24 STORIES OF EARTH AND SKY 



Lily and the giant-leaved Caladiums that House 

 People are proud to plant in beds upon their 

 lawns. Besides these there are other brothers of 

 the home swamps, the pale wild Calla, the Golden 

 Club, and the Sweet Flag. Why, that pert young 

 fellow, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, is my very first cousin." 



" How interesting," said Anne, trying to re- 

 member all the names ; " Jack-in-the-Pulpit is a 

 great friend of mine. We have some lovely 

 Callas in the study window, too, and I can see 

 that your flowers are shaped something like theirs. 

 But the Calla leaves grow first and then the 

 flowers, while your flower comes up first. Why is 

 that?" 



" Listen, House Child. To us belongs a very 

 great honour. We open the Flower Market ; we 

 are the very first blossoms in it ; we give the Bees 

 messages to carry and something to pack in the 

 seed-lunch baskets even before Pussy-willow has 

 offered her grains of precious life dust. 



" To be first in the Flower Market we must not 

 waste time in growing leaves. We prepare for our 

 blooming far back in the old year. In autumn, 

 even, our flower buds are fashioned and hidden 

 down beneath the ground. This purple hood is 

 not the flower ; the flowers are huddled on the 

 fleshy spike within, close to the seed-lunch 



