THE PROCESSION OF THE FLOWERS 49 
way for the year’s decline. A wealth of gor- 
geous Goldenrod waves over all the hills, and 
enriches every bouquet one gathers; its bright 
colors command the eye, and it is graceful as 
anelm. Fitly arranged, it gives a bright relief 
to the superb beauty of the Cardinal Flowers, 
the brilliant blue-purple of the Vervain, the 
pearl-white of the Life-Everlasting, the delicate 
lilac of the Monkey Flower, the soft pink and 
white of the Spiraeas, — for the white yet lin- 
gers, — all surrounded by trailing wreaths of 
blossoming Clematis. 
But the Cardinal Flower is best seen by 
itself, and, indeed, needs the surroundings of its 
native haunts to display its fullest beauty. Its 
favorite abode is along the dank, mossy stones 
of some black and winding brook, shaded with 
overarching bushes, and running one long 
stream of scarlet with these superb occupants. 
It seems amazing how anything so brilliant can 
mature in such a darkness. When a ray of 
sunlight strays in upon it, the bright creature 
seems to hover on the stalk ready to take 
flight, like some lost tropic bird. There is a 
spot whence J have in ten minutes brought away 
as many as I could hold in both arms, some 
bearing fifty blossoms on a single stalk ; and I 
could not believe that there was such another 
mass of color in the world. Nothing cultivated 
