The Royal Mantle 



1 T is with no niggardly hand this mantle is cut; there is no 

 ^ skimping of material, no saving or sparing of yards and 

 inches. With a reckless sweep the great scissors go. and the 

 mantle spreads out and falls into lavish folds beneath the 

 designer's hand. There is no need for sparing, for the maker 

 has the whole store of spring to draw upon ; and no matter how- 

 prodigal and reckless her planning may be, she knows there is 

 an unlimited supply ready to her hand. 



At all seasons of the year the great designer dresses her 

 child, the bush, with taste and beauty. There are robes of 

 green, or grey, or brown for different months, robes of softest 

 pink and richest copper ; but of all the garments in the 

 daughter's wardrobe, there is none in which Mother Nature 

 takes so keen a pride as in the royal mantle of gold and purple 

 which is donned to greet the spring. 



The foundation of the mantle is the rich purple creeper. 

 soft and satiny as a baby's cheek. Over every part of the 

 bush the regal colour climbs. Charred trees are turned to 

 columns of beauty, green saplings are garlanded through and 

 through by the purple trails. All the sad and ugly bruises 

 made by man's hand are hidden beneath the masses of blossom. 

 The great red scars, which the railway cuts, are softly hidden 

 by the purple veil, and the fences, which show where man 



