OUR LAST BI.OSSOM. 135 



Our Last Blossom. 



Our last blossom is leaving us. A few belated flowers 

 of summer or early fall may have kept it company for a 

 while with their abnormally late beauty, but the witch- 

 hazel outlasts them all and blossoms alone when other flo- 

 al beauty has disappeared and while leaves are falling and 

 all around is drear. It would be interesting to know the 

 steps in the evolution by which this shrub left its mates 

 and did violence to all humanl}^ acknowledged ideas of pro- 

 priety and order. 



Its beauty is not obtruding. The dainty little yellow 

 stars are often hid in the recesses of thicket and bog but 

 when discovered the brown and grey background empha- 

 sizes the welcome dash of color, a reminder that all is not 

 death in the apparent dying of vegetation. This fall 

 blooming is not the only abnormal characteristic of the 

 bush. The seeds remain quiescent during the winter, de- 

 velop and grow during the entire summer and fall that fol- 

 low and are thrown out violently when the little pericarps 

 open just as next year's blossoms are opening to say 

 " Goodbye " to the parting year. 



All hail and farewell to the witch hazel. 



Animals vary greatly in the length of their lives. Elephants, 

 eagles and parrots may celebrate their hundredth birthday, but 

 our domesticated beasts are thought to be aged when they have 

 reached a quarter of a hundred. A horse is old at twenty, a don- 

 key at twenty-five and a cat or dog at fifteen. The span of exis- 

 tence allotted to insects is shorter still, the fly and the butterfly 

 commonly enjoying but one summer of vigorous life and then be- 

 ing taken off by the cold if they are not previously snapped up by 

 a bird. 



When we turn our eyes to the sky, it is in most cases merely to 

 see whether it is likely to rain. — Sir John Lubbock. 



