V.
flower garden when he was a boy, but
busy as she was, the lily bed was one
spot outside the house she never
neglected. It was always trim.
He wished he had clippers and a
rake so he could clean out the weeds
and briars. He felt guilty about leav
ing them again.
As he got into his car, he thought
of the Burgess homestead at the edge
of the village. The Burgesses had
come to town with his own people,
and he seemed to remember his
mother saying they had brought tiger
lilies from the same ancient garden in
the Massachusetts town whence both
families had come. He would see if
there still were any at the Burgess
place that was still fresh in his
memories.
A mile down the hill road, he stopped
his car beside a garden gate.
This was the Burgess place. As
a little boy he had been there many
times, and remembered the caraway
seed cookies that were always on
hand. He hadn't tasted a caraway
cooky for years!
Beyond the gate a young woman
was pushing a small cart filled with
garden tools. "Pardon me, do you
mind my looking at your garden? My
name is Daniel Converse."
"Not at all," she said. "Converse is
an old name around here. Do you
belong, perhaps?"
"Yes, I grew up at the old Converse
place on the hill. Just came from
there. My ancestors and the Burgesses
were neighbors for almost two cen
turies. They came here together the
same year 1787. So I'm an old-timer.
I used to stop here when I was a boy
on the way from Sunday School."
"Oh," she said. "Perhaps I should
introduce myself. I'm Sally Barrett.
Father bought this place from the
Burgess heirs 18 years ago. He was
the cashier at the Otter River Bank."
"That was after I left Vermont. This
is the first time I've been back since."
"You must have been far away not
to have returned before this."
"I was," he said, and told her briefly
where he had been. "But I haven't
explained why I stopped. I wanted to
see if the tiger lilies Mrs. Burgess had
when I was a boy were still thriving."
"Come in and see."
He stepped through the turnstile
gate, and there the flowers were, their
striped reddish-gold like an evening
sunset. Just as his mother had kept
her own bed of them; neat and clean
and loved. He looked a long time.
"My father and mother liked old
fashioned flowers, too," she said. "So
'hat is mostly what we have, as you
see. Lupin and hollyhocks and canter
bury bells and lilacs. The lilacs were
so bountiful this year, so fragrant.
You should have been here when they
were at their peak."
"I wish I had," he replied. "But any
time is a good time to be in an old
garden like this."
"I love it, too."
"Do you go to the city when the
Summer is over? Is this your Summer
home?" he asked.
"It is all the home I have. I taught
school for a number of years. And,
then, when Mother died, I came back
here to keep house for Father. Now
that he is gone, it's too much for a
woman alone to keep up. So there's
nothing to do but put the place on the
market and go back to teaching."
"I'm sorry," he said. "If the new
owner neglected your tiger lilies, I
doubt if I'd ever want to come back
here again. Your lily bed is about all
that's left as I remember it. I wouldn't
like to come back to a place that had
cut all ties with the past."
"You can imagine how I feel," she
said. "But my folks came here to Ver
mont, where everything was different
from what they had known before.
What they did, I can do."
He looked at this trim young woman
with new interest. "A chip off the old
block," he said to himself. He admired
grit. And she was easy on the eyes.
"I wish I could help you. Maybe I
will hear of someone in my company
who is looking for a Summer home in
New England. I'll tell him to see yours
without fail."
"Thank you. You are very kind."
"I suppose I should know how much
you are asking?"
"Father said I should get not less
than 15. We have central heat, you
know, and it's comfortable either as a
Summer home or for year-round liv
ing. Maybe you'd like to look inside?"
"Indeed I would." They went in
side, the kitchen first. It was as he
had expected. Spic and span, every
thing burnished and clean, just as he
remembered his mother's milk pans
and sweet-smelling churn.
Then,through the other rooms. Some
fine old pieces. A clock with century
old wooden works ticking sturdily in
a corner, a flax wheel each piece
spelled home to him.
"Maybe, before you go, I could offer
you some lemonade?"
"I should like nothing better. Offer
accepted!"
When the tinkling glasses were
brought, there was something else
caraway-seed cookies!
