This change may
seem trifling indeed to the dignified chroniclers of kings and
queens and others of high descent--great descent, it may be added,
remembering the moral depths attained; but to those who care for
the welfare of the people, it is a mutation of no slight interest.
I am glad to think, as has been shown in a recent novel, that
Lucrezia Borgia was not so black as she has been painted; yet in
the early days of June and July, when strawberries and raspberries
are ripening, I fancy that most of us can dismiss her and her kin
from mind as we observe Nature's alchemy in our gardens. When we
think of the luscious, health-imparting fruits which will grace
millions of tables, and remember that until recent years they were
conspicuous only by their absence, we may not slightingly estimate
a great change for the better. Once these fruits were wildings
which the vast majority of our forefathers shared sparingly with
the birds. Often still, unless we are careful, our share will be
small indeed; for the unperverted taste of the birds discovered
from the first what men have been so slow to learn--that the ruby-
like berries are the gems best worth seeking. The world is
certainly progressing toward physical redemption when even the
Irish laborer abridges his cabbage-patch for the sake of small
fruits--food which a dainty Ariel could not despise.
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