Songs of the Fields 



later in beautiful heart-shaped design, and the 

 flowers are replaced by long, wine-red seed pods. 

 The tiny blooms are shaped like the separate flow- 

 ers of a locust spray, and of a shade our mothers 

 spoke of as red analine. The blunt point of the 

 bloom once was called a "pink tinted tear" by a 

 poet, and this color flushes stronger until it be- 

 comes a deep magenta at the base, while the cup 

 that holds it is reddish-brown. 



This shade must be the rarest in all God's work- 

 shop, because He uses it so very sparingly. It is 

 found on flower faces and in nature less often than 

 any other. How He prizes it is proven by its ap- 

 pearance among the very first, at a time when we 

 are eager for the color and perfume of spring. 

 Our grandmothers taught us to love it on the pe- 

 tunia faces bordering olden flow r er beds. I de- 

 lighted in it early on the Easter eggs my mother 

 colored for me. It is one of the most ancient and 

 popular of manufactured colors, chosen for re- 

 production, without a doubt, because nature is so 

 miserly in its use; for only in hints and sugges- 

 tions does it fleck the face of creation. First w r e 

 see it on the redbud beside the river. Then as 

 the poke berry matures it stripes the thrifty stem 

 with gorgeous color to attract the bibulous cedar 

 bird. In mid-summer you find hints of it on way- 

 side blazing star, and in the fall New York asters 

 and ironw-ort suggest it in their bloom. 

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