"What! Where on earth did these
come from? My favorite food. I
haven't had one since I was a boy."
"I made them," she said calmly. "I
found the recipe in Mrs. Burgess'
handwriting on a kitchen shelf."
Soon they said good-bye. "I hate to
go, but my leave runs out tomorrow
night, so I'll stop at the inn and be
pushing along in the morning. It's
been wonderful knowing you and your
garden. Nothing would please me
more than to find you a good buyer."
"Nothing would please me more than
to sell it to someone who sees in ,it
what you see," she replied.
As he drove away from the village
inn next morning on his way
back to the city, he kept asking
himself: why should I try to find a
strange buyer for Sally? (He had not
called her that, but that was the way
he thought of her.) Someone else
might not care for the tiger lilies. Too
old fashioned. Might dig them up.
Now that I'm settled in one place, why
shouldn't I have a Summer home? I
can afford it And in 15 years or so,
I could retire there.
He turned his car around. The dew
was still on the grass when he pulled
up at the turnstile gate again. Sally
was outdoors, looking at the tiger lil
ies. She turned around and her heart
missed a beat.
"You know, I should take some snap
shots to show to a possible buyer. I
could send some which you or yourx
real estate agent could use, too. Do
you mind? I'm fair with a camera."
So they took pictures of everything,
herself included. And she dressed in
her gardening clothes!
Then the morning sun reached over
the roof to the tiger lilies. They sat
for a little while on the big white
wooden chairs on the back terrace,
close together.
"You said fifteen thousand for the
place. I should know what, if any
thing, goes with the house. They're
sure to ask. There's a lot of wood in
the shed, I noticed.
"That would be included."
"And the garden tools?"
"I'd have no use for them. They
would go, too."
"Any furniture?"
"There are a few pieces too large
for me to keep in a small apartment.
I'll be glad to talk with the buyer
about them."
"So that's all?"
"What else is there?"
He got up, walked slowly around
the garden, stopping here and there.
There were, of course, other things
than those mentioned peace, beauty,
the perfume of blossoms, and the
laughter of a little brook. There was
a tiny wren house, too, in the slim
young butternut tree. That had not
been mentioned.
He returned and sat down beside
her. 'The wren house, too?"
She nodded.
"Well, it's a good buy any way you
look at it. I think I have a prospect
already. But before telling you who
he is, I'd like to know one thing more.
I'm sure it would clinch the bargain
with the buyer I have in mind."
She looked at him questioningly.
He put his hand over hers. "Tell
me, would you go with the house?"
rv.
6urHairis"fhinnirig
Your Scalp is Scaly
nc
H You have Dandruff
These are conditions demanding me
dicinal care. Perfumed pomades won't
help Glover's medicinal treatment
will. For Glover's, like a doctor's pre
scription, is a medicine compounded of
soothing oils, tars, sulphur and lan
trol designed to help check dandruff,
scalp-scale and excessive falling hair.
One try and you'll see why Glover's
Mange Medicine is the medicinal way
w to treat scalp and hair prob
ing lems. Money back guaran
W tee. At all drug stores.
KttJ
Glover's Mange Medicine
Glo ver Imperial Hair Tonic
Glo-ver Beauty Soap Shampoo
U GLOVER'S
SINCE 1876
Get to the root of
Athlete's foot
Ik or other fungus infection with
and the fungus
is dead forever!
t'l
Now, withclinically provenNP-27,
you can kill the most stubborn,
deep-bedded fungus!
Never again need those fiery,
itchy fungi torture you. Unlike
surface antiseptics, ointments, lini
ments, NP-27 penetrates to "the
very root of Athlete's Foot. Gets
rid of dangerous dead skin. Pro
motes growth of new skin. '
Guaranteed to kill the fungi, or
druggist will refund your money.
BUY BONDS
Family Weekly, August 10, 1954
15
Worried about loose
False Teeth?
Users report dental plates "stay
put" for hours with PERMA-GRIP
Dental Plate Powder. No slips no
wobbles. PERMA-GRIP Is white,
tasteless, alkaline. Won't "ball
up". At your favorite store.