The Washington herald., 1907-06-16

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But "A man goes where he pleases, and
/ womans got 10 foller and that's the
/ way il was with grandfather and grand
mother I've heard mother say that
grandmother cried for q week when she
/ found she had TO go, and every now and
/ then she'd sob out, I wouldn't mind II
/ so much If [ could take my gyarden
/ When they began paclIin UP their things
grandmother took up this rose and put it
/ in an iron kittle and laid plenty Of good
/ rich earth around the roots. Grandfather
/ said the load they had to carry was heavy
enough without putin in any useless
/ things. But grandmother says. says She
/ II YOU leave this rose behind you can
! leave me. too So the kittle and the rose
went. -Four weeks they was on their way
and every time they come 20 a creek or
q river or a spring. grandmOther'd water
/ her rose and when they got 20 their
journeys end. before they'd ever chopped
l a tree or laid a stone or broke ground
/ she cut the sod with an axe, and then
| she took grandfather's huntin knife and
/ dug a hole and planted her rose. Grand
| father cut some limbs off a beech tree
and drove EN- into the ground all around
/ 10 10 keep It from bein' tramped down.
I anu " men lfidt WAS BUllts ElNuhllQAtlfA
/ says Now build the house SOS this
rose'H stand on the right-hand side o.
| the front walk Maybe / won't die Of
! homesickness if I can set on my front
! doorstep and see one flower from my
Old Virginia gyarden
/ We'll. grandmother didn't die Of home
sickness, nor the rose either. The trans
| plantin' was good FOR both Of en-. She
. -
she died. the house wouldn't hold the
| children and grandchildren and great
grandchildren that come to the funeral
/ And here's her rose CROWN and bloOmin
/ yet, Ike there wasn't any such things
/ in the world as old age and death. And
every spring I gether a basketful o. these
/ pink roses and lay EN- on her grave over
yOnder in the ola buryin' ground
/ Some folks has family china and fam
/ lily silver that they're mighty proud Of
Martha Crawford used 10 have a big blue
/ and white bowl that belonged to her great
grandmother and she thought more o. that
/ bowl than she did Of everything else in
the house MiIly Amos had set O.
/ spoons thatd been in her family for four
! generations and was too precious TO use;
/ and I've got my family rose. and it's Jest
as dear 20 me as china and silver are
/ 20 other folks I recollect after father
died and the estate had to be divided up
and sister Mary and brother Joe and the
( rest Of EN- was layin' claim 20 the
claw-f00ted mahogany table and the old
! secretary and mothers cherry sideboard
and such things as that, and brother Joe
turned around and says 20 me, says he:
" Is there anything you want, Jane?
/ II there is, speak up and make it known.
( And ! says. The rest Of YOU can take
what you want Of the furniture. and II
there's anything left, that can be my
part. II there amt anything left, thereH
7 be no Quarrelin; for there's Jest one
thing I want, and that's grandm0ther's
rose
They all laughed. and sister Mary
says, Amt that jest ike Jane? and
brother Joe says. saws he:
90 You shall have il. Jane. and further
/ than that, III see 10 the transplantin
That very evenin he come over. and
I showed him where / wanted the rose
90 stand. lie dug way down into the
clay-there's nothin' a rose likes better,
child. than good red clay-and got
wHeeibarrer load o. soil from the woods
and We put that in first and set the
roots IN II and packed EN- good and
firm, first with woods soil. then with
clay. waterin Il an the time. When We
got through / says. Now. you pretty
thing you, If you could come all the way
I from Virginia in a old iron kittle, you
surely won't mind bein' moved from
fathers place 10 mine Now you've got
20 live and bloom for me same as you
did for mother
You needn't laugh child That rose
knew jest what I said ana did jest what
told IL 90 do, Il looked Ike everything
favored US. for 70 was early in the spring,
things was beginnin 10 put out leaves.
and the next dav was cloudy and cool.
Then Il began 20 rain, and rained for
thirty-six hours right along And when
the sun come out. grandmothers rose
come out. too Not q leaf on it ever
vithered, and me and my children and
my children's children have gathered
flowers from IL all these years. Folks
say I'm foolish about H. and ] reckon
am. I've outlived most o the people I
love, but I don't want 10 Outlive this
rose. We've both weathered many a hard
winter, and two or three times it's been
winter killed clean to the ground and I
thought I'd lost it. Honey. IL was like
losin' a child But there's never been
a winter yet hard enough 10 kill the life
in that roses root and I trust there never
VIII be while I live. for spring wouldn't
be spring 20 ne without grandmother's $
rose
Tall. straight and strong It stood, this
Oft transplauted pilgrim rose. and
whether i'm bloom or clothed only IN its
rich green foliage, you saw at a glance
that Il was a flower Of royal lineage.
When spring covered Il with buds and
fuil-biown blossoms Of pink, the true
rose color IL spoke OF queens gardens
and kings palaces, and every satiny
petal was a palimpsest OF song and
legend. Its perfume was the attar-Of-
rose scent, like that Of the roses Of
India. 1t satisfied and satisted with its
rich potency. And bOthering this odor and
gazing into its deep wells Of color. YOU
had strange dreams Of those other pill
grims who left home and friends and
journeyed through the perils Of a track
less wilderness 20 plant still farther west
ward the rose Of civilization.
To Aunt Jane there were three ep0Chs
IN a gardens life. "daffodil time, rose
time and "chrysanthemum time; and
the blossoming Of all other flowers would
be chroniCled under one Of these periods.
just as we say OF historical events that
they happened in the reign Of this or
that queen or empress. But this garden
had all seasons for its own and even in
winter there was a deep pleasure I'm walk
ing its paths and noting how bravely life
struggled against death in the frozen
bosom Of the earth.
I once asked her which flower she loved
best. 1t was "daffodl time" and every
gold cup held nepenthe for the nightmare
dream Of winter. She glanced reprovingly
at me over her spectacles
at appears 10 me, child. you ought
TO know that without askin" she said.
did you ever see as many daffodils in
one place before? No; and you never
will I've been plantin' that flower every
spring for sixty years. and I've never
got too many of EN- yet. I used to call
EN- Johnny-jump-ups, till Henrietta told
me that their right name was daffodil