MARCH 



35 



pencil. All these plants are slowly march- 

 ing down to wrest the land from the lake. 

 It is true, no one plant ever moves, but it 

 will be found each year that the new plants 

 of each kind are growing a little farther 

 forward and that they keep steadily on, 

 always preserving the regular order of their 

 march. An observing and quick-witted 

 companion of many of my earlier walks 

 used to speak of the skunk-cabbage, and 

 its two close allies, the calla and the Jack- 

 in-the-pulpit, as "the aristocrat, the hypo- 

 crite, and the prodigal son." The fashion- 

 able associations of the haughty calla made 

 its name most appropriate; Jack stands 

 constantly in his pulpit, but those who 

 know him to the very bottom know he is a 

 most peppery fellow; while the skunk- 

 cabbage has associated so long with the 

 swine as to carry a most unsavory odor. 

 Under the circumstances, one is scarcely 

 surprised that its doubtful fragrance should 

 not suit our perhaps rather fastidious sense 

 of smell. But there are animals other than 

 ourselves that certainly enjoy it. Our honey- 



