105 
bitter and caustic enough when you know them 
better. They hate the cattle as badly as I do, and 
poison all that bite them. I can’t blame them much 
for that, to be sure, but you may be certain that they 
are pretty spiteful. And this Clematis that is run¬ 
ning over the wall, belongs to the Ranunculaceas fam¬ 
ily also, and the fine Peonies that grow in your gar¬ 
den, and those Delphinirems that people admire 
so much for their shades of blue, they are all alike, 
though they are so handsome. The leaves of some 
of the Clematis will make your fingers sore while 
you are admiring them—then every body knows how 
poisonous the Aconites and Hellebores are. You 
would not like flowers so much if you knew them 
better.” 
Here the Butter-cup paused, as if to think of 
some more evil to speak of her neighbors. Mary 
disliked all she said very much. She was disap- 
