“When we were in Japan Dorothy and I learned something about the Japanese notions of flower arrangement,” continued Mrs. Smith.  “They usually use one very beautiful dominating blossom.  If others are added they are not competing for first place but they act as helpers to add to the beauty of the main attraction.”

“We’ve learned some of the Japanese ways,” said Mrs. Emerson.  “I remember when people always made a bouquet perfectly round and of as many kinds of flowers as they could put into it.”

“People don’t make ‘bouquets’ now; they gather a ‘bunch of flowers,’ or they give you a single bloom,” smiled her daughter.  “But isn’t it true that we get as much pleasure out of a single superb chrysanthemum or rose as we do out of a great mass of them?”

“There are times when I like masses,” admitted Mrs. Emerson.  “I like flowers of many kinds if the colors are harmoniously arranged, and I like a mantelpiece banked with the kind of flowers that give you pleasure when you see them in masses in the garden or the greenhouse.”

“If the vases they are in don’t show,” warned Mrs. Smith.

Mrs. Emerson agreed to that.

“The choice of vases is almost as important as the choice of flowers,” she added.  “If the stems are beautiful they ought to show and you must have a transparent vase, as you said about the rose.  If the stems are not especially worthy of admiration the better choice is an opaque vase of china or pottery.”

“Or silver or copper?” questioned Margaret.

“Metals and blossoms never seem to me to go well together,” confessed Mrs. Emerson.  “I have seen a copper cup with a bunch of violets loosely arranged so that they hung over the edge and the copper glinted through the blossoms and leaves and the effect was lovely; but flowers to be put into metal must be chosen with that in mind and arranged with especial care.”

“Metal jardinieres don’t seem suitable to me, either,” confessed Mrs. Emerson.  “There are so many beautiful potteries now that it is possible to something harmonious for every flowerpot.”

“You don’t object to a silver centrepiece on the dining table, do you?”

“That’s the only place where it doesn’t seem out of place,” smiled Mrs. Emerson.  “There are so many other pieces of silver on the table that it is merely one of the articles of table equipment and therefore is not conspicuous.  Not a standing vase, mind you!” she continued.  “I don’t know anything more irritating than to have to dodge about the centrepiece to see your opposite neighbor.  It’s a terrible bar to conversation.”

They all had experienced the same discomfort, and they all laughed at the remembrance.

“A low bowl arranged flat is the rule for centrepieces,” repeated Mrs. Emerson seriously.

“Mother always says that gay flowers are the city person’s greatest help in brightening up a dark room,” said Della as she laid aside all the calliopsis from the flowers she was sorting.  “I’m going to take a bunch of this home to her to-night.”