'i? MODERN PANSY CULTURE 161 



faces'* we now see in some varieties of pansies 

 the quaintest countenances, some smiling, others 

 almost grotesque. No one can fail to detect the 

 Russian peasant faces among them. Thus 

 pansies are the most human of all flowers. As 

 Harriet Keeler has put it, "The bright, cheerful, 

 wistful, or roguish faces look up at you with so 

 much apparent intelligence that it is hard to 

 believe it is all a pathetic fallacy and there is 

 nothing there." 



A born flower lover does not need to know the 

 genealogical details regarding the modern high- 

 bred pansy to be enthralled by its beauty. Yet, 

 if you are a bom flower lover, you will admit that 

 your interest is increased by a knowledge of these 

 details. You will certainly, if you know them, 

 peruse the pansy pages in your seed catalogue 

 with increased interest in making your selections. 



Unless you have a very large garden and 

 plenty of gardeners, or wish to specialize in 

 pansies, you will hardly find it worth while to 

 buy individual varieties separately. The best 

 mixtures sold by seedsmen who have a reputa- 

 tion to maintain usually include the best vari- 

 eties. These mixtures of the choicest up-to- 

 date pansies are rather expensive; but to buy 

 cheap pansy seeds is about as wise as buying the 

 cheapest medicines you can get when you are ill. 

 The finest pansies are, in the seedsmen's jargon, 

 "shy seeders." Among humans it is the same way 

 — ^proletarians usually have the larger families. 



