92 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



help us all too little in these fundamental matters. The 

 best we can do is each to ask himself : What flowers do 

 I like best ? How did I come to like them ? How old was 



I when the feeling began, 

 and what associations have 

 I formed with them ? How 

 and when were these 

 formed ? 



When we analyze these 

 emotions in ourselves and 

 observe their expressions in 

 others, we find different 

 kinds of love : the love of 

 the fresh-cut flowers of the 

 shop windows, a commercial 

 affaire de cceur, as fleeting, 

 superficial, and rootless as 

 they ; the botanist's passion 

 to analyze and know the 

 names of more flowers than 

 any one else, a refined love 

 of himself ; the so-called 

 love of the rare, the new, 

 the strange, and curious; 

 and finally, the love of the 

 gardener for the flowers he 

 has planted and reared, like 

 the love of parent for child. 

 Through all these different kinds we note that the par- 

 ticular feeling is mainly a matter of association. If flowers 

 are good only to enhance the pleasure of a ball, when the 



Fig. 40 



