Flowers and Gardens 



seen trampled by the foot, and bent and 

 broken by the winds. Neither is there 

 the beauty we should expect in the 

 individual flowers. We gather one or 

 two, and the colour seems weak and 

 pale ; here and there, on the ground 

 before us, is a touch of livelier purple, 

 but it fades away as we approach it. 

 And yet we remember the time when 

 we saw no imperfections there, when 

 the blooms were as lovely as now we 

 think them at a distance. Can it be 

 that our enjoyment from them has really, 

 then, diminished ? By no means so. 

 Nature asks of us no superstitious blind- 

 ness ; and increased sensibility to beauty 

 will abundantly make amends for what- 

 ever losses it may bring. We gather a 

 bunch of flowers, and v/ithdraw, and let 

 the old enchantment of the distant purple 

 return and gather upon us. And then 

 we look at the few well-selected flowers 

 in our hand, and let the mind wander 

 in the depths of those fair-striped cups, 

 their colour so fresh, so cool and delicate, 

 and yet not too cool with that central 

 yellow stamen-column, and the stigma 

 emerging from it like a fiery-orange 

 lamp. And now in its turn we feel 

 the full charm and superiority of the 

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