handsome blue flower, of the same shape as the cardinal. Both kinds grow in low grounds; they are called lobelias. The flowers are large, and thickly set on the tall stems and when they appear in clusters they make a splendid show. The time to look for them in bloom is in July and August. There are in the woods many other lobelia plants with smaller flowers, all beautiful too; and we have in our gardens and greenhouses many very pretty lobelias that have been brought from foreign countries.

5. The spotted geranium is one of the earliest showy flowers of the season. In many places the woods are filled with them. You may see them growing in the shade under trees in April or May.

The fringed gentian is one of the loveliest of all the blue flowers, and likes to grow in low grounds, cool and shady. The plant does not grow high. It has a few branches that bend upwards. On the top of each long stem grows a single hollow flower, shaped something like a great thimble. Unlike most hollow flowers, it does not droop, but holds its head up, so that the open end is at the top. There it is adorned all around the edge with a curious fringe. The month of August is the time to see it.

6. There is another wild plant of our woods with beautiful blue flowers. These do not stand singly on long stems, like the fringed gentian, but are crowded close together around a tall stem. The plant that unfolds these charming flowers is called the tall bellflower.

Among the earliest flowers of summer are the lovely little anemones. They are the first sweet smiles of summer. Every child, every man, every woman that loves the woods finds fresh gladness in the sight of the modest, trembling

anemones.

7. Hardly are the anemones gone, when the curious and no less beautiful columbines and larkspurs enliven the shady retreats with their dangling flowers. The yellow buttercups and the nodding violets are now also in the fields and forests.

Under the green hedges, after the snow,
There do the dear little violets grow;
Hiding their modest and beautiful heads
Under the hawthorn, in soft, mossy beds.

Sweet as the roses, and blue as the sky,
Down there do the dear little violets lie;

Hiding their heads, where they scarce may be seen,

By the leaves you may know where the violet hath been.

8. The month of June, laden with abounding foliage, opens to the precious sunshine a vast host of forest flowers. Birds, from lowly fen and leafy bough, pour forth on every hand their exultant melody. Bees, humming from flower to flower, and buzzing flies, lend their tiny music to the chorus of summer voices. Mingling with these, in well-chimed harmony, are heard the merry chirpings of the grasshopper and of the cricket. Wildroses, in their very wildness more lovely even than the garden queen, illumine the forest aisles and decorate the verdant solitudes; while butterflies, robed in rainbow hues, kiss the sweet flowers as lovely as themselves, and color comes to color.

9. The countless kin of the mighty sunflower host adorns the later summer and autumnal woods. Asters, many, various, and beautiful, of rays red, blue, and white, abound on every hand; and with the asters go, hand in hand, the yellow golden-rods, no less numerous and no less

varied. These flowers bear the last lingering colors of the late autumnal woods; and even after the gorgeous hues of autumn foliage have well-nigh vanished, an aster or a golden-rod may still be seen.

Thou waitest late, and com'st alone,
When woods are bare and birds are flown,
And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near its end.

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky;
Blue, blue, as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall.

I would that thus, when I shall see
The hour of death draw near to me,
Hope, blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart.

6.- DAFFODILS.

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils, -
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering, dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay.
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee.

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company.

I gazed and gazed, but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

BRYANT.

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

WORDSWORTH.

7. TO LILIES.

FLOWERS! when the Saviour's calm, benignant eye
Fell on your gentle beauty; when from you
That heavenly lesson for all hearts he drew,

Ethereal, universal as the sky,

Then in the bosom of your purity

A voice he set, as in a temple's shrine,
That life's quick travelers ne'er might pass you by,
Unwarned of that sweet oracle divine;

And though too oft its low, celestial sound
By the harsh notes of work-day care is drowned,