal of a centerpiece should be ready for her to take away when theyleft and the other bought one of the hanging baskets which Roger hadarranged as a sample of what they could supply if called upon. 

"Roger will be tickled to pieces that his idea caught on at once, " EthelBrown murmured to Ethel Blue as they sorted and packed their orders, notvery deftly, but swiftly enough for the posies to add to the enjoymentof the people at the table and for the parcels to be ready for them whenthe motor came to the door. 

"We'll tell all our friends about you, " the guests promised as theyleft. 

These were the only patrons until afternoon brought in several partiesfor tea. Almost every one of them was sufficiently drawn by the "RoseHouse" placard to make inquiries, and several of them bought flowers andpotted plants. The same was true of the dinner arrivals. 

When the girls examined their receipts for the day they found they hadtaken in over seven dollars, had booked several orders and already hadlearned a good deal about what people liked and what they could carryconveniently in their machines. 

"We shan't need to have so many cut flowers here, " they decided afterthe day's experience. "It's better to leave them on the plants and thenif we run short to telephone to the house and have Dicky bring over anextra supply. "

"These potted plants are all right here, though. We can leave them onthe back porch at night, Miss Foster says, and bring them in to thetable in the morning. "

"We must get Roger to fill some more hanging baskets and ox muzzles andmake some ivy balls; those are going to take. "

The plan worked out extremely well, its only drawback being that thegirls had to give more time to the table at the Inn than they liked. They were "spelled" however, by other members of the Club, and finally, as a result of a trip when they all went away for a few days, theyengaged a schoolmate of the Ethels who had helped them occasionally, togive her whole time to the work at the Inn. 

Financially the scheme worked out very well. When it came time to paythe rent for the first week the Ethels decided that they were acceptingcharity if they only paid Miss Foster five per cent. Of their grossearnings, so they doubled it. 

"I am buying the cut flowers at the same price that the girls areselling them to other customers, and I am glad to pay for theirarrangement for it releases me to attend to matters that need me more, "she had explained. "Even if it should be a few cents on the wrong sideof my account, I am glad to contribute something to Rose House. And themotoring season is comparatively short, too. "

Every once in a while they received an idea from some one who asked forsomething they did not have. One housekeeper wanted fresh herbs and theEthels telephoned directions for the picking of the herb bed that Rogerhad planted for their own kitchen use. 

"We need the herbs ourselves, Miss Ethel, " came back a protest fromMary. 

"I don't want to refuse to fill any order I get, Mary, " Ethel Browninsisted. "Next year we'll plant a huge bed, enough for a dozenkitchens. "

This unexpected order resulted in the making of another poster givingthe information that fresh kitchen herbs might be had on order and wouldbe delivered by parcel post to any address. 

Several of their customers demanded ferns for their houses indoors orfor their porches or wild gardens. This order was not welcome for itmeant that some one had to go to the woods to get them as none had beenplanted in the gardens as yet. Still, in accordance with their decisionnever to refuse to fill an order unless it was absolutely impossible, the girls went themselves or sent one of the boys on a search for whatthey needed. 

One steady customer was an invalid who lived in Athens Creek and whocould drive only a few miles once or twice a week. She happened in tothe Inn one day and ever after she made the house her goal. Her especialdelight was meadow flowers, and she placed a standing order to have anarmful of meadow blossoms ready for her every Thursday. Thisnecessitated a visit to the meadows opposite Grandfather Emerson's houseevery Wednesday afternoon so that the flowers should have recovered fromtheir first shock by the next morning. 

"This takes me back to the days when I used to follow the flowersthrough the whole summer, " the invalid cried delightedly. "Ah, Joe-Pye-Weed has arrived, " she exclaimed joyfully over the handsomeblossom. 

When the Ethels and Dorothy received their first order for thedecoration of a house for an afternoon reception they were somewhatovercome. 

"Can we do it?" they asked each other. 

They concluded they could. One went to the house two days beforehand toexamine the rooms and to see what vases and bowls they should have attheir disposal. Then they looked over the gardens very carefully to seewhat blossoms would be cut on the appointed day, and then they made aplan with pencil and paper. 

Mr. Emerson lent his car on the morning of the appointed day and Rogerwent with them to unload the flowers and plants. They had kept theflowers of different colors together, a matter easy to do when cuttingfrom their beds of special hues, and this arrangement made easy the workof decorating different rooms in different colors. The porch was madecool with ferns and hanging vines; the hall, which seemed dark to eyesblinded by the glare outside, was brightened with yellow posies; thedining room had delicate blue lobelia mingled with gypsophila springingfrom low, almost unseen dishes all over the table where the tea andcoffee were poured, and hanging in festoons from the smaller table onwhich stood the bowl of grape juice lemonade, made very sour and verysweet and enlivened with charged water. The girls profited by thiscombination, for the various amounts used in it were being "tried out"during the morning and with every new trial refreshing glasses werehanded about for criticism by the workers. 

In the drawing room where the hostess stood to receive, superb pinkpoppies reared their heads from tall vases, pink snapdragons bobbed onthe mantel piece and a bank of pink candytuft lay on the top of thepiano. A lovely vine waved from a wall vase of exquisite design andvines trailed around the wide door as naturally as if they grew thereinstead of springing from bottles of water concealed behind tall jars ofpink hollyhocks. 

"It is perfectly charming, my dears, and I can't tell you how obliged Iam, " said their hostess as she pressed a bill into Ethel Brown's hand. "I know that every woman who will be here will want you the next timeshe entertains, and I shall tell everybody you did it. "

She was as good as her word and the attempt resulted in several otherorders. The girls tried to make each house different from any that theyhad decorated before, and they thought that they owed the success thatbrought them many compliments to the fact that they planned it all outbeforehand and left nothing to be done in a haphazard way. 

Meanwhile Rose House benefited greatly by the welcome weekly additionsfrom the flower sale to its slender funds. 

"I'm not sure it isn't roses ye are yerselves, yer that sweet to lookat!" exclaimed Moya, the cook at Rose House, one day when the girls werethere. 

And they admitted themselves that if happiness made them sweet to lookat it must be true. 

CHAPTER XIV

UNCLE DAN'S RESEARCHES

"Uncle Dan, " whose last name was Hapgood, did not cease his calls uponthe Clarks. Sometimes he brought with him his niece, whose name, theylearned, was Mary Smith. 

"Another Smith!" ejaculated Dorothy who had lived long enough in theworld to find out the apparent truth of the legend, that originally allthe inhabitants of the earth were named Smith and so continued untilsome of them misbehaved and were given other names by way of punishment. 

No one liked Mr. Hapgood better as time went on. 

"I believe he is a twentieth century werwolf, as Dorothy said, " EthelBrown insisted. "He's a wolf turned into a man but keeping the feelingsof a wolf. "

The girls found little to commend in the manners of his niece andnothing to attract. By degrees the "botanist's" repeated questioning puthim in command of all the information the Clarks had themselves aboutthe clue that Stanley was hunting down. He seemed especially interestedwhen he learned that the search had been transferred to the vicinity ofPittsburg. 

"My sister, Mary's mother, lived near Pittsburg, " he told them when heheard it; "I know that part of the country pretty well. "

For several days he was not seen either by the Clarks or by the girlswho went to the Motor Inn to attend to the flowers, and Mrs. Foster toldthe Ethels that Mary had been left in her care while her uncle went awayon a business trip. 

At the end of a week he appeared again at the Clarks', bringing theyoung girl with him. He received the usual courteous but unenthusiasticreception with which they always met this man who had forced himselfupon them so many times. Now his eyes were sparkling and more nervouslythan ever he kept pushing back the lock of hair that hung over hisforehead. 

"Well, I've been away, " he began. 

The Clarks said that they had heard so. 

"I been to western Pennsylvania. "

His hearers expressed a lukewarm interest. 

"I went to hunt up the records of Fayette County concerning thegrandparents of Mary here. "

"I hope you were successful, " remarked the elder Miss Clark politely. 

"Yes, ma'am, I was, " shouted Hapgood in reply, thumping his hand on thearm of his chair with a vigor that startled his hosts. "Yes, sir, I was, sir; perfectly successful; _en_-tirely successful. "

Mr. Clark murmured something about the gratification the success must beto Mr. Hapgood and awaited the next outburst. 

It came without delay. 

"Do you want to know what I found out?"

"Certainly, if you care to tell us. "

"Well, I found out that Mary here is the granddaughter of your cousin, Emily Leonard, you been huntin' for. "

"Mary!" exclaimed the elder Miss Clark startled, her slender handsfluttering agitatedly as the man's heavy voice forced itself upon herears and the meaning of what he said entered her mind. 

