THE VERNAL GENTIAN 47 



See the Vernal Gentian as it lies thus bountifully- 

 set, a radiant blue carpet of heavenly intensity, 

 backed majestically by winter's receding snows 

 on mighty glacier and stupendous peak ; note its 

 myriad white-eyed, ccerulean blossoms over which 

 hover with tireless wing its faithful, eager friends, 

 the humming-bird and bee hawk-moths — the very 

 picture of security and peace amid a scene of 

 awful, threatening grandeur. Listen — listen, the 

 while, to the thunder coming from " the vexed 

 paths of the avalanches " ; listen to the sound of 

 falling rock and pine, and mark the great air-tossed 

 cloud of powdered snow ; listen to the alarm-cry 

 of the speckled mountain-jay, and to the shriek- 

 like warning of the marmot ; then tell me if there 

 is any other flower that could so well play the 

 part of hope-inspiring herald to a world as harassed 

 as is that of the Alps in the season that surrounds 

 the winter ? 



