Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1889-06-05

Permission was readily given,
though Aunt Marcia did suggest that
Lou would look better working away
at the crochet she detested than maxi
ing .tomboy OF herself out-of-doors.
"A girl sixteen years DID," she began.
but Lou saw consent in Aunt
Euphemia's eyes and rushed off before
further remonstrance was prepared.
How they worked for the next hour!
The brush was carried TO bare place
In the garden, where 1t could be
burned. Some twisted poles selected
from the rest we're cut by Louis orders
into four-feet lengths and laid away.
The barrels were rolled TO one side, the
cans and cracked kettle put by thcm-
selves with the rusty pans and a lealy
TIN pail which they found slowed under
the rubbish. The great stump was
immovable. "But it's just as we'll, +"
said Lou, consolingly, 'for think we
can mako 1t ornamental" Then the
two went to work with their garden
rakes till every stick, stone and straw
of ground rewarded their exertions.
Lou looked over the field of opera
tions with exultant eyes. "Do you
think you can saw these barrels in
two?" she asked, little anxiously.
There was a tired look on Lynn's face;
the May day was soft and warm, and
the unusual exercise told on his relaxed
muscles. Lou was quick to read the
signs OF rebellion. II mustn't dis
courage him at first" she thought,
land really care more about amusing
him than do about the work. / think
we've done enough for one day." she
said, hanging up her rake, "but must
have some paint. Will you go to the
shop for me, Lynn, and get ten cents
worth OF red leadP We have oil,
varnish and brushes here;" aud when
the boy asked, curiously: "What are
you going to do with FTP" she smiled,
provokingly, and answered.: "You Will
see tomorrow.
The next morning she took him to
the wood shed. where lay the cans
whose tops she had neatly removed ut
the kitchen fire during his absence.
On the workbench stood the pail of
red paint which she had prepared, and
she patiently taught him to paint the
cans neatly and smoothly. 1t was like
new play; and Lynn became so inter-
ested that it was with difficulty she re-
strained him from ornamenting the
wood-shed ceiling and the barn and
fences when his task was done. She
gave him permission to bring in the
cracked kettle, the pail and pans and
exhaust his ingenuity upon them; and
as. when this was done, he still longed
like Alexander for more worlds to con-
quer, she sent him TO transplant some
bitter-sweet vines on the orchard bor-
ders, and set them along the fences
which bounded two sides Of their gar
den, intermixing them with wild
grapevine and Virginia creeper from
the woods.
Two busy weeks followed. Lynn
became so enthusiastic over his work
that he fairly grudgcd the hours which
his father insisted upon his devoting
to his other duties; while the boy in
turn stoutly insisted that his father
should not go near the scene of his la
bors till permission was given nina
command easily obeyed, as Mr.. But
ler's business kept him busily engaged
from early morning till twilight
Lynn was growing quiet, Industrious
and less aggressive. His aunts and
grandmother looked on approvingly
as he bent over old magazines, vol
umes OF landscape gardening and 9TH
err miscellanies, searching for plans
and ideas. There were deep consulta-
tons and mysterious whisperings,
days Of fruitless toll, nights OF discour-
agement, and, at last, triumph!
One afternoon, in the early June,
Mr.. Butler, who had given himself
half holiday, was invited to accom-
pany his mother and sisters to a tea
drinking to be held in the
"Additionr' prompted Lynn, as Lou
hesitated for a name. That's the
way it is in the papers always, Sim
mons additionr Jones additionr and
II this isn't an addition to the Butler
plantation, then I'd like to know what
it is"
The guests stopped on the borders of
the enchanted land in surprise. Where
once had lain pile of refuse, giving
birth and sustenance through previous
summers to colony of giant weeds,
was wide stretching space of velvety
grass, freed from every intrusive plant
ain, burdock or nettle. The vines
along the fences were putting forth
tender leaves; at their intersection
thrifty lilac intermingled its purple
plumes with the fragrant gold of
late towering currant. The despised
barrels had become by judicious man
agement four rustic tubs; the two stand
ing upon the ground filed with gerani-
ums, verbenas and chrysanthemums,
which promised later bloom, while
those perched aloft on the twisted
sticks which Lynn had driven solidly
into the ground held masses OF trailing
vines selected from Louis abundant
stores, which beloved up in feathery
green and draped their rough supports
with verdure. The old kettle, shining
bravely in its coat Of red, was suspend
ed from three twisted sticks and
adorned with whey beauty as grateful
to the eye as TO the most appetizing
compound concocted at any real gypsy
campfire to the hungry stomach. A
rustic ilower-stand supported the cans
Lynn had so lavishly decorated, each
filed with some blooming plant, while
Mt the summit small oleander tree
with rosy blossoms gave dignity and
character to the rejected tin pail.
The bricks and stones piled artistically
around mound OF earth supported
several thrifty varieties of sedum, in
NTH tho onnxyy on,o,,a ~