THE DANDELION 
51 
But it pleased us much to meet her, 
Though but for a moment in sight. 
We could but linger to praise her— 
The good, little, hard-working bee, 
Willing, contented, and happy, 
And—gathering honey for me. 
— Anni& M. Abbey. 
THE DANDELION 
TT OW we should miss the dandelions in the spring if they should 
A A fail to make their appearance! Along the roadside, in the mead¬ 
ows, in the lawn, even between the bricks of a wall—everywhere we see 
this golden flower. How many of them there are! What a beautiful 
sight is a green meadow dotted with the yellow dandelions! 
Because the dandelion is so common, few persons admire this really 
beautiful flower. If it were rare, it would be prized. But it is far from 
rare. In our lawns it comeg, and there it is not welcome. Getting rid 
of it is not an easy matter. We may dig up the plants, root and branch, 
and in a year or two' we have the task to repeat. 
Though unnoticed, or noticed only to be scorned, yet the dande¬ 
lions bloom on beautifully. Do we, when unnoticed or when regarded 
with contempt, continue to show forth the beautiful spirit of Christ! 
Dandelion’s leaves are used asi food and are called greens. Some 
persons like the blossoms also when cooked and seasoned properly. 
We speak of the dandelion blossom as one flower, but in reality it 
consists of many flowers—perhaps two or three hundred. Each has 
one petal, one stamen, and one pistil. If we have a stamen and a pistil, 
we have a flower. Pull a blossom apart (lengthwise). Then pull off 
one of the yellow petals. You will pull with it a stamen and a pistil. 
At the bottom of the pistil you can see the seed. Notice the fine white 
hairs at the top of the pistil. 
The flower-head closes at night and opens in the morning. By and 
bv, when the seeds are ripe, the head does not open, the stamens and 
petals wither and die, the pistils become longer, thus causing the fine 
white hairs to flatten out. Now, as we look over the meadow we see the 
hollow dandelion stems crowned with white balls instead of yellow bios- 
