Solomon'0 IRivals 111 



Lines previously quoted link the clover and the 

 sweec-briar; here we consider that June marshals in 

 the troops of roses, among the choicest of its fragrant 

 bands — " sweet as a rose " has passed into a proverb. 

 The lilies also are June flowers ; the golden lily, the 

 stately white lily, each one pouring from its chalice 

 a wealth of sweetness, each one fair enough to be the 

 long-sought Holy Grail. With the roses and lilies 

 come the honeysuckle tribe, and all together vindi- 

 cate the claim of June as the especial month of 

 fragrance. 



There are some of the children of June -which find 

 their " excuse for being ' ' not at all in their fragrance, 

 but in their singular beauty, and of these the laurel 

 stands pre-eminent. No one who has climbed the 

 hills near Gettysburg when the laurel is in full 

 bloom, flushing the hills from base to crown with a 

 deep rosy glow, can fail to accord the mountain 

 laurel the palm of beauty. Its pink tint is the. most 

 exquisite tone of pink that nature ever produced ; its 

 buds, each one like a choicely wrought jewel-box, 

 with a deeply-fluted lid, are the most beautiful buds 

 that could be contrived — the open blossom a more 

 delicate pink than the buds, and given a lace-like 

 appearance by the long filaments of the ten stamens, 

 is indeed a matchless flower, while nothing in the 

 marvelous cross fertilization of orchids can surpass 