"This child!" ejaculated the younger sister, Miss Eliza, doubtfully, adjusting her glasses and leaning over to take a closer look at theproposed addition to the family. 

"Hm!"

This comment came from Mr. Clark. 

A dull flush crept over Hapgood's face. 

"You don't seem very cordial, " he remarked. 

"O, " the elder Miss Clark, Miss Maria, began apologetically, but she wasinterrupted by her brother. 

"You have the proofs, I suppose. "

Hapgood could not restrain a glare of dislike, but he drew a bundle ofpapers from his pocket. 

"I knew you'd ask for 'em. "

"Naturally, " answered the calm voice of Mr. Clark. 

"So I copied these from the records and swore to 'em before a notary. "

"You copied them yourself?"

"Yes, sir, with my own hand, " and the man held up that member as if tocall it as a witness to his truth. 

"I should have preferred to have had the copying done by a typistaccredited by the county clerk, " said Mr. Clark coolly. 

Hapgood flushed angrily. 

"If you don't believe me--" he began, but Mr. Clark held up a warningfinger. 

"It's always wise to follow the custom in such cases, " he observed. 

Hapgood, finding himself in the wrong, leaned over Mr. Clark's shoulderand pointed eagerly to the notary's signature. 

"Henry Holden--that's the notary--that's him, " he repeated several timesinsistently. 

Mr. Clark nodded and read the papers slowly aloud so that his sistersmight hear their contents. They recited the marriage at Uniontown, thecounty seat of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on the fifteenth day ofDecember, 1860, of Emily Leonard to Edward Smith. 

"There you are, " insisted Hapgood loudly. "That's her; that's thegrandmother of Mary here. "

"You're sure of that?"

"Here's the record of the birth of Jabez, son of Edward and Emily(Leonard) Smith two years later, and the record of his marriage to mysister and the record of the birth of Mary. After I got the marriage ofthis Emily straightened out the rest was easy. We had it right in thefamily. "

The two sisters gazed at each other aghast. The man was so assertive andcoarse, and the child was so far from gentle that it seemed impossiblethat she could be of their own blood. Still, they remembered thatsurroundings have greater influence than inheritance, so they heldtheir peace, though Miss Maria stretched out her hand to Mary. Marystared at it but made no move to take it. 

"Your records look as if they might be correct, " said Mr. Clark, anadmission greeted by Hapgood with a pleased smile and a complacent rubof the hands; "but, " went on the old gentleman, "I see nothing here thatwould prove that this Emily Leonard was our cousin. "

"But your nephew, Stanley, wrote you that he had found that your Emilyhad removed to the neighborhood of Pittsburg. "

"That's true, " acknowledged the elder man, bending his head, "but EmilyLeonard isn't an unusual name. "

"O, she's the one all right, " insisted Hapgood bluffly. 

"Further, your record doesn't state the names of this Emily Leonard'sparents. "

Hapgood tossed back the unruly lock of hair. 

"I ought to have gone back one step farther, " he conceded. "I might haveknown you'd ask that. "

"Naturally. "

"I'll send to the county clerk and get that straightened out. "

"It might be well, " advised Mr. Clark mildly. "One other point preventsmy acceptance of these documents as proof that your niece belongs to ourfamily. Neither the investigator whom we had working on the case nor mynephew have ever told us the date of birth of our Emily Leonard. We can, of course, obtain that, if it is not already in my nephew's possession, but without it we can't be sure that our cousin was of marriageable ageon December fifteenth, 1860. "

It was Mr. Clark's turn to rub his hands together complacently asHapgood looked more and more discomfited. 

"In fact, my dear sir, " Mr. Clark continued, "you have proved nothingexcept that some Emily Leonard married a man named Smith on the datenamed. "

He tapped the papers gently with a thin forefinger and returned them totheir owner, who began to bluster. 

"I might have known you'd put up a kick, " he exclaimed. 

"I live, when I'm at home, in Arkansas, " replied Mr. Clark softly, "andArkansas is so near Missouri that I have come to belong to thebrotherhood who 'have to be shown. '"

Hapgood greeted this sally with the beginning of a snarl, but evidentlythought it the part of discretion to remain friendly with the people hewanted to persuade. 

"I seem to have done this business badly, " he said, "but I'll send backfor the rest of the evidence and you'll have to admit that Mary's thegirl you need to complete your family tree. "

"Come here, dear, " Miss Clark called to Mary in her quiet voice. "Areyour father and mother alive?"

"Father is, " she thought the child answered, but her reply wasinterrupted by Hapgood's loud voice, saying, "She's an orphan, poor kid. Pretty tough just to have an old bachelor uncle to look after yer, ain't it?"

The younger Miss Clark stepped to the window to pull down the shadewhile the couple were still within the yard and she saw the man give thegirl a shake and the child rub her arm as if the touch had been toorough for comfort. 

"Poor little creature! I can't say I feel any affection for her, but shemust have a hard time with that man!"

The interview left Mr. Clark in a disturbed state in spite of thecalmness he had assumed in talking with Hapgood. He walked restlessly upand down the room and at last announced that he was going to thetelegraph office. 

"I might as well wire Stanley to send us right off the date of EmilyLeonard's birth, and, just as soon as he finds it, the name of the manshe married. "

"If she did marry, " interposed Miss Maria. "Some of our family don'tmarry, " and she humorously indicated the occupants of the room by a waveof her knitting needles. 

At that instant the doorbell rang, and the maid brought in a telegram. 

"It's from Stanley, " murmured Mr. Clark. 

"What a strange co-incidence, " exclaimed the elder Miss Clark. 

"What does he say, Brother?" eagerly inquired the younger Miss Clark. 

"'Emily married a man named Smith, '" Mr. Clark read slowly. 

"Is that all he says?"

"Every word. "

"Dear boy! I suppose he thought we'd like to know as soon as he foundout!" and Miss Eliza's thoughts flashed away to the nephew she loved, forgetting the seriousness of the message he had sent. 

"The information seems to have come at an appropriate time, " commentedMr. Clark grimly. 

"It must be true, then, " sighed Miss Maria; "that Mary belongs to us. "

"We don't know at all if Hapgood's Emily is our Emily, even if they didboth marry Smiths, " insisted Mr. Clark stoutly, his obstinacy reviving. "I shall send a wire to Stanley at once asking for the dates of Emily'sbirth and marriage. He must have them both by this time; why on earthdoesn't he send full information and not such a measly telegram asthis!" and the old gentleman put on his hat and took his cane andstamped off in a rage to the Western Union office. 

The sisters left behind gazed at each other forlornly. 

"She certainly is an unprepossessing child, " murmured Miss Maria, "butdon't you think, under the circumstances, that we ought to ask her topay us a visit?"

Miss Clark the elder contemplated her knitting for a noticeable intervalbefore she answered. 

"I don't see any 'ought' about it, " she replied at last, "but I think itwould be kind to do so. "

Meanwhile Mr. Clark, stepping into the telegraph office, met Mr. Hapgoodcoming out. That worthy looked somewhat startled at the encounter, butpulled himself together and said cheerfully "Just been sending off awire about our matter. "

When the operator read Mr. Clark's telegram a few minutes later he saidto himself wonderingly, "Emily Leonard sure is the popular lady!"

Mr. Clark was not at all pleased with his sister's proposal that theyinvite Mary Smith to make them a visit. 

"It will look to Hapgood as if we thought his story true, " he objected, when they suggested the plan the next morning. "I don't believe it istrue, even if our Emily did marry a Smith, according to Stanley. "

"I don't believe it is, either, " answered Miss Maria dreamily. "A greatmany people marry Smiths. "

"They have to; how are they to do anything else?" inquired the oldgentleman testily. "There is such a lot of them you can't escape them. We're talking about your name, ladies, " he continued as Dorothy and hermother came in, and then he related the story of Hapgood's visit and thepossibility that Mary might prove to belong to them. 

"Do you think he honestly believes that she's the missing heir?" Mrs. Smith asked. 

The ladies looked uncertain but there was no doubt in their brother'smind. 

"Not for a moment of time do I think he does, " he shouted. 

"But what would be his object? Why should he try to thrust the childinto a perfectly strange family?"

The elder Miss Clark ventured a guess. 

"He may want to provide for her future if she's really an orphan, as hesays. "

"I don't believe she is an orphan. Before her precious uncle drowned herreply with one of his roars I distinctly heard her say that her fatherwas alive, " retorted the exasperated Mr. Clark. 

"The child would be truly fortunate to have all of you dear people tolook after her, " Mrs. Smith smiled, "but if her welfare isn't hisreason, what is?"

