the visitors were surprised to see the display of flowers that bloomed in
the outer porch, making it, indeed, a bower of beauty.

"Why! you have made quite an addition to the house since I was here last,"
said Gertrude, as she stood to admire the blossoms.

"No, not an addition, only a little alteration," said Maggie. "Don't you
remember this old porch where father used to smoke his pipe of an evening?
Well, in the spring, when Joe was making the glass frames to force the
early vegetables for market, we got him to put a glass frame on each side
of the porch. They are not very neatly done, I admit, but they answer the
purpose very well. Then these few shelves were easily fitted up, and this
is the result," she added.

"I missed your flowers, from the window seats, and wondered if you had
found them too much trouble," said Gertrude, fingering some sweet-smelling
leaves near her. "Well, you see, there were so many of them that it was
quite a task to look after them when they were spread over the house. In
the winter we don't mind the trouble so much, as there is so little left of
'green things growing' to rest the eyes upon that we find them quite a
pleasure. In the bright days of spring there is so much to see and do
out-of doors that we thought we would collect them here. Of course, we
still keep the grandmother's window full of blossoms, for she loves them so
dearly."

"It is a pity that the porch is not on the south side of the house," said
Dexie. "I should think it would be quite chilly here when the wind blows."

"So it is," said Lizzie, with a smile, "and I suppose you think we might
have chosen a better situation for our little conservatory when this
many-sided house has better spots to select from, but it was not the
flowers alone we were thinking of."

"Well, what else were you thinking of, if I may ask?" said Gertrude.

Lizzie blushed slightly as she replied:

"This is the door that mother uses to go in and out when about her dairy
work--that is the dairy under the trees at the end of the path--and father
likes to sit here and watch her about her work of an evening while he
smokes his pipe; and when she has done her work she will often sit here and
rest a few minutes with him; but there is not much of a prospect from this
door, except the waters of the Gulf, so we thought we would put our flowers
here and she could see and smell them when she went in and out. She might
be too busy to stop and notice them