A SECRET OF THE CHARM OF FLOWERS 155 



great a charm the touch of rose -red has given 

 to the first: the meadow-sweet has no expres- 

 sion of the kind we are considering — ^no human 

 association. 



In pure yellow flowers, as in pure white, 

 human interest is wanting. It is true that 

 yellow is a human colour, since in the hair we 

 find yellows of different shades^t is a pity that 

 we cannot find, or have not found, a better 

 word than "shades" for the specific differences 

 of a colour. There is the so-called tow, the 

 tawny, the bronze, the simple yellow, and the 

 golden, which includes many varieties, and the 

 hair called carroty. But none of these has the 

 flower yellow. Richard Jefferies teUs us that 

 when he placed a sovereign by the side of a 

 dandeUon he saw how unlike the two colours 

 were — that, in fact, no two colours could seem 

 more unlike than the yellow of gold and the 

 yellow of the flower. It is not necessary to 

 set a lock of hair and any yellow flower side 

 by side to know how utterly different the hues 

 are. The yellow of the hair is like that of metals, 

 of clay, of stone, and of various earthy substances, 

 and like the fur of some mammals, and like 



