COLUMBINE'S GLORY 67 



Now Tommy thinks that the Wild Columbine 

 is the most beautiful flower in the whole of 

 America, and that it would be much better for a 

 national one than the Mayflower, which welcomed 

 the Pilgrims, or the Goldenrod, which grows in 

 every State in the Union. He says it is a flower 

 that has true glory. 



It is red and yellow, and nods over from the 

 end of a slender stem, something as if it were a 

 bell. Then the flower's leaves, or petals as I 

 should say, are curiously folded together in the 

 shape of horns of plenty, and the way their ends 

 come together makes some people think of an 

 eagle's five talons. This means power. The 

 flower's full face is like a star with five rays, and 

 when its center is seen in another position, it looks 

 as if a ring of five turtle doves were there. These 

 birds are emblems of peace, and Grandmother says 

 this is why Columba, or Columbine, was chosen as 

 a name for this plant, and that peace and power 

 should be part of America. 



It is a little like hunting for animals, or faces, 

 in puzzle pictures, to see all these signs, but it is 

 on their account that Tommy thinks Columbine 

 would make such a fine national flower. Its 

 leaves, besides, are very, very pretty. They are 

 fine and graceful, like ferns. 



Then what Tommy likes about Columbine Is 

 that it is so wild. It chooses to grow in the wild- 

 est places, usually by rocks, and to reach it we have 



