stratton] 



SPRING WILD FLOWERS 



153 



The Spring Beauty. 



blossom; how she looked at the flower an instant and said **Did 

 you pick that for me?" and burst into tears completely subdued by 

 the simple little flower. This story gave the blossom for me the 

 title of nobility which it has always retained. 



One of the dearest of the spring trophies was the little twin 

 flower (LinncEa horealis) a veritable Alpine flower growing in the 

 moss in New England woods, two little pink cups always nodding 

 on one stem with a delicate perfume perfectly in harmony with the 

 delicate beauty of the twins. 



Though for many years interested more or less in the study of 

 wild flowers it was surprising in this new alertness, this collection 

 greediness how I discovered every day something new which I had 

 walked over all my life, so to say, without noticing. One of these 

 the little Veronica serpyllifolia, smallest of the small family of the 

 speedwells perpetuates in my collection the white lie which in the 

 demands of science must be confessed. As every botanist knows, 

 the tiny monopetalous cups of these veronicas are most deciduous 

 and fall when a few hours old at the slightest touch from the stock. 

 Charmed with the tiny, violet-like wayside blossom, hitherto 

 unnoticed, I carried it home and placed it in water to paint next 



