Wild Flowc7's. 49 



city dinners! These are Nature's own dear children, 

 fresh from her lap, besprinkled with the dews of heaven, 

 unconscious of their charms. How touchingly beauti- 

 ful are the wild flowers ! real friends are they, close to 

 our hearts, while those of the conservatory stand out- 

 side, fashionable acquaintances only. 



Give us the wild flowers, and take your prize varie- 

 ties ; for does not even Tennyson (a good deal of a cul- 

 tivated flower himself) sing thus of the harshest of them 

 all, though to a Scotsman sacred beyond all other veg- 

 etation : 



. . . " the stubborn thistle bursting 

 Into glossy purples, which outredden 

 All voluptuous garden roses." 



And in that wonder of our generation, the " Light of 

 Asia," it is no garden beauties who are addressed •• 



" Oh, flowers of the field ! Siddurthasaid, 

 Who turn your tender faces to the sun — 

 Glad of the light, and grateful with sweet breath 

 Of fragrance and these robes of reverence donned. 

 Silver and gold and purple — none of ye 

 Miss perfect living, none of ye despoil 

 Your happy beauty. . . . 

 What secret know ye that ye grow content, 

 From time of tender shoot to time of fruit. 

 Murmuring such sun-songs from your feathered crowns ?" 



You may be sure that while in Scotland old Scotia's 

 dear emblem, and that most graceful of all flowers, the 

 4 



