CHAPTER XXI 
FLOWERS OF MYSTERY 
* f Let thy upsoaring vision range at large 
This garden through : for so by ray divine 
Kindled, thy ken a magic flight shall mount.” 
— Cary’s Translation of Dante. 
OGIES and fairies, a sense of eeri- 
ness, came to every garden-bred 
child of any imagination in connec- 
tion with certain flowers. These 
flowers seemed to be regarded thus 
through no special rule or reason. 
With some there may have been 
slight associations with fairy lore, or medicinal usage, 
or a hint of meretriciousness. Sometimes the 
child hardly formulated his thought of the flower, 
yet the dread or dislike or curiosity existed. My 
own notions were absolutely baseless, and usually 
absurd. I doubt if we communicated these fancies 
to each other save in a few cases, as of the Monk’s- 
hood, when we had been warned that the flower was 
poisonous. 
I have read with much interest Dr. Forbes Wat- 
son’s account of plants that filled his childish mind 
with mysterious awe and wonder ; among them were 
2 F 433 
