XII 

 MIDSUMMER POMPS 



A^J I sat in my garden one fine evening in late June 

 of the year just gone, my eye wandered over 

 near-by heads of pale-pink peonies, and beyond 

 other white ones, to a distant corner where a rather 

 unusual color effect had appeared. At the back 

 of this flower group was a tall dark-blue del- 

 phinium, name unknown; to the right stood the 

 charming one La France, its round flowerets set 

 thickly and evenly up the stem, their general 

 tone a pale pinkish-mauve. Directly below La 

 France the fingered stems of the lovely perennial 

 foxglove, Digitalis ambigua, were to be seen. Be- 

 side the buff foxglove masses of the purple-blue 

 Campanula persicifolia, erect and delicate, had 

 place, and the foremost flowers of the group were 

 gay single pyre thrums, with a high light in the 

 presence of a few of the common white daisies. 

 In the warm evening light the flowers seemed to 

 take on a new aspect. The blue of the tall lark- 

 spur spires had acquired a translucent quality; 



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