THE BLUE BELLS 37 



land are conveyed. It must mean that the hare 

 has its form where the flowers grow ; and, on its 

 passage to and fro, rings from the fairy bells 

 Their wandering chimes to vagrant butterflies. 



The extreme delicacy lends not only grace, but 

 safety as well. Whereas other moorland plants 

 protect themselves from the unchecked storms, or 

 the tread of animals, in various coarser ways, this 

 has learned from nature the gentler art of conquer- 

 ing by knowing when to yield. 



E'en the slight hare bell raised its head 

 Elastic from her airy tread. 



Scott meant this as a compliment to the grace of 

 Helen Douglas; but half of it belongs to the 

 flower. Clumsier feet by far than those of the 

 Lady of the Lake may tread, and the stem will spring 

 back again uninjured. The bell, so fragile seeming, 

 has simply sunk among the soft grass or moss, and 

 will shake itself into perfect form again as soon 

 as the pressure has passed, and it is lifted into air. 



I have seen a limb torn from the tough birch, 

 or a moorland pine uprooted, but I never saw a 

 hare bell crushed beyond the power of rising and 

 shaking out its creases again by anything lighter 

 than a cart-wheel ; and not always by that. 



This bell has no scent. No second inducement is 



