332 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



wild columbine that I had the happiness of seeing 

 this better flower in its green home, a spot where 

 it is, perhaps, more abundant than anywhere in 

 England; but the spot I will not name, nor even 

 the county; the locality is not given in the books 

 I have consulted, yet it is, alas! too well known 

 to many whose only pleasure in wild flowers is to 

 gather them greedily to see them die indoors. For 

 we live indoors and reck not that Nature is de- 

 flowered, so that we return with hands or arms full 

 of some new brightness to add to the decorations of 

 our interiors. 



Coming one May Day to a small rustic village, 

 I passed the schoolhouse just when the children 

 were trooping back in the afternoon, and noticed 

 that many of them were carrying bunches of 

 fritillaries. They told me where they had got 

 them, in a meadow by the neighbouring river; 

 then one little girl stepped forward and asked me 

 very prettily to accept her bunch. I took it and 

 gave her two or three pence, whereupon the other 

 children, disregarding the imperious calls of their 

 schoolmistress, who was standing outside, all 

 flocked round and eagerly pressed their nosegays 

 on me. But I had as many as I wanted; my 

 desire was to see the flower growing, so I went my 

 way and returned another day to look for the 

 favoured spot. I found it a mile from the village, 

 at a place where the lovely little river divides into 

 three or four, with long strips of greenest meadow- 

 land between the currents, with ancient pollard 



