Quaker Ladies of the Fields 
almost startling in the sudden appearance of hundreds of 
these bright flowers on some roadside bank, where none 
were visible the night before; they awaken ones latent 
faith in magic and the reality of fairy life. 
Another field flower which the warming earth has en¬ 
couraged into abundant bloom during the last few days 
is that small, lavender-colored blossom with a yellow eye 
known to all good Philadelphians as the Quaker Lady. 
Myriads of these flowers are now expanded in pasture 
lands and on wayside slopes, often forming dense patches 
of pale color that are conspicuous from long distances. In 
New England a quaint common name for them is inno¬ 
cence, and elsewhere in our country they are called bluets— 
a term which is probably of foreign importation, though the 
flower itself is a native American. The name Quaker 
Lady seems to be confined to the neighborhood of Philadel¬ 
phia, for it is not even mentioned in Dr. Darlington’s 
classic work on the flowers of Chester County. There is a 
particular charm in the buds, which are shaped like tiny 
rectangular boxes pinched in at the top and droop bash¬ 
fully on slender stalks. 
There is preaching by Jack-in-the-pulpit this week in 
every woodland. A week ago, when he was just coming 
out of winter quarters, you would scarcely have known 
him. The first appearance of this familiar plant is in the 
shape of a spear point, which when four or five inches 
high opens down the side and lets Jack out. A most dis¬ 
couraged-looking object he is then, very flat and with 
leaves attenuated and all adroop, suggesting a man who has 
just been released from a folding bed that had shut upon 
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