218 FLOWERS AND FOLKS. 



less and well-nigh insensible gradations that 

 even our great special student of the Com- 

 positce pronounces the accurate and final 

 classification of this particular genus a labor 

 beyond his powers. What shall we say of 

 this habit of variability ? Is it a mark of 

 strength or of weakness? Which is nobler, 

 to be true to one's ideal in spite of cir- 

 cumstances, or to conquer circumstances by 

 suiting one's self to them? Who shall de- 

 cide? Enough that the twin-flower and the 

 star-flower each obeys its own law, and in so 

 doing contributes each its own part toward 

 making this world the place of diversified 

 beauty which it was foreordained to be. 



I spoke of the linnaea's autumnal blossoms, 

 though its normal flowering time is in June. 

 Even this steady-going, unimpressible citi- 

 zen of the world, it appears, has its one bit 

 of freakishness. In these bright, summery 

 September days, when the trees put on their 

 glory, this lowliest member of the honey- 

 suckle family feels a stirring within to make 

 itself beautiful ; and being an evergreen (in- 

 stead of a summer-green), and therefore in- 

 capable of bedecking itself after the maple's 

 manner, it sends up a few flower-stems, 



