Boggy solitudes of Nantucket . 0 marvel of bloom and grace, Did you fall straight down from heaven Out of the sweetest place?You are white as the thoughts of an angel, Your heart is steeped in the sun ;Did you grow in the golden city, My pure and radiant one? Nay, nay, I fell not out of gave me my saintly white; It slowly grew from the blackness,Far down in the dreary night; From the ooze of the silent river 1 won my glory and grace;White souls fall not, O my poet. They rise to the sweetest place. —Mary Frances Batts. CHAPTER IV MONG the very com-mon flowers that areseen everywhere
Boggy solitudes of Nantucket . 0 marvel of bloom and grace, Did you fall straight down from heaven Out of the sweetest place?You are white as the thoughts of an angel, Your heart is steeped in the sun ;Did you grow in the golden city, My pure and radiant one? Nay, nay, I fell not out of gave me my saintly white; It slowly grew from the blackness,Far down in the dreary night; From the ooze of the silent river 1 won my glory and grace;White souls fall not, O my poet. They rise to the sweetest place. —Mary Frances Batts. CHAPTER IV MONG the very com-mon flowers that areseen everywhere isthe tansy, or bitterbuttons, looking likea cluster of yellowdaisy centers. Thename comes fromathanasia (immor-tality), and the aro-matic smell declaresit to be an herb,whose leaves are dried and made into atea thought to cure every ill to whichflesh is heir. With the Bouncing Bets,yellow day lilies, and many other run-aways from old gardens, it is to be foundbasking in the sunshine, like a vagrant, alongthe roadsides. 43. 44 BOGGY SOLITUDES OF NANTUCKET The wholesome yarrows clusters fineLike frosted silver dimly shine. This is another common, insignificantflower, grayish white or pink, with herbyodor, once useful, but now trudging along theroadside like silent schoolgirls clad in dulluniform. The shepherds purse, with its inconspicu-ous white flowers and seed pods, whose shapegives the name, is also called mothers heart. The poor mans weatherglass, or shepherdsclock, is found in violet as well as red, thelatter being v^ry common, and known as scar-let pimpernel. Whenever its tiny scarlet blos-soms are seen folding up their delicate petals,it may be taken as a certain indication of ap-proaching rain. Darwin says: Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel,In fiery red the sun doth rise,Then wades through clouds to mount the skies;Twill surely rain, we seet with sorrow,No working in the fields to-morrow. BOGGY SOLITUDES OF NANTUCKET 45 It is true that this little weather prophet ins
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidboggyso, booksubjectbotany
