ACCORDING TO SEASON 



had "jammed," the iuzzy, whitish pyramids of the 

 meadow-sweet spired upward by the hundred. 



On the banks the blossoms of the fire-weed had 

 made way for the pink, slender pods which were 

 about to crack open, releasing cloudy masses of 

 silver-winged seeds. Great clusters of delicate 

 Osmunda ferns leaned over the water's edge. The 

 Turtle- tall stems and white, huddled flowers of the turtle- 

 head hardly succeeded in keeping out of the stream. 

 As a dark curve of shore swept in sight, against 

 its background of spruce, birch, hemlock, and 

 balsam-fir gleamed 



" The cardinal and the blood-red spots, 

 Its double in the stream." 



head 



flower 



In this flower seems to culminate the vivid beauty 

 Cardinal of the summer. Yet, despite its intense color, it 

 is so sure to choose a cool, rich setting that it 

 never suggests heat, as do the field flowers of the 

 earlier year. 



Many of the lily-pads had been turned over by 

 the swift current, or, perhaps, by a passing boat, 

 and showed the deep, polished pink of their lower 

 Water- sides. Thick among them floated their placid, 

 queenly flowers, with their green and pink-tinged 

 sepals, and their snowy petals which pass imper- 

 ceptibly into the centre of golden stamens. The 

 bright red twigs of the dog-wood, the coral clus- 



162 



lilies 



