The Blue Flower Border 277 



He noted with delight the abundance of" that prin- 

 ciple which gives the air its azure color, which makes 

 the distant hills and meadows appear blue," the 

 "great blue presence" of Monadnock and Wachusett 

 with its "far blue eye." He loved Lowell's 



" Sweet atmosphere of hazy blue, 

 So leisurely, so soothing, so forgiving, 

 That sometimes makes New England fit for living." 



He revelled in the blue tints of water, of snow, of 

 ice ; in " the blueness and softness of a mild winter 

 day." The constant blueness of the sky at night 

 thrilled him with "an everlasting surprise," as did 

 the blue shadows within the woods and the blueness 

 of distant woods. How he would have rejoiced in 

 Monet's paintings, how true he would have found 

 their tones. He even idealized blueberries, "a very 

 innocent ambrosial taste, as if made of ether itself, as 

 they are colored with it." 



Thoreau was ever ready in thought of Proserpina 

 gathering flowers. He offers to her the Lupine, the 

 Blue-eyed Grass, and the Tufted Vetch, "blue, in- 

 clining in spots to purple"; it affected him deeply 

 to see such an abundance of blueness in the grass. 

 " Celestial color, I see it afar in masses on the hill- 

 side near the meadow — so much blue." 



I usually join with Thoreau in his flower loves; 

 but I cannot understand his feeling toward the blue 

 Flag; that, after noting the rich fringed recurved 

 parasols over its anthers, and its exquisite petals, that 

 he could say it is "a little too showy and gaudy, 

 like some women's bonnets." I note that when- 



