In Lilac Tide 153 



" The Lilac bush, tall growing, with heart-shaped leaves of rich green, 

 With many a pointed blossom, rising delicate with the perfume 



strong I love. 

 With every leaf a miracle." 



Thomas William Parsons could turn from his 

 profound researches and loving translations of Dante 

 to write with deep sympathy of the Lilac. His verses 

 have to me an additional interest, since I believe 

 they were written in the house built by my ancestor 

 in 1740, and occupied still by his descendants. In 

 its front dooryard are Lilacs still standing under 

 the windows of Dr. Parsons' room, in which he 

 loved so to write. 



Hawthorne felt a sort of " ludicrous unfitness in 

 the idea of a time-stricken and grandfatherly Lilac 

 bush/' He was dissatisfied with aged Lilacs, though 

 he knew not whether his heart, judgment, or rural 

 sense put him in that condition. He felt the flower 

 should either flourish in immortal youth or die. 

 Apple trees could grow old and feeble without 

 his reproach, but an aged Lilac was improper. 



I fancy no one ever took any care of Lilacs in 

 an old garden. As soon water or enrich the 

 Sumach and Elder growing by the roadside ! But 

 care for your Lilacs nowadays, and see how they 

 respond. Make them a garden flower, and you will 

 never regret it. There be those who prefer grafted 

 Lilacs the stock being usually a Syringa ; they 

 prefer the single trunk, and thus get rid of the Lilac 

 suckers. But compare a row of grafted Lilacs to a 

 row of natural fastigate growth, as shown on page 

 220, and I think nature must be preferred. 



