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called Spider Lily would bloom. Spider lilies were my favorite flowers of the prairie. The flower is deep purple, about the size of a nickel and grows five or six inches high with slender leaves and fuzzy stem. The goldenrod and blue bell are pretty and look nice in a bouquet. But the spider lily was more special to me. Covered with morning dew or wet from a warm spring rain they would appear to me as if parading in the grass like pre-school girls in high heeled slippers, wearing velvet like gowns of enchanted chlorophyll. We would always try to gather wild flowers to place on the graves on decoration day. Decoration Day, or Memorial Day as some call it, was always a must at our house. Pa tried to have the corn all planted by May 30th but planted or not that was the day to honor both the dead the living. Generally we went to Pierre, after our own in the cemetery had been duly honored with flags and flowers, to attend the memorial exercises there. Before we had a Model T we went with the team and wagon. Probably the day before |