The Shrinking (Purple) Violet

When we were little girls and walking to school in Valley Falls, we picked violets  on the way to bring home to our mothers.  The ditches were full of purple violets, so nobody owned them  and we felt free to pick them. But, rarity of rarities at the time, was the white violet.  We discovered a few on the left bank of the Catholic Church, growing along the remains of an old wrought iron fence, no longer maintained or cared about.  We kids had no problem if the rare white flower was outside the piece of fence, but to reach inside, onto Church property, presented itself as a moral dilemma. We knew no one really cared, but we also knew God was watching.