w ■^•j?. 1 i^^l^^, iP^l^^i^^^^fc! ?¥^ UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS ., LIBRARY ^^^ ■^#i#'-| f r<0 1 s m -P^-? z-ct^i UP BETTY SPRING ROAD. jfavorttc 2>rivc6 Hrounb (3ar6ncr BY QMARLE5 b. BURRAQE @^^:fe^l^ / LLUSTRATED FROM ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS. FROM PAPERS READ BEFORE THE MONDAY CLUB AND GARDNER INSTITUTE. .-. .-. .-. The Original Drawings By Charles H. Stratton. Press of the Gardner News Company. Copyright, 1896, By Charles D. Burrage. Xtst of miustrations. I. Betty Spring Road, Page. Frontispiece. 9- lO. II. 12. 13- 14. 15- 16. 17- 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23- 24. 25- 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31- 32- Initial— Sedge, (Drawing) . Betty Spring Road, . Tomb of Rev. Jonathan Osgood, Crystal Lake, Betty's Spring Moneses, Pyrola and Pip- sissewa, Buckbean, . Pale Laurel, . Labrador Tea, Oldest Cellar-hole, Bed of Indian Pipe, Worthington Park, Azalea, Columbine, Pogonia, Calopogon, Home of the Azalea. Moccasin Flower, . Wild Calla, Andalusite Crystals, Chapel Place Purple-fringed Orchis, The Woods near Crystal Lake, (Drawing), .... Pitcher Plant, Great Green Orchis, Ragged-fringed Orchis, Meadow Lily, .... Snowy Owl, .... Old Stump (Drawing), . The Kneeland Place, The Bed of the Brook, (The Cardinal Flower), 9 10 II 12 13 13 14 15 16 16 17 18 20 21 21 21 22 23 24 25 26 Near the Kneeland Place, Rhodora, .... Bickford-Travers Mill-dam. Jackson House, Twin Flower, In the Woods by Crystal Lake (Drawing), . 39-40 The Old Railroad Cut, 41. The Coolidge Place, . Redemption Rock, Redemption Rock— the Inscription, . Crystal Lake, (The Sheep-pen Crystal Lake, (The Upper Cove), .... 46. Fringed Gentians, . 47. Closed Gentians, 48. An Orchis, .... 49. Cardinal Flower, 50. The Coolidge Place, . 51. Many-flowered Indian Pipe. 52. Skull, (Drawing), . 53. The Whispering Pines, 54. Bailey Brook, 55. Lake Denison, . 56. Blueberry Blossoms, 57. Beryl Mine, 58. Lake Denison, 59. Ladies' Tresses, 60. White-fringed Orchis, . 61. Tomahawk, (Tail-piece), 62. Map of Roads of Gardner 63. Map of Early Settlers, Page. 27 28 29 30 31 • 32 • 34 35 • 36 ), 37 • 38 39 . 40 JO . 40 • 41 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Scale, 2 Mi/es to art Inch. "Vwt ^0At^5 Of O-AKii'^'E'^^ ■^'^1^ VlCLYlTy ( jfavovitc IDrivcs Hrounb (3arbnei\ " I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth." — IVordszi'otih. We are ]nit here to secrete something everlasting out of nature." — 'I'/ioiiias Sfarr A'/z/i''. UR hill-town of (lardncr, sittiated on the highest part of the backlxjne of the .state, on the cre.st of the ridge between Wachnsett and Monad- nock, i.s 1 200 feet aljove the sea, and in suni- nier all the breezes of New Ivngland fan her brow. The waters flow awa}- in every direc- tion ; to the west by Otter River, to the north by Miller's River, to the east by the Nashtia, and to the .sotith by a Inanch of the Ware River. The roof-tree of more than one honse in Gardner divides the rain drops as they fall, to send part to the Connecticut and the Sottnd, and part to the ocean above Cape Ann. No wonder she can 1)oa.st the best record in the Commonwealth for the smallest percentage of deaths from con- sumption. Built on the tops of her seven hills, whichever wa}' we go is "down-hill." Winchendon lies 200 feet below to the north and 400 feet to the west ; Templeton from 400 feet below at Baldwinville to only "The birds sing in the branches." famous in New Enjrlaiul. lOO feet at the Centre, on the brow of Dolbier hill ; Hubbardston and Westminster, 200 feet below, and Ashburnham on the east, where the villages are, 200 feet below, while Fitch- burg, twelve miles away, lies 700 feet below. Gardner has many pleasant drives through the woods within and beyond her l)orders, and the .stranger may safely take an}' road, confident that he will find beauties on every side ; dark woods inviting him to their cool rece.sses ; silvery streams reflect- ing the enchantments of the sylvan shades on their banks ; flowers in profiision on either hand, in all the colors of the rain- bow ; and from every hill-top views rivall- ing in magnificence the choicest and most For not