44: FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



brown-purple and white beneath its panoply of six 

 gay green leaves. It reminds one of some little eight- 

 year-old romper peeping out from behind a door, just 

 a bit shy because he has nice clean clothes on. Jack 

 is rarely seen at a careless glance — he is mostly hid- 

 den beneath the six leaves — and we have actually to 

 take hold of him in order to investigate his novel 

 clothing. The pretty little brown club inside the 

 spathe reminds one of a miniature Bologna sausage ; 

 the way the top of the flower hangs over the cup sug- 

 gests a wallet with perhaps some gold inside ; but 

 that is the pity of it, there is no gold there ! All the 

 yellow metal belongs to Jack's cousin, the spotless 

 white calla. This is the only thing about Jack which 

 we can find fault with ; he might have pleased us bet- 

 ter with a little gold in his pocket. However, in late 

 summer he leaves behind him a cluster of splendid 

 scarlet berries like my sketch. 



Some of the plants have pale green flowers with 

 whitish stripes, while others are extremely dark in 

 coloring. I have found a few of the lightest specimens 

 in a pasture where there was plenty of sunlight, but 

 the darkest ones seem to grow beside a wet, springy 

 dell, within a stone's throw of my cottage. It would 

 not seem springtime to me if there was not at least one 

 Jack in a majolica jar in my studio. The plant flow- 

 ers in May and early June. The root lias a sharp, 



