42 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



as an ornament. And the fact that it either takes 

 so kindly to its surroundings that it becomes almost 

 a weed, or else dislikes them and practically declines 

 to grow at all, is rather against it. But in the days 

 of our grandmothers it was different, then it was 

 essentially the young girl's flower, and so was 

 graced with all the characteristics which were 

 reckoned to adorn " refined and elegant young 

 females." Of it, "the Winter's timid child," a 

 poetess of those days wrote : — 



AH weak and wan, with head inclined, 



Its parent breast the drifted snow, 

 It trembles, while the ruthless wind 

 Bends its slim form ; the tempest lowers, 

 Its emerald eye drops crystal showers 

 On its cold bed below. 



Where'er I find thee, gentle flower, 

 Thou still art sweet and dear to me ! 



For I have known the cheerless; hour, 



Have seen the sunbeams cold and pale, 



Have felt the chilling wintry gale, 

 And wept and shrunk, like thee. 



Conceive the delight of the first "elegant 

 young female " who saw these words inscribed 

 on the pink-tinted pages of her album, probably 

 beneath some two or three dried flowers of the 

 mishandled plant. Well, well, we have changed 

 all that now ; the elegant females have gone, 



