184 MY GARDEN 



or amethyst. How delicious she would have looked, 

 with the tears in her lovely eyes, and her hair of spun 

 gold glittering down over those scarlet leaves ! Even 

 as a small boy I never liked much to consider the 

 cherubim with their flaming swords. Think of bully- 

 ing the first woman ! Picture her dewy loveliness 

 and her broken heart at the moment of expulsion 

 from the only home she had ever known. Why, 

 they ought to have tumbled over one another to 

 rush and comfort her ! No, the cherubim may have 

 had excellent qualities, but chivalry was not one of 

 them. As a reigning monarch is reported to have 

 said of another, so we may assert of the cherub : that 

 he is a very good fellow, but, unfortunately, not a 

 gentleman. 



From a group of yuccas, which led to "Adam's 

 needle " and so to this reflection, we pass without 

 prolonged exercise to my red rockery. Here dwell 

 the things that love partial shade, and are happiest 

 when the sun is veiled from them. Having gazed 

 upon them at dawn, he swiftly passes by, and for 

 the rest of the twenty-four hours does not directly 

 regard them. 



Three of the perennial poppy folk first occur to 

 me: stylophorum diphyllum, the two-leaved celandine 

 poppy ; sanguinaria canadensis, the bloodroot ; and 

 eomecon chionanthus, the cyclamen poppy. Of these, 

 the first has handsome foliage and a fine yellow 

 bloom ; the second is a fairy thing, pure white, 

 and like a pigeon's egg in the bud. It opens into 

 a star, and springs singly above the glaucous leaf 



