Why is a Weedl 



is a creeping "weed" that bears a tiny 

 purple flower, just as perfect of its 

 type as the lobelia I bought from a 

 greenhouse for a border to our geran- 

 iums. Still I conform to the "con- 

 ventions," paying good wages for the 

 destruction of the one, and cash to the 

 florist for the other. Such slaves are 

 we all to inherited habits and accepted 

 usages. None is strong enough to defy 

 the established procedure ! Who does is 

 written down as undesirable, unspar- 

 ingly ridiculed or ruthlessly repressed. 

 I shall probably be labeled a "weed" 

 myself, or something worse, for having 

 the temerity to express such senti- 

 ments. Any man is "out of place" 

 who does not follow the crowd. I 

 realize that, but I also resent it. When 

 I walk down the road, with my stout 

 old stick, visiting with the things I 

 hear and see in every marsh or bush, 

 those who whirl by in a cloud of dust 

 stare as if they had come upon an 

 escaped inmate of some institution. 



[119] 



