The language of flowers The floral offering ; a token of affection and esteem ; comprising the language and poetry of flowers
system, revives the spirits, and strengthens the sight. The Valerian is
too large and scrambling a plant to hold a place in the parterre of
choice flowers.
* * * * *
How much more happy is that sweet estate,
That neither creeps too low nor soars too high;
Which yields no matter for contempt or hate,
Which others not disdain, nor yet envy,
Which neither does nor takes an injury,
But living to itself in sweet content,
Is neither abject, nor yet insolent.
_1629. Herbert._
* * * * *
My country, sir, is not a single spot
Of such a mould, or fixed to such a clime.
_Miller._
MARVEL OF PERU.... _Timidity_.
The Marvel is a native of Peru, and receives its name from the wonderful
diversity of colours in flowers of the same root;
Changing from the splendid rose
To the pale violet’s dejected hue.
_Akenside._
This plant retains its beauty for a great length of time, being
frequently covered with blossoms from the beginning of July to the end
of October. It is chosen as the emblem of timidity, because the flowers
are too timid to expand during the day, and open and give out their
fragrance at night.
* * * * *
Sure, ’twas his modesty. He might have thriven
Much better possibly, had his ambition
Been greater much. They ofttimes take more pains
Who look for pins, than those who find out stars.
_John Fountain._
* * * * *
I pity bashful men, who feel the pain
Of fancied scorn and undeserved disdain,
And bear the marks upon a blushing face
Of needless shame and self-imposed disgrace.
_Cowper._
* * * * *
“Call back your odours, lonely flowers,
From the night-wind call them back;
And fold your leaves till the laughing hours
Come forth in the sunbeam’s track.
The lark lies couched in her grassy nest,
And the honey-bee is gone;
And all bright things are away to rest--
Why watch ye here alone?”
Nay, let our shadowy beauty bloom,
When the stars give quiet light;
And let us offer our faint perfume
On the silent shrine of night.
Call it not wasted the scent we lend
To the breeze when no step is nigh;
Oh! thus for ever the earth should send
Her grateful breath on high!
And love us as emblems, night’s dewy flowers,
Of hopes unto sorrows given,
That spring through the gloom of the darkest hours,
Looking alone to Heaven.
_Mrs. Hemans._
* * * * *
That modest grace subdued my soul,
That chastity of look which seems to hang
A veil of purest light o’er all her beauties,
And by forbidding most inflames desire.
_Young._
* * * * *
He saw her charming, but he saw not half
The charms her downcast modesty concealed.
_Thomson._
STOCK.... _Lasting Beauty_.
The Stock has been made the emblem of lasting beauty; because, though it
is less graceful than the rose, and less majestic than the lily, its
splendour is more durable, and its fragrance of longer continuance. Few
flowering plants have been so much and so rapidly improved by
cultivation as the Stock. Within the last two centuries, its nature has
been almost entirely changed by the florist; and it is now a shrub whose
branches are covered with blossoms little inferior in dimensions to the
rose. Stocks are produced of various colours, but the bright red or
carmine must ever remain the favourite variety. The principal branches
of this fragrant family are the Ten-week Stock, so named from flowering
about ten weeks after it is sown; and the Brompton, which does not bloom
till about twelve months after sowing, and was first cultivated in the
neighbourhood of Brompton, England.
* * * * *
Without the smile from partial beauty won,
Oh, what were man!--a world without a sun!
_Campbell._
* * * * *
Beauty has gone; but yet her mind is still
As beautiful as ever; still the play
Of light around her lips has every charm
Of childhood in its freshness.
_Percival._
* * * * *
The lily may die on thy cheek,
With freshness no longer adorning;
The rose that envelopes its whiteness may seek
To take back her mantle of morning;
Yet still will Love’s tenderness beam from thine eye,
And ask for that homage no heart can deny.
_Dawes._
* * * * *
The glory of the human form
Is but a perishing thing, and Love will droop
When its brief grace hath faded. But the mind
Perisheth not, and when the outward charm
Hath had its brief existence, it awakes,
And is the lovelier that it slept so long.
_Willis._
Beauty lies
As naturally upon his cheek as bloom
Upon a peach. Like morning vapour, flies
Before his smile my mind’s infrequent gloom.
We tremble when we think that many a storm
May beat upon him in the time to come,--
That his now beautiful and fragile form
May bear a burden sore and wearisome.
Yet, so the stain of guiltiness and shame
Be never placed upon his soul and name,--
So he preserve his virtue though he die,--
And to his GOD, his race, his country prove
A faithful man, whom praise nor gold can buy,
Nor threats of vile, designing men can move,--
We ask no more.
_MacKellar._
SCARLET GERANIUM.... _Stupidity_.
