124 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



to treat them with special deference ; and though 

 we will not, cannot deny the Balsam, or the 

 Tropeolum, or the Cactus Dahlia our loudest 

 acclamations ; though we keep for these and such- 

 like products of cultivation a proud place in our 

 affections, hailing them as familiars allied most 

 intimately to our ordinary, worldly natures, — 

 though, I say, we hold this grosser, gaudier 

 vegetation with loving tenacity to our hearts, yet 

 is our rarer self in instant touch with these Alpine 

 wild-flowers, and, as it were, conducts them 

 honourably to a shrine apart. 



The Aster and the Edelweiss are now in bloom 

 above us, and we are " list'ning with nice distant 

 ears " to the chime of the cattle-bells, wind-wafted 

 from the higher pastures, half wishing it were our 

 business to climb. We could, if we would, be 

 again with the youth of the year ; for one of the 

 delightful possibilities of Alpine residence is to be 

 able to follow spring and summer well into the 

 heart of autumn. But this year we dare not ; 

 our task is to watch these half-way fields to the 

 end of the floral seasons. Nor is our lot a hard 

 one. Though flower-land hereabouts is now nearly 

 a dream of yesterday, yet have we much that can 



