HERBS O' GRACE 149 



clusters are grayish white at a distance, showing many 

 fairy flowers on close acquaintance. Frequently the gray 

 blossoms are tinged with a rosy hue like the blush of 

 dawn. 



At the foot of its taller companions the pearly ever- 

 lasting establishes little communities of its own which are 

 not to be driven out by ordinary means. Overshadowing 

 it, black-eyed Susan twists its yellow-frilled ruff on its 

 long neck, looking across to the spikes of blue vervain, 

 bluer than a rain-washed sky of May. Bouncing Bet in 

 her primal days must have hung over the gate by the 

 light of the moon, for along country ways, if she is no- 

 where else to be found, you will surely spy her ruffled cap 

 under the shadows of a fence post or assembled just with- 

 out a gate. 



Late August shows few lingerers from the wild carrot, 

 the queen's lace handkerchief from field-flower comedy. 

 Its prettiness has given place to the milkweeds, many of 

 which seem frail enough to vanish with the evening 

 breeze. 



At the very margin of the wayside, where the wheels 

 cut furrows in the sod, the mullein sets out its rosettes of 

 silver-gray velvet leaves, and from the midst of such royal 

 furnishing rises the tall stem adorned with velvet ears and 

 lightened by pale yellow blossoms. 



Another distinguished plant just now is the evening 

 primrose, modest in its sunny color; and, should the high- 



