What does "Flowers masking kke women and men" mean? [closed]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Jonquil_Masquerade.jpg

If that is supposed to read "the" instead of "kke" or "hke", then it's the most misleading font/text style ever used.

Churchman Company, 1899 - Church history

Notes “Missions and Politics in Asia,” by Robert E. Speer (F.H. Revell Co. $1), that we comment it heartily to all. Its general conclusions are so entirely our own that we have given them editorial expression in this issue under a title that itself suggests our obligation to Mr. Silver’s wise and well-informed study.

“The personification of the flowers, and the fanciful adaption of their forms and colors to the human shape, is Mr. Walter Crane’s object in his beautiful book “The Floral Fantasy in an Old English Garden.” (New York: Harper & Brothers.) There is plenty of room for imagination in color and line in such a task. The author says:

“With a leaf from an old English book,
a jonquil will serve for a pen;
Let us note from the green arbour’s nook,
Flowers masking like women and men.”

The rare loveliness of this floral masque is a delight to the eyes, and exquisite drawing, tender coloring and graceful words render the work a unique gift book.

A Floral Fantasy in an Old English Garden By Walter Crane