WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



that I had forgotten some of the plainest and pret- 

 tiest things — the tiny stars of the forget-me-not, 

 floating on the dark waters of the ditch; the 

 lythrum and another gaudy loosestrife ; the great, 

 crimson blossoms of the flowering raspberry, de- 

 fying time and season, for the same bush bears a 

 handful of big, sweetish fruit; and, ah I over there 

 in the midst stand three, four, five spikes of the 

 cardinal flower. They shoot up above the verdur- 

 ous tangle that hides their roots, and flame like 

 torches with a scarlet so vivid that as j^ou look 

 at them they tremble and grow indistinct in a 

 flame of color. 



