CHAPTER X 



THE CHARM OF COLOR 



How strange are the freaks of memory, 



The lessons of life we forget. 

 While a trifle, a trick of color, 



In the wonderful web is set." 



JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 



HE quality of charm in color is 

 most subtle ; it is like the human 

 attribute known as fascination, 

 " whereof," says old Cotton 

 Mather, " men have more Ex- 

 perience than Comprehension." 

 Certainly some alliance of color with a form suited 

 or wonted to it is necessary to produce a gratifica- 

 tion of the senses. Thus in the leaves of plants 

 every shade of green is pleasing ; then why is there 

 no charm in a green flower ? The green of Migno- 

 nette bloom would scarcely be deemed beautiful 

 were it not for our association of it with the deli- 

 cious fragrance. White is the absence of color. In 

 flowers a pure chalk-white, and a snow-white (which 

 is bluish) is often found ; but more frequently the 

 white flower blushes a little, or is warmed with 

 yellow, or has green veins. 



Where green runs into the petals of a white 

 flower, its beauty hangs by a slender thread. If 



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