Pussy-Willow Bouquet
A nice, big bunch of pussy-willows makes an attractive bouquet, and a very welcome one early in the spring. "The pussies are out!" we hear some one say, and then the boys and girls vie with one another in their effort to be the first to find and bring home branches of the little catkins as proof that spring has come and they were the first to see her.
CHAPTER VII
ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERS
The arrangement of flowers is interesting and means a great deal. It means that this chapter will tell you what wild flowers look prettiest on the dinner-table and in bowls and vases in other parts of the house; what flowers and vines will keep fresh longest, and the kind that do not need water but are beautiful when dry. It means that you can learn not to force a tightly packed handful of all sorts of flowers into a small vase and expect them to look well. Flowers don't like crowding and are quite particular about their associates.
If you come in hot and tired after your walk, put the flowers you have gathered into a pail of fresh water and let them stay there until you have rested and are ready to sort them out and make each kind look its very best. All flowers do not appear well in stiff, straight vases; all do not look well in bowls. That is the first thing to learn, and the next is that while some flowers seem to smile upon and nestle lovingly up to some others, there are kinds that they seem to draw away from and frown upon. Only a few examples can be given here. If you love the flowers you will find out more for yourself.