to dear grandmother on the porch, because the pony took this opportune
time to munch the grass at the road-side, and Beth nearly went over his
head.

"Dear me, Ninkum, you are very rude," she said, much vexed. "You try to
spill me off, besides making Grandmother Van Stark feel as though you
didn't have enough to eat while you were visiting her!"

There was another disturbing feature also, and that was sister, whose
countenance kept peering above the phaeton top, and who shouted
exceedingly unwelcome advice, until silenced and firmly seated by the
maternal command.

However, these were small things, compared with the bliss of galloping
down the smooth road, bordered by flowers and green fields.

"I am very fond of wild flowers," said Ethelwyn by and by, "because they
come right from God's garden, and they keep things so cheerful and
bright out in the country."

"I remember some verses about wild flowers and woods that a friend of
mine wrote," said mother, "and I intend sometime to put some of them to
music."

"O say one, mother," said Ethelwyn, who loved verses. So Mrs. Rayburn
began:

"I know a quiet place,
Where a spring comes gurgling out,
And the shadowed leaves like lace