Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1916-08-16
CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK.
CHAPTER vi.
The Ghost of Rome

pretty name," thought, as read it on
the fyleaf of a volume she had left in
Mrs. Bert's sitting room. The volume
itself amused me Chamberlain
foundations Of the Nineteenth Cen
tury." Fancy coming to the country
for a rest, and reading Chamberlain,
most restless because most provocative
of books! 1 was idly turning the
leaves when there was rustic on the
stairs, and Miss Stella Goodwin en-
tered with a cheerful "Good morning."
"See here,"- said I, what are you
doing with this book, if you are off for
a rest? This is no book for a nervous
wreck to be reading"
"Who said was a nervous wreck?"
she answered. I'm just tired, that's
all. I guess it's really spring fever.
I saw a spear of real grass in Central
park, and ran away"
'From what?' I asked.
''From the dictionary" she replied.
'The which?' said I.
''The dictionary. Would you like me
to sing you a song Of the things that
begin with "hy'"
She laughed again, and began to
chant in burlesque Gregorian, "Hyo-
potamus, hyoscapular, hyoscine, Hyo-
scyamae, hyoscyamine, Hyoscyamus-"
"Stop!' I cried. "You will have me
hypnotized. See, I'm on the 'hy's' my
self! Please explain-not sing"
"Well," she laughed, "you see it's
70 I,,{,o
to be merry, or tomorrow I die, so to
postpone tomorrow am working on a
new dictionary. Somebody has to
work on dictionaries, you know, and
justify the pronunciation Of America
to man. I'm sort of learned, in a mild,
harmless, anti-militant way. 1t isn't
fair to keep the truth from you'll
have a degree in philology! Ny doc
tors thesis was published by the press
of my kind university, at $1.5O per
copy, Of which as many as seventeen
were sold, and I'm still paying up the
money I borrowed while preparing it.
I stood the dictionary pretty we'll down
to the hy's,' and then one day some
thing snapped inside Of me, and I be-
gan to cry. That wouldn't have been
so bad, if I hadn't made the mistake
of crying on a sheet Of manuscript by
a learned professor, about Hyoscya-
mus (Which is a genus Of dicotyledo-
nous gamopetalous plants), and the ink
ran. Then I knew I should have to
take a rest in the cause of English,
pure and we'll defined. So here I am.
The doctor tells me I must live out
of doors and saw wood"
Madam 1 cried, "God has sent
you! I shall get my orchard cleaned
up at last!'
"Breakfastr called Mrs. Bert.
She refused to come down to Twin
Fires with me that morning, 50 I
toiled alone, getting out more of the
brush from the orchard-all of the
small stuff, in fact, which wasn't fit
to save for fuel. In the afternoon she
consented to come. AS l looked at her
hands and then at mine, realized how
pale she was.
Its wrong for anybody to be SC
pale as that" I thought, ''to have tc
be so pale as thatr'
was ueglnnlng to pity ner.
When we reached the farm I tool
her around under the kitchen window
and showed her my seedbeds, where
the asters were already growing mad
ly, some other varieties were up, an(
the weeds were busy, too; but in thu
present uncertainty of my horticulture
knowledge I didn't dare pull up any
thing. | hadn't realized till that mo
ment that half the fun of having
new place is showing it to somebod
else and telling how grand 1t is goin
to be.
"And where are you going to pr
these babies when you set them out !
she asked.
''Thats just the point" cried.
don't know. 1 want you to help me-
II shouldn't dare advise you," sI
smiled
"Well, let's ask Hiroshige," said
"Come on.'
''Is he your gardener? The nam
= sounds quite un-Hibernian."
scorned reply, and we we1
around to the shed where all my b
longings were stored, still unpacke
I got a hammer and opened the be
containing pictures, drawing fort
my two precious japanese print