"I believe it has something to do with that piece of land, " conjecturedMr. Clark. "He never said a word about it to-night. That's a bad sign. He wants that land and he's made up his mind to have it and this hassomething to do with it. "

"How could it have?" inquired Mrs. Smith. 

"This is all I can think of. Before we can sell that land or any of ourland we must have the consent of all the living heirs or else the titleisn't good, as you very well know. Now Emily Leonard and her descendantsare the only heirs missing. This man says that the child, Mary, is EmilyLeonard's grandchild and that Emily and her son, the child's father, aredead. That would mean that if we wanted to sell that land we'd beobliged to have the signatures of my sisters and my nephew, Stanley, andmyself, and also of the guardian of this child. Of course Hapgood willsay he's the child's guardian. Do you suppose, Mrs. Smith, that he'sgoing to sign any deed that gives you that land? Not much! He'll sayit's for the child's best interests that the land be not sold now, because it contains valuable clay or whatever it is he thinks he hasfound there. Then he'll offer to buy the land himself and he'll bewilling enough to sign the deed then. "

"But _we_ might not be, " interposed Miss Maria. 

"I should say not, " returned her brother emphatically, "but he'dprobably make a lot of trouble for us and be constantly appealing to uson the ground that we ought to sell the land for the child's good--or hemight even say for Stanley's good or our good, the brazen, persistentanimal. "

"Brother, " remonstrated Miss Maria. "You forget that you may be speakingof the uncle of our little cousin. "

"Little cousin nothing!" retorted Mr. Clark fiercely. "It's all verynice for the Mortons to find that that charming girl who takes care ofthe Belgian baby is a relative. This is a very different proposition!However, I suppose you girls--" meaning by this term the two ladies ofmore than seventy--"won't be happy unless you have the youngster here, so you might as well send for her, but you'd better have the length ofher visit distinctly understood. "

"We might say a week, " suggested Miss Eliza hesitatingly. 

"Say a week, and say it emphatically, " approved her brother, and trottedoff to his study, leaving the ladies to compose, with Mrs. Smith's help, a note that would not be so cordial that Brother would forbid its beingsent, but that would nevertheless give a hint of their kindly feeling tothe forlorn child, so roughly cared for by her strange uncle. 

Mary Smith went to them, and made a visit that could not be called asuccess in any way. She was painfully conscious of the differencebetween her clothes and the Ethels' and Dorothy's and Della's, thoughwhy theirs seemed more desirable she could not tell, since her own werefar more elaborate. The other girls wore middy blouses constantly, eventhe older girls, Helen and Margaret, while her dresses were of silk orsome other delicate material and adorned with many ruffles and muchlace. 

She was conscious, too, of a difference between her manners and theirs, and she could not understand why, in her heart, she liked theirs better, since they were so gentle as to seem to have no spirit at all, accordingto her views. She was always uncomfortable when she was with them andher efforts to be at ease caused her shyness to go to the other extremeand made her manners rough and impertinent. 

Mrs. Smith found her crying one day when she came upon her suddenly inthe hammock on the Clarks' veranda. 

"Can I help?" she asked softly, leaning over the small figure whoseevery movement indicated protest. 

"No, you can't, " came back the fierce retort. "You're one of 'em. Youdon't know. "

"Don't know what?"

"How I feel. Nobody likes me. Miss Clark just told me to go out of herroom. "

"Why were you in her room?"

"Why, shouldn't I go into her room? When I woke up this morning I madeup my mind I'd do my best to be nice all day long. They're so old Idon't know what to talk to 'em about, but I made up my mind I'd stickaround 'em even if I didn't know what to say. Right after breakfast theyalways go upstairs--I think it's to be rid of me--and they don't comedown for an hour, and then they bring down their knitting and theirembroidery and they sit around all day long except when that Belgianbaby that lives at your house comes in--then they get up and try to playwith her. "

Mrs. Smith smiled, remembering the efforts of the two old ladies to playwith "Ayleesabet. " Mary noticed the smile. 

"They do look fools, don't they?" she cried eagerly. 

"I think they look very dear and sweet when they are playing withAyleesabet. I was not smiling _at_ them but because I sympathized withtheir enjoyment of the baby. "

"Well, I made up my mind they needn't think they had to stay upstairsbecause I wasn't nice; I'd go upstairs and be nice. So I went upstairsto Miss Maria's room and walked in. "

"Walked right in? Without knocking?"

"I walked right in. She was sitting in front of that low table she haswith the looking glass and all the bottles and boxes on it. Her hair wasdown her back--what there was of it--and she was doing up her switch. "

Mrs. Smith was so aghast at this intrusion and at the injured tone inwhich it was told that she had no farther inclination to smile. 

"I said, 'I thought I'd come up and sit with you a while, ' and shesaid, 'Leave the room at once, Mary, ' just like that. She was as mad asshe could be. "

"Do you blame her?"

"Why should she be mad, when I went up there to be nice to her? She's anold cat!"

"Dear child, come and sit on this settee with me and let's talk itover. "

Mrs. Smith put her arm over the shaking shoulders of the angry girl anddrew her toward her. After an instant's stiffening against it Maryadmitted to herself that it was pleasant; she didn't wonder Dorothy wassweet if her mother did this often. 

"Now we're comfortable, " said Mrs. Smith. "Tell me, dear, aren't theresome thoughts in your mind that you don't like to tell to any one?thoughts that seem to belong just to you yourself? Perhaps they're aboutGod; perhaps they're about people you love, perhaps they're about yourown feelings--but they seem too private and sacred for you to tell anyone. They're your own, ownest thoughts. "

Mary nodded. 

"Do you remember your mother?"

Mary nodded again. 

"Sometimes when you recall how she took you in her arms and cuddled youwhen you were hurt, and how you loved her and she loved you I know youthink thoughts that you couldn't express to any one else. "

Mary gave a sniff that hinted of tears. 

"Everybody has an inner life that is like a church. You know youwouldn't think of running into a church and making a noise anddisturbing the worshippers. It's just so with people's minds; you can'trush in and talk about certain things to any one--the things that heconsiders too sacred to talk about. "

"How are you going to tell?"

Mrs. Smith drew a long breath. How was she to make this poor, untutoredchild understand. 

"You have to tell by your feelings, " she answered slowly. "Some peopleare more reserved than others. I believe you are reserved. "

"Me?" asked Mary wonderingly. 

"It wouldn't surprise me if there were a great many things that youmight have talked about with your mother, if she had lived, but that youfind it hard to talk about with your uncle. "

Mary nodded. 

"He's fierce, " she commented briefly. 

"If he should begin to talk to you about some of the tender memoriesthat you have of your mother, for instance, it might be hard for you toanswer him. You'd be apt to think that he was coming into your ownprivate church. "

"I see that, " the girl answered; "but, " returning to the beginning ofthe conversation, "I didn't want to talk secrets with Miss Maria; I justwanted to be nice. "

"Just in the same way that people have thoughts of their very own thatyou mustn't intrude on, so there are reserves in their habits that youmustn't intrude on. Every one has a right to freedom from intrusion. Iinsist on it for myself; my daughter never enters my bedroom withoutknocking. I pay her the same respect; I always tap at her door and waitfor her answer before I enter. "

"Would you be mad if she went into your room without knocking?"

"I should be sorry that she was so inconsiderate of my feelings. Shemight, perhaps, interrupt me at my toilet. I should not like that. "

"Is that what I did to Miss Maria?"

"Yes, dear, it was. You don't know Miss Maria well, and yet you openedthe door of her private room and went in without being invited. "

"I'm sorry, " she said briefly. 

"I'm sure you are, now you understand why it wasn't kind. "

"I wish she knew I meant to be nice. "

"Would you like to have me tell her? I think she'll understand there aresome things you haven't learned for you haven't a mother to teach you. "

"Uncle Dan says maybe I'll have to live with the old ladies all thetime, so they might as well know I wasn't trying to be mean, " shewhispered resignedly. 

"I'll tell Miss Maria, then, and perhaps you and she will be betterfriends from now on because she'll know you want to please her. And now, I came over to tell you that the U. S. C. Is going into New York to-day tosee something of the Botanical Garden and the Arboretum. I'm going withthem and they'd be glad to have you go, too. "

"They won't be very glad, but I'd like to go, " responded the girl, herface lighted with the nearest approach to affection Mrs. Smith ever hadseen upon it. 

