420 Old Time Gardens 



Lander's, written from Florence in regard to a 

 friend's garden : 



" I like white flowers better than any others ; they re- 

 semble fair women. Lily, Tuberose, Orange, and the 

 truly English Syringa are my heart's delight. I do not 

 mean to say that they supplant the Rose and Violet in my 

 affections, for these are our first loves, before we grew too 

 fond of considering ; and too fond of displaying our acquaint- 

 ance with others of sounding titles." 



In Japan, where flowers have rank, white flowers 

 are the aristocrats. I deem them the aristocrats in 

 the gardens of the Occident also. 



Having been informed of Tennyson's dislike of 

 white flowers, I have amused myself by trying to dis- 

 cover in his poems evidence of such aversion. I 

 think one possibly might note an indifference to 

 white blossoms; but strong color sense, his love of 

 ample and rich color, would naturally make him 

 name white infrequently. A pretty line in Walking 

 to the Mail tells of a girl with " a skin as clean and 

 white as Privet when it flowers " ; and there were 

 White Lilies and Roses and milk-white Acacias in 

 Maud's garden. 



In The Last Tournament the street- ways are de- 

 picted as hung with white samite, and " children sat 

 in white," and the dames and damsels were all 

 " white-robed in honor of the stainless child." A 

 " swarthy one " cried out at last : 



" The snowdrop only, flowering thro' the year, 

 Would make the world as blank as wintertide. 



