AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS 15 



and there before you. The robin, the sparrow, and 

 the bluebird are building their first nests, and the 

 first shad are making their way slowly up the Hud- 

 son. Indeed, the season is fairly under way when 

 the trailing arbutus comes. Now look out for 

 troops of boys and girls going to the woods to gather 

 it! and let them look out that in their greed they 

 do not exterminate it. Within reach of our large 

 towns, the choicer spring wild flowers are hunted 

 mercilessly. Every fresh party from town raids 

 them as if bent upon their destruction. One day, 

 about ten miles from one of our Hudson River 

 cities, there got into the train six young women 

 loaded down with vast sheaves and bundles of 

 trailing arbutus. Each one of them had enough for 

 forty. They had apparently made a clean sweep of 

 the woods. It was a pretty sight, — the pink and 

 white of the girls and the pink and white of the 

 flowers ! and the car, too, was suddenly filled with 

 perfume, — the breath of spring loaded the air ; but 

 I thought it a pity to ravish the woods in that way. 

 The next party was probably equally greedy, and, 

 because a handful was desirable, thought an armful 

 proportionately so ; till, by and by, the flower will 

 be driven from those woods. 



Another flower that one makes special excursions 

 for is the pond-lily. The pond-lily is a star, and 

 easily takes the first place among lilies ; and the ex- 

 peditions to her haunts, and the gathering her where 

 she rocks upon the dark secluded waters of some 

 pool or lakelet, are the crown and summit of the 



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