In Lilac Tide 
*53 
“The Lilac bush, tall growing, with heart-shaped leaves of rich green. 
With many a pointed blossom, rising delicate with the perfume 
strong I love. 
With every leaf a miracle .’ 9 
Thomas William Parsons could turn from his 
profound researches and loving translations of Dante 
to write with deep sympathy of the Lilac. His verses 
have to me an additional interest, since I believe 
they were written in the house built by my ancestor 
in 1740, and occupied still by his descendants. In 
its front dooryard are Lilacs still standing under 
the windows of Dr. Parsons’ room, in which he 
loved so to write. 
Hawthorne felt a sort of “ludicrous unfitness in 
the idea of a time-stricken and grandfatherly Lilac 
bush.” H e was dissatisfied with aged Lilacs, though 
he knew not whether his heart, judgment, or rural 
sense put him in that condition. He felt the flower 
should either flourish in immortal youth or die. 
j 
Apple trees could grow old and feeble without 
his reproach, but an aged Lilac was improper. 
I fancy no one ever took any care of Lilacs in 
an old garden. As soon water or enrich the 
Sumach and Elder growing by the roadside ! But 
care for your Lilacs nowadays, and see how they 
respond. Make them a garden flower, and you will 
never regret it. There be those who prefer grafted 
Lilacs — the stock being usually a Syringa ; they 
prefer the single trunk, and thus get rid of the Lilac 
suckers. But compare a row of grafted Lilacs to a 
row of natural fastigate growth, as shown on page 
220, and I think nature must be preferred. 
