CHAPTER XXI 



FLOWERS OF MYSTERY 



'* Let thy upsoaring vision range at large 

 This garden through : for so by ray divine 

 Kindled, thy ken a magic flight shall mount." 



— Cary's Translation of Dante. 



OGIES and fairies, a sense of eeri- 

 ness, came to every garden-bred 

 child of any imagination in connec- 

 tion with certain flowers. These 

 flowers seemed to be regarded thus 

 through no special rule or reason. 

 With some there may have been 

 slight associations with fairy lore, or medicinal usage, 

 or a hint of meretriciousness. Sometimes the 

 child hardly formulated his thought of the flower, 

 vet the dread or dislike or curiosity existed. My 

 own notions were absolutely baseless, and usually 

 absurd. I doubt if we communicated these fancies 

 to each other save in a few cases, as of the Monk's- 

 hood, when we had been warned that the flower was 

 poisonous. 



I have read with much interest Dr. Forbes Wat- 

 son's account of plants that filled his childish mind 

 with mysterious awe and wonder ; among them were 



2 F 433 



