WORDSWORTH AND THE WAYSIDE FLOWERS 



37 



Wordsworth and the Wayside Flowers. 



BY MAUDE E. LEE, KNOXVILLE, TENN. 



Praises of the little wayside flowers 

 were often sung by the great "High- 

 Priest of Nature," William Words- 

 worth. Of him it could never have 

 been said : 



"A primrose by the river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him 

 And it was nothing more." 



The "bright daisy flowers" were es- 

 pecially dear to this poet as they were 

 to Chaucer and to "sweet Spenser." Of 

 the Daisy he says: 



"Be violets in their secret mews 

 The flowers the wanton Zephyrs choose; 

 Proud be the rose, with rains and dews 



Her head inpearling, 

 Thou liv'st with less ambitious aim, 

 Yet hast not gone without thy fame; 

 Thou art indeed by many a claim 

 The Poet's darling." 



As seen with his eyes, the daisy is at 

 one time a "nun demure," and then "a 

 queen in crown of rubies" ; "a little Cy- 

 clops with one eye," "a silver shield 

 with boss of gold," and again "a pretty 

 star with glittering crest." 



The Small Celandine, growing in the 

 pastures and waste places, had been 

 neglected by the earlier poets but he 

 takes it for his very own, saying 



"There's a flower that shall be mine, 

 'Tis the little Celandine." 



"Ere a leaf is on a bush, 

 In the time before the thrush 

 Has a thought about her nest, 

 Thou wilt come with half a call, 

 Spreading out thy glossy breast 

 Like a careless Prodigal; 

 Telling tales about the sun, 

 When we've little warmth, or none." 



The strawberry blossom catches his 

 eye : 



"Pull the primrose, sister Anne! 

 Pull as many as you can. 

 — Here are daisies, take your fill; 

 Pansies and the cuckoo-flowers; 

 Of the lofty daffodil 

 Make your bed or make your bower; 

 Fill your lap and fill your bosom; 

 Only spare the strawberry blossom!" 



"The streams with softest sounds are flow- 

 ing, 

 The grass you almost hear it growing." 



He makes the little girl say to her 

 pet lamb when it is restless: 



"This grass is tender grass; these flowers 



They have no peers; 

 And that green corn all day is rustling 

 in thy ears." 



The Bible and the Camp. 



An astonishing fact is that for every 

 purpose under the sun the Bible may 

 be quoted, but of all appropriate words 

 from that book those selected by Miss 

 George Ann Lillard of Chicago for her 

 camp for girls in New Hampshire 

 could hardly be excelled. They are: 

 "They shall dwell safely in the wilder- 

 ness, and sleep in the woods" (Ezekiel 

 xxxiv, 25). 



Through June Fields. 



Kneedeep in buttercups, daisies. 

 In clover and Queen Anne's Lace, 



We are wading across the hillside, 

 On the way to our trystring place. 



June skies are soft above us, 



June opulence at our feet; 

 And as we thread its mazes, 



We tread out odors sweet. 



A frolicsome breeze o'er takes us, 

 And ripples the grasses tall, 



Where butterfly messengers hasten, 

 And birds are count rs all. 



The distant view enchants us, 



Of river and wood and vale, 

 Where the drifting shadows of cloudland v 

 Their dusky pinions trail. 



The sun on the pines adds nectar, 

 Which we sip as we saunter along; 



On this radiant Summer morning. 

 All life seems a glad, sweet song. 



— Emma Peirce. 



And finally even the grass has a 

 story for him and he tells tis that in the 

 night : "* 



An Old and Prosperous Nursery. 



The editor of this magazine recently 

 spent a most enjoyable day at the nurs- 

 ery of Thomas Meehan & Sons, Ger- 

 mantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

 This old-time nursery was established 

 in '54 by Thomas Meehan, an English 

 gardener and a thorough lover of 

 plants. His business grew as Philadel- 

 phia grew and soon was not limited to 

 the local trade but extended to all parts 

 of the country. 



