“Yes, my dear, and you must make the beads before the June roses are gone.  The process is very simple.  If you would have them very sweet, get the petals of the most fragrant roses.  I used petals of the old-fashioned, pink ‘hundred leaf’ and ‘blush roses.’  Gather a quantity, for you will need them all.  Grind them to a pulp in the food chopper, repeat several times and place the pulp and juice into an iron kettle or pan.  This turns the pulp black, which nothing but an iron kettle will do; cook, and when the consistency of dough it is ready to mold into beads.  Take a bit of the dough, again as large as the size you wish your beads to be when finished, as they shrink in size when dried, and make them of uniform size, or larger ones for the centre of the necklace, as you prefer.  Roll in the palms of your hands, until perfectly round, stick a pin through each bead, then stick the pins into a bake board.  Be careful the bead does not touch the board, as that would spoil its shape.  Allow the beads to remain until perfectly dry.  If they are to have a dull finish, leave as they are.  If you wish to polish them, take a tiny piece of vaseline on the palm of the hand and rub them between the palms until the vaseline is absorbed.  Then string them on a linen thread.  Keep in a closed box to preserve their fragrance.  Those I showed you, Mary, I made many years ago, and the scent of the roses clings ‘round them still.’”

“Did you know, Mary, that beads may be made from the petals of the common wild blue violet in exactly the same manner as they are made from rose leaves?”

“No, indeed, but I don’t think the making of beads from the petals of roses and violets as wonderful as the beads which you raise in the garden.  Those shiny, pearl-like seeds or beads of silvery-gray, called ‘Job’s Tears,’ which grow on a stalk resembling growing corn; and to think Professor Schmidt raised those which Elizabeth strung on linen thread, alternately with beads, for a portiere in their sitting-room.”

“Yes, my dear, the beads must be pierced before they become hard; later they should be polished.  Did you ever see them grow, Mary?  The beads or ‘tears’ grow on a stalk about fifteen inches high and from the bead or ‘tear’ grows a tiny, green spear resembling oats.  They are odd and with very little care may he grown in a small garden.”

“They certainly are a curiosity,” said Mary.

CHAPTER XV.

Mary and Elizabeth visit Sadie Singmaster.

Farmer Landis, happening to mention at the breakfast table his intention of driving over to the “Ax Handle Factory” to obtain wood ashes to use as a fertilizer, his wife remarked, “Why not take Mary with you, John?  She can stop at Singmaster’s with a basket of carpet rags for Sadie.  I’ve been wanting to send them over for some time.”  Turning to Mary, she said:  “Poor little, crippled Sadie!  On account of a fall, which injured her spine, when a small child, she has been unable to walk for years.  She cuts and sews carpet rags, given her by friends and neighbors, and from their sale to a carpet weaver in a near-by town, helps her widowed mother eke out her small income.”