Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-09-21
4 GOOD NEIGHB0R.

For seven years I had one OF the most
charming neighbors that ever fell to the
lot OF q house-mother. ! do not refer to
| the kind who borrow q quart of -four and
| bring back two. Nor the kind who know
| all the gossip OF the town and regularly
| peddle it out each morning at the BACK
| door or leaning over the fence. This
| neighbor was one who always had some
| thing to give not of money value, but a
| bright thought, a kind word or reference
to the latest book or thought OF the day
She was O. foe botanist and as great q
lover of flowers as / have always been.
| One morning she weuld bring over to the
| door one blossom and a bit of quaint
| original poetry; another day it would be
q whole bunch of sweet violets and q
rare poem she had stored in her memory;
another morning it might be a sweet po-
tato vine and a sunflower OF a daisy with
a merry face drawn in the disk. | re-
member a bouquet she brought just a year
ago. saying: "This is the last rose OF
summer" After laying the bouquet on
the table she tool up blossom after bios
som, assthoughs-eluctant to give up old
friends. She touched the petals ten
derly, Just as ,Coleridge used to pat his
books when toe feeble to read them. But
she petted them and talked in little
snatches about ths4ast lecture or the last
meeting of our Domeetic Science club, she
gave me thoughts about the flowers.
which l wish to string together as l would
jewels that lay loose in my lap, so that
some other woman may now something
about this beautiful ~neighbor of mine.
did you know that in '76 there were
only 1882 species Of plants in the United
States which grew without cultivation? In
'S2 there were ITO orders, 500 families
and 1437 species, and OF these there are
226 species not found east OF the Missis.
sippi riverP'
"How many in Kansas" I asked. "Hew
many right here in the geographical center
OF the United States?"
NEARLY 800 species. just see what |
have in this bouquet" she replied, lifting
an orchid nearly two feet long. "See the
twisted stem and little w~axy-white BIOS
SONS. This, l think, is the %Spirantnes
Graminsa, though not exactly ike those
[ found in the east" and my neighbor told
me about other rare orchids she had found
or seen.
II hunted for the gentian, but could not
find one" she said, after while. Several
years ago I found just one, and picked it
over in the hollow where found the or
child. l like what Bryant says about the
gentian. You like best Whittier Pressed
Gentian'-I know-the Christmas gift of a
window transparency OF the blue g~entian,
which, to the passer by is only q 'clouded
glass; but in the room it takes the hue OF
the bending Skies
$50 from the trodden ways of earth,
Seem some sweet souls who veil their
worth,
To loving eyes alone they turn
The flowers Of inward grace, that hide
Their beauty from the world outside
"This sensitive plant Il ought to place
it in q separate genus-Schrankia) l
found over the railroad on a sandy knoll.
seems particularly sensitive. The slight
est touch makes every leaf close. 1t
makes the change in the position of the
leaf complete in three successive move
ments; First, the leaflets close in pairs,
bringing their faces together and inclining
forward; then the secondary petioles ap-
proach each other and finally the main
leafstalk turns directly downward, bending
at its union with the stem. 1 think all
plants have a power of motion, but this
is marvellous"
Haven't you something to quote about
this2' Il sked-"about people?"
mo, l don't like that sort-'shut up
if not handled just so. 1t is s~elf-love with |
most OF people that gets bruised and
wounded, sick and sore. People who are
getting hurt ought TO be labeled
and put in tin cans. l never spend
time to coddle that class of peo.
pie. They are not worth the time, for as
o o as you get them patched up. and on
their feet they are wounded again, and one
never knows what at. Here is a beautiful
wild bean, not the Papa v~ulgaris cultured
in the gardens and which you New England
persist in eating, Notwithstanding the
sdict OF Pythagoras. Lfound this in the
woods deep down in q ravine where a tiny
runs into the Kaw. As / plucked it
thought, you little beauty, why don't
you complain, shut in here in shade and
almost darkness"
1T does complain; see, it is dressed in
half mourning" l answered..
mo-" replied my neighbor, ut has
ionned royal robes. The purple is yery
leep on some blossoms. It would in.
Iced mour if placed on the hilltop. lean.
quote any rare bit oyer this, but some-
low it made me think OF Mrs. Bax tler.
lou need not laugh! Ovid wrote OF beans
n a very respectful way. Mrs. Baxtler,
Vhen she lived here, was seemingly q very
ensible woman. She was in a ravine-so-
she made the best OF it and
hrove beautifully. She Was kind, neigh. ,
'orly; o~pen-handed and, in short, an in
eillgent Christian woman and seemed ike .
sensible woman But it seems she must :
ave really lacked some element of COM. :
lon sense, for after they vent to b
her husband became superintendent OF :
railroad she became a different woman.
ne went lar and near to get plants for :
house, built a costly one and furnished :.
.peBsively. Instead OF Mrs. BAXTER being !:
ne kind, neighborly sort Of a woman we =
new here, she grew snobbish. arrogant. q
ain and dictatorial. She cut the &C. q
OF her most intimate friends Il
snubbed those who dare address her.
DOR woman! the hilltop and sunshine
ere her ruin. She lost her friends: her
ms took to strong drink and her husband a
lzzled wine and beer. The last I heard of g.
lem, the sons, one was in an insane -
'ylum and the other a worthless fel. !"
", her husband was dead and she was IL
ing IN great poverty among her reia. III
yes.
DO you know, dearie, that Col knows in
g exa.t place that is best for his crea. be
res in the vegetable and animal king. m
mr. Some require sand, some rich loan: III
me need shade and some sunshine: some
lst live in the valley and som on tie tn
ltop. All have the same care, but not yo
same kind of environment. he loves tn
on in the valley just as much as He
es the one on the hilltop. l used to ask lee
prosperity, thinking only prosperity
ant an abundance OF this worlds goods,
have seen 80 many who had nothing fal
ms worlds goods, and. were poor in ]
'rything else. that I have begun to saw. /
he valley or the hilltop. Lord! Thou wa
o seest the end from the b ginning know. ms
the very bsst place for me- Twill never on
estion the wisdom OF Gods will, only tn
I'VE &c watch, lest in any way I hin der hrs
wo
his beautiful white euphorbia I found sti)
the hedge. Here are three varieties ~
ien-rod: There are over seventy yarie.
In the United States. The brave. bright
cry blossom! Put one in that slender 7
'er vase, and se,ld on a vote for it to be. Mr.
40 the national flower. Here are five CO.,,