Again they all stowed themselves away in the automobile and went to a pond ten miles away for a day's picnic. That proved not to be a success, for everybody was so tired all the next day that there was a nearer approach to disagreement among them than ever happened before. Mrs. Schuler made up her mind that home--meaning Rose House--was the best place for them and that amusements must be found at home and not afield.
CHAPTER IX
A NEW KIND OF GRASS SEED
"Your grand-father told me once about a field he had that was filled with daisies," said Ethel Blue. "It looked awfully pretty, but it spoiled the field for a pasture; the cows wouldn't touch them."
"I remember that field. We used to make daisy chains and trim Mother's room with them," said Ethel Brown.
"Mr. Emerson tried ploughing up the field and he had men working over it for two seasons, but on the third, up they grew again as gay as you please. They acted as if he had just been stirring up the soil so they would grow better than ever."
"Poor Grandfather; he had a hard time with that field."
"He said he really needed it for a pasture, so he made up his mind that if he couldn't root out the bad plants, he'd crowd them out. So he bought some seed of a kind of grass that has large, strong roots, and he sowed it in the field. As soon as it began to grow he could see that there certainly were not so many daisies there. He kept on another year and the cows began to look over the fence as if they'd like to get in. The third year there were so few daisies that they didn't count."
"I remember all that," said Ethel Brown, "but what does it have to do with Mrs. Paterno?"