Songs of the Fields 



later in beautiful heart-shaped design, and the 

 flowers are re2)laced by long, wine-red seed pods. 

 The tiny blooms are shaped like the separate flow- 

 ers of a locust spray, and of a shade our mothers 

 spoke of as red analine. The lilunt point of the 

 bloom once was called a "pink tinted tear" by a 

 poet, and this color fluslies stronger until it l)e- 

 eomes a deep magenta at the base, M'hile the cup 

 that holds it is reddisli-brown. 



This shade must be t!ie rarest in all God's work- 

 shoj), ])ecause He uses it so very sparingly. It is 

 found on flo\\'er faces and in nature less often than 

 any other. How He prizes it is proven by its ap- 

 pearance among the very first, at a time when we 

 are eager for the color and 2:)erfume of spring. 

 Our grandmothers taught us to love it on the Y>e- 

 tunia faces bordering olden flower beds. I de- 

 lighted in it early on tlie Easter eggs my mother 

 colored for me. It is one of the most ancient and 

 popular of manufactured colors, chosen for re- 

 jjroduction, without a doulit, because nature is so 

 miserly in its use; for only in hints and sugges- 

 tions does it fleck the face of creation. First we 

 see it on the redbnd beside the river. Then as 

 the poke berry matures it stripes the thrifty stem 

 with gorgeous color to attract the bibulous cedar 

 bird. In mid-summer jou find hints of it on way- 

 side blazing star, and in the fall Xew York asters 

 and ironwort suggest it in their bloom. 



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