The Decorative Use of Flowers 1607 



them. If they have an incomplete picture, they open their eyes and 

 study the plants again. Such pictures are indelible and may be referred 

 to at will through life. A single flower or sometimes a bunch of flowers 

 may be taken for the schoolroom, but thoughtless waste of a harvest 

 that one has neither planted nor watered should be discouraged. vSuch 

 verses as the following by Juliana Horatia Ewing may well be com- 

 mitted to memor}': 



Little kings and queens of the May, 



Listen to me! 



If you want to be 



Every one of you very good. 



In that beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wood. 



Whatever you pluck 



Leave some for good luck. 



r5^ 



Picked from the stalk or pulled up from the root, 



From overhead or from under foot. 



Water wonders of pond or brook; 



Wherever you look and whatever }'ou find. 



Leave something behind. 



Some for the Naiads, some for the Dryads, 



And a bit for the Nixies and Pixies. 



O little sisters and little brothers. 

 Think for others and care for others! 

 And of all your little fingers find 

 Leave something behind! 



Children are not the only offenders: The ruthless devastation of some 

 of the choicest plants by grown persons is even less excusable. The dainty 

 arbutus, which ten years ago used to steal out from under the snowdrifts 

 to lay a carpet for the coming spring, is nearly extinct now in many locali- 

 ties. There are street venders who make it a business to go out to the 

 country to capture these babes of the wood, tie a cord tightly aroiind 

 their necks, surround them with galax, and offer them for public sale 

 in the city streets. The few native Nantucketers who know it could not 

 be induced to tell the cherished secret of the hiding place of the heather. 

 They know too well the greed of the siunmer visitor, which would not leave 

 a single plant to tell the romantic tale of these little wanderers from 

 over the sea who have found a few rare places in this country where they 

 feel at home. The finger of shame should be pointed at any one who brings 

 home from his woodland walk an armful of orchids or trilliums or cardinal 

 flowers. Such vandalism defeats its own end, for nature has indicated, 

 by the rarity with which she has placed them, that one, or at most three, 

 are enough for one person. The distinction of the orchid is in its form. 



