13^ Ue «. Mo^r d^. 



len 



fastidious about their location and snobbishly bloom- 

 ing less. But I bow the knee to their white and 

 lavender crowns and carefully save the seed, of which 

 they are rather sparing, acknowledging in my heart 

 their teally imperial loveliness. ^ 



Mourning Bride 



When I was a child I thought the mourning 

 bride the most romantic of flowers, because of the 

 name and our not having any in our own home gar- 

 dens ; in order to see them I had to make a pilgrimage 

 across the railroad tracks to visit an old bride who 

 had been mourning her husband for about fifty years. 

 (Another reason I enjoyed going to visit this ancient 

 gardener was because she was the only perfectly bald 

 lady I had ever seen or heard of, but I think raising 

 the flowers had nothing to do with this peculiarity.) 

 Since I've grown up, the flowering mourning 

 brides' sorrow has been mitigated; they have put on 

 half-mourning of lavender, and sometimes appear 

 garbed in white and pink like unwedded young girls. 

 I love the new widows who are perking up and taking 

 notice again, yet I still save my greatest admiration 

 for those inconsolable blossoms which remain true to 

 their memories while robed in funeiral dress. 



27 



