310 A TOUK ROUND MY GARDEN. 



to the royalty over nature which he attributes to himself,- 

 asks himself what is the use of certain plants which he cannot 

 eat, or of certain animals which eat him ; and in his hypocri- 

 tical submission to the decrees of Providence, imagines that 

 these animals, or these plants, contain for him some concealed 

 utility, which he seeks with pertinacity, and hopes some day 

 to discover. 



He would avoid racking his brain on the subject, if he 

 would but renounce the foolish pride which makes him believe 

 that he is the centre and the aim of all that exists. The 

 bulbs of the colchicum, which are mortal to man and cattle, 

 are eagerly sought for by moles, those subterranean travellers, 

 who consider them as the best and most wholesome food for 

 their young. 



Here is, however — for the truth must be told in a journey 

 like mine, — ^here is a plant that no insect, no animal attacks ; 

 it is the paguerette, or Easter daisy, that ornament of the 

 fields, with golden disc and rays of silver, spread in such pro- 

 fusion at our feet j nothing is so humble, nothing is so much 

 respected. 



There are other daisies, calm autumn flowers, called China 

 asters. Around their yellow disc they exhibit rays of all 

 the shades of rose and violet, sometimes white, or white 

 and violet, or white and rose-coloured; it is a rich but melan- 

 choly flower. It is, beyond contradiction, the most beautiful 

 of the asters; a femily which, with the chrysanthemums, 

 completes the rich coronet of the year. 



The aster came to us from China about a hundred years ago. 



