The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1916-06-15
"A SOLEBURY
DAY DREAM"
Mary Mccarthy, Chestnut Grove
School Girl, Won Prize
on Her Essay.
SHE TELLS OF WOOD FLOWERS

school prize for An Essay About
Flowers" in the recent contest con-
Quoted by the Bucks County Natural
Science Association. Miss Mccarthy
is an eighth grade pupil in the Chest
nut Grove school, of which Miss
Gladys Shea, of Aquetong, is teach
er.
Her essay was entitled "a May
Walk" and is given in full:
1t was beautiful day in May and
one of those days that Mother Ma
ture is wide awake and calls you out
to talk to you until finally you yield.
So it was with me. | could not
resist the temptation to waller" in
the mud by the pond nor delight
full walk in the woods
| called Major" for he is a great
playfellow and a splendid companion,
altho' he is only dog and can't
speak.
We sauntered over our back
meadow and ran down the hill that
led to the pond.
The soft mud was refreshing to
tired feet and Major and | stayed
there quite a while.
The perfume of flowers was in the
air and then came another call from
Dame Nature. Pretty soon Major
and | were scampering up the hill
on the other side of the pond into
the cool woods, but he ran on ahead.
| had been watching for the first
Arbutus, but the Spring was late,
and so it did not come as soon as
had hoped it would.
But on that day | could smell its
sweet fragrance in the air, so | walk
ed very carefully and turned over
last Falls leaves with stick, until
all of sudden some rusty brown
leaves told me to look close" l
did, land hiding under those leaves was
my treasure, the lovely Arbutus."
The leaves are not very large,
they are heart shaped, the flowers
are small and delicate. There are
two kinds the white and the pink.
They smell very sweet. They grow
on the north side of awood and grow
in moss.
If we take plant in the house it
will not live because it has to have
the wild nature which is in the
ground.
The plant blooms in the latter
part of April if we have an early
Spring.
The pink flowers do not grow with
white ones, they have seperate beds.
Some of the Arbutus are buried
under the leaves and are mostly
blush white, because the sun does
not get at them to bleach them.
1t has five lobes and they are all
heart shaped. Some of the vines are
very long and others are short.
John G.Whittier, the Quaker poet
of America, liked the fragrant odor
and delicate waxy blossom of the
Arbutus or the Mayfower.
The poet says 1t grows abundant
ly in the vicinity of Plymouth and
was the first flower to greet the Pill
grims after their fearful winter"
Whittier says:
Within her ice-rimmed bay
In common with the wildwood
flowers
The first sweet smile of May"
There is another flower too that |
have found on my walk that day, the
Violet" 1t is very early flower
and there are many kinds of violets.
The common violet or purple violet
grows in sandy soil, in little bushes,
It's stem which the flower is on is
taller than the rest.
William Story spied some sweet
purple violets and he was tempted
to write these lines about that modest
flower:
"Ofaint delicious springtime violet
Thine odor like key
Turn noiselessly
In memorys ward to let
A thought of sorrow free.
o violet thy odor through my brair
Hath searched and strung to grie: