The Music of the Marsh 



common name. Think what his flag symbolizes to 

 a man! It means so much that for it he severs 

 the dearest ties of earth, leaves a home of comfort 

 and faces untold hardships, exposes his body to 

 sickness, wounds, and many forms of death. For 

 it he sacrifices everything else on earth, yielding 

 with smiling lips life itself. 



So when the slender, exquisite leaves of the iris 

 waved on the free winds of the marsh with the 

 abandon and grace of a flag, some one caught the 

 resemblance, and to the symbol of eternal truth 

 was added that of liberty, and the rainbow lily be- 

 came the blue flag, the true flag. 



It is not alone in complicated arrangement of 

 parts to facilitate cross- fertilization. Many marsh 

 and swamp flowers have similar hearts, with much 

 sweetness as a lure, so that not only wild bees and 

 insects but many butterflies are constant visitors. 



Although this study was made on a roadside 

 flower, the black swallow-tail is a true marsh but- 

 terfly and beautiful above all others. The wing- A Butterfly 

 sweep is from three and a half to four inches, and Aristocrat 

 this is one of the few aristocrats of butterflydom, 

 because it bears trailed wings. These wings are 

 black above, with lines of yellow spots running 

 across them. They are lemon-yellow below, with 

 the row of spots showing through. The trailers 

 are black, touched with a stroke of strong yellow, 

 and the upper sides of the back pair of wings each 

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