32 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



this flower, as Bryant says, " in forest bare," nor 

 could I ever discover the " faint perfume " ; and, 

 although the valleys of the White Mountains hold 

 many a drift of snow as late as May, not a sign of 

 snow is ever seen about the patch 1 have alluded 

 to. Nor does the little flower seem to bend its 

 " gentle eye " earthward. My drawing certainly tells 

 the exact truth, as it was made on the spot where 

 the violets grew, and was taken from a single speci- 

 men. These two little yellow beauties held their 

 heads pretty high — something like ten inches above 

 the ground. But we must not take the poet on any 

 grounds of scientific accuracy ; the truth he aims for 

 is spiritual and not material ; the last three verses 

 of Bryant's poem are the best ones to judge it by. 

 The yellow of this flower is golden in character, 

 but considerably paler than dandelion yellow, and 

 is veined with brownish purple. The blossom is 

 very small, and springs up from betM-een a pair of 

 leaves which start from a bare stem about eight or 

 nine inches tall. 



The specimen which I have drawn of 

 ' the purple violet (commonly called 

 hlue, but I prefer the truer purple) 

 was gathered on the 25th of May, in a very wet spot 

 not more than a hundred yards away from the yel- 

 low violet patch just mentioned. It makes a great 



