Interpretations 



Ask a violet any reasonable question and it 

 will give you an intelligible reply. If we stand 

 amid ten thousand, we may be lost in astonish- 

 ment at their numbers and forget the knowledge 

 the individual blossom would have imparted. 

 A violet in March or earlier, heralding the mil- 

 lions that are coming is the one chosen of its 

 kind to interpret for me what is their place in 

 Nature. It does not tell all its story. No ob- 

 ject does that. This is well. If there were not 

 still one more question to be asked, a powerful 

 incentive to be under the sky, instead of under a 

 roof, would be wanting. The big trees of trans- 

 continental regions and the trackless forests of 

 the antipodal world may excite our admiration, 

 but not to the extent of impatience if we are 

 kept at home. Even here, where it is said the 

 world is about worn out, there remains many a 

 mystery. Worn out, indeed! South Jersey 

 still has nearly two million acres of woodland. 

 There is comfort in. the thought even if we 

 never see them. 



That is a pretty story of so long ago as 1696 

 when Anne, a bride, just before entering her 

 new home, plucked a tiny flower from the sod 



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