The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1897-10-06
Flower EamIlIea.

people live in families? Come into
the garden and will show you how.
Here is red rose; the beautiful
bright-colored petals are the walls of
the house, built in circle, you see;
next come the yellow stamens, stand
ing also in circle; these are the
fathers of the household. They stand
around the mother, who lives in the
verylmiddle, as if to protect and take
care Of her. And she is the straight
little pistil, standing in the midst Of
all. The children are seeds, put
away for the present in green cradle
at their mothers feet, where they will
sleep and grow, as babies should, until
by and by they will all have oppor-
tunities to come out and build for
themselves fine rose-colored houses
like that of their parents.
1t Sin this way that most Of the
flowers live; some, it is true, quite
differently; for the beautiful scarlet
maple blossoms, that open so early in
the spring, have the fathers on one
tree and the mothers on another, and
they can only make flying visits to
each other when high wind chooses
to give them q ride. y
The goldenrod and asters and some
of their cousins have yet another way
of living, and it is of this I must tell
you today.
You know the roadside asters, purple
and white, that bloom so plenteously
all through the early autumn? Each
flower is circle of little rays, spread
ing on every side; but if you should
pull it to pieces to look for family
like that Of the rose, you would be
sadly confused about it, for the aster's
plan Of living is very different from
the roses. Each purple or white ray
is little home in itself, and these are
all inhabited by maiden ladies', living
each one alone in the one delicately
colored room of her house. But in
the middle of the aster you will fnd
dozen or more little families, all
packed away together; each one has
its own small yellow house, each has
the father, mother and one child;
they all live here together on the fat
round them are built the houses be-
longing to the maiden aunts, who
watch and protect the whole. This is
what we might call living in a COM
munity. People do so sometimes.
Different families who like to be near
each other will take very large house
and inhabit it together, so that in one
house there will be many fathers, Z
mothers and children, and very likelJ
maiden aunts, and bachelor uncles \
besides.
Do you understand now how the
asters live in communities? The
golden-rod also lives in communities,
but yet not exactly after the aster's
plan-in smaller houses generally and
these, of course, contain fewer fam
lilies: four or five of the maiden aunts
live in yellow walled rooms round the
outside, and in the middle live
fathers, mothers and children, as they
do in the asters; but here is the differ
ence: if the goldenrod has smaller
houses, it has more of them together
upon one stem. I have never counted
them, but you can, now that they are
| in bloom, and tell me how many.
And have you ever noticed how
gracefully these great companies are
arranged? For the goldenrods are
like elm trees in their forms; some
grow in one single tall plume, bending
over q little at the top, some in
double or triple plume, so that the
nodding heads may bend on each side;
but the largest are like the great
Etruscan elms, many branches rising
gracefully from the main stem and
curving over on every side, like those
tall glass vases which dare say you
have all seen.
Do not forget, when You are look
ing at these golden plumes, that each
one, as it tosses in the wind, is rock
ing its hundreds of little dwellings,
with the fathers, mothers, babies and
all. Detroit Free Press.