JANUARY 23 



of leaves ! . . . And there's a vision of the sweetest face in 

 the world the first pale glimpse of Spring with her snowdrop 

 crown." It is not because these earliest flowers have any 

 special beauty to recommend them that they are so welcome, 

 and so much written about ; it is because they are the first, for 

 were they to bloom amid the floral opulence they would scarce 

 be noticed. Was it not Emerson who said, " to the attentive 

 eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty " ? and surely 

 at this time more especially so. 



In a corner of the garden, ere yet January is over by some 

 days, a violet breath upon the air made me seek for the sapphire 

 gems which so faithfully blossom at this time year after year. 

 Perhaps no flower, except the rose, has been so much written 

 about, or more loved, than the violet. 



" Still do children," says a writer, " and common care-laden 

 people seek the faithful and beloved violet family in their 

 sequestered haunts, and draw from them the comfort, inspira- 

 tion, and hope they are so well fitted to impart. Not the less 

 do they appreciate them in garden precincts, where, in richer 

 dress, but with the same friendly countenance, they welcome 

 all who love them. In these latter days, the care and attention 

 of which they are so worthy have been lavished on them as 

 never before. That they have amply repaid such attention 

 many a choice garden bears testimony. In such a garden there 

 are beds of them which are true poems, expressed in tenderest 

 hues, from deepest purple to purest white ; and which contain 

 many a blossom which enshrines memories as thrilling and 

 thoughts as inspiring as its little woodland ancestor treasured 

 for the poets of old." 



And from the humble woodland ancestor what exquisite 



