186 WILD rLOWEiis: 
And why are they precious? 
“Less that they are so beautiful, 
Than that they are so plentiful, 
So free for every child to pull.” 
Mary Howitt. 
Herein the lady agrees with many others who 
have written on this delightful subject; as the 
quotation at the head of our chapter well ex¬ 
presses it, Wild Flowers are the true Phi¬ 
lanthropists of Naturesays another sweet 
singer :— 
“And then I love the Field Flowers, too. 
Because they are a blessing given 
E’en to the poorest little one. 
Who wanders ’neath the vault of heaven ; 
The garden flowers are reared by few. 
And to that few belong alone ; 
But flowers that spring by vale or stream. 
Each one may claim them for his own.” 
Anne Pratt. 
Besides their superior fragrance, to which we 
shall presently make allusion, there is also 
another reason named by this author, for her 
love of Wild Flowers ; we will give it, not in her 
L 
