AUGUST 



13 



Nothing that May puts into her lap is more ex- 

 quisite than are the purple gerardias with which 

 August and September embroider the pasture and 

 the woodland road. They have not the sweet 

 breath of the arbutus, nor even the faint elusive 

 odor of the violet, but for daintiness of form, per- 

 fection of color, and gracefulness of habit it would 

 be impossible to praise them too highly. Of our 

 three species, my own favorite is the one of the 

 narrow leaves (Gerardia tenuifolia), its longer and 

 slighter flower-stems giving it an airiness and grace 

 peculiarly its own. 



TOKREY: The Foot-Path Way. 



14 



Might we not have more confidential relations 

 with the Lake, more official knowledge, if we tried 

 to get our living therefrom ? The sandpiper has 

 this advantage over us. He runs like a fly along 

 the wet sand, his line of travel a series of scallops 

 bounded by the coming and receding of the waves. 

 Sometimes, " for fun," he lets the water overtake 

 and wash around his slender legs. He runs well, 

 but cannot maintain a graceful standing position ; 

 for he seems to have the centre of gravity mis- 

 placed, always nodding and swaying (tip-up, tee- 

 ter), as though shaken by the wind, or troubled 

 with a St. Vitus's dance. 



EDITH M. THOMAS: The Round Year. 



