/iDy Winter 6ar&en 



der, and the pompano, a trio of luscious 

 significance. Perhaps the allusion just 

 made to Satan in his first form has led 

 directly to deviled crab ; but the soft- 

 shelled little backsliders, the earliest 

 caught, we do not devil ; they are fried 

 brown, while the fish are broiled and but- 

 tered to nestle in a greenery of cress — a 

 bouquet more influential with a hungry 

 man than a queen's vase of roses ! Still, 

 we never desert the banner of Flora in a 

 garden land. Not only roses, but pots 

 foaming high with magnificent wild vio- 

 lets, from a distant glade, sweeten the 

 morning's board, and reflect soft hues upon 

 the plates round about. Indeed, violet- 

 hunting is one of our recreations. It goes 

 along with bird-study and sylvan archery, 

 a sort of decorative interlude flashing blue 

 as the sky between science and sport. 

 Certain spaces in the pine forest, open to 

 the sun, are fairly painted with these large 

 odorless violets, the stems of which are 

 sometimes almost a foot tall. We gather 

 lupines, too ; and in a few marshy plots the 

 glorious flowers of iris and pitcher-plant 

 21 