CHAPTER XV

FUR AND FOSSILS

When the Club gathered at the station to go into town Mary was arrayedin a light blue satin dress as unsuitable for her age as it was for thetime of day and the way of traveling. The other girls were dressed inblue or tan linen suits, neat and plain. Secretly Mary thought theirfrocks were not to be named in the same breath with hers, but once whenshe had said something about the simplicity of her dress to Ethel Blue, Ethel had replied that Helen had learned from her dressmaking teacherthat dresses should be suited to the wearer's age and occupation, andthat she thought her linen blouses and skirts were entirely suitable fora girl of fourteen who was a gardener when she wasn't in school. 

This afternoon Dorothy had offered her a pongee dust coat when shestopped at the Smiths' on her way to the cars. 

"Aren't you afraid you'll get that pretty silk all cindery?" she asked. 

Mary realized that Dorothy thought her not appropriately dressed fortraveling, but she tossed her head and said, "O, I like to wearsomething good looking when I go into New York. "

One of the purposes of the expedition was to see at the Museum ofNatural History some of the fossil leaves and plants about which theMortons had heard from Lieutenant and Captain Morton who had foundseveral of them themselves in the course of their travels. 

At the Museum they gathered around the stones and examined them with thegreatest interest. There were some shells, apparently as perfect as whenthey were turned into stone, and others represented only by the mouldsthey had left when they crumbled away. There were ferns, the delicatefronds showing the veining that strengthened the leaflets when theydanced in the breeze of some prehistoric morning. 

"It's wonderful!" exclaimed the Ethels, and Mary asked, "What happenedto it?"

"I thought some one would ask that, " replied Mrs. Smith, "so I broughtthese verses by Mary Branch to read to you while we stood around one ofthese ancient rocks. "

 THE PETRIFIED FERN

 "In a valley, centuries ago Grew a little fern-leaf, green and slender, Veining delicate and fibers tender; Waving when the wind crept down so low. Rushes tall and moss and grass grew round it, Playful sunbeams darted in and found it, Drops of dew stole in by night and crowned it, But no foot of man e'er trod that way; Earth was young and keeping holiday. 

 "Monster fishes swam the silent main; Stately forests waved their giant branches, Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain; Nature revelled in grand mysteries, But the little fern was not of these, Did not number with the hills and trees; Only grew and waved its wild sweet way, No one came to note it day by day. 

 "Earth, one time, put on a frolic mood, Heaved the rocks and changed the mighty motion Of the deep, strong currents of the ocean; Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood Crushed the little fern in soft, moist clay, -- Covered it and hid it safe away. O, the long, long centuries since that day! O, the changes! O, life's bitter cost, Since that useless little fern was lost!

 "Useless? Lost? There came a thoughtful man Searching Nature's secrets, far and deep; From a fissure in a rocky steep He withdrew a stone, o'er which there ran Fairy pencilings, a quaint design, Veinings, leafage, fibers clear and fine, And the fern's life lay in every line! So, I think, God hides some souls away, Sweetly to surprise us, the last day. "

From the Museum the party went to the Bronx where they first took a longwalk through the Zoo. How Mary wished that she did not have on a paleblue silk dress and high heeled shoes as she dragged her tired feet overthe gravel paths and stood watching Gunda, the elephant, "weaving" backand forth on his chain, and the tigers and leopards keeping up theirrestless pacing up and down their cages, and the monkeys, chatteringhideously and snatching through the bars at any shining object worn bytheir visitors! It was only because she stepped back nimbly that she didnot lose a locket that attracted the attention of an ugly imitation of ahuman being. 

The herds of large animals pleased them all. 

"How kind it is of the keepers to give these creatures companions andthe same sort of place to live in that they are accustomed to, "commented Ethel Brown. 

"Did you know that this is one of the largest herds of buffalo in theUnited States?" asked Tom, who, with Della, had joined them at theMuseum. "Father says that when he was young there used to be plenty ofbuffalo on the western plains. The horse-car drivers used to wear coatsof buffalo skin and every new England farmer had a buffalo robe. It wasthe cheapest fur in use. Then the railroads went over the plains andthere was such a destruction of the big beasts that they werepractically exterminated. They are carefully preserved now. "

"The prairie dogs always amuse me, " said Mrs. Smith. "Look at thatfellow! Every other one is eating his dinner as fast as he can but thisone is digging with his front paws and kicking the earth away with hishind paws with amazing industry. "

"He must be a convict at hard labor, " guessed Roger. 

"Or the Mayor of the Prairie Dog Town setting an example to hisconstituents, " laughed James. 

The polar bear was suffering from the heat and nothing but the tip ofhis nose and his eyes were to be seen above the water of his tank wherehe floated luxuriously in company with two cakes of ice. 

The wolves and the foxes had dens among rocks and the wild goats stooddaintily on pinnacles to see what was going on at a distance. No onecared much for the reptiles, but the high flying cage for birds keptthem beside it for a long time. 

Across the road they entered the grounds of the Arboretum and passedalong a narrow path beside a noisy brook under heavy trees, until theycame to a grove of tall hemlocks. With upturned heads they admired thesegiants of the forest and then passed on to view other trees from manyclimes and countries. 

"Here's the Lumholtz pine that father wrote me about from Mexico, " criedEthel Blue, whose father, Captain Morton, had been with General Funstonat Vera Cruz. "See, the needles hang down like a spray, just as he said. You know the wood has a peculiar resonance and the Mexicans make musicalinstruments of it. "

"It's a graceful pine, " approved Ethel Brown. "What a lot of pines thereare. "

"We are so accustomed about here to white pines that the other kindsseem strange, but in the South there are several kinds, " contributedDorothy. "The needles of the long leaf pine are a foot long and muchcoarser than these white pine needles. Don't you remember, I made somebaskets out of them?"

The Ethels did remember. 

"Their green is yellower. The tree is full of resin and it makes thefinest kind of kindling. "

"Is that what the negroes call 'light wood'?" asked Della. 

"Yes, that's light wood. In the fields that haven't been cultivated fora long time there spring up what they call in the South 'old fieldpines' or 'loblolly pines. ' They have coarse yellow green needles, too, but they aren't as long as the others. There are three needles in thebunch. "

"Don't all the pines have three needles in the bunch?" asked Margaret. 

"Look at this white pine, " she said, pulling down a bunch off a treethey were passing. "It has five; and the 'Table Mountain pine' has onlytwo. "

"Observant little Dorothy!" exclaimed Roger. 

"O, I know more than that, " laughed Dorothy. "Look hard at this whitepine needle; do you see, it has three sides, two of them white and onegreen? The loblolly needle has only two sides, though the under is socurved that it looks like two; and the 'Table Mountain' has two sides. "

"What's the use of remembering all that?" demanded Mary sullenly. 

Dorothy, who had been dimpling amusedly as she delivered her lecture, flushed deeply. 

"I don't know, " she admitted. 

"We like to hear about it because we've been gardening all summer andanything about trees or plants interests us, " explained Tom politely, though the way in which Mary spoke seemed like an attack on Dorothy. 

"I've always found that everything I ever learned was useful at sometime or other, " James maintained decidedly. "You never can tell whenthis information that Dorothy has given us may be just what we need forsome purpose or other. "

"It served Dorothy's purpose just now when she interested us for a fewminutes telling about the different kinds, " insisted Ethel Blue, butMary walked on before them with a toss of her head that meant "Itdoesn't interest me. "

Dorothy looked at her mother, uncertain whether to take it as a joke orto feel hurt. Mrs. Smith smiled and shook her head almost imperceptiblyand Dorothy understood that it was kindest to say nothing more. 

They chatted on as they walked through the Botanical Gardens andexclaimed over the wonders of the hothouses and examined the collectionsof the Museum, but the edge had gone from the afternoon and they werenot sorry to find themselves on the train for Rosemont. Mary sat withMrs. Smith. 

"I really was interested in what Dorothy told about the pines, " shewhispered as the train rumbled on; "I was mad because I didn't knowanything that would interest them, too. "

"I dare say you know a great many things that would interest them, "replied Mrs. Smith. "Some day you must tell me about the mostinteresting thing you ever saw in all your life and we'll see if itwon't interest them. "

"That was in a coal mine, " replied Mary promptly. "It was the footstepof a man thousands and thousands of years old. It made you wonder whatmen looked like and how they lived so long ago. "

"You must tell us all about it, some time. It will make a good additionto what we learned to-day about the fossils. "

When the Mortons reached home they found Mr. Emerson waiting for them attheir house. 

"I've a proposal to make to these children, with your permission, Marion, " he said to his daughter. 

"Say on, sir, " urged Roger. 

