37 
May, 1917 
WHEN PIERROT SPILLED THE WHITEWASH 
From, the delicate tracery of twigs the 
blossoms sta7}d forth as creamy white as 
when they came fresh from Pierrot's pail 
TTENDEZ, Hies soeurs! 
Pierrot stood moping by the garden 
wall. His heart was all but crushed, his 
spirits low. The fickle Columbine had led 
him a merry chase, and now had abandoned 
him to his grief. Down the moonwashed 
path her shadow and the shadow of Harle¬ 
quin glided between the lacy silhouettes of 
rose and bell-flower. Behind them patted 
Jacques, the fuzzy toy poodle. 
“If you would but command me . . 
cried Pierrot. 
Columbine turned her head. 
“I will prove my love is deep as the sea 
and high as the sky 
and bright as the 
moon.” 
“Then go white¬ 
wash the moon,” she 
called back. 
Of c o u r s e, she 
never thought that 
he would. But she 
didn’t know Pierrot. 
That night when 
the moon was in 
high heaven Pierrot 
dragged h i s ladder 
to the garden wall 
and began to climb, 
pail on arm and 
brush in hand. Up 
and up he went— 
over the wall, above 
the treetops, till he 
was a mere silvery 
speck against the 
turquoise sky. And 
at the foot of the 
ladder Harlequin 
whispered pretty 
nothings into 
Columbine’s ear, 
while Jacques 
frisked about and 
chased fireflies. 
In less time than 
you would think 
And the Earth Blossomed and 
Grew White with Snowy Dogwood 
LAMSON N. ETHRIDGE 
Pierrot reached the moon. He was dizzy 
but unafraid. And the Man in the Moon 
smiled at his courage and bent his face 
nearer as Pierrot dipped his brush in the 
pail of whitewash. 
At that moment a firefly lighted on 
Jacques’ pudgy little nose. He struck at it 
with his paw. It darted to the bottom rung 
of the ladder. Jacques plunged for it. The 
ladder slipped, swayed, crashed. 
Down from the moon tumbled Pierrot. 
Down, down the sky he ricocheted. Over 
and over he turned. The brush floated 
off into space, but the pail swayed and 
twisted at his elbow. 
He neared the earth. The roses made a 
bed to catch him. 
Like a dart he plunged toward them, arms 
widespread. The pail slipped from his 
grasp. It threw its silvery whitewash 
hither and yon in a shower that spattered 
on tree and bush. 
And there, mes soeurs, is the legend of 
how the earth first blossomed and grew 
white with snowy dogwood! 
Each spring we see them, these flowers 
of Pierrot, white drifts along the distant 
hillsides where the green of leaves is but 
just clothing twig and branch. In the warm 
days of early May the dogwood blossoms 
are a woodland feature whose message to 
flower lovers is the more welcome for that it 
comes among the first. 
Time was when the members of this 
Cornus family were rarely seen in cultiva¬ 
tion, but those days are happily passed. 
Hardy and ornamental, thriving in either 
The flowering dogwood is one of the best 
of our smaller ornamental trees. It is 
hardy and succeeds in sun or shade 
sun or shadow, the dogwoods are desii'able 
alike for their springtime blossoms and 
their autumn color in leaf and berry. From 
shrubby C. racemosa to C. florida’s tree-like 
form, they are many and varied, with a 
range adapted to the requirements of any 
reasonable landscaping scheme. 
The photographs on this page suggest 
the beauty of the “flowering dogwood” 
(florida), our commonest wild variety and 
the one most widely used in ornamental 
work. Three inches across its petals often 
measure, of a dull white or greenish tinge, 
surrounding the true flowers of yellowish 
green. In autumn 
come scarlet berries, 
a treat to the eye of 
the beholder as well 
as to the palates of 
the birds w h i c h 
gather to feast upon 
them. 
Of a different type 
of beauty are the 
red-twigged sorts, 
such as alba Baileyi 
and sanguinea. Here 
is no such glory of 
flower display as 
characterizes the 
larger florida, but in 
its place is a color in 
branch and twig of 
which the taller tree 
cannot boast. In the 
leafless winter land¬ 
scape their red tinge 
strikes a cheering 
note. They are best 
used with this fact 
in view, an effective 
place for them being 
against a back¬ 
ground of other trees 
—e V e r g r e e n s or 
white birches, de¬ 
pending on your 
preference. 
Along the spring hillsides it lies in great white drifts, a harbinger of the wealth of other 
bloom soon to come. Even before the leaves are fully out the flowers open, catching and 
holding the eye by their very size and numbers 