even from famous Rounil Hill, in Northampton, looking down upon the wide Connecticut meadows, with the ribbon of the river winding through them, nor from the Berk- shire Hills around the Lenox bowl, nor from the Blue Hills of Milton, half lost in soft haze from the ocean, are there afforded such glorious and exten.sive views of hills, woods, lakes and mountains — the peculiar charm of the New England landscape — as those from our own Gard- ner hills. Each drive has its special charm, however ; one because of a par- ticular view, another because the haunt of a rare wild flower that grows nowhere else, and others because of the .stories of the deserted ' ' cellar- holes" by the way, marking the sites of ancient home.steads. The drives around Gardner are beautiful because the.}- are through a country still left to nature, where the brush by the roadside screens the fields, and the woods have not .seen tlu woodman's axe for a generation. Every yedi sees .some great tract of woodland despoiled ot its royal crown, but every year also sees old sprout lots become full-grown woods, that hicU the heavens from us as we eagerly seek their depths. Even before the trees grow large enough to choke to death the berry bu.shes they invited in their .struggling youth, we rejoice with them in their coming glory Tomb of Rev. Jonathan Osgood, 'I'hc I'irst Settled Minister. BETTY'S SPRING. When Zbc JSett^ Sprina 1Roa&. "The south wind wanders from field to forest, And softly whispers, ' The Spring is here," we first of all turn our horse's head eastward, passing from the busy town streets at once into the shade of the overhanging and " venerable woods" at Betty's Spring, the choicest spot in Gardner, where the birds sing in the branches, and, at evening, the plaintive cry of the whip-poor-will echoes the shrill call of the quail. In the early part of the present century, two Indians, Moneses. Pyrola. Pipsissewa. Betty and her husband Jonas, last of their tribe, lived on the side-hill above the spring since called 1)y her name, in the cottage built by one of the early settlers, John Miles. Only the cellar now remains. Before this they lived a few rods ])eyond the railroad crossing on the right, on the Beech Hill road, where faint traces of the cellar may still be found in the woods. Afterwards, with a nephew named Jodorus, they moved to the Temple place on Green street, and died there. In the shadow of the woods by Betty's Spring, beneath the great trees, " Huge trunks and each particular trunk a growth Of intertwisted fibres serpentine Upcurling and inveterately convolved," Buckbean. benjamins ( Ttillium erediim ) abound, and the painted trillium ( Tril- lium erythrocarpum ) with its white face. Here we find the mayflower (Epigcva rcpens) nestling in its bed of snow, and Jack-in-the-pulpit ( Ariscca triphyllum ) preaching to hundreds of his brothers. A little later the whole hillside under the century -old trees blossoms out, for the foam flower ( Tiarella cordifolia ) and the Canada Ma}'- flower ( Maia)ithemuvi Canadc7ise ) hide the many violets as they change from yellow to white and to ])urple, and the glad yellow of the Clintonia borcalis grows richer in the moss. Here, in sunnner, the Pale Laurel. wax-like members of the heath famil}- tempt us by their profusion, for the shin-leaf, or lily-of-the-valley ( Pvrola cUiptica ) grows in beds by the side of the shining-leaved Princes' pine, or Pipsissewa {Chimophila umbcllata) , near the beautiful, one-flowered pyrola { Moneses grandi- flora ), and their degenerate cousin, the parasitic Indian pipe ( Mono- tropa 7iniflora ), the ghost-flower, or corpse plant, hides its pure white stalks in the depths of the woods among the dead leaves. The brook at the edge of the woods runs murmuring through the meadow and loses itself beneath the heavy growth bej^ond. On the hillside huge boulders lie strewn about in picturesque abandon, as if just from the hands of giants wearied in play. From the woods little streams come trickling to the meadow, making nooks and dells and glens, where the ferns, undisturbed, speak in every delicate frond, of the sanctity of Labrador Tea. nature inviolate, and the harsh noises from the town's