SEPTEMBER 207 



some of those beautiful bouquets of gold " that 

 he went back to the forbidden spot for the 

 third time ; for the third time he fell in, after 

 which he was sentenced to bed. 



"And what do you think I dreamed? Of 

 my yellow irises, pardi! In a beautiful stream 

 which wound about the farmhouse, limpid, 

 transparent, azured like the fountains of 

 Vaucluse, I saw magnificent tufts of great 

 green flags which flaunted in the air ; a veri- 

 table kingdom of flowers of gold. Dragon- 

 flies with blue silk wings alighted on them, 

 and I swam about nude in the laughing water. 

 I seized the fair-haired fleurs-de-lis by handsful, 

 by double handsful, and by armsful, but the 

 faster I plucked the faster they grew." 



What could be more charming than that 

 phrase "the fair-haired fleurs-de-lis"? 



There is a shrubby tree which would be 

 glorious in June, when it hangs out long 

 clusters of yellow papilionaceous flowers. In 

 Austria they call it the golden rain perhaps 

 remembering how 



" Danae in her tower 

 Where no love was, loved a shower." 



There are also tall composites which make 



