442 
Old Time Gardens 
white, if of graceful cut and shape, will have among 
gay-colored silk attire — the charm of Quaker garb, 
even though its shape be ugly. You know how 
ready is the owner of such a garden to talk of her 
favorites, and soon I was told that this plant was 
“ Navy-work.” I accepted this name in this old 
maritime town as possibly a local folk-name, yet I 
was puzzled by a haunting memory of having heard 
some similar title. A later search in a botany re- 
vealed the original, Venus’-navelwort. 
I deem it right to state in this connection that any 
such corruption of the old name of a flower is very 
unusual in Massachusetts, where the English tongue 
is spoken by all of Massachusetts descent in much 
purity of pronunciation. 
There is no doubt that all the flowers of the old 
garden were far more suggestive, more full of mean- 
ing, than those given to us by modern florists. This 
does not come wholly from association, as many 
fancy, but from an inherent quality of the flower 
itself. I never saw Honeywort (Cerinthe) till five 
years ago, and then it was not in an old-fashioned 
garden ; but the moment I beheld the graceful, 
drooping flowers in the flower bed, the yellow and 
purple-toothed corolla caught my eye, as it caught 
my fancy; it seemed to mean something. I was 
not surprised to learn that it was an ancient favorite 
of colonial days. The leaves of Honeywort are 
often lightly spotted, which may be one of its ele- 
ments of mystery. Honeywort is seldom seen even 
in our oldest gardens ; but it is a beautiful flower and 
a most hardy annual, and deserves to be reintroduced. 