pushing, hustling, money-making factories sink into softness, recalling man's universal kinship. These rough, worn hill-sides, scarred and seamed by storms, and covered with the growths of a century, with their grassy knolls and beds of flowers, inviting retreats and shady nooks, appeal to the desire for rest and peace instinctive in us all, a longing becoming pathetic in its intensity in such a busy, hard-working town as Gardner. '■ These shades Are still the abodes of gladness; the thick roof Of green and stirring branches is alive And musical with birds, that sing and sport In wantonness of spirit." The Uldest Cellar-Hole. On the left from Pearl street, half a mile from the road, almost hidden by the bushes growing around it, is the oldest cellar-hole in Gardner, and the only one whose history is lost. The eighteen-inch stump of a pine tree that grew in its centre indicates an abandonment long before the settlement of the town. A few narrow, hand-made brick of ancient pattern and the iron crane that once hung in the stone chimney, attest the presence of a white man, as does the deep cellar itself ; but all else is gone forever. In these woods a favored maiden once found the rare white ladies' slipper ( Cypripedii{w caudidiou ) , perhaps the onl>' one ever found in Worcester Count v. lO Just beyond the town "dump" on Pearl street, on the knoll, is a cellar hole once occupied by the house of Bezaleel Hill, who left town in 1812. He was a famous inventor, an original of Darius Green, as he invented a flying machine and, with great wings on his arms, leaped from his second-story window. The story runs that he said the flying was all right, but it was the stopping that hurt. Slowly we leave these woods "Where, when the sunshine struck a yellow shade The rugged trunks, to inward peeping sight Thronged in dark ])illars up the gold green light," to drive straight on to Westminster, all the way a delight. Worlhington Park. The delicate wild geranium ( Goaiiiiiiii iiiacu/atiiiii ) and, in sum- mer, the wood lily ( Lilium Philadclphicniii ) and clover head polygala ( Polygala sanguiriea ) brighten the roadside with their beds of color. Or we may turn through Temple street and go under the railroad to climb Barber hill, and then by little-used roads past Topliet swamp to the village of Westminster, rettirning through the woods and swamps on the "turnpike" to South Gardner, picking the white swamp honey- suckle ( RJiododendron zdscosum ) blooming in the very midst of the II ™ P1H| ■if M' -« f ^^ • . *^' H ^^^ ■ \ 3i4 M-<^ HIBPil^il ^ JJ w" -^ -^ J ' -4 ^^b9 ko"^!^^^^* J^^vIh^^ctA^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^P^^ t:^ 5 # 1 ■g^t^ ;»-:■ / .' AZALEA. 12 waters, and the snake's head { Chelo)ie glabra) s\\ov;'n\g white in the edge of the woods. The old County road did not run through these swamps, but bore off to the south, passing over the hill above the Baptist church, past Wright's mill and on the side hill just below the original Jonathan Greenwood house, a route long ago discontinued and now almost oblit- erated. Near the old cellar-hole on the top of Wright's hill, where the first house (burned in iSoS ) l)nilt by Joseph Wright stood, is the Columbine. ancient well, and by its side a large stone willi a circular hollow in its top that the family used for nian\- years as a wash fjasin. It was possi- bly in use before their time by the Indians as a mortar for grinding corn . A visit, one day in early spring, to the "old quag " by the railroad, near East street, a favorite resort of the village boys for generations, rewarded us with the purple blossoms of the ]ntcher-plant ( Sanaccnia purpurea ) ; the fresh and attractive white stalks of the buckbean {Menyanthes irifoliata ) , a rare flower in Worcester County, at first sight suggesting an orchid ; the slender and delicate white Smilacina tj-ifolia, which, almost unconsciously is called Lily-of-the-valley ; from 13 Pogonia. the fringe of bushes at the land's edge, the -vvoolly-leaved Labrador tea ( Ledum latifoh'um ) , a rare and radiant shrub found in few towns in the count}^ and the bell blossoms of the low-bush blueberry ( Varcinimn vaiil/a)is) . Here, beside the brilliant