28 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



a pink variety. In a multitude of books 

 there is safety, or, if not quite that, some- 

 thing less of danger. The pink and the 

 white flowers are reversions to former less 

 highly developed states, I suppose, if cer- 

 tain modern theories are to be trusted. I 

 have read somewhere that the acid of ants 

 turns the blue of chicory blossoms to a 

 bright red, and that European children are 

 accustomed to throw the flowers into ant 

 hills to watch the transformation. Perhaps 

 some young American reader will be moved 

 to try the experiment. 



The best plants, however, those that I 

 enjoy most for to-day, at all events, are the 

 cat-tails. How they flourish! "like a 

 tree planted by the rivers of water." And 

 how straight they grow ! They must be 

 among the righteous. We may almost say 

 that they make the swamp. Certainly, when 

 they are gone the swamp will be gone. 

 Both kinds are here, the broad-leaved and 

 the narrow-leaved, equally rank, though 

 angustifolia has perhaps a little the better 

 of the other in point of height. The two 

 can be distinguished at a glance, and afar 



