NAMES OF FLOWERS. 
135 
But, thougli pleased with the flowers, the httle creatures sel- 
dom know then' names. This seems a pity ; but we have often 
asked them what they called this or that blossom in their hands, 
and they seldom could give an answer, unless it happened to be 
a rose, perhaps, or a violet, or something of that sort, familiar to 
every one. But their elders are generally quite as ignorant as 
themselves in this way ; frequently, when we first made acquaint- 
ance with the flowers of the neighborhood, we asked grown per- 
sons — learned, perhaps, in many matters — the common names of 
plants they must have seen all their lives, and we found they 
were no wiser than tlie children or ourselves. It is really sur- 
prising how little the country people know on such subjects. 
Farmers and their wives, who have lived a long life in the fields, 
can tell you nothing on these matters. The men are even at fault 
among the trees on their own farms, if these are at all out of the 
common way ; and as for the smaller native plants, they know 
less about them than Buck or Brindle, their own oxen. Like the 
children, they sometimes pick a pretty flower to bring home, but 
they have no name for it. The women have some little acquaint- 
ance with herbs and simples, but even in such cases they frequently 
make strange mistakes ; they also are attracted by the wild flow- 
ers ; they gather them, perhaps, but they cannot name them. 
And yet, this is a day when flower borders are seen before every 
door, and every young girl can chatter largely about " bouquets," 
and the " Language of Flowers" to boot. 
It is true, the common names of our wild flowers are, at best, 
in a very unsatisfactory state. Some are miscalled after Euro- 
pean plants of very diff"erent characters. Very many have one 
name here, another a few miles off", and others again have actually. 
