The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-19

"Consider the Lilies of the Field How
 They Crow"
 Some lilies do grow and grow and grow. There Is one lily in this town that grew to be twenty-two inches long from the base to the tip of the blossom. and caused one member of the Flower Growers Association one long day of bitter humiliation and dis comfiture. The bulb had been given to her and planted for peony, but it threw up such tall, beautiful, mottled and speckled foliage so curious to look at that she knew 1t was not a peony, so she called her friends to tell her | what 1t was, among them two for ists.
 One frankly said it was new to him and went home and got a great book and found a name the woman never could remember. The other told her it was lily of the Nile. That she | could pronounce, and so called 1t. In | time three great buds came. They grew so tall and they grew so long that the man of the house began to measure them. First the longest meas ured fifteen. then eighteen. then twen- ty, then twenty-two inches. As they grew. all the friends of the family | and members of the Association had been told and all were asking to see 1t in bloom and so she promised to call them all when 1t opened. | Tuesday dawned cold and glum look ing. She sat toasting her toes by the | fire just after breakfast, when the man fairly burst. into the room. say | ing:
 "she's opened; and gorgeous, sight, too. Worth anybody's while. Don't forget to call the Professor and MT. -. and MT. -"
 Out the whole family went to see the lily. Truly @ regal beauty. Not at l all gross looking as might be sup posed from its size It looks as if 1t l might have come from the banks of the Nile. with that deep maroon color and metallic. lights.
 To the phone went the proud pos sessor of that lily. to bread winning went the man, and off trotted the little one to tell the nearest neighbors.
 How long it does take to call a whole l club over the phone How many were "busy." How she did hope central would be patient. Now she is almost through. and oh. joy. there comes the gotten the. President of the Associa- ton fin from her yard and she may | speak with her. She tells of the glo- rious lily and that willy woman said:
 Run and see if the files are both ering 1t; imagine they will be-"
 No flies on that lily: the whole place | is swarming with flies, but none on the lily. and so the President says as long as there are no flies on 1t she will come, too. Others are called. the Professor and the Doctor.
 Graciousi The cat must have brought something dead into the house. She stops long enough to look for that. No. the cat Is asleep on the lounge. She goes out in the yard to look for that | awful smell. The boy has been fer | tilizing some plants. She puts lime all over that. Still that smell. and flies everywhere. Some buzzards are 1 sailing around. too. She must hunt for 1t out in the front yard.
 Just as she goes down the steps an acquaintance slows up his horse to ask about some roses. A little boy Tn the buggy holds fast a little snub nose and the friend waits not to hear | about the roses.
 side. One look and the swarm of flies reveals the true character of that lily. That beast; for it smells like a whole dead muIe-not like decayed vegeta- ble matter on the Genetta ditch. but like a whole dead mule.
 | To the phone! "Central. ring this number till you get them"
 "Oh, Madam President, I am in so much trouble; am going to have a fu- neral as quickly as I can."
 It Is the Presidents time to laugh and she does and promises to attend and bring deslgn1
 By that time people were beginning to come in to see the beast; no longer must 1t be called a flower. She hat read of such plants but she had neve' believed in them. She worshipped al the little weeds that bloomed by thu wayside, and looked on all flowers al ethereal part of heaven on earth. mex to the angelsl Now, she must stand ul { and bravely explain to people who helC their noses that this was one of thos' carnivorous plants dependent to som' extent on animal life for it's sustenanc, and that 1t sent forth that unwhole some smell to attract insects: that the. lighted on it, fell into that little cup a the base that was then so nearly full and that when quite full the lily would close and eat them.
 l This is true story. That "varmint' did eat those insects, and opened agair and caught more and gobbled them up That woman had to stand there and re member all the stories she had evei read on the subject of flesh eating plants and tell them to the visitor. and the visitors in turn backed off ant told theirs.
 At last noon came and with 1t tho tired hungry man. to spend his hooI hour making explanations; to be dis. appointed fin dinner. but to go back nc longer hungry. Some friends offered to send for the sanitary department.
 People who tried to phone that wo. man on Wednesday were told she wal in bed with a headache.
 As long as that plant was a lily, fl was beautiful. It took the warm sur to bring out its true nature.