VIII 

 FLOWERS AND INSECTS 



DID it ever come into your head that 

 you were going to like something from 

 merely hearing its name ? When I was 

 convalescing from an illness in my youth 

 it occurred to me that I wanted a charlotte 

 russe. I had never seen or tasted one of 

 those confections ; 1 hardly knew it from an 

 oyster; but I longed for it because I did. 

 Invalids have that privilege. My parents 

 went to a baker and had one made. It 

 was one quart in content, and I ate it 

 greedily to the last crumb, and have never 

 cared much for charlotte russe since. 

 Sometimes this gustatory exploit recurs 

 to me when I find myself desiring with an 

 equal ardor of sympathy or curiosity to 

 own some object of natural interest or 



beauty. There was a crystal of epidote, 



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