The Washington herald., 1907-06-16

U
my sunbonnet and went out where Abram
was at work in the field, and says J.
/ 'Abram, you've got to stop plowin' and
I put the horse 10 the spring wagon and
/ take me over 10 the old Harris place
4 And Abram says. says he, Why. Jane.
/ I'd like mighty well to finish this field
before night. for II looks like il might
| rain tomorrow. Is Il anything particular
you want TO go for?'
1 SAYS J. Yes; 7 never was so particular
about anything in my life as I am about
/ this. I hear they're piowin' up Old Lady
1 Harris gyarden and THROWN the flowers
away. and l want 20 go over and git a
wag0n-load o. Johnnyiump-ups
"Abram looked al me a minute ike he
| thought was losin' my senses, and then
/ he burst out iaughin,' and saws he: Jane,
who ever heard Of a farmer stoppln
powin to go after Johnny-ju -jump-ups
/ And who ever heard of a farmers wife
askin' him 20 do such a thing?
| Il walked mp 20 the plow and begun
/ % unfasten the trace chains. and says J.
| Business before pleasure Abram II IT.
goin' 70 rain tomorrow, that's all the
more reason why I ought TO have my
| JOhnny-iump-ups set out to-day. Ihe
plowin' can wait TIL we come back.
of course Abram give in when he saw
/ how I wanted the flowers. But he broke
out laughin' two or three times while
/ he was hitchln' up and saws he: Don
/ tell any o. the neigisoTs. Jane, that l
stopped plowin' TO 60 after a lead OF
/ Johnny -jump-ups.
When we got TO the Harris place we
/ found the Johnny-jump-ups lyin' In a
gully by the side o. the road. a pitiful
sight TO anybody that loves flowers and
understands their feel!n's. We loaded up
| the wagon with the pore things. and as
! soon as we got home Abram took his hoe
and made a little trench all around the
gyarden, and l set out the Johny-1ump-
ups while Abram finished his plowin', and
l the next day the rain fell on Abram
| C0rnfeld and on my flowers.
DO you see that row o daffOdils over
yonder by the front fence, chiid-aH
| leaves and no blossoms
[ I looked I'm the direction Of her pointing
finger and saw q long line Of Aowerless
plants, standing Ike sad and silent guests
/ al the festival Of spring
/ It's been six years since I set EN- out
/ there" said Aunt Jane impressively, "and
not a flower have they had in all that
time Some folks say its because | moved
/ EN- at the wrong time o. the year But
/ the same week I moved these ! moved
some from my yard 70 Elizabeth Craw-
/ ford g, and Elzabeths bloom every year,
so il can't be that. Some folks said the
place ! had 'em in was too shady, and
( 1 put 'em right out there where the sun
strikes on EN- till IL sets, and stil they
won't bloom. It's my opinion, honey. that
1 they're lest homesick / believe II ! was
| 20 take them daffOdils back TO Aunt
MatIlda's and plant EN- in the border
where they used 70 grow. alongside o.
| the sage and lavender and thyme, that
they'd 20 90 blOomin' again jest Ike they
used TO- You know how the children OF
| Israel p'ned and m0urned when they was
carried into captivity Well, every time
/ look at my daffodils think O. them home
sick Tsraelites askin' How can We sing
| the songs o. Zion in a strange landg
You needn't laugh child A flower is
! lest as human as YOU and ne. Look az
that vine yonder. takin hold Of every
thing that comes I'm IFS way Ike a little
child learuin 20 walk. And calvcanthus
buds. see how you've got 10 hold 'em IN
your hands and warm EN- before they u
give out their sweetness, Jest Ike children
/ that you've got 20 love and pet before
they'll let you git acquainted with EN-.
You see that pink rose over by the
fence7" pointing 20 a La France heavy
with blossoms. well that rose didn {
do anything bat put out leaves the first
two years I had f. A bud might come
once in a while. but II would blast before
IL was half open. And at last | says TO
/ IT,. saws I. What IS ii you want honey
! There's somethin' that don't please you.
7 know. Don't you like the place you're
planted in. and the ho'iyh0cks and lilies
/ for neighbors" And one day I took II
up and set Il between that white tea
and another La France. and it went 10
I L,oomin' right away. Il didn't like the
neighborhood 10 was tn, you see. And
did you ever hear o. people diSappearin'
from their homes and never bein' found
any more2 Well. flowers can disappear
the same way. The year before 7 was
married there was a big bed o. pink
|chrysanthemums CROWN under the dinin
room windows az old DR.. Pendleton's. II
wasn't a common magenta pink, il was
as clear, pretty a pink as that la France
rose Wen, I saw 'em that fall for the
first time and the last The next year
LfIflt WISH any anu n la'lt tt1fAfat lat
they'd gone 20, nobody could tell anything
about EN- And ever since then I've been
searchIn in every old gyarden IN the
county. but I've never found EN-, and
don't reckon I ever viii.
And there's my roses. Just look al
/ EN-, Every color a rose could be, and
pretty near every kind there Is. Wouldn't
YOU think Id be satisfied But there
rose I lost sixty years ago. and the
recollection o. that rose keeps me from
beln satisfied with all I've got. Il grew
IN Old Lady Elrod gyarden and nowhere
else. and there aiu't q rose here except
grandmothers that I wouldn't give up
forever il I could jest find that rose
again.
I've tried many a time 10 tell folks
about that rose, but I can't somehow get
hold of the words. / reckon an old
woman like me, with little or no learnin'
couldn't be expected 20 tell how that
rose looked any mOren she could be
expected 20 draw il and paint IT, I can
say ii was weller but that word weller
don't tell the color the rose was. I've
got all the shades Of WELLER in my gyardCn.
but nothin' like the color O that rose. Il
got deeper and deeper towards the middle
and lookin' at one Of them roses half
opened was like lookin' down into gold
mine. The leaves Crinkled and curled back
towards the stem as fast as 1t opened.
and the more l. opened the prettier il
was, like some women that grow better
lookin' the older they grOw-Mary An
dews was one O. that kiHd-and when it
comes to tellin' you how it smelt I'll jest
have to stop. There never was anything
like II for sweetness and il was a diff
ferent sweetness from any other rose God
ever made.
Il ricoIIect seein' Miss Penelope come
in church one Sunday, dressed in white.
with black velvet gyirdle round her
waist. and a bunch O. these roses. buds
and half-blown ones and full-blown ones.
fastened In the gyirdle, and that bunch
O. yelleT roses was song and sermon and
prayer 20 me that day. | couldn't take
my eyes of EN-. and l thought that II
Christ had seen that rose GROWN in