130 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



they look so well as among the grain. It would 

 almost seem as if they were aware of this. For 

 most of them refuse to wander, seem nervous to 

 approach even the margin of the field, and are 

 seldom surprised far away. If odd ones appear 

 here and there, it is only for a season ; and, being 

 annuals all of them, no progeny seems to be left. 

 Cornflowers appear in the wilds seldomer even than 

 cultivated plants, and are much more reluctant to 

 settle there. 



In the gardens to which, because of their 

 brightness, they are often transported against their 

 will by the injudicious, they have already lost 

 half of their charm for lack of environment. The 

 gaiety with which they laughed among the corn, 

 or peeped through between the heads, or re- 

 joiced as they rose and fell on the billows of light 

 and shadow, and hailed one another over the field, 

 is all gone. As well take one of the village 

 maidens and place her in a drawing-room. 



Golden handfuls are passed down to the children. 



But the best is yet to come the cornflower par 

 excellence, which makes the autumn fields a joy 

 and a memory. 



Poppies ! Poppies ! 



Not wayside poppies, not shabby poppies, not 



