The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1886-02-03

tercup.
have not told You half could. Knight
talk for hours about one flower, and yet use
no big, hard names. say nothing you would
not understand, and You could test the truth
Of my story without going far from your
own door. What comes upon your butter
cup when the flower falls? Do you know its
fruit! For every plant has its fruit, you
know. Do You see these round or OblOnC
heads, some with straight points sticking out
all over them. Others with hooked prickles?
Watch them, and later in the season you
will see them SEPARATE into many little fat
seeds. each with its own little pointed or
hooked tip. Ii would take whole summer
10 learn 10 tell these apart. Do you know
that the Juice of tae buttercup is singing
and blistering; that Il you dry ana powder
the flowers the dust makes good substitute
for snuff and Will make you sneeze? Did
you know they are own cousins TO the cow
slips in your swamps? Compare the flowers
of each and see how alike they are. And
vet your eyes, You say, are already open.
Look about you next summer, and see ii
I am telling you the truth about the butter
CUP.
You all know the dandelion. You all
know its tuft Of long, narrow, tOothed leaves,
its tall, hollow stalk, with milky juice, the
Hat, soft, yellow flower and the round
ffeathery ball which comes when the flower
has withered- There Is no flower SO univer-
sally known among New England children
as the dandeliOn. / think L know
why this is so. Two or three
things have combined to open your eyes to
this plant. I'm the first place is It's widespread
use for greens You are sent out on soft
bright spring days with knife and basket or
pail, TO gather dandelions for dinner. You
must know the plant well by sight or make
some sad mistake. Often there are no bios
sons to guide you, 30 you must know
the leaves and general look OF the whole
plant. Then the dOwny seed-ball and hollow
stem are still. i suppose, as when / was
child in Connecticut village, in great de
mand for play-things. DO you boys and girls
still tell the time by trying how many puifs
uf the breath will scatter all the fsathered
seeds DO YOU see 'if mother wants yOu,"
by the same chest-expandlng processP Do
YOU split up the hollow stem and wet the
strips till they curl into creamy r1uglets, or
make from it trumpets of squeaky tone? /
think you do. So, with no lessons or labor
YOU have learned in your very sports that the
seeds are winged and fly abroad at a breath,
that the stem Is hollow, the Juice milky and
very bitter. Now / want you 10 know every
plant on your farm in the same pleasant
way. You can not be blind to the pretty
violets which sprinkle your fields and woods
in the early spring. But how many kinds
do you know There are large, pale pJIrpliSh
blue ones, with leave something ike parsley
which grow in sandy soil. There are uny
white ones in your wet meadows and
along the streams, some with
round leaves, Others with long narrow
ones. There are pale lavender ones i'll damp
shady places, and yellow ones both tai and
low. There are-oh, so many, many kinds
and all about you. You need not know the
long, hard names which bOtanistS give them.
Name them yourselves, but know them by
their names and welcome them each wear 70
their old, familiar spots.
l have been saving up the story of my
model farmers boy, the most wide awake
clear sighted New England lad l ever met;
whose brown eyes needed little healing for
they were already far seeing, and were open
ing wider every day and hour.
I was taking drive through New Hamp-
shire and was discouraged and dishesrtened
from day TO day a | talked with boy or girl
of the pleasant things about them, and
found that they hal never even seen them.
As drove along a stream | saw on its banks
some beautiful field lilies the yellow ones
with the flowers hanging like bells and spot
ted inside with brown. | stepped from the
carriage to gather some, ahd as / did 50,
saw little fellow Of some thirteen years
pulling sweet flag. l spoke to him pleasantly,
liking his bright face, but asked no questions
for fear Of another disappointment. But as
he saw me picking the lilies he said. Them
flowers are real pretty, amt they ma'am?
and there's another kind down that way"
pointing along the road, they look like
these and the leaves grow round the stem
ike a wheel, just's these DO, but the flowers
are more red, and don't hang down, but
stand right straight up, like they'd hold
water
yes" cried delighted II know what
You mean. It's the Philadelphia lily" is
il, ma'am? I call il the Cup lily, and this
ere one ] call the Bell lily. You have TO
have names to things. you know Some
people do, you blessed boy, l said to myself,
but few see any need of it. And are there
any more lilies about here?' l asked.
''Yesm, but they amt fowerin' now, they
come real early. They're little small ones,
kinder whitish yeller, and their leaves have
got spots and streaks on 'em, call 'em Spot
ties"
Adders' tongue, or Dog-tooth violets, l
thought to myself, and asked aloud, What
makes you think they are lilies" We'll,
spOse they are, cause they're shaped like.
these other kinds, and when / dig EN- up
they've got little round roots like onions,
and SOS these. My! how deep down they
go. Half way TO Chiny, guess, and the
stems white and brittle; it's dreadful hard
10 dig EN- up"
why DO You dig them up?' "Oh,
want to see how they're made, you know,
and then have to put 'em in my gardin.
I've got a real cute posy gardin. Want TO
see it?'' Did / not? ] followed my yellow
haired boy 10 the corner where his treasures
were, and there, growing IN wild but graceful
confusion, were many of my favorites from
wood, swamp and hillside.
My little guide talked fast and eagerly,
pleased with the sympathy and appreciation
he was all unused to, and how much he told
me of his plants and their ways. He had a
name for each. 1t was rarely name used
elsewhere, but always an expressive. signif-
cant one of his own choosing. There was
the "calliker flower, the prickle stem, the
crawler. the bitter leaf, mothers favorite
long root, yellow juice, sticky plant and
scores of Others, all named from close obser-
vation and knowledge of their looks and
habits. And he knew more than this. See
ing me stOOp to examine more closely some
grass, with tall, feathery tops, he said, as ii
be was telling me something new, and of his
own discovery; There's lots o. grasses
sides red top, and timothy, and medder
grass" "And do you know them all apart"
Pretty well, a'am; that is all that grows
ca the farm. Every Teller oughter know the
grass on his own farm, course" Every
feller' does not, / said mentally, though /
agree with you that he 'Oughter.' Can
you tell me something about them?' asked
my little bOtanist 'Wall, fust place there's
more'n one kind o. red top, though folks
don't seem TO know it. You buy a twenty
,.or,vI iof, ~ cool ,narl-o1 Pal Ton avar tn