FIELD FLOWERS 



with extravagant and unnatural daugh- 

 ters; but they, the poor mothers, have 

 remained similar to what they were 

 a hundred thousand years ago. They 

 have not added a fold to their petals, 

 reordered a pistil, altered a shade, in- 

 vented a perfumeyThey keep the se- 

 cret of a inyslefious mission. They are 

 the indelible primitives. The soil is 

 theirs since its origin. They represent, 

 in short, an essential smile, an invari- 

 able thought, an obstinate desire of the 

 Earth. 



That is why it is well to question them. 

 They have evidently something to tell 

 us. And, then, let us not forget that they 

 were the first with the sunrises and 

 sunsets, with the springs and autumns, 