"Mr. Clark is getting very nervous about this man Hapgood. The man isbeginning to act as if he, as the guardian of the child, had a realclaim on the Clark estate, and he becomes more and more irritating everyday. They haven't heard from Stanley for several days. He hasn'tanswered either a letter or a telegram that his uncle sent him and theold ladies are working themselves into a great state of anxiety overhim. I tell them that he has been moving about all the time and thatprobably neither the letter nor the wire reached him, but Clark vowsthat Hapgood has intercepted them and his sisters are sure the boy isill or has been murdered. "

"Poor creatures, " smiled Mrs. Morton sympathetically. "Is there anythingyou can do about it?"

"I told Clark a few minutes ago that I'd go out to western Pennsylvaniaand hunt up the boy and help him run down whatever clues he has. Clarkwas delighted at the offer--said he didn't like to go himself and leavehis sisters with this man roaming around the place half the time. "

"It was kind of you. I've no doubt Stanley is working it all out well, but, boy-like, he doesn't realize that the people at home want to havehim report to them every day. "

"My proposal is, Marion, that you lend me these children, Helen and theEthels and Roger, for a few days' trip. "

"Wow, wow!" rose a shout of joy. 

"Or, better still, that you come, too, and bring Dicky. "

Mrs. Morton was not a sailor's wife for nothing. 

"I'll do it, " she said promptly. "When do you want us to start?"

"Can you be ready for an early morning train from New York?"

"We can!" was the instant reply of every person in the room. 

CHAPTER XVI

FAIRYLAND

All day long the train pulled its length across across the state ofPennsylvania, climbing mountains and bridging streams and piercingtunnels. All day long Mr. Emerson's party was on the alert, dashing fromone side to the other of the car to see some beautiful vista or to lookdown on a brook brawling a hundred feet below the trestle that supportedthem or waving their hands to groups of children staring open-mouthed atthe passing train. 

"Pennsylvania is a beautiful state, " decided Ethel Brown as theypenetrated the splendid hills of the Allegheny range. 

"Nature made it one of the most lovely states of the Union, " returnedher grandfather. "Man has played havoc with it in spots. Some of thevillages among the coal mines are hideous from the waste that has beenthrown out for years upon a pile never taken away, always increasing. Nograss grows on it, no children play on it, the hens won't scratch on it. The houses of the miners turn one face to this ugliness and it is onlybecause they turn toward the mountains on another side that the peopleare preserved from the death of the spirit that comes to those who lookforever on the unlovely. "

"Is there any early history about here?" asked Helen, whose interestwas unfailing in the story of her country. 

"The French and Indian Wars were fought in part through this land, "answered Mr. Emerson. "You remember the chief struggle for the continentlay between the English and the French. There were many reasons why theIndians sided with the French in Canada, and the result of thefriendship was that; the natives were supplied with arms by theEuropeans and the struggle was prolonged for about seventy-five years. "

"Wasn't the attack on Deerfield during the French and Indian War?" askedEthel Blue. 

"Yes, and there were many other such attacks. "

"The French insisted that all the country west of the Allegheniesbelonged to them and they disputed the English possession at everypoint. When Washington was only twenty-one years old he was sent to begthe French not to interfere with the English, but he had a hard journeywith no fortunate results. It was on this journey that he picked out agood position for a fort and started to build it. It was where Pittsburgnow stands. "

"That was a good position for a fort, where the Allegheny andMonongahela Rivers join to make the Ohio, " commended Roger. 

"It was such a good position that the French drove off the Englishworkmen and finished the work themselves. They called it Fort Duquesneand it became one of a string of sixty French forts extending fromQuebec to New Orleans. "

"Some builders!" commended Roger. 

"Fort Duquesne was so valuable that the English sent one of theirgenerals, Braddock, to capture it. Washington went with him on hisstaff, to show him the way. "

"It must have been a long trip from the coast through all this hillycountry. "

"It was. They had to build roads and they were many weeks on the way. "

"It was a different matter from the twentieth century transportation ofsoldiers by train and motor trucks and stages, " reminded Mrs. Morton. 

"When the British were very near Fort Duquesne, " continued Mr. Emerson, "the French sent out a small band, mainly Indians, to meet them. TheEnglish general didn't understand Indian fighting and kept his menmassed in the road where they were shot down in great numbers and helost his own life. There's a town named after him, on the site of thebattle. "

"Here it is, " and Helen pointed it out on the map in the railway folder. "It's about ten miles from Pittsburg. "

"Washington took command after the death of Braddock, and this was hisfirst real military experience. However, his heart was in the taking ofFort Duquesne and when General Forbes was sent out to make anotherattempt at capturing it Washington commanded one of the regiments ofVirginia troops. "

"Isn't there any poetry about it?" demanded Ethel Brown, who knew hergrandfather's habit of collecting historical ballads. 

"Certainly there is. There are some verses on 'Fort Duquesne' by FlorusPlimpton written for the hundredth anniversary of the capture. "

"Did they have a great old fight to take the fort?" asked Roger. 

"No fight at all. Here's what Plimpton says:--

 "So said: and each to sleep addressed his wearied limbs and mind, And all was hushed i' the forest, save the sobbing of the wind, And the tramp, tramp, tramp of the sentinel, who started oft in fright At the shadows wrought 'mid the giant trees by the fitful camp-fire light. 

 "Good Lord! what sudden glare is that that reddens all the sky, As though hell's legions rode the air and tossed their torches high! Up, men! the alarm drum beats to arms! and the solid ground seems riven By the shock of warring thunderbolts in the lurid depth of heaven!

 "O, there was clattering of steel and mustering in array, And shouts and wild huzzas of men, impatient of delay, As came the scouts swift-footed in--'They fly! the foe! they fly! They've fired the powder magazine and blown it to the sky. '

"All the English had to do was to walk in, put out the fire, repair thefort and re-name it. "

"What did they call it?"

"After the great statesman--Fort Pitt. "

"That's where 'Pittsburg' got its name, then! I never thought about itsbeing in honor of Pitt!" exclaimed Helen. 

"It is 'Pitt's City, '" rejoined her grandfather. "And this street, " headded somewhat later when they were speeding in a motor bus to a hotelnear the park, "this street is Forbes Street, named after the Britishgeneral. Somewhere there is a Bouquet Street, to commemorate anotherhero of the war. "

"I saw 'Duquesne Way' marked on the map, " announced Ethel Blue. 

On the following morning they awakened to find themselves opposite alarge and beautiful park with a mass of handsome buildings risingimpressively at the entrance. 

"It is Schenley Park and the buildings house the Carnegie Institute. We'll go over them by and bye. "

"It's a library, " guessed Dicky, who was not too young to have thesteelmaker's name associated with libraries in his youthful mind. 

"It is a library and a fine one. There's also a Music Hall and an artmuseum and a natural history museum. You'll see more fossil ferns there, and the skeleton of a diplodocus--"

"A dip-what?" demanded Roger. 

"Diplodocus, with the accent on the _plod_; one of the hugest animalsthat ever walked the earth. They found the bones of this monster almostcomplete in Colorado and wired them together so you can get an idea ofwhat really 'big game' was like in the early geological days. "

"How long is he?"

"If all the ten members of the U. S. C. Were to take hold of hands andstretch along his length there would be space for four or five more tojoin the string. "

"Where's my hat?" demanded Roger. "I want to go over and make thatfellow's acquaintance instanter. "

"When you go, notice the wall paintings, " said his mother. "They showthe manufacture and uses of steel and they are considered among thefinest things of their kind in America. Alexander, the artist, did them. You've seen some of his work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. "

"Pittsburg has the good sense to have a city organist, " Mr. Emersoncontinued. "Every Sunday afternoon he plays on the great organ in theauditorium and the audience drifts in from the park and drifts out towalk farther, and in all several thousand people hear some good music inthe course of the afternoon. "

"There seem to be some separate buildings behind the Institute. "

"The Technical Schools, and beyond them is the Margaret Morrison Schoolwhere girls may learn crafts and domestic science and so on. "

"It's too bad it isn't a clear day, " sighed Ethel Blue, as she rose fromthe table. 

"This is a bright day, Miss, " volunteered the waiter who handed her herunnecessary sunshade. 

"You call this clear?" Mrs. Morton asked him. 

"Yes, madam, this is a bright day for Pittsburg. "

When they set forth they shook their heads over the townsman's idea of aclear day, for the sky was overcast and clouds of dense black smokerolled together from the two sides of the city and met over their heads. 

"It's from the steel mills, " Mr. Emerson explained as he advised EthelBrown to wipe off a smudge of soot that had settled on her cheek andwarned his daughter that if she wanted to preserve the whiteness of hergloves she had better replace them by colored ones until she returned toa cleaner place. 