blossoms of the rhodora ( Rhododendron rho- dora ) that lighten the bleak bareness of the bushes just budding into leaf, in the midtlle of the swamp, just above the water we find, also, an earlier and exceed- ingly graceful sister of the mountain laurel, the deli- cate, fragile pale laurel ( Kahnia olanca ) . The treacherous moss sinks deep into the water as we cross it, and the air-holes catch us, drawing us into their depths until we fairly gasp at the rush of cold waters, the thick, slimy ooze under the tangled roots holding the feet with almost overpowering suction. But it is a rich treasure house of flowers, a delight and a joy to remember forever after — just such a bed as would attract the fairest and daintiest of New England's 1 jewels — the brightest colored and choicest of the flowers. Pearl street, itself, leads to Ashburn- ham Centre and Meeting-house Hill, with its wonderful views. It is well worth climlv ing the great hill to stand on the north brow and look across the Xaukeags with their wooded islands, "when the gold of evening meets the dusk of night ; " a view unsurpassed, save, perhaps, on L,ake George. On the way home, in late sum- mer, we find a rattlesnake orchis ( Good- vera pubcscois) by the roadside, and note the curious mark- ings of the leaves. We may drive straight on from Pearl street to the very edge of the town, to Worthington Park, at the end of the road, 14 15 and looking at the fire-scorched ruins, reflect upon the transitor}' na- ture of all earthly plans. Between the high cellar- walls the fireweed ( Epilobium aiigustifolium ) glows with brilliant color, contrasting with the blackened trunks of the ancient trees. Then to the right, down the steep hill, we ride for an hour or more, on winding roads, through thicket and brush, "A land of trees, which reaching round about. In shady Idessing stretched their ohl arms out, With spots of sunny openings," Moccasin Flower. in the shade of maple, pine and oak woods, silent, cool, and filled with beauties, where " The pines are whispering in the breeze Wliispering — then hushing, half in awe — Their legends of primeval seas," emerging finally tipon the broad highway in the middle of Ashburn- ham, to rettirn throtigh the long village street at the Jtmction. i6 Cbapel Street. Or, we may take the Beech Hill road to Westminster, and, on the right, enter an abandoned road that plnnges at once into brush and brier, where the tall grass reaches to the carriage. On a low rise of land fronting the shining rails of the railroad, are the cellar-holes of several buildings, with fruit trees run wild around them. Cherries hang ripe and red on the trees ; lilac bushes, luxuri- ant in their a1)andonment, flaunt their colors on either side above tlie cellar, where the decaying timbers are overrun willi raspberries, the fruit large, rich and tempting. But when we learn the story of the place, we rememlier with regret. Many years ago this was a thriving New England farm, with sons and daugh- ters around the hearthstone looking forward to life's blessings. To this house- hold disease suddenly came — a foul and loath.some disease that struck down one after another, and drove in horror every friend and neighbor from them. The father, taken ill, died of small-pox, and was hastily buried on the farm itself. The house became as if accursed. Provisions were brought only to the wall down the road. Im- agine, if you can, the last sad scene of this pitiful history, when the mother, alone with her sick, in her sorrow and almost broken by the strain of her weeks of watching, stood all one night by the bedside of her dying child. Then she went away forever. So the buildings were left to decay, with a horror attached, that for years has kept all human kind away from them, leaving the lonely graves to grow each passing year more loneh', — Wild Calla. Andalusite Crystals. : Crvslal I,:ike.) 17 "Where roses blossomed, branches now o'erspread ; The niournful ruins bid the spirit weep, The broken fragments stay the passing tread." On the left is where a soldier in the French and Indian wars set- tled, Chapel, for whom the street was named. He died in 1820, at the age of one hundred and three years, the oldest