FLOWERS AND FOLKS. 223 
even the highest. The nettle, standing 
straight and prim, asking no favors of any- 
body, may rail at the grape-vine, which must 
lay hold of something, small matter what, 
by which to steady itself; but the nettle 
might well be willing to forego somewhat of 
its self-sufficiency, if by so doing it could 
bring forth grapes. The smilax, also, with 
its thorns, its pugnacious habit, and its 
stony, juiceless berries, a sort of handsome 
vixen among vines, — the smilax, which can 
climb though it cannot stand erect, has little 
occasion to lord it over the strawberry. If 
one has done nothing, or worse than nothing, 
it is hardly worth while to boast of the orig- 
inal fashion in which he has gone about it. 
Moreover, the very plants of which we are 
speaking bear witness to the fact that it is 
possible to accept help, and still retain to 
the full one’s own individuality. The straw- 
berry is no more a plagiarist than the smilax, 
nor the grape than the nettle. If the vine 
clings to the cedar, the connection is but 
mechanical. Its spirit and life are as inde- 
pendent of the savin as of the planet Jupiter. 
Even the dodder, which not only twines 
about other weeds, but actually sucks its 
