A Window in Arcady 
reason is that the water lily is so well rooted in inac¬ 
cessible mud that the gathering of the blossoms in no wise 
harms the plant, which continues to put up fresh growth 
from its undisturbed perennial roots. It is abundant in 
ponds and slow streams throughout the United States 
from British America to the Gulf of Mexico. Readers 
of Longfellow will remember Evangeline’s voyage through 
Louisianian waters, where 
“Water lilies in myriads rock on the slight undulations 
Made by the passing oars.” 
Our pioneer ancestors in their practical way found that 
the water lily, beside its offering of beauty and fragrance, 
possessed qualities of a more material character. Thus, the 
juice was thought to be good for inflammation and burns, 
and the roots used to be gathered by herbalists for vari¬ 
ous purposes, one of which was the composition of a 
cosmetic for ladies—the fresh juice of the root being used 
with lemon juice. The young leaves were to some extent 
a part of the spring menu of country folk and were boiled 
as greens, so the plant often went by the very prosaic 
name of water cabbage, and sometimes cow cabbage, for 
the leaves would also be fed to cattle. The water lily 
flowers have a pretty fashion of going to sleep in the 
afternoon, waking again next morning. 
July 12. —A showy object along our water courses 
lately has been the catalpa—a tree which, like the per¬ 
simmon and the chinquapin, we still know by the name 
the Indians gave it. In late June and early July the 
crowns are white with the attractive flowers which are 
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