h the great, gnarled old trunk of the
meadow willow near-by. Planted when the house was built, it spread its
great branches protectingly over it. A wild clematis growing at the
foot of the tree twined its tendrils around the massive trunk until in
late summer they had become an inseparable part of it, almost covering
it with feathery blossoms.

[Illustration: Old Corn Crib]

[Illustration: The New Barn]

Near by stood an antique arbor, covered with thickly-clustering vines,
in season bending with the weight of "wild-scented" grapes, their
fragrance mingling with the odor of "Creek Mint" growing near by a
small streamlet and filling the air with a delicious fragrance. The
mint had been used in earlier years by Aunt Sarah's grandfather as a
beverage which he preferred to any other.

From a vine clambering up the grape arbor trellies, in the fall of the
year, hung numerous orange-colored balsam apples, which opened, when
ripe, disclosing bright crimson interior and seeds. These apples, Aunt
Sarah claimed, if placed in alcohol and applied externally, possessed
great medicinal value as a specific for rheumatism.

[Illustration: THE OLD FARM HOUSE]

A short distance from the house stood the newly-built red barn, facing
the pasture lot. On every side stretched fields which, in summer,
waved with wheat, oats, rye and buckwheat, and the corn crib stood
close by, ready for the harvest to fill it to overflowing. Beside the
farm house door stood a tall, white oleander, planted in a large,
green-painted wooden tub. Near by, in a glazed earthenware pot, grew
the old-fashioned lantana plant, covered with clusters of tiny
blossoms, of various shades of orange, red and pink.

In flower beds outlined by clam shells which had been freshly
whitewashed blossomed fuchsias, bleeding hearts, verbenas, dusty
millers, sweet clove-scented pinks, old-fashioned, dignified, purple
digitalis or foxglove, stately pink Princess Feather, various
brilliant-hued zinnias, or more commonly called "Youth and Old Age,"
and as gayly colored, if more humble and lowly, portulacas; the
fragrant white, star-like blossoms of the nicotiana, or "Flowering
Tobacco," which, like the yellow primrose, are particularly fragrant
at sunset. Geraniums of every hue, silver-leaved and rose-scented;
yellow marigolds and those with brown, velvety petals; near by the
pale green and white-mottled leaves of the plant called "Snow on the
Mountain" and in the centre of one o