ever so many grappling hooks to hold it 

 up, but are you quite sure that any plant 

 steals its living?" 



"Certainly I am. Have you not often 

 seen parasites ? Some Orchids belong to 

 this class of thieves. You have often 

 noticed the Dodder, or 'love-thread;' 

 Fve seen you trying your fortune with 

 it by throwing it backward over your 

 head. If the Dodder caught upon a 

 bush and lived, the sign was that he 

 loved you ; but, if it fell in the dust, or 

 died upon the bush, then alas, he pre- 

 ferred another to you." 



"How does Aunt Jane find out every- 

 thing?" whispered Bird to Madge. "I 

 don't know, but she does," was the low 

 response. 



"The Dodder has no leaves, because 

 it needs none, as it does not prepare its 

 food, but it takes it from another plant. 

 The Mistletoe is something of a parasite 

 also, though it retains its leaves, and — " 



"I do wish you would tell us what is 

 the most interesting flower you know of," 

 interrupted Birdie. 



"That will be hard to do. Let me 

 think. Perhaps I may as well say the 

 'Christmas Snow Flower.'" 



"Snow flower!" reiterated the chil- 

 dren; "where in the world does a snow 

 flower grow?" 



"It grows upon the drear, snow-cov- 

 ered pe^ks of the Siberian Mountains, 

 and only blooms at Christmas time. The 

 flower is said to last but a day and night, 

 and then melts away with the snowy 



flakes. This flower would do very well 

 for a poem — a far better subject than the 

 cruel 'Drosera.' " 



"Tell us what the poets say about flow- 

 ers," begged Alice. "I know the Violet 

 was Shakespeare's favorite, and the 

 Daisy was loved by Chaucer." "No, 

 no," objected the boys, "tell us some 

 fables about flowers. You can get in a 

 story if you will." 



"If there were time we might con- 

 sider the romance which clings to the 

 Thistle, and become acquainted with the 

 curious history of the 'Broom Plant,' the 

 'Shamrock,' and other flowers used as 

 national or historic emblems." 



"Do tell us about the 'Broom Plant.' " 

 cried Edith, "for I always thought 

 Plantagenet came from broom — a com- 

 mon, old sweeping broom — and often 

 wondered why a dynasty of sovereigns 

 would take such a name ; I never thought 

 that 'broom' meant a flower." 



Every one laughed at Edith's mistake, 

 and Aunt Jane said: "As regards the 

 fables of the flowers the boys ask for, I 

 wonder if you know how curiously the 

 Forget-me-not received its name, and 

 how the blood of — 



*Ajax tinged the Hyacinths'?" 



"No; tell us; tell us," clamored all 

 voices. 



"There! I hear the tea-bell ringing. 

 We must leave the 'Curious Fables of 

 the Flowers' until some other time." 

 Belle Paxson Drury. 



128 



