240 OUR WILD FLOWERS AND 



herd. From his infancy " his daily teachers had been woods and 

 rills;" and now, in his manhood, it was his pleasure, — for his cha- 

 racter Avas contemplative and unobtrusive, — 



" to steal 



With loitering foot along the vale obscure, 

 And pluck gay flowers ; " 



and the pleasure he had in them had made him familiar with their 

 variety and peculiar habits. His was the very temperament for love 

 to sway as he would ; and he loved. The darling of his heart was just 

 the counterpart of his sister and of himself * . She was a blue-eyed, 

 cherry-cheeked lassie, — a very Bessie Lee — who aye had ae sweet- 

 heart, and sometimes had twa. I never heard her compared by any 

 one to any flower whatever ; — she was too gamesome for that, — but 

 the lad who loved her — his former merry elf — moulded her to his 

 fancy until she became to him rather the creation of his own mind 

 than the reflection of the reality. There was indeed sometimes a 

 difficulty in assimilating the two images, for the girl knew her 

 power, and was apt to meet his seriousness with something savouring 

 of coquetry — 



" Laughing at her love the while." 



But the nonconformity was more evanescent than the early dew, 

 and his love freshened under its moisture. Her image is ever present 

 with him, and every object is suggestive of the idol : — 



" The opening Gowan, wet wi' dew, 

 Nae purer is than Nannie, O." 



He could sing, and he sang with earnest truth — 



" I see her in the dewy flowers, 



1 see her sweet and fair : 

 I hear her in the tunefu' bnds, 



I hear her charm the aii- : 

 There 's not a bonnie flower that springs 



By fountain, shaw, or green ; 

 There 's not a bonnie bird that sings. 



But minds me o' my Jean." 



He gathered posies for her, and to every flower he gave a language 

 as he placed it in the Sunday nosegay ; but the girl cared not to 

 decipher the mysteries, and her pretty ignorance needed to be taught 

 that the Hyacinth therein was emblematic of his constancy " wi' its 

 unchanging blue." He would meet her in the morning amang the 



* " your grave and wise 



And melancholy men, if they have souls, 



As commonly they have, susceptible 



Of all impressions, lavish most their love 



Upon the blithe and sportive, and on such 



As yield their want, and chase their sad excess 



With jocund salutations, nimble talk, 



And buoyant bearing." — P. Van Artevelde, p. 237. 



