AUGUST 



23 



CUVIEB, 1769. 



For the last two or three days, I have found 

 scattered stalks of the cardinal-flower, the gorgeous 

 scarlet of which it is a joy even to remember. The 

 world is made brighter and sunnier by flowers of 

 such a hue. Even perfume, which otherwise is the 

 soul and spirit of a flower, may be spared when it 

 arrays itself in this scarlet glory. It is a flower 

 of thought and feeling, too ; it seems to have its 

 roots deep down in the hearts of those who gaze at 

 it. Other bright flowers sometimes impress me as 

 wanting sentiment ; but it is not so with this. 



HAWTHORNE: American Note-Books. 



24 



Now we coasted along some shallow shore by 

 the edge of a dense palisade of bulrushes, which 

 straightly bounded the water as if clipped by art, 

 reminding us of the reed forts of the East-Indians 

 of which we had read ; and now the bank, slightly 

 raised, was overhung with graceful grasses and 

 various species of brake, whose downy stems stood 

 closely grouped and naked as in a vase, while their 

 heads spread several feet on either side. The dead 

 limbs of the willow were rounded and adorned by 

 the climbing mikania, which filled every crevice 

 in the leafy bank. 



THOREAU: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack 

 Rivers. 



