DECEMBER OUT-OF-DOORS. 63 
species that have been introduced from Eu- 
rope; six are members of the composite fam- 
ily; and if we omit the cone-flower, all but 
three of the entire number are simple whites 
and yellows. Two red flowers, the clover 
and the pimpernel, disappointed my search; 
but the blue hepatica would almost certainly 
have been found, had it come in my way to 
look for it. 
Prettier even than the flowers, however, 
was the December greenness, especially of 
the humbler sorts: St. John’s- wort, five- 
finger, the creeping blackberries, — whose 
modest winter loveliness was never half 
appreciated, — herb-robert, corydalis, par- 
tridge - berry, checkerberry, wintergreen, 
rattlesnake-plantain, veronica, and linnza, 
to say nothing of the ferns and mosses. 
Most refreshing of all, perhaps, was an oc- 
casional patch of bright green grass, like the 
one already spoken of, at Marblehead, or 
like one even brighter and prettier, which I 
visited more than once in Swampscott. 
As I review what I have written, I am 
tempted to exclaim with Tennyson : — 
“* And was the day of my delight 
As pure and perfect as I say?” 
