^15^ (Tloon 



abundant sowing of stick- tights, tick -seeds, and 

 burdock burs. 



There is little beauty, fragrance, or even economic 

 value in this wild, overrunning host of thistles, docks, 

 daisies, plantains, yarrows, carrots, that now possess 

 the earth ; but when they crowd out along the dusty 

 roadsides and cover the sterile, neglected, and un- 

 sightly places, we can sing, like the good gray poet, 

 "the leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds" in 

 our "Song of Joys." 



There is certainly some praise due the chicory, 

 or blue corn-flower, for it is a waste transformer, a 

 "slummer" among flowers, if ever there was one. 

 Like the daisy, it is a foreigner ; but unlike the 

 daisy, its coming is wholly benevolent. It asks only 

 the roadsides, and for these along only the choked, 

 deserted stretches; and where the summer dust lies 

 deepest. Coarse, common, weedy, it doubtless is ; 

 but it never droops in the heat, and its blue shines 

 through the smother like azure through the mists of 

 the sky. 



The winds and the birds are the sowers of the 

 wayside, and to them I am indebted for this touch of 

 midsummer color. But they miss certain spots along 



157 



