THE WILD GARDEN. ^ 



And again in his " November " : 



"The blue gentian's flower that in the breeze 

 Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last." 



I have sincerely tried to verify these specific statements all 

 but the "nod" and must admit without success; but then per- 

 haps I have not yet happened to find that particular sunny slope 

 of Parnassus which the poet discovered all by himself. No, the 

 truth must be met though Pegasus foam and cavort with incense, 

 that of all her train the first flower that is planted in the watery 

 mould by the hands of Spring is the skunk -cabbage, and the 

 bees know it and gather sweets from it even though the poets 

 do not. The swamp -cabbage flower literally breaks the ice in 

 the reconciliation of the warring forces of Boreas and Phoebus. 

 But if the too fastidious must needs rule out this plebeian of the 

 bog simply because he does not appear to advantage in a button- 

 hole, what then? What a brood of wood blooms stand ready to 

 look down on him as they usurp his place ! The incomparable 

 arbutus, darling of the mould; the airy rue-anemone; the wind- 

 flower, with its white saucers or pink drooping bells ; the rock- 

 flower a tiny white boutonniere in itself ; the liverwort ; the 

 downy dwarf everlasting; the bloodroot, with ruddy pulse; the 

 squirrel-corn, redolent of hyacinth ; the colt'sfoot, with its ginger 

 roots, and the pale spring beauty, to say nothing of the whitlow- 

 flower and dandelion. Which one shall wear the stolen pennant? 

 What change of heart has now come over our beloved poet of 

 the violet? What is the testimony of his later years in his 

 "Winter Piece" as he seeks for the first heralds of spring? 



" Lodged in a sunny cleft 



Where the cold breezes come not, blooms alone 

 The little wind-flower, whose just opened eye 

 Is blue as the spring heaven it gazes at 

 Startling the loiterer in the naked groves 

 With unexpected beauty, for the time 

 Of blossoms and green leaves is yet afar." 



