The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-07-22
11A2',Bdttep-Hlaltf..

CANTON, Pa July 10, 1897.
| In the Winter season so often see these blue
mountains with that inward eye," which
Wordsworth says is the bliss of solitude.
that i, sometimes seems as though have ideal
lied them as one will people who are away,
and that the mountains, like the people, will
prove little disappointing, little less radiant
than one dreams But it is never so; quite to
the contrary. This land seems faircr with
every year, the mountainous bluer, the hazy
valleys greener. One only laments the cutting
away of the forests; the chips and stumps are
but melancholy souvenirs of the glory of many
trees.
The Ladye and were Use when we brought
Wordsworth up with us. There can be no
pleasanter friend among tho poets to accom-
pany one for Summer holiday, if the holidays
mean long hours out OF doors watching bird
and flower clo;,d, trce.top. hill and valley. and
everything in tho beautiful parade of days
What Wordsworth would mean to rs if we
were at Il noisy fashionable resort where
piazza, gossip. flirting, frills and fashion were
the order OF our days is something different;
probably he wonld seem heavy and dull for
his poems demand nothing less than the sim
cerest sympathy. He says:
For have learnd
To look on Nature, no, rs in the hour
| OF thoughilcss yomil; but hearing ofentmes
| The still, sad mu-ic OF humanity"
| Yet to truly read his verse one must first of
| all be enthusiastic nature-lover. Lite forces
upon US a Knowledge of "thc sad music of
| humanity" and can read that anywhere;
! but one must get away from ones self and out
| into the fields, among the trees aud where
mountains are, to appreciate Nature and her
poet laureate.
We brought many books with us-more than
we can read probably--but we choose from
them accord II, to moods. BesSes Words
| worth, We have Thoreaus = Walden and sew
eral volumes OF Ruskin-these for our outdoor
philosophy. Then we have The Rubaiyat"
of Omar khayam, some story-b"oks. aud
goodly nun er of botany books" We have
tree books" and flower books" tbat let us
identify plants in lazy fashion by heir color
or homes or some other easIly-found character
! istic. We have copy Of Gray's Eotany, aiso
for security and when we needs mnst we put
| posy through the proper scientific PAGES aud
trace il out in good form. We have hardly
done anything else but botan:ze SO far. there
have been so many flowers clamurins to be rec
osnized.
Our delight is not always the proper one
practically. Great fields Of daisies holding
over the hiltops, against the sky. with patches
of brilliant Biark-eyed Susans glowing with
ani the disgust of the farmers. The waysies
everywhere were one tangle OF tall grasses,
| shining white dnisies, ciovers. butterflies aud
bees, with ST. Johns Wort TO give glitter and
elder berry and wild carrot TO give sof,ness, to
the beauty; but now tho thrifty farmer is cut
ting them all down. and we have TO look to the
remote roadsi.es Or to woodsy places for the
| flowers Bnt one can count 40 or so different
flowers in bloom now without any trouble
whatever, and we don't know now many are
hiding away from US.
We find every year that the moro we study
flowers the more there are to study-tbe more
we take the more We have. So far we have
concerned ourselves mostly with the wayside
| flowers We have our SIX etch- books of course
and we sketch many as we can. taking them
haphazard, the gorgeous ones or humble ones.
| as they come.
It is Just the season for the Oswego Tea
1foaarda didyna. sometimes called +" Bee Balm"
and dubbed - Ragged Robin" by the L1iye and
me. Because it is as ragged beggar, as
red as rose. and as jolly as tho day is long.
We deliberately rob tho little garden flower Of
its pretty name and give it to this wayside
| blossom, although We have right to make
the change, except tina. the laws of harmony
and fitness demand it. This is the most bril-
liant Of the minis. aud one of the few red wild
flowers. Such brilliant red coloring is rarely
seen about here ia the flowers. although the
trees boas: glory of scarlet in the Fall. and
even now the new leaves of the maple sprouts
are very red. This plant is little shy. does
not grow so rear town as do the daisies and the
wild carrot. bnt we find great quantities of it as
VIC get little ways out from the village.
"a
| Ali of the evening primroses arc fair to see.
but we occasionally find bu Is that show the
deepest Of saffron tints, color SO full Of light
that it can be compared only to sunset clouds
There is cousin of the evening primroses.
whose acquaintance we nave just made "rhe
Fireweed" Great Willow Herb" is another
of its names. and Ep'obiam angustifolinm its
proper title. 1t is dainty and has quite fine
air abou. it. The pinl-lavender blossoms have
narrow violet-hued sepsls that show between
the petals. giving a striped effect. 1t looks
"prinked up." 1t is said to grow quickly in
places that have been burnt over, which is
very good Of it.
There are mulleins with their velvet leaves
with flowers just coming into bloom poised
lightly ON the tall stalks as though they could
an they would spread their petals and fly
away. There is the ordinary yellow lowered
mullen and the moth mullcin," with purple
eyed, yellow, or white blossoms.
-
We discovered q hitbcrto.unkn own Ito us)
relative OF the anemOnes and bnttercups-the
"Thmble Weed" or AneRonc Virgniana The
flower is white, deeply Swallowed with green,
and two or threo nod from long, slim stems
The leaves are deeply cleft and cut like the
buttercup leaves-and indeed the posy is very
like the buttercup. to which it is akin. The
name "Thimble Weed " is given because of the
thimble-shaped fruit, that is also rough as q
thimble is The flower has petas-that is
J there are the five white petal-iike affairs, but
} the botanists call them sepals when there il