CHAPTER V 



THE BEAUTY OF THE FLOWER 



May 



"And all the meadows wide unrolled, 

 Were green and silver, green and gold, 

 "Where buttercups and daisies spun 

 Their shining tissues in the sun." 



Neither age, learning, nor fortune are needed to 

 enable one to love and admire these gracious chil- 

 dren of beauty — the flowers. When the chill winds 

 of autumn sound a knell for their departure we have 

 a sense of loneliness and loss. As the winter passes 

 we long for the days when the blossoms shall come 

 again. 



The first tiny white blossom of the star-flower ; the 

 first little tasseled bloom on the birch ; the first 

 adder's tongue, or violet, or broad white salver of the 

 mandrake flower ; the long, white, plume-like cluster 

 of the foam flower ; the snowy banners of the dog- 

 wood; the gray-white of the brave little plantain- 

 leaved everlasting, fill all hearts with delight. 



The aged, little children, invalids, strong men, the 

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