tific world, and the common name reveals its 

 THE GARDEN , ... , . 



relation to humanity. 



The common names show what the flowers 

 have been to man. How exquisitely poetic 

 many of them are ! The Easter Lily, the Violet, 

 Bluebell, Blue Speedwell, Forget-me-not, But- 

 tercup, Snowdrop, Lily of the Valley, Poet's 

 Narcissus, Sweet William, Carnation "to tell 

 their names is to recite a poem of grace and 



light." 



What a story these names tell of a "long 

 human past behind them"! How affection- 

 ately they are named! The whole vocabulary 

 is filled with sentiment in which love delights. 



The reality in it all is seen in a fact as old as 

 man and as deep as life the fact of the in- 

 fluence of nature upon the heart of man. It 

 springs from a sense of the inner life of things 

 and of our relations with them. 



Thoreau says that there is a flower for every 

 mood of the mind. He means, I think, not only 

 that every flower in some way answers to 

 something in the soul of man, but that every 



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