Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-02-14
THE LLLACS.
By MARGARET HUNT.
PART 1.

PART l.
No lilacs ever seemed half SO beauti-
f1il as those which hung over the wall
that inelosed the patch of garden ground
belonging to Sutherland Villa, where
the Falklands lived The trees were
old, gnarled, crippled, broken and split,
and no wear passed without Margaret
Falkland saying: "This must be the last
year of our lilacs! 1t is impossible that
they can 60 on lowering in this way
any longer" And yet when next year
came the trees seemed more vigorous
than ever. and tossed their plumed bios
sons and flung their fragrance about in
still more generous profusion.
They fourished to the injury Of every
thing else in the garden, for they over
Swallowed the borders; but for the one
week in which they were in perfection
it was such perfection that there never
could be any question of looping OIL
projecting branches. They were coveted
by all the flower loving passcrs by. Every
nefarious person in the neighborhood
had his eye on them, and not infrequent-
ly his fingers. Tradesnen's boys with
barrows drew them up on the pavement
beneath the garden wall to form basis
of operation, and Mr.. Brown waited for
his fish and Mr. Smith for his fowls,
while his purveyor's juvenile assistant
stood on the barrow which was convey
ing them, plucked great handfuls of
lilacs for himself and friends, tore down
branches and strewed the pavement with
nir1o oil
the wall at in the morning and leisure
" culled the choicest clusters for their
market baskets later on, and besides
this the Falkland household might have
supplied itself with firewood for weeks
by simply picking up the bits thrown as
missiles at the unhappy flowers by boys
who never succeeded in getting any Of
them at all.
1T is too bad!' exclaimed pretty Miss
Margaret one afternoon. II can't bear
to see those dear lilacs broken so. It's a
shame to let them be i'll treated when
they flower so splendidly! l will go and
work in the garden and then / can pro-
tect them"
She went into the garden and, Of
course, soon found plenty Of work to
do, and when the rustling of the
boughs warned her of the presence of
an assailant she went up to the spot and
cried: Leave those lilacs alone' Some
times boys climbed on the wall-it was
a tolerably high one-but for the most
part they dropped back in great fright
when they heard her voice or saw her,
though some peroeiving that they had
only a girl to deal with, obstinately re-
manned where they were until they had
possessed themselves of a handsome
sample of the years blossom.
At first she only tried to impress them
by her angry demeanor, and it seemed
to her that that was all she could do, for
if she went round to the outside in hope
Of finding a policeman the boys had dis
appeared long before she got there. Per-
haps the same boys returned again and
again; anyhow, her demeanor evidently
failed to impress, and attacks became
more and more frequent. Shock heads
of hair with the sun shining through it
appeared above the wall, hands were
seen busily filling themselves with flow
ers, and say what she might, those
hands went on filling themselves. She
heard hooking laughter and joyous ex-
Carnations over the booty. This goaded
her to further effort, and she went into
the house and got her UMBRELLAS long,
slender one, with heavy lapis-lazuli ball
for handle-and laid it in readiness by
the side Of her gardening basket,
and henceforth when busy hands
appeared among leaves and aow-
ers, she gave them one or two
semi-severe taps. The effect was magi-
cal. With a baffled snort the intruder
dropped in a moment, and she could hear
the patter Of swiftly retreating feet. And
now the Alacs had some peace, and she
continued her labors undisturbed. 1t
did not last very long Twice more she
was called on 10 repel attacks. She was
wedding out some thickly crowding
lnarigolds when, for the third time after
the lull, her ear caught the grating OF
bent or broken lilac boughs as they were
drawn against the wall, and, darting to
the spot, she administered a well directed
blow at the furtive fingers. 1t was a
tsA sAH ..x.A,