VIII 

 TULIPS 



I BEGIN to fear that those who have borne with me 

 through all my ramblings will have found by now 

 that I have many favourite flowers, and in truth 

 I must confess that I do love them all as their 

 seasons come round. It is strangely true that 

 when their period of perfection is over I do not 

 find myself regretting their loss in fair proportion 

 to the amount of pleasure their arrival gave me. 

 This is due to the generous way in which Nature 

 replaces with careful regularity one passing floral 

 joy with others which seem at first to be greater 

 ones. It really is not so, her gifts are all equally 

 beautiful, but mortals have a tendency to forget 

 everything which is not with them, and even flowers 

 pass quickly out of mind. 



All Tulips are beautiful, from the early Due van 

 Thols to the latest Darwins, but when a florist sees 

 the first batch of Darwin or May flowering Tulips, 



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