186 WILD FLOWERS. 



And why are they precious? 



"Less that they are so beautiful, 

 Than that they are so plentiful, 

 So free for ever^ child to pull." 



MARY HOWITT. 



Herein the lady agrees with many others who 

 have written on this delightful subject ; as the 

 quotation at the head of our chapter well ex- 

 presses it, Wild Flowers are " the true Phi- 

 lanthropists of Nature ;" says another sweet 

 singer : 



"And then I love the Field Flowers, too, 



Because they are a blessing given 

 E'en to the poorest little one, 



Who wanders 'neath the vault of heaven j 

 The garden flowers are reared by few, 



And to that few belong alone ', 

 But flowers that spring by vale or stream, 

 Each one may claim them for hia own." 

 ^ ANNE PRATT. 



Besides their superior fragrance, to which we 

 shall presently make allusion, there is also 

 another reason named hy this author, for her 

 love of Wild Flowers ; we will give it, not in her 



