Wild-Flower Study 



515 



The Long-spurred violet. Color offlotvers, pale lavender* 

 PhoLo by Verne Morton. 



THE VIOLET 



Teacher's Story 



It is interesting to note the flowers which have impinged upon the 



imagination of the poets; the violet more than most flowers has been 



loved b)' them, and they have sung in varied strains of its fragrance and 



lowliness. 



Browning says: 



"Such a starved bank of moss, 

 'Till that May morn, 

 Blue ran the flash across; 

 Violets were born." 



And Wordsworth sings: 



"A violet by a mossy stone, 

 Half hidden from the eye; 

 Fair as a star, when only one 

 Is shining in the sky." 



And Barry Cornwall declares that the violet 



"Stands first with most, but always with the lover." 



But Shakespeare's tribute is the most glowing of all, since the charms of 

 both the goddesses of beauty and of love are made to pay tribute to it: 



"Violets dim, but sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, or Cytherea's breath." 