They were to take the afternoon train up the Monongahela River to thetown from which Stanley Clark had sent his wire telling his uncle that"Emily Leonard married a man named Smith, " but there were several hoursto devote to sightseeing before train time, and the party went overSchenley Park with thoroughness, investigated several of the "inclines"which carried passengers from the river level to the top of the heightsabove, motored among the handsome residences and ended, on the way tothe station, with a flying visit to the old blockhouse which is all thatis left of Port Pitt. 

"So this is really a blockhouse, " Helen said slowly as she looked at thelittle two story building with its heavy beams. 

"There are the musket holes, " Ethel Brown pointed out. 

"This is really where soldiers fought before the Revolution!"

"It really is, " her mother assured her. "It is in the care of one ofthe historical societies now; that's why it is in such good condition. "

Roger had secured the tickets and had telephoned to the hotel atBrownsville for rooms so they took their places in the train with nomisgivings as to possible discomfort at night. Their excitement wasbeginning to rise, however, for two reasons. In the first place they hadbeen quite as disturbed as Dorothy and her mother over the difficultiesattending the purchase of the field and the Fitz-James Woods, and thelater developments in connection with the man, Hapgood. Now that theywere approaching the place where they knew Stanley Clark was working outthe clue they began to feel the thrill that comes over explorers on theeve of discovery. 

The other reason for excitement lay in the fact that Mr. Emerson hadpromised them some wonderful sights before they reached theirdestination. He had not told them what they were, although he hadmentioned something about fairyland that had started an abundant flow ofquestions from Dicky. Naturally they were all alert to find out whatnovelty their eyes were to see. 

"I saw one novelty this afternoon, " said Roger. "When I stepped intothat little stationery shop to get a newspaper I noticed in the rear aqueer tin thing with what looked like cotton wool sticking against itsback wall. I asked the woman who sold the papers what it was. "

"Trust Roger for not letting anything pass him, " smiled Ethel Brown. 

"That's why I'm such a cyclopedia of accurate information, ma'am, "Roger retorted. "She said it was a stove. "

"With cotton wool for fuel?" laughed Ethel Blue. 

"It seems they use natural gas here for heating as well as cooking, andthe woolly stuff was asbestos. The gas is turned on at the foot of theback wall and the asbestos becomes heated and gives off warmth butdoesn't burn. "

"I stayed in Pittsburg once in a boarding house where the rooms wereheated with natural gas, " said Mr. Emerson. "It made a sufficient heat, but you had to be careful not to turn the burner low just before all themethodical Pittsburgers cooked dinner, for if you made it too low theflame might go out when the pressure was light. "

"Did the opposite happen at night?"

"It did. In the short time I was there the newspapers noted severalcases of fires caused by people leaving their stoves turned up high atnight and the flames bursting into the room and setting fire to someinflammable thing near at hand when the pressure grew strong after thegood Pittsburgers went to bed. "

"It certainly is useful, " commended Mrs. Morton. "A turn of the key andthat's all. "

"No coal to be shovelled--think of it!" exclaimed Roger, who took careof several furnaces in winter. "No ashes to be sifted and carried away!The thought causes me to burst into song, " and he chanted ridicuously:--

 "Given a tight tin stove, asbestos fluff, A match of wood, an iron key, and, puff, Thou, Natural Gas, wilt warm the Arctic wastes, And Arctic wastes are Paradise enough. "

As the train drew out of the city the young people's expectations offairyland were not fulfilled. 

"I don't see anything but dirt and horridness, Grandfather, " complainedEthel Brown. 

Mr. Emerson looked out of the window thoughtfully for a moment. 

"True, " he answered, "it's not yet dark enough for the magic to work. "

"No wonder everything is sooty and grimy with those chimneys all aroundus throwing out tons and tons of soft coal smoke to settle overeverything. Don't they ever stop?"

"They're at it twenty-four hours a day, " returned her grandfather. "Butnight will take all the ugliness into its arms and hide it; thesordidness and griminess will disappear and fairyland will come forthfor a playground. The ugly smoke will turn into a thing of beauty. Thequeer point of it all is, " he continued, shaking his head sadly, "fairyland is there all the time and always beautiful, only you can'tsee it. "

Dicky's eyes opened wide and he gazed out of the window intent onpeering into this mysterious invisible playground. 

"Lots of things are like that, " agreed Roger. "Don't you remember howthose snowflakes we looked at under the magnifying glass on Ethel Blue'sbirthday burst into magnificent crystals? You wouldn't think a handfulof earth--just plain dirt--was pretty, would you? But it is. Look at itthrough a microscope and see what happens. "

"But, Grandfather, if the beauty is there right now why can't we seeit?" insisted Ethel Brown. 

Mr. Emerson stared out of the window for a moment. 

"That was a pretty necklace of beads you strung for Ayleesabet. "

"We all thought they were beauty beads. "

"And that was a lovely string of pearls that Mrs. Schermerhorn wore atthe reception for which you girls decorated her house. "

There could be no disagreement from that opinion. 

"Since Ayleesabet is provided with such beauties we shan't have to fretabout getting her anything else when she goes to her coming-out party, shall we?"

"What are you saying, Grandfather!" exclaimed Helen. "Of courseAyleesabet's little string of beads can't be compared with a pearlnecklace!"

"There you are!" retorted Mr. Emerson; "Helen has explained it. Thisfairyland we are going to see can't be compared with the glory of thesun any more than Ayleesabet's beads can be compared with Mrs. Schermerhorn's pearls. We don't even see the fairyland when the sun isshining but when the sun has set the other beauties become clear. "

"O-o-o!" shouted Dicky, whose nose had been glued to the window in aneffort to prove his grandfather's statement; "look at that funnyumbrella!"

Everybody jumped to one window or another, and they saw in the gatheringdarkness a sudden blast of flame and white hot particles shooting intothe air and spreading out like an umbrella of vast size. 

"Look at it!" exclaimed the two Ethels, in a breath; "isn't thatbeautiful! What makes it?"

"The grimy steel mills of the daytime make the fairyland of night, "announced Mr. Emerson. 

Across the river they noticed suddenly that the smoke pouring from achimney had turned blood red with tongues of vivid flame shootingthrough it like pulsing veins. There was no longer any black smoke. Ithad changed to heavy masses of living fire of shifting shades. Greatingots of steel sent the observers a white hot greeting or glowed morecoolly as the train shot by them. Huge piles of smoking slag that hadgleamed dully behind the mills now were veined with vivid red, lookinglike miniature volcanoes streaked with lava. 

It was sometimes too beautiful for words to describe it suitably, andsometimes too terrible for an exclamation to do it justice. It createdan excitement that was wearying, and when the train pulled intoBrownsville it was a tired party that found its way to the hotel. 

As the children went off to bed Mr. Emerson called out "To-morrow allwill be grime and dirt again; fairyland has gone. "

"Never mind, Grandfather, " cried Ethel Brown, "we won't forget that itis there just the same if only we could see it. "

"And we'll think a little about the splendiferousness of the sun, too, "called Helen from the elevator. "I never thought much about it before. "

CHAPTER XVII

THE MISSING HEIRESS

Mr. Emerson's investigations proved that Stanley Clark had leftBrownsville several days previously and had gone to Millsboro, fartherup the Monongahela. 

He had left that as his forwarding address, the hotel clerk said. Thisinformation necessitated a new move at once, so the next morning, brightand early, Mr. Emerson led his party to the river where they boarded alittle steamer scarcely larger than a motor boat. 

They were soon puffing away at a fair rate of speed against the sluggishcurrent. The factories and huge steel plants had disappeared and thebanks looked green and country-like as mile after mile slipped by. Suddenly Roger, who was sitting by the steersman's wheel, exclaimed, "Why, look! there's a waterfall in front of us. "

So, indeed, there was, a wide fall stretching from shore to shore, butRoger, eyeing it suspiciously, added in an aggrieved tone, "But it's adam. Must be a dam. Look how straight it is. "

"How on earth, " called Ethel Blue, "are we going to get over it?"

"Jump up it the way Grandpa told me the salmon fishes do, " volunteeredDicky. 

Everybody laughed, but Mr. Emerson declared that was just about whatthey were going to do. The boat headed in for one end of the dam and herpassengers soon found themselves floating in a granite room, with hugewooden doors closed behind them. The water began to boil around them, and as it poured into the lock from unseen channels the boat roseslowly. In a little while the Ethels cried that they could see over thetops of the walls, and in a few minutes more another pair of big gatesopened in front of them and they glided into another chamber and outinto the river again, this time above the "falls. "

"I feel as if I had been through the Panama Canal, " declared Ethel Blue. 

