Flowers of Mystery 
439 
bees seek in the leaves ! they throng its green and 
white blades in May, finding something, I am sure, 
besides the delightful scent ; though I do not note 
that they pierce the veins of the plant for the sap, 
as I have known them to do along the large veins 
of certain palm leaves. I have seen bees often act 
as though they were sniffing a flower with apprecia- 
tion, not gathering honey. The only endeared 
striped leaf was that of the Striped Grass — Gar- 
dener’s Garters we called it. Clumps of it growing 
at Van Cortlandt Manor are here shown. We 
children used to run to the great plants of Striped 
Grass at the end of the garden as to a toy ribbon 
shop. The long blades of Grass looked like some 
antique gauze ribbons.- They were very modish 
for dolls’ wear, very useful to shape pin-a-sights, 
those very useful things, and very pretty to tie up 
posies. Under favorable circumstances this garden 
child might become a garden pest, a spreading weed. 
I never saw a more curious garden stray than an 
entire dooryard and farm garden — certainly two 
acres in extent, covered with Striped Grass, save 
where a few persistent Tiger Lilies pierced through 
the striped leaves. Even among the deserted 
hearthstones and tumble-down chimneys the striped 
leaves ran up among the roofless walls. 
Let me state here that the suggestion of mystery 
in a flower did not always make me dislike it ; some- 
times it added a charm. The Periwinkle — Ground 
Myrtle, we used to call it — was one of the most mys- 
terious and elusive flowers I knew, and other chil- 
dren thus regarded it ; but I had a deep affection 
