Onward it goes,
now passing by a sloping bank which the gray-leaved golden rod has
covered with a wealth of golden glory; for this low-growing golden rod
which blossoms so early, is the most brilliantly and richly golden of
them all.
[Illustration: "STILL THE RIVER BECKONS ONWARD" (p. 93)]
Great fluffy masses of pink purple at the top of large-leaved stems
are the blossoms of the Joe Pye Weed, and smaller clusters of royal
purple in the grassy places are the efflorescence of the iron weed. A
stretch of grassy ground, which slopes down to the river's brink, is
gemmed with the thick purple clusters of the milkwort, which shines
among the grass as the early blossoms of the clover used to do when
the summer was young. Here and there the little bag-like blossoms of
the gerardia, or foxglove, are opening among the stems of the fading
grass, and the white blossoms of the marsh bellflower, the midget
member of the campanula family, are apparently as fresh and numerous
as they were in early July. Water horehound has whitish whorls of tiny
blossoms and prettily cut leaves, which are as interesting as the
flowers. And still the river beckons onward, murmuring that the quest
of the flower-lover is not yet done and that the prize awaits the
victor who presses on to the swamp around the bend where the birches
hang drooping branches over quiet, fish-full pools.
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