A GLANCE AT BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 



THE first flower I plucked in Britain was the 

 daisy, in one of the parks in Glasgow. The sward 

 had recently been mown, but the daisies dotted it as 

 thickly as stars. It is a flower almost as common as 

 the grass ; find a square foot of green sward any- 

 where, and you are pretty sure to find a daisy, prob- 

 ably several of them. Bairn wort, child's flower, 

 it is called in some parts, and its expression is 

 truly infantile. It is the favorite of all the poets, 

 and when one comes to see it he does not think it 

 has been a bit overpraised. Some flowers please us 

 by their intrinsic beauty of color and form ; others 

 by their expression of certain human qualities ; the 

 daisy has a modest, lowly, unobtrusive look that is 

 very taking. A little white ring, its margin unevenly 

 touched with crimson, it looks up at one like the eye 

 of a child. 



"Thou unassuming Commonplace 

 Of Nature, with that homely face, 

 And yet with something of a grace, 

 Which Love makes for thee ! " 



Not a little of its charm to an American is the 

 unexpected contrast it presents with the rank, coarse, 



