MARGUERITES AND POPPIES 87 



among the rest and have suffered no evil fate, 

 such as they would not be willing to dare again. 



Unlike the marguerite, they rebel against being 

 taken from their haunts. They will not be 

 abducted and carried over field, fence, and burn, 

 whether they will or no, and petted and enslaved 

 in a vase. They break away at the crossing of the 

 dyke, shake their petals free during the leap over 

 the ditch, or the stumble on the boulder ; and all 

 that appears at the end is that which raised them 

 from the ground. Of gipsy birth, and bred in the 

 open, they pine within the walls. 



There is no pleasanter feature in modern railway 

 management than the encouragement given to 

 good taste. This goes a little way to redeem the 

 frequent vandalism which offended the aesthetic 

 sense of Ruskin, and to soothe the irritation of 

 those who would have the rarer haunts of nature, 

 with their wild creatures and wild flowers, left 

 undisturbed. 



Stations, which were wont to be such ugly 

 breaks, are now more or less bright with gardens. 

 Nature has done the rest has taken charge of the 

 track, and changed raw piles of soil into flowery 

 ways. 



But there are limits in this direction. Nor, for 