There are many varieties of the Geranium, distinguished by the shape and
hue of the flowers and leaves, and the difference in their fragrance.
The Scarlet Geranium is a very beautiful flower, but its scent is
disagreeable. The following anecdote will give the reason of its being
chosen as the emblem of stupidity. Madame de Staël was always angry when
any of her acquaintance attempted to introduce a stupid person into her
company. One day, one of her friends ventured to bring to her a young
Swiss officer of most prepossessing exterior. The lady, pleased with his
appearance, was very lively, and said a thousand flattering things to
the new-comer, who seemed at first to be struck mute by surprise and
admiration. When, however, he had listened to her for above an hour
without opening his lips, she began to suspect the cause of his silence,
and put to him such direct questions that he could not help answering.
His answers were extremely silly! Madame de Staël, vexed at having
thrown away her time and her wit, turned to her friend and said:
“Indeed, sir, you are like my gardener, who thought to do me a pleasure
by bringing me this morning a pot of Geranium: but I can tell you that I
made him take back the flower, desiring him not to let me see it any
more.” “And why so?” asked the young man in astonishment. “It was, since
you wish to know, because the Geranium is a beautiful scarlet flower;
while you look at it, it pleases the eye; but when you press it ever so
slightly, it gives out a disagreeable smell.” So saying, Madame de Staël
rose and went out of the room, leaving the young fool abashed and in
confusion.
* * * * *
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well, craves a kind of wit.
_Shakspeare._
* * * * *
Your blunderer is as sturdy as a rock,
The creature is so sure to kick and bite,
A muleteer’s the man to set him right.
First appetite enlists him truth’s sworn foe,
Then obstinate self-will confirms him so.
Tell him he wanders; that his error leads
To fatal ill; that though the path he treads
Be flowery, and he see no cause of fear,
Death and the pains of hell attend him there.
In vain the slave of arrogance and pride,
He has no hearing on the prudent side.
His still refuted quirks he still repeats;
New raised objections with new quibbles meets;
Till sinking in the quicksand he defends,
He dies disputing, and the contest ends.
_Cowper._
* * * * *
A set o’ dull conceited hashes,
Confuse their brains in college classes!
They gang in stirks, and come out asses,
Plain truth to speak;
An’ syne they think to climb Parnassus
By dint o’ Greek.
Gie me a spark o’ Nature’s fire,
That’s a’ the learning I desire;
Then tho’ I drudge thro’ dub an’ mire
At pleugh or cart,
My muse, tho’ hamely in attire,
May touch the heart.
_Burns._
* * * * *
The man who looks around him as he walks
Sees objects often wonderful and new;
And he who thinks while his companion talks
In time may grow the wiser of the two.
An open eye--a quick, attentive ear
Will lead the mind into the ways of knowledge;
For all the world’s a universal college,
And every one may be a learner here.
Experience is the teacher: dear, indeed,
Her charges are to thoughtless folks and fools;
But those who follow carefully her rules
The various tongues of nature learn to read.
Who seldom ploughs his mind shall reap but little;
Weeds quickly overspread the fallow soil;
The toiler may be wearied by his toil,
But it shall yield sufficiency of victual,
Enough for his own use, and much to spare.
To him who hath, abundance shall be given;
From him who squanders wastefully his share,
All that he has shall righteously be riven:
The world shall make a proverb of his name,
And he shall fill a sepulchre of shame.
_MacKellar._
OAK GERANIUM.... _Friendship_.
The Oak Geranium does not present so beautiful an appearance as the
scarlet variety; but the pale blue colour of the flower, and the length
of time which it continues in bloom, endear it to us as the emblem of
true friendship.
* * * * *
What though on Love’s altar the flame that is glowing
Is brighter?--yet Friendship’s is steadier far!
One wavers and turns with each breeze that is blowing,
And is but a meteor,--the other’s a star!
In youth Love’s light
Burns warm and bright,
But dies ere the winter of age be past,--
While Friendship’s flame
Burns ever the same,
And glows but the brighter, the nearer its last!
_Anon._
* * * * *
Thanks to my stars, I have not ranged about
The wilds of life, ere I could find a friend:
Nature first pointed out my brother to me,
And early taught me, by her sacred force,
To love thy person, ere I knew thy merit,
Till what was instinct grew up into friendship.
Ours has severest virtue for its basis,
And such a friendship ends not but with life.
_Addison._
* * * * *
O! Friendship! in thy constant ray,
My heart is cheered and cannot sink,
Though gloom and storm around me play
And I am pressed to death’s cold brink!
_Peerbold._
* * * * *
The friend
Who smiles when smoothing down the lonely couch,
And does kind deeds, which any one can do