THE GUESTS OF THE MAYFLOWER. 



17 



THE GUESTS OF THE MAYFLOWER. 



By PnoF. CLAEENCE M. WEED. 



"^VTO native plant has so endeared itself to the New England 

 J-^ heart as the mayflower. For two centuries it has been to 

 old and young the sweetest of spring's harbingers as it pushed its 

 dainty blossoms through the fallen leaves beside the lingering 

 snow. It has charmed those fortunate ones who have wandered 

 over the hills to find it, and has carried glad tidings to those com- 

 pelled to stay at home. It has been constantly used to carry 

 Cupid's message from youths to maidens a custom which I like 

 to fancy may have originated when, in the infancy of Plymouth, 

 John Alden brought to Priscilla Mullens bunches of arbutus blos- 

 soms that spoke not only for themselves but also for the hand 

 that plucked them. 



But Epigcea is a plant of decided interest in itself apart from 

 its associations. It was not originally designed as an emissary of 



Fig. 1. Thk Mayflower. 



the goddess of love, and its beauty was primarily developed with- 

 out reference to the festhetic needs of the Pilgrims or their de- 

 scendants. Long before the Mayflower reached Plymouth or 

 Columbus landed at San Salvador probably before the Indians 

 arrived, and possibly before the glaciers came down from the 

 north the arbutus blossomed with each returning season and 

 carried on the cycle of her existence as tranquilly as she does to- 

 day. But her fragrance was by no means " wasted on the desert 

 air," for she received then, as now, the tributes of a host of insect 

 visitors that went about to do her unconscious bidding. 



Although the trailing arbutus has been developing for so many 

 centuries, it is still in a state of transition, and appears to be 

 looking toward a goal which probably will not be fully reached 



VOL XLV. ;; 



