II 



LILACS AND OTHER SPRING 

 FLOWERS 



/^FTEN I wonder whether names of places 

 ^-^ and of things speak to others as they do to 

 me. Meaningless or poor names seem almost an 

 affront, while beautiful or significant names start 

 trains of thought leading in singularly pleasant 

 directions. The names of Pullman cars are a 

 curious study. Who named them? Why are so 

 many of these names foolish, almost to the point 

 of imbecility ? — almost as if letters had been 

 shaken together in a box and drawn at random to 

 constitute a word. 



But there are exceptions, and one is the name of 

 a car in which I lately travelled in Indiana, with 

 "Middlebush" on its doors. "'Middlebush,'" said 

 I on seeing it. "Here is something to think of" 

 — landscape planting flashed into the mind on 

 sight; the bush which may connect the taUer 

 and the lower shrubs in some planting small or 

 large; the bush which might bloom in mid-season. 



The Middlebush of our Michigan spring is un- 



29 



