262 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:6— Sept., 1918 



invigorating the system. It is used for horses also and made into 

 powders. The negroes really believe it will cure snake bites. 



The fringed gentian is the more beautiful of the flowers. It has 

 not only the wondrous gentian blue which Thoreau describes as 

 "such a dark blue! surpassing that of the male blackbird's back." 

 but the open fringed petals add exceeding delicacy and grace to its 

 splendor of color. 



If the season has been a mild one we shall find perhaps a few 

 blossoms lingering into November but the plant is probably 

 blighted by a severe frost, although Miss Emily Dickinson's little 

 poem forces another opinion: 



"But just before the snows 

 There came a purple creature 

 That ravished all the hill ; 

 And summer hid her forehead, 

 And mockery was still. 

 The frosts (?) her condition 

 The Tyrian would not come 

 Until the North evoked it 

 ' ' ' Creator ! Shall I bloom ? ' " 



The Deep Woods in September 



Eva Marian Provost 



Into the solemn mystery 

 One enters with softened tread ; 

 No shaft of gold from opulent sun 

 May shimmer down thru tall trees dim. 

 No murmur of wind to listening leaves, 

 E'en phrasing of birds is stilled. 

 But flash! along the twilight way, 

 The aster lifts a beauteous ray; 

 A star from heaven in earth ta'en root. 

 Dogwood spreads its berries blue 

 Orchid gleams upon our view 

 In velvet leaf and lip of pearl 

 Toadstool eerie with cap for faerie 

 From soft brown mold looks through. 

 Fanciful ferns 'gainst gray rock leaned 

 Bunch berry in scarlet dreamed. 

 The soul of the wood in ecstasy stood 

 And shared with me its hour 

 Of peace and joy and rich content 

 On God's world of quiet power. 



