THE JUNE MEADOWS 75 



singles out the Lily at once, though it be close 

 beside the exquisite white Marguerite ; and one's 

 heart goes out to it, above its companions, as a 

 thing of greater breeding — a thing taking rank 

 with any Loelia or Dendrobium. 



A cat is not a horse because it is born in 

 a stable ; and all Alpines are not of the same 

 caste because they are born in the Alps. Among 

 things Alpine, as among things of the plain, 

 there is degree in attainment. Some things 

 have had occasion to travel along lines that 

 have led them to greater refinement than others 

 — just as man, himself, is evidently the product 

 of particular occasion for such travel. We cannot 

 blink ourselves to the fact that there are weeds 

 even among the Alpines — though there are not 

 so many as 280, the number said to exist in 

 England. 



Degree in refinement is, perhaps, to some extent 

 indicated by the way a plant will take care of 

 itself. All plants have some means of fending for 

 themselves, and these means are as varied in 

 morality as are such means among human beings. 

 Some are born fighters, brazen, pushing, and 

 quarrelsome ; others win through life by com- 

 parative self-effacement. Some elbow their way 