person who has died in Gardner. The swamp across the railroad entices ns with its promises of hid- den treasures, for here from the sphagnum moss in the water, among 'Where Roses Blossomed." the white blossoms of the cranberry ( [ ^acciniinii ))iacrocarpon ) , spring one of the prettiest of the orchis family, the pink flower of the beauti- ful \)&2lxA { Pogonia ophioglossiodcs^j . And its beautiful sister, the In- dian pink ( Calopogon pidcheUiis ) is near, its rich purple blossoms con- trasting strangely delicate beside the cat-tails. Careless of ever}-thing, save the delight of communing with Nature in her home, we wade far out into the treacherous waters to find the wild calla ( Calla paliistris ) hiding its pure white petals in the very heart of the swamp, reserving its beauties for those who love it and seek it in its retreat. In early spring the flower masses of white almost cover the waters — a beautiful picture. i8 We may go on over Beech hill to enjoy the views, or turn sharply to the right to cross the country to the Betty Spring road near West- minster, returning laden with flowers, and listening to " The breeze murmuring in the musical woods Where the embowering trees recede, and leave A little space of green expanse." XTbc IRortb 1Roa^9. From the Windsor House as a starting point, we drive north ex- pectantly, for the woods run together for miles and the houses are few. We may go to the right over Matthews' hill, with berries in abundance The Purple Fringed Orchis at Home. on either side, and keep on through the swamp, past ancient home- steads indicated by abandoned cellar-holes, to Pearl street ; or go north to the end of the road at the Nashua reservoir, enjoying every rod of the wooded drive. But when the day is young and we want a long drive, we go on past the great elm at Page's (the largest in Gardner) through woods that seldom see a carriage, where " * * * fantastic aisles Wind from the sight in brightness and are lost Among the crowded pillars," 19 over a brush-grown road that leads for miles without a house, through the swamps, where, in June, " The Atlantic June, Whose caleudar of perfect days is kept By daily blossoming of some new flower." the azalea ( Rhodode7id7'07i nudijiorum ) blooms on acres and acres of bushes, where the moccasin flower, or lady's slipper ( Cyptipedium acaiile), another of the orchis family, boasts its careless wealth of color, and where the coltimbine ( Aquilegia Canadensis ) , daintiest and most graceful of flowers, welcomes tis to her home on the fern-covered bank. Every little while we pass a deserted "cellar-hole" and tell again the varying life histories of their former owners ; some sad, some tragic, all pathetic. All the way we delight in the profusion of flowers, for the pyrola and its white sisters lie in beds about us, the Indian-pipe is tinder almost every bush and by every log, while the one-flowered pyrola, the exquisite star of the Moneses grandifloi-a, forces an excla- mation of genuine pleasure from us, when we see a great bed of its pure white, wax}- petals under the spreading branches of a pine. Abundant in this vicinity, it is unknown elsewhere in the county. The swamps in the woods fairly glow with the beautiful blossoms of the purple-fringed orchis { Habcnaria finibriafa ) , most precious and mo.st sought-for of all the season's flowers. How the heart thrills at the flrst sight of the delicate, fragile blos.soms gleaming white against the dark background of the woods. Here in the dense woods, where the sun never shines, " In the deep glen, oi- the close shade of pines," we find the great green orchis {Habe7iaria oj-biculata) , \\\\os^ large, ftill-orbed leaves add to its royal dignity. At the four corners we can go west to force a narrow way through brush that sadly scratches the carriage to the little red schoolhouse on the main Winchendon road ; and once we used to go east to the Junc- tion, but now the road is discontinued. Here in the swamps, the curi- ous fly-trap, or pitcher plants ( Sar7-ace7iia pn7p7i7-ca ) , grow in hundreds and' we watch them " How at the dawn they wake, and open wide Their little petal windows " safe here from all intrusion by man, and " The passion they express all day In burning color, steals forth with the dew All night in odor." and the ragged fringed-orchis ( Habcna7i'a lacera ) keeps them com- pany. So we keep straight on to leave the woods at last at the A.stor 20 ' Leafless are the trees; their purple branches Spread themselves abroad, like reefs of coral rising sileut In the Red Sea of the winter sunset." 