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 linnsea, 

 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 ? " 



