FLOWERS AND INSECTS 133 



portant, and arose to a certain arboreal 

 dignity. Its clusters of yellow and orange 

 blossoms always drew the eye from the 

 window the back one, of course ; for 

 there 's a big difference between the front 

 and the back view, even when the yard is in 

 its winter burial of manure and snow. The 

 front view bespeaks artifice, restraint, and 

 the maker of them man. The back view 

 is just a peep at the page of nature. We 

 cannot cut the leaves, or get the covers wide 

 apart in the yard, but we can read a com- 

 forting sentence or two. We can't raise 

 anything in our strip of front yard : Mrs. 

 Mulcahey's goats from the next street 

 don't allow it. 



Every year's experience with plants con- 

 firms one in respect for their courage, reso- 

 lution, and vitality. They ask only half a 

 show, unless they are pampered children 

 of the tropics. I put out our sick arau- 

 caria to die, for it had been hurt by the 

 carelessness of a servant and was dropping 

 its branches. I was assured that there was 

 no help for it. Pulling it out of its pot, I 

 thrust it negligently into the nearly worth- 



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