LITERARY PILGRIMAGES 



in my regard comes next as a flower for Me- 

 morial Day. Hardly the violet could be more 

 modest. Its tiny spike of white bloom is borne 

 only a few inches high on a two-leaved stalk, 

 the leaves in shape and gloss reminding one 

 of the florist's smilax, whence probably the 

 name. Yet its very simplicity makes it peculiarly 

 a flower for garlands. The leaves, growing on 

 the stalk itself, make just the right amount of 

 green, and a nosegay or a wreath of smilacina 

 alone has a dainty beauty that few flowers could 

 thus give. The misty white blooms on the glossy 

 green seem like shattered tears of gentle spirits 

 of the woods bringing their tribute of sorrow to 

 the fallen heroes. Nor are the blooms of this 

 plant which the school children have gathered and 

 which the veterans have placed on the graves the 

 only ones that are there. All along one side of 

 this cemetery the woods themselves press their 

 sheltering beauty, and in them the earth is gar- 

 landed with smilacina blooms. Passing from 

 Memorial Day observances to these I often think 

 that the forest itself decorates in honor of its own 

 whose resting places would be otherwise un- 



