82 AN ISLAND GARDEN 



is as bright and strong to-day as yesterday. . . . 

 What outline its petals really have is little shown 

 in their crumpled fluttering, but that very crum- 

 pling arises from a fine floral character which 

 we do not enough value in them. We usually 

 think of a Poppy as a coarse flower ; but it is the 

 most transparent and delicate of all the blossoms 

 of the field. The rest, nearly all of them, de- 

 pend on the texture of their surfaces for color. 

 But the Poppy is painted glass; it never glows 

 so brightly as when the sun shines through it. 

 Wherever it is seen, against the light or with the 

 light, always it is a flame, and warms the wind 

 like a blown ruby. . . . Gather a green Poppy 

 bud, just when it shows the scarlet line at its side, 

 break it open and unpack the Poppy. The whole 

 flower is there complete in size and color, its 

 stamens full grown, but all packed so closely that 

 the fine silk of the petals is crushed into a million 

 of wrinkles. When the flower opens, it seems a 

 relief from torture; the two imprisoning green 

 leaves are shaken to the ground, the aggrieved 

 corolla smooths itself in the sun and comforts it- 

 self as best it can, but remains crushed and hurt 

 to the end of its days." 



I know of no flower that has so many charm- 

 ing tricks and manners, none with a method of 

 growth more picturesque and fascinating. The 

 stalks often take a curve, a twist from some cur- 

 rent of air or some impediment, and the fine 

 stems will turn and bend in all sorts of graceful 

 ways, but the bud is always held erect when the 

 time comes for it to blossom. Ruskin quotes 



