MY REAL ESTATE. 17 



the summer ; and, loving the sun, have had 

 almost an excess of good fortune. With 

 such pampering, it is no wonder they grow 

 rank and coarse. They would be more 

 than human, I was going to say, if they 

 did not. It is left for stern winter's pro- 

 geny, the blossoms of early spring-time, 

 who struggle upward through the snow and 

 are blown upon by chilly winds, it is left 

 for these gentle creatures, at once so hardy 

 and so frail, to illustrate the sweet uses of 

 adversity. 



All in all, it was a motley company 

 which I beheld thus huddled together in 

 my speck of forest clearing. Even the 

 lands beyond the sea were represented, for 

 here stood mullein and yarrow, contesting 

 the ground with oaks and hickories. The 

 smaller wood flowers were not wanting, of 

 course, though none of them were now in 

 bloom. Pyrola and winter - green, violets 

 (the common blue sort and the leafy- 

 stemmed yellow), strawberry and five-finger, 

 saxifrage and columbine, rock -rose and 

 bed-straw, self - heal and wood - sorrel, 

 these, and no doubt many more, were there, 

 filling the chinks otherwise unoccupied. 