"That's just the way its huge locks work, " said Mrs. Morton. "The nexttime your Uncle Roger has a furlough I hope it will be long enough forus to go down there and see it. "

"I wonder, " asked Roger, "if there are many more dams like this on theMonongahela. "

"There's one about every ten miles, " volunteered the steersman. "Untilthe government put them in only small boats could go up the river. Nowgood sized ones can go all the way to Wheeling, West Virginia. If youwant to, you can go by boat all the way from Wheeling to the Gulf ofMexico. "

"The Gulf of Mexico, " echoed the two Ethels. Then they added, alsotogether, "So you can!" and Ethel Brown said, "The Indians used to gofrom the upper end of Lake Chautauqua to the Gulf in their canoes? Whenthey got to Fort Duquesne it was easy paddling. "

"What is that high wharf with a building on it overhanging the river?"asked Helen. 

"That's a coal tipple, " said her grandfather. "Do you see on shore somelow-lying houses and sheds? They are the various machinery plants andoffices of the coal mine and that double row of small houses a quarterof a mile farther up is where the employés live. "

As the boat continued up the river it passed many such tipples. Theywere now in the soft coal country, the steersman said, and in due timethey arrived at Millsboro, a little town about ten miles aboveBrownsville. 

Here Mr. Emerson made immediate inquiries about Stanley Clark, and foundthat he had gone on, leaving "Uniontown, Fayette County, " as hisforwarding address. "That's the county seat where Hapgood says he copiedhis records, " said Mr. Emerson. "I hope we shall catch young Clark thereand get that matter straightened out. "

As there was no train to Uniontown until the afternoon, Mr. Emersonengaged a motor car to take them to a large mine whose tipple they hadpassed on the way up. The Superintendent was a friend of the driver ofthe car and he willingly agreed to show them through. Before enteringthe mine he pointed out to them samples of coal which he had collected. Some had fern leaves plainly visible upon their surfaces and othersshowed leaves of trees and shrubs. 

 "Fairy pencilings, a quaint design, Veinings, leafage, fibers clear and fine, "

quoted Ethel Blue softly, as she looked at them. 

Mrs. Morton stopped before a huge block of coal weighing several tonsand said to her son, "Here's a lump for your furnace, Roger. "

"Phew, " said Roger. "Think of a furnace large enough to fit that lump!Do you get many of them?" he asked of the Superintendent. 

"We keep that, " said the Superintendent, "because it's the largestsingle lump of coal ever brought out of this mine. Of course, we couldget them if we tried to, but it's easier to handle it in smallerpieces. "

"What'th in that little houthe over there?" asked Dicky. "Theems to me Ithee something whithing round. "

"That's the fan that blows fresh air into the mine so that the minerscan breathe, and drives out the poisonous and dangerous gases. "

"What would happen if the fan stopped running?" asked Ethel Brown. 

"Many things might happen, " said the Superintendent gravely. "Men mightsuffocate for lack of air, or an explosion might follow from thecollection of the dreaded 'fire damp' ignited by some miner's lamp. "

"Fire damp?" repeated Mrs. Morton. "That is really natural gas, isn'tit?"

"Yes, they're both 'marsh gas' caused by the decay of the huge ferns andplants of the carboniferous age. Some of them hardened into coal andothers rotted when they were buried, and the gas was caught in hugepockets. It is gas from these great pockets that people use for heatingand cooking all about here and even up into Canada. "

Ethel Brown had been listening and the words "some of them hardened intocoal" caught her ear. She went close to her grandfather's side. 

"Tell me, " she said, "exactly what is coal and how did it get here?"

"What _I_ want to know, " retorted Mr. Emerson, "is what brand ofcuriosity you have in your cranium, and how did it get there? Answer methat. "

Ethel Brown laughed. 

"Let's have a lecture, " she urged, "and, " handing her grandfather asmall lump of coal, "here's your text. "

Mr. Emerson turned the bit of coal over and over. 

"When I look at this little piece of black stone, " he said, "I seem tosee dense forests filled with luxuriant foliage and shrubbery andmammoth trees under which move sluggish streams draining the swampyground. The air is damp and heavy and warm. "

"What about the animals?"

"There are few animals. Most of them are water creatures, though thereare a few that can live on land and in the water, too, and in the latterpart of the coal-making period enormous reptiles crawled over the wetfloor of the forest. Life is easy in all this leafy splendor and so isdeath, but no eye of man is there to look upon it, no birds brighten thedense green of the trees, and the ferns and shrubs have no flowers aswe know them. The air is heavy with carbon. "

"Where was the coal?"

"The coal wasn't made yet. You know how the soil of the West Woods athome is deep with decayed leaves? Just imagine what soil would be if itwere made by the decay of these huge trees and ferns! It became yardsand yards deep and silt and water pressed it down and crushed from italmost all the elements except the carbon, and it was transformed into amineral, and that mineral is coal. "

"Coal? Our coal?"

"Our coal. See the point of a fern leaf on this bit?" and he held outthe piece of coal he had been holding. "That fern grew millions of yearsago. "

"Isn't it delicate and pretty!" exclaimed Ethel Blue, as it reached herin passing from hand to hand, "and also not as clean as it once was!"she added ruefully, looking at her fingers. 

By way of preparation for their descent into the mine each member of theparty was given a cap on which was fastened a small open wick oil lamp. They did not light them, however, until they had all been carried ahundred feet down into the earth in a huge elevator. Here they neededthe illumination of the tiny lamps whose flicker made dancing shadows onthe walls. 

Following the Superintendent their first visit was to the stable. 

"What is a stable doing down here?" wondered Ethel Brown. 

"Mules pull the small cars into which the miners toss the coal as theycut it out. These fellows probably will never see the light of dayagain, " and their leader stroked the nose of the animal nearest himwhich seemed startled at his touch. 

"He's almost blind, you see, " the Superintendent explained. "His eyeshave adjusted themselves to the darkness and even these feeble lightsdazzle him. "

The girls felt the tears very near their eyelids as they thought of thefate of these poor beasts, doomed never to see the sun again or to feelthe grass under their feet. 

"I once knew a mule who was so fond of music that he used to poke hishead into the window near which his master's daughter was playing on thepiano, " said the Superintendent, who noticed their agitation and wantedto amuse them. "We might get up band concerts for these fellows. "

"Poor old things, I believe they would like it!" exclaimed Helen. 

"This is a regular underground village, " commented Mrs. Morton, as theywalked for a long distance through narrow passages until they foundthemselves at the heading of a drift where the men were working. 

"Is there any gas here?" asked the Superintendent, and when the minerssaid "Yes, " he lifted his hand light, which was encased in wire gauze, and thrust it upwards toward the roof and gave a grunt as it flickerednear the top. 

There it was, the dreaded fire-damp, in a layer above their heads. Onetouch of an open flame and there would be a terrible explosion, yet theminers were working undisturbed just beneath it with unprotected lampson their caps. The visitors felt suddenly like recruits under fire--theywere far from enjoying the situation but they did not want to seemalarmed. No one made any protest, but neither did any one protest whenthe Superintendent led the way to a section of the mine where there wasno gas that they might see a sight which he assured them was withoutdoubt wonderful. 

They were glad that they had been assured that there was no fire-damphere, for their leader lifted his lamp close to the roof. Ethel Bluemade the beginning of an exclamation as she saw his arm rising, but shesmothered her cry for her good sense told her that this experienced manwould not endanger the lives of himself or his guests. The coal had beentaken out very cleanly, and above them they saw not coal but shale. 

"What is shale?" inquired Helen. 

"Hardened clay, " replied the Superintendent. "There were no men untillong after the carboniferous period when coal was formed, but just inthis spot it must have happened that the soil that had gathered abovethe deposits of coal was very light for some reason or other. Above thecoal there was only a thin layer of soft clay. One day a hunter trampedthis way and left his autograph behind. "

He held his lamp steadily upward, and there in the roof were theunmistakable prints of the soles of a man's feet, walking. 

"It surely does look mightily as if your explanation was correct, "exclaimed Mr. Emerson, as he gazed at the three prints, in line andspaced as a walker's would be. Their guide said that there had been six, but the other three had fallen after being exposed to the air. 

"I wish it hadn't been such a muddy day, " sighed Ethel Blue. "The mudsqueezed around so that his toe marks were filled right up. "

"It certainly was a muddy day, " agreed Roger, "but I'm glad it was. Ifhe had been walking on rocks we never should have known that he hadpassed this way a million or so years ago. "

They were all so filled with interest that they were almost unwilling togo on in the afternoon, although Mr. Emerson promised them other sightsaround Uniontown, quite different from any they had seen yet. 

It was late in the afternoon when they ferried across the river in aboat running on a chain, and took the train for the seat of FayetteCounty. As the daylight waned they found themselves travelling through acountry lighted by a glare that seemed to spread through the atmosphereand to be reflected back from the clouds and sky. 

