"^She who wears lilacs will never 

 wear a wedding ring," runs an old 

 proverb, and brave indeed is she who 

 will run counter to such a warning. 

 A boutonniere of lilac is paid for 

 dearly by solitary spinsterhood, so the 

 village maiden lets the lilac-bush alone. 



For the same reason a wise mother 

 with marriageable daughters will see 

 to it that no sprig of this unfortunate 

 sweet-smelling flower is ever brought 

 inside the house. On the outside 

 of the window-sill they may be placed 

 with impunity, but there is no matri- 

 monial luck about the house which 

 contains lilac. London residents are 

 not sd superstitious, and gather with 

 delight the lilacs which grow so pro- 

 fusely in the city and suburban gardens. 

 Perhaps they do not know the un- 

 luckiness in love which this charming 

 flower confers. Village folk wonder 

 that clever Londoners do not know or 

 "c- 149 '--^r- 



