OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS 



indefatigable also and extraordinarily courageous. It would 

 appear desirable were it less lavish. These two, with the help 

 of a few craftier strangers and of the plants with coloured 

 leaves that form those swollen mosaics which at present spoil 

 the fair lines of most of our lawns, these two have gradually 

 ousted their native sisters from the spots which these had so 

 long brightened with their familiar smiles. They no longer 

 have the right to receive the guest with artless little cries of 

 welcome at the gilded gates of the mansion. They are for- 

 bidden to prattle near the steps, to twitter in the marble vases, 

 to hum their tune around the fountains, to lisp their dialect 

 along the borders. A few of them have been relegated to the 

 kitchen-garden, in the neglected, but delightful corner oc- 

 cupied by the aromatic plants and simples : the Sage, the Tar- 

 ragon, the Fennel and the Thyme, old retainers, they too dis- 

 missed from service and merely pensioned through a sort of 

 pity or mechanical tradition. Others have taken refuge by 

 the stables and the coach-house, near the low door of the 

 kitchen or the cellar, where they crowd humbly like impor- 

 tunate beggars, hiding their bright dresses among the weeds 

 and holding in their timid perfumes as best they may, so as 

 not to attract attention. 



[179] 



