"Well, you may all go and look at it, if you like." So the children
scampered away to look at the small pale, drooping flower.

"What pretty leaves it has!" said Mary. "I have brought one with me; it
looks like a cluster of leaves in one."

"Yes; the bright, transparent leaves and stems are very delicate. These
leaves will frequently fold up, if knocked, like the leaves of a
sensitive plant. You can look for a plant in the woods and try it. The
leaves, too, have a very acid taste."

"I see a violet root. I like violets because of their sweet smell," said
Annie.

"I like what are called dog-violets too," said her aunt. "They have no
smell at all, but they grow all the summer through, in hedges and in
grass, in such large quantities that the turf often looks like an
embroidered carpet.

"The flower is very similar to the scented violet, only it is of a pale
grayish blue. I have painted two roots side by side, one of the scented,
one of the dog-violet; also a specimen of the white violet, which is not
so common as that of the dark kind, but its smell is quite as
delicious."

The children were delighted to recognize, among others, sketches of
daisies, cowslips, buttercups, wood-anemones, wild hyacinths,
forget-me-nots, eyebright, red and white clover, and many kinds of
flowering grasses and graceful fern leaves.