The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-04-28
Two rifles.
BY ELIZABETH GOLDEN.

| BY ELIZABETH GOLDEN.
Isn't Aunt Sue the dearest thing you
ever saw ?" exclaimed Helen Fairmont
as she and her visitor sank into garden
seat he beautiful grounds surrounding
Mrs. Armour's lovely home. Nothing
ever seems to be too much trouble for
her, if she can give US a good time"
"Yes," answered Mary Sutton, 81 just
felt like giving her good hug when she
told you her plan. Is it really just for
me that she is going to let you give the
picnic here ?"
Gust for that very reason. 1t will be
simply fine. Oh, she is so sweet You
see, two weeks ago when you wrote that
finally you could arrange to visit me for
the summer l was so full of the good
news that l couldn't get to Aunt Sues
quickly enough to tell her about it
somehow one always wants to tell Aunt
Sue about things-and she said she used
to go to school with your mother and
was very fond of her, and she was all
ready to like you, too, and that just the
very minute you reached here we were
| both to come over-I mean you and
were"
'Oh, dear laughed Mary, 81 think
| you'd better stop and take good long
breath and get the ives and you's
Strengthened.
Il don't care" Helen went chattering
on. "Hou know what l mean. Just
what we've done. We, you and lis
that right were to come to her house
and choose what kind of an entertain
ment or party we wanted her to give, so
you might meet all the boys and girls in
our crowd. You'll see. them often enough
! during the summer, guess"
"Who thought of the garden picnic ?"
inquired Mary, her face all happy ANNA
ton. Then, not waiting for Helen's an
swer, she said enthusiastically: Isn't
this q beautiful spot in which to picnic !?
And won't that be a pretty entertain
ment ?"
The girls stopped talking long enough
to look about at the pride of Mrs.
Armour's heart, the lovely grounds
round her home. They surrounded a fine
old house of colonial typ for which they
made dainty setting. A double row of
dignihed and ancient elms fauked path
way leading from the gate. The lawn
on each side of the walk made one think
of the answer the English gardener gave
to the inquiry as to the cause of the vel
vety beauty of England's lawns. "Why,
sir, said he, eve sows 'em and we mows
EN- and we mows EN- and we sows EN-"
Mrs. Armour's lawn had the appearance
of having undergone a like experience.
At the back and sides of the house was a
variety of shrubs and bushes whose BIOS
SONS in the springtime made the place in
dcscribably sweet. Mrs. Armour boosted
that there were forty kinds of bushes,
but her husband laughingly said that he
had never been able to count more than
thirty-nine and half, "for you certainly
couldn't call that japanese dwarf
whole one"
June roses ran riotin season and, later,
more cultivated varieties, blooming regu-
larly through the summer, took their
share in providing fragrance. Sweet old
fashioned garden plants and more valu,
able products, procured with much trou-
BE and expense, helped to make bower
that might have satisfied even more fas-
tidious eyes than those which reveled in
them now.
Mrs. Armour's great delight was in
using her garden, and she had given
Helen the privilege of inviting all her
young friends to picnic" there the fol-
lowing Thursday evening.
"And, o Mary, you just can't imagine
how like fairyland tits here with the Chi
nese lanterns swung from tree to tree
and the dainty tables scattered round"
Helen could scarcely contain herself.
Hold me, Mary" she said, "or knowI
shall get up and whoop like a wild
Indian"
Mary laughed merrily. She was equal
ly delighted, but naturally she took
every thing in a more quiet manner.
Smiling at Helens exuberance of spirit
she asked
what was it your aunt said about
the sandwiches -
She wants us to bel Up make them, and
she was telling me she'd like me to cut
them little more carefully than l did
last time helped her. Say, Mary, don't
tell anybody if | tell you secret, will
you?" Nell whispered in a hoarse tone of
mock mystery.
"No, I'll not, Helen Fairmont. What
is it"
You'd never think Aunt Sue has a
hobby, would YOU"
"No, don't think | should"
"Well, she has. She's the most par
ticular old darling about little things
that you ever saw. Now those sand
witches | made will admit were not cut
very prettily, but mercy they tasted
good enough. Tom Canton ate six. l
told her so, but she said they should
have looked good, too"
well, what's her hobby"
81 just told you. It's trihes. She says
life is made of them, and trifes with the
rough edges polished off make beautiful
lives. And she loves toquote such things
as, 'Trihes make perfection, but perfec-
ton is no trifle' She says trifles decide
almost everything for us and shape
our characters. She says it's interesting
to study how most big things grow from
the little ones"
Helen, 1 think she's right" Mary's
dark thnnnhtf nl ewes Looked into her