1 6 A WHITE-PAPER GARDEN 



There is but one flower for the Garden of 

 the Month of the Cold Moon, and that is the 

 Christmas rose, or hellebore. In seedsmen's 

 lists it is mainly conspicuous by its absence, 

 and it really belongs only in gardens where 

 Tradition loves to gather her treasures about 

 her. Protected by the leathery curtains of its 

 strong leaves, the pink buds begin to show 

 themselves in November. Persisting through 

 the most discouraging frosts and rains, the 

 blossoms unfold about Yuletide. White, as 

 becomes a snow-flower ; with a heart of pale 

 gold stamens, and a flush as of dawn, the 

 flowers are as beautiful as if May winds had 

 blown their petals apart. True children of 

 the cold, they must be left in the open, since 

 they pine and blacken in captive air. 



The whole garden is incomplete unless there 

 be snow the soft, light snow, the swarming 

 white bees! everywhere, and bends every bough 

 and covers everything with its pure mantle. 

 Then when the sun shines as it loves to shine, 

 when the cold has freed the air from dampness, 

 when the frost flowers lie light and sparkling, 

 when blue and mournful shadows are cast by 

 every grass blade, as well as by every tree bole, 



