FLOWERS OF THE SAINTS 145 



lengthened till, with the ending of the canticle, the 

 little staff was covered with fresh green leaves, as 

 though it had donned its sweet spring clothing to 

 welcome the holy men. And near this spot St. 

 Joseph built a church, known in after days as the 

 Abbey of Glastonbury. There St. Dunstan was born 

 and bred, and there, so tradition says, St. Patrick 

 and St. David were buried, and many another holy 

 man who had been taught St. Joseph's faith, until 

 the end came in the reign of Henry VHL, when 

 the last abbot was cruelly done to death, and the 

 abbey was no more used for the service of God. 

 But the holy thorn which took root