21 House, the old tavern on the turnpike at Burrageville, in North Ash- burnham, the home of the yellow meadow or Canada lily, the fairies' or witches' cap {Liliuni Canadense^, whose branched stems and graceful drooping bells remind us of candelabra in some ancient cathedral. The meadows and even the roadside are rich to prodigality with the golden bells, and the delicate, smaller purple f ringed-orchis {Habcnaria psycodes) growing " Reside a brook in mossy forest dell " hardly lessens our admiration by the glory of its richer beauty. By the bridge we once picked a ^^^^^^^^^^ large cluster of purple meadow-rue {Thalictrum ^^^^^^^^^H piirpurascens) , more delicate than its graceful ^^^^^^^^^1 sister. We return by the great mill-dam and ^^HRR^^^H ^^^'^ ^^"^^ ^^^ school- house, where the roads ^^^bp^^^B corner, and on either side, in a little way, corner ^^^Hb^^^H in fours again, making eight different roads at ^^^P!^^^^^| <^^^^ service, each with its own peculiar and ^^Hft^^^^B inviting charms. One is the old toll-road, bring- ^^^Rf^H^| "^S ^^^ °"^ "^^^ ^^^ Town Farm; another ^^BK^^^^| climbs the great hill, and passing for miles ^^^^^B^^^^^B under Pitcher Plant. Ragged Fringed Orchis. Great Green Orchis. " green-robed senators of mighty woods. Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars " becomes Stone street, in Gardner, one of the prettiest drives in town; and by another we go to old Winchendon to enjoy a particularly fine view of Monadnock on the way. All through these woods we catch glimpses of the brown rabbit hopping along in front of us, and every little while the whir-r-r of the partridge startles us from our reveries. Once we drove into the midst 22 of a 3^oung famil}-, and instantly the mother-bird fluttered by the carriage, apparently hurt unto death, causing eager pursuit through the bushes until she had led us a safe distance; then, recovering, she flew far away; we almost fancied we heard a laugh as she left us. Her little, brown-backed children hid themselves under the brush, keeping absolutely quiet while we stood over them watching their nervous heart throbbings. Meadow Lily. The long, bushy tail of the fox is sometimes seen disappearing through the bushes ahead, indicating "good hunting" here, and the dust in sunnner and the snow in winter bear the imprint of the raccoon in almost perfect imitation of a baby's foot. The red squirrel abounds, for nuts are plenty, and, with the wood- pecker for company, an occasional chipnuink or rare gray squirrel fill the woods with life. 23 SNOWY OWL. 24 Otters once frequented the river named from them, Otter River, and are still found there; a wildcat was recently killed near the Nashua reservoir, and a Snowy Owl, from Canada, in 1882 strayed to its death on Glazier Hill. Two or three deer have visited here in late years, probably driven south by the severe winters. 1 "^ '"^'^'^'^'^'"W WLf*'*^-w,iiiW ■— TLbc IkneelauD /IDai&3. Crime, sorrow, disease, the wrong of man to man, and man to woman have not spared our peaceful town in the century of its life, and the dense growth of its great woods, for miles seldom trodden by man, hide man}- a dark mystery, the shame of many a crime. As we drive through the West Village with its thronging homes, we turn aside, near the curv^e in the railroad, to visit a gravel-knoll half a mile from the road, secluded and covered with wood. On this The Kneeland Place. low hill, (debris of a moraine dating from the glacial epoch) a hunter, a few years since, found in the shade of a tree a withered human body, with a rope around the neck and a broken end hanging from a limb overhead. He had lain there two or three years, unknown, un.seen, perhaps never niis.sed. The mystery of the suicide remains to this da}' unsolved, and, buried on the spot, the sleep of the faint-heart continues unbroken under the tree he chose, in a lonely and .soon-to-be-forgotten grave. We linger a moment near here, in the bed of the brook, to rejoice in the wealth of flowers that greets us on every side, for the purple monkey-face {Miuiulus ringeyis) hides under the bushes, with the 26 sku.\l-cai> (Scufel/arm galericidata) beside it; near by the daint}' blue and yellow of the "ruby grape of Proserpine," the nightshade {Sol- anum dulcamara) hangs close to to the golden blossoms of the jewel- weed {Impatiens pallida) \ below us the pool is white with arrow head ( Saggitaria variabilis ) ; from our feet rises a great club of thorough- " The red ])eniioiis of the cardinal flowers Hang motionless upon their upright staves." wort, or boneset { Eiipatoyiion pcrfoliaiion ) , \\\\\\q. in the foreground the brilliant cardinal-flower {Lobelia cardinalis). High Priest of the Tabernacle, stands stately, erect and magnificent in all the bright glory of its coloring. Then on through the valley, where the swamp flowers abound, white lilies lie in the sun, and, late in the summer, great beds of purple asters, harbingers of autumn, fill the roadside with their masses of star- like blossoms. Turning to the right in East Templeton, we swing rapidly down the long, exhilerating curves of the hill to Bailey brook, through woods that the twin-flower ( Limuea borealis ) loves, and the 27 air is filled with its fragrance — one of the flowers that conduce to thought, through which " Ever the words of the gods resound ; But the porches of man's ear Seldom, in this life's low round, Are unsealed, that he may hear." The twin-flower is no longer found in Worcester county outside of the few northern towns, so the great beds in Gardner are especially inter- esting. As we return on the circuit, at the head of Parker's pond and the junction of Wilder and Kneeland brooks, almost within sound of the Near the Kneeland Place. busy life of Gardner, we find, by the foot of a tall tree, a faint cellar- hole marking the site of the home of the Kneeland Maids. They were two aged sisters, daughters of Timothy Kneeland, one of the earliest settlers in Gardner, fotind beaten to death in their beds in March, 1855. The buildings were destroyed b\- fire the following May, and a crime that filled the whole state with horror, and caused, to the timid, fear and apprehension for many a long ^-ear thereafter — a crime that was as brutal and cowardly as any in the history of the Commonwealth, went unpunished by man, and after forty years leaves the ashes of a once happy home its onh- reminder. Or keep on through East Tenipleton, turning to look at the great ■blossoms on the tulip-tree ( Liriodcndron tiilipifera ) at the corner of the Parkhurst house-lot, and as you climb the long Ladder hill, note an 28 RHODORA. 29 especially attractive view— Gardner and its multitude of houses framed in by the walls of earth. All roads that are before you are invit- ing, but if you have the time, go down into and across the Ware River valley, through the Four Corners, and swing home through Phillipston Centre and Goulding Village, across the Great Meadows, where pout and pickerel thrive. On such a trip, if in late July, one may find, in a hollow between the Phillipston hills, a great cluster of purple loose- strife ( Lvthruin salicai-ia ) crowning the marsh, standing as brilliantly erect as in its native land in the days of Ophelia. Bickford-Travers Mill-Dam. "There is a willow grows aslant a brook That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream, There with fantastic garlands did she come Of crow flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, But our cold maids do dead meu's fingers call them." To get far away from the noise of the town, turn south from East Templeton to Hubbardston, over Mine hill. The road terraces the .steep hillside, with precipitous depths beneath in the shadows of the woods ; the cur\'es under the hill reminding us of the famous Geyser 30 grade. Here the railing is for actual use, and we can almost level with our eyes the top of the tall hemlock that grows ju«t below the road. " Steep is the side * * * shaggy and vvikl With mossy trees and pinnacles of flint And many a hanging crag." It makes little difference whether you return by the way of Ragged hill and through the long woods below the Pail Factory, where the Mayflower ( lipigaa rcpcns ) first blooms every spring, and "the green vistas arch like the hollows of mighty waves of some crystalline sea ; " or go on through Htil)l)ardston in a wilderness of drives ; a glorious prospect, with woods and ponds alternating in an unending pageant of pleasure. The wild calla ( Cat la palusfn's ) haunts the swamps, and we pick several varieties of tick-trefoil as we drive along. The morn ing-glory ( Coiivo/viihts . l))ifriraiius ) bells cover the walls and rock- piles, and the wild bean ( Apios tubcrosa ) barricades the banks. Re- turning from Hubbardston with a bunch of brilliant red Oswego tea- heads ( A/oiiarda didynia ) we drive slowly by the old mill-dam of the Bickford mill, the first ])uilt in town, destroyed by fire August 20, 1895. On Kendall hill, l)eliind the station, where the old turnpike crossed the brow of the hill, a few elms still stand sentinel over the site of the Jackson house, the first house built in Gardner. Here the "bright chalices" of the painted-ctip ( Castillcia coccinca ) glow " In the green like flakes of fire," its scarlet tufts " Tinted thus to hold the dew for fairies." From photo by F. H. Brown. Jackson House. Piuilt 1764' ®n Glacier Mill. One of the earliest settlers had the courage ( and love of nature ) to build his house on the top of Glazier hill, where the reservoir now is. He sold in 1772, to John Glazier, from whom the hill takes its present name. The house now stands on Morrill street, and is the oldest in town. In it was held the first town meeting in Gardner. As we climb the hill, the winding road brings us fresh surprises at every turn, for we are on a great pyramid with all the Commonwealth spread out before us, and ***** "The mountains that infold In their wide sweep, the colored landscape round, Seem groups of giant kings, in purple and gold, That guard the enchanted ground." Twin Flower. From the first blush of morning, mantling the face of Wachtisett, .standing huge and solitary in the plain, twelve miles away to the south, to the last red arrow shot by the setting sun against the dark blue mass of Monadnock, watchman of the Northern hills, one of the " Mountain columns with which earth ]iro])s heaven ; " from the faint gray " The pure mist — the pity of the sea Coming as a soft white hand," to curtain the beds of the flowers in the swamps in early morning, to the drawing of the fog-covers over the rivers, reflecting golden glories 32 of the sky at sunset ; we watch the wonderful transformations, as the sun lights up the woodlands, shadows the long lines of hills, and turns the " Waters resting in the embrace of the wide forest," into quiv^ering glowing quicksilver, instinct with life, and color and beauty — " A hundred hills their dusky backs upheaved All over this still ocean ; and beyond Far, far beyond, the solid vapour stretched In headlands, tongues and promontory shapes," and all the fair land at our feet reminds us of the gardens of Armidas of which Tasso sings, "Still lakes of silver, streams that murm'ring crept, Hills, on whose sloping brows the sunbeams slept ; Luxuriant trees, that various forms displayed, And valleys, grateful with refreshing shade ; Herbs, flow'rets, gay with many a gaudy dye. And wood, and arching grottos meet the eye." 33 ^^•/t* -C'.'*^' ■^?^' Ss*.'^ _bJCi 'S ^ o rC ;_ _bf u V u o ^ o -*-» SjO 5 V. c/) O •X, '->i^- :^ 38 Upper Cove. ' Lake of the hills, where cool and sweet, Thy sunset waters lie." Broun^ Cri^stal Xafte. For a varied and interesting drive start from Monument Square and go past the green lawns on the hill, past the smooth, rich fields of the Hey wood Farm, and turn to the left. Crystal Lake lies before us as a brilliant jewel, with its setting of green; to the north, Monadnock, black and forbidding, bars the view. Bj' the lakeside, in September, we chance upon the latest, and almost the fairest of the season's flowers — the wary, fringed gentian {Gcntiana cri)iita) "colored with heaven's own blue," the flower of which the poet sings, ■•Four plumes from the bluel)ir