GARDEN AND WILD FLOWERS. 109 



" And, more than all, ye speak 



Of might and power, of mercy, of the One 

 Eternal, who hatli strew 'd you fair and meek, 

 To glisten in the sun. 



'^ '' To gladden all the earth 



Witli bright and beauteous emblems of His grace ; 

 That showers its gifts of uncomputed worth 

 In every clime and place" 



Eight months of the year, even in onr severe climate, we may enjoy flowers 

 grown in the open air. You may think this a wild assertion; but did any of 

 you remember last fall, before stern Winter laid his embargo on the mellow 

 soil, to plant in your flower beds a few bulbs of Snowdrop? If you did, the 

 sun of "blustering March " will not fail to find the spot, the ice and snow will 

 melt away from that "charmed circle,'' and before you would believe it possible 

 for any plant to be warmed into beauty, fair, fragile-looking blossoms, white as 

 the snow-rift that has parted to make room for them, are bowing their 

 gracefully drooping heads, and from their emerald tipped chalices a delicate 

 perfume is wafted on the air, a grateful incense to heaven. Before these 

 "pretty firstlings of the spring" have faded, the snow and ice perchance have 

 disappeared; then how soon the bright sisterhood of crocuses will burst upon 

 your sight, making your flower-bed radiant with their white, gold, purple and 

 violet; and as if to outvie each other in welcoming the spring, they spread 

 their broad corollas at the kiss of the bright sun, and seem to utter a silent 

 pean of " Glory to God in the highest!" If there is one who can look upon a 

 bed of these bright emblems of hope sent to cheer us while the earth is bare 

 and drear, and not cry in his very soul — 



" Blessed be God for flowers ! 

 For the bright, gentle, holy thought that breathe 

 From out their varied beauty," 



he is "past hope." And see the bees, those "busy marauders," how they revel 

 in the rich golden feast spread for their regaling! 



Before these "Spring's bright children" have departed, the pale-faced 

 Primroses, emblems of modest worth, hold meekly up their white and roseate 

 cups, filled with dewey nectar, a sweet libation for the Easter morning. Then 

 come the early Hyacinths, "redolent of sweets," and Pansies, "that's for 

 thoughts," and what tender, loving thoughts come to us from out their match- 

 less beauty, decked in gold and ptirple that a queen might envy, and a perfume 

 like a sweet breath from " Araby the blest." They are the flowers for all the 

 year, for I have dug through the snow-rift and gathered from beneath it a 

 basket of them to grace our table in mid-winter. 



In April and May, hundreds among early blooming plants, bulbs and shrubs 

 will be in flower. Lilacs in variety all should have, especially the white and 

 Persian, Snoiu Ball and Spireas ; if you have but one of these last, let it be 

 Spirea Prunifolia, which sways in the vernal air its numerous wreaths of tiny 

 double white flowers like fairy roses ; the Pyrus Japonicas (flowering quinces),, 

 one with scarlet flowers and their coronal of golden anthers, briUiaut enough 

 to be called in poetry "Fairies' fire ;" the other exceedingly beautiful, its deli- 

 cate waxen petals just enough tinged with blush not to be pure white, the 

 outer edges of them shaded with dark rose. Then there are Daffodils, Jon- 

 quils and Narcissus, so lusciously fragrant; Irises, Tulips and an endless list 

 of others, and of shrubs and plants a legion. 