"What is it?" Dicky almost whimpered, as he snuggled closer to hismother. 

"Ask Grandfather, " returned Mrs. Morton. 

"It's the glare from the coke ovens, " answered Mr. Emerson. "Do you seethose long rows of bee-hives? Those are ovens in which soft coal isbeing burned so that a certain ingredient called bitumen may be drivenoff from it. What is left after that is done is a substance that lookssomewhat like a dry, sponge if that were gray and hard. It burns with avery hot flame and is invaluable in the smelting of iron and the makingof steel. "

"That's why they make so much here, " guessed Ethel Brown, who had beencounting the ovens and was well up in the hundreds with plenty more insight. "Here is where they make most of the iron and steel in the UnitedStates and they have to have coke for it. "

"And you notice how conveniently the coal beds lie to the iron mines?Nature followed an efficiency program, didn't she?" laughed Roger. 

"They turn out about twenty million tons of coke a year just aroundhere, " Helen read from her guidebook, "and it is one of the two greatestcoke burning regions of the world!"

"Where's the other?"

"In the neighborhood of Durham, England. "

"It is a wonderful sight!" exclaimed Ethel Blue. "I never knew firecould be so wonderful and so different!"

Mr. Emerson's search for Stanley Clark seemed to be a stern chase andconsequently a long one. Here again the hotel clerk told him that Mr. Clark had gone on, this time to Washington, the seat of WashingtonCounty. He was fairly sure that he was still there because he hadreceived a letter from him just the day before asking that something hehad left behind should be sent him to that point, which was done. 

As soon as the Record Office was open in the morning Mr. Emerson andRoger went there. 

"We might as well check up on Hapgood's investigations, " said Mr. Emerson. "They may be all right, and he may be honestly mistaken inthinking that his Emily is the Clarks' Emily; or he may have faked someof his records. It won't take us long to find out. Mr. Clark let me takehis copy of Hapgood's papers. "

It was not a long matter to prove that Hapgood's copy of the records wascorrect. Emily Leonard had married Edward Smith; their son, Jabez, hadmarried a Hapgood and Mary was their child. Where Hapgood's copy hadbeen deficient was in his failing to record that this Emily Leonard wasthe daughter of George and Sabina Leonard, whereas the Clarks' Emily wasthe daughter of Peter and Judith Leonard. 

"There's Hapgood's whole story knocked silly, " remarked Mr. Emersoncomplacently. 

"But it leaves us just where we were about the person the Clarks' Emilymarried. "

"Stanley wouldn't have telegraphed that she married a Smith if he hadn'tbeen sure. He sent that wire from Millsboro, you know. He must havefound something in that vicinity. "

"I'm going to try to get him on the telephone to-night, and then we canjoin him in Washington tomorrow if he'll condescend to stay in one spotfor a few hours and not keep us chasing over the country after him. "

"That's Jabez Smith over there now, " the clerk, who had been interestedin their search, informed them. 

"Jabez Smith!" repeated Roger, his jaw dropped. 

"Jabez Smith!" repeated Mr. Emerson. "Why, he's dead!"

"Jabez Smith? The Hapgood woman's husband? Father of Mary Smith? Heisn't dead. He's alive and drunk almost every day. "

He indicated a man leaning against the wall of the corridor and Mr. Emerson and Roger approached him. 

"Don't you know the Miss Clarks said they thought that Mary said herfather was alive but her uncle interrupted her loudly and said she was'an orphan, poor kid'?" Roger reminded his grandfather. 

"She's half an orphan; her mother really is dead, the clerk says. "

Jabez Smith acknowledged his identity and received news of hisbrother-in-law and his daughter with no signs of pleasure. 

"What scheming is Hapgood up to now?" he muttered crossly. 

"Do you remember what your grandfather and grandmother Leonards' nameswere, " asked Mr. Emerson. 

The man looked at him dully, as if he wondered what trick there might bein the inquiry, but evidently he came to the conclusion that his newacquaintance was testing his memory, so he pulled himself together andafter some mental searching answered, "George Leonard; Sabina Leonard. "

His hearers were satisfied, and left him still supporting the CourtHouse wall with his person instead of his taxes. 

Stanley, the long pursued, was caught on the wire, and hailed theircoming with delight. He said that he thought he had all the informationhe needed and that he had been planning to go home the next day, so theywere just in time. 

"That's delightful; he can go with us, " exclaimed Ethel Brown, and Helenand Roger looked especially pleased. 

The few hours that passed before they met in Washington were filled withguesses as to whether Stanley had built up the family tree of his cousinEmily so firmly that it could not be shaken. 

"We proved this morning that Hapgood's story was a mixture of truth andlies, " Mr. Emerson said, "but we haven't anything to replace it. Ourevidence is all negative. "

"Stanley seems sure, " Roger reminded him. 

When Stanley met them at the station in Washington he seemed both sureand happy. He shook hands with them all. 

"It is perfectly great to have you people here, " he said to Helen. 

"Have you caught Emily?" she replied, dimpling with excitement. 

"I have Emily traced backwards and forwards. Let's go into the writingroom of the hotel and you shall see right off how she stands. "

They gathered around the large table and listened to the account of theyoung lawyer's adventures. He had had a lead that took him to Millsborosoon after he reached western Pennsylvania, but he missed the trailthere and spent some time in hunting in surrounding towns before he cameon the record in the Uniontown courthouse. 

"I certainly thought I had caught her then, " he confessed. "I thought sountil I compared the ages of the two Emilies. I found that our Emilywould have been only ten years old at the time the Uniontown Emilymarried Edward Smith. "

"Mr. Clark wired you to find out just that point. "

"Did he? I never received the despatch. Hadn't I told him the date ofour Emily's birth?

"He has a crow to pick with you over that. "

"Too bad. Well, I moseyed around some more, and the trail led me back toMillsboro again, where I ought to have found the solution in the firstplace if I had been more persevering. I came across an old woman inMillsboro who had been Emily Leonard's bridesmaid when she marriedJulian Smith. That sent me off to the county seat and there I found itall set down in black and white;--Emily Leonard, adopted daughter of AsaWentworth and daughter of Peter and Judith (Clark) Leonard. There waseverything I wanted. "

"You knew she had been adopted by a Wentworth?"

"I found that out before I left Nebraska. "

"What was the date of the marriage?"

"1868. She was eighteen. Two years later her only child, a son, Leonard, was born, and she died--"

"Her son Leonard! Leonard Smith!" exclaimed Mrs. Morton suddenly. "Doyou suppose--" she hesitated, looking at her father. 

He raised his eyebrows doubtfully, then turning to Stanley he inquired:

"You didn't find out what became of this Leonard Smith, did you?"

"I didn't find any record of his marriage, but I met several men whoused to know him. They said he became quite a distinguished musician, and that he married a Philadelphia woman. "

"Did they know her name?" asked Mrs. Morton, leaning forward eagerly. 

"One of them said he thought it was Martin. Smith never came back hereto live after he set forth to make his fortune, so they were a littlehazy about his marriage and they didn't know whether he was stillalive. "

"The name wasn't Morton, was it?"

The girls looked curiously at their mother, for she was crimson withexcitement. Stanley could take them no farther, however. 

"Father, " Mrs. Morton said to Mr. Emerson, as the young people chatteredover Stanley's discoveries, "I think I'd better send a telegram toLouise and ask her what her husband's parents' names were. Wouldn't itbe too strange if he should be the son of the lost Emily?"

Mr. Emerson hurried to the telegraph office and sent an immediate wireto "Mrs. Leonard Smith, Rosemont, N. J. Wire names of your husband'sparents, " it read. 

The answer came back before morning;--"Julian and Emily Leonard Smith. "

"Now why in the wide world didn't she remember that when we've donenothing but talk about Emily Leonard for weeks!" cried Mrs. Smith'ssister-in-law impatiently. 

"I dare say she never gave them a thought; Leonard Smith's mother diedwhen he was born, Stanley says. How about the father, Stanley?"

"Julian Smith? He died years ago. I saw his death record this morning. "

"Then I don't see but you've traced the missing heir right to your ownnext door neighbor, Stanley. "

"It looks to me as if that was just what had happened, " laughed theyoung lawyer. "Isn't that jolly! It's Dorothy whose guardian's signatureis lacking to make the deed of the field valid when we sell it to hermother!"

"It's Dorothy who is a part owner of Fitz-James's woods already!" criedthe Ethels. 

Another telegram went to Rosemont at once. This one was addressed to"Miss Dorothy Smith. " It said, "Stanley welcomes you into family. Congratulations from all on your good fortune, " and it was signed "TheTravellers. "

THE END