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HOME AND FLOWERS 



A BACK PORCH GARDEN 

 Photograph by G. S. White, Scotland Neck, North Carolina. 



The Legend of the Gentian 



to the glowing sun. The other gentian was 

 doomed to sleep on forever. 



BY E. M. BAEEETT. 



THE fringed gentian is a beautiful blue 

 flower found in low places. It has the 

 peculiarity of closing in the afternoon 

 and opening in the morning. The closed 

 gentian is also blue and beautifully fringed, 

 but it never opens. 



It is said that the queen of the 

 fairies was out very late one night, and 

 sought, shelter in a sleeping gentian. The 

 flower was indignant at being disturbed in 

 its slumber, and demanded the name of the 

 Intruder. "Open, it is the queen of the 

 fairies," was the reply. The flower inso- 

 lently replied that the queen could find 

 plenty of places to sleep without disturbing 

 a poor gentian. So the queen tried again 

 and with better luck, as the next gentian 

 "was so moved by the entreaties of the dainty 

 little queen that it opened its heart for her 

 reception. At the dawn of day the queen 

 awoke refreshed, and blessed her hospitable 

 little friend, giving it only the power to open 



My Hofse-Mttzzle Flower Basket 



BY G, MAEGAEKI GEAY. 



When I was a mere child I loved to go 

 to the hillsides down by the creek and 

 gather mosses and wild flowers. I used, 

 to put them in wire horse muzzles that 

 father used on his horses to keep them 

 from bating the young corn when plowing it. 



First, I put the moss in nicely without 

 leaving a hole where the earth could get 

 through, then the rich woodland soil. Around 

 the edge I would plant common wood ivy 

 and in the center some sweet little wild 

 flowers. They would look very sickly for 

 a while, and I always hung them in the nice 

 cool shade of an apple-tree back of the 

 kitchen. In a week or two they would be 

 "as flourishing as a green bay-tree," and I 

 would proudly carry them out onto the front 

 porch and hang them in the most conspicu- 

 ous places. You have no idea what pretty 

 ornaments they made. 



