MARGUERITES AND POPPIES 83 



The bank wooed me. I lay down on the slope. 

 The fair heads bent over to whisper to me. The 

 light was magic. It was like spending an hour 

 among the fairies. It has seemed so ever since 

 a dream of love, purer and rarer than human ! 



This fair flower passed through a season of 

 neglect. It is not so very long, not much more 

 than a decade, since the marguerite was taken 

 notice of in Scotland. Years had it grown on the 

 same banks, and in equal abundance ; but gatherers 

 passed by on the other side. Nor would the plea 

 for a place beside the others in their basket have 

 been listened to. 



It was known as the horse-gowan. " Horse " is 

 used for all coarse overgrown things, where there 

 is another and daintier of the same kind. The 

 go wan was the daisy; and the horse-gowan was 

 fit only to be cut down with the scythe, and, 

 together with the national emblem the thistle 

 presented to the jackass. It may be that some 

 Maud Muller picked it out from amid the con- 

 fusion of green stems at the haying-time ; but that 

 was only her rustic taste. It may be that some 

 strangers passing on horseback paused to look ; 

 but that was only at the pretty face. 



It is quite wonderful how rapidly the aesthetic 



