Parables from Flowers

In the days of the long-ago, my ancestors did not dwell as we do nowâ€"in brooks or by the banks of shallow streams, but grew in wild luxuriance beneath the shade of overhanging trees, and under the wayside hedgerows. We were always a quiet, unassuming race, and, indeed, I am fain to confess, were not held in more esteem by mortals than are our sweet cousins whom children call 'Bird's-eyes.' But some one made known to the world that pathetic 'Legend of the Rhine,' in which we are described, then people began to perceive that we were pretty,lovely indeed,â€"and to make a great fuss about us; but such is the way of the world!