THE STRANGE STORY OF THE 

 FLOWERS 



George Iles 



[From "The Wild Flowers of America," copyright by 

 3-. H. Buek &.Co., New York, 1894, by their kind permission. 

 The American edition is out of print: the Canadian edition, 

 "Wild Flowers of Canada," is published by Graham & Co., 

 Montreal, Canada. The work describes and illustrates in 

 their natural tints nearly three hundred beautiful flowers.] 



Imagine a Venetian doge, a French crusader, 

 a courtier of the time of the second Charles, 

 an Ojibway chief, a Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, in the formal black of evening dress, 

 and how much each of them would lose ! Where 

 there is beauty, strength or dignity, dress can 

 heighten it; where all these are lacking, their 

 absence is kept out of mind by raiment in itself 

 worthy to be admired. If dress artificial has 

 told for much in the history of human-kind, 

 dress natural has told for yet more in the lesser 

 world of plant and insect life. In some d 

 the tiny folk that reign in the air, like ourselves, 

 are drawn by grace of form, by charm of colour; 

 of elaborate display of their attractions moths, 

 butterflies and beetles are just as fond as any 

 belles of the ball-room. Now let us bear in 

 mind that of all the creatures that share the 

 earth with man. the one that stands next to 

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