WILD PASTURES 



final. The scientists of the not very re- 

 mote past have known so much that is 

 not so! 



It is possible that, just as a hunting- 

 dog picks up a scent that is strong in 

 his nostrils and has no power in ours, 

 so the flowers that we call scentless 

 send out an odor too faintly fine for our 

 senses, yet one that the antennae of 

 moth or bee may entangle as it passes 

 and hold for a certain clue. Perhaps 

 the scents that are only faint to us carry 

 far for the butterfly, but if so, and if 

 flower perfumes are made only for the 

 calling of insects, why need they be made 

 so intoxicating to the human senses? 

 The scent of carnations is as pleasing 

 to the soul as a strain of beautiful 

 music, and equally arouses high aspira- 

 tions and noble longings. So to me the 

 odor of the clethra at nightfall is a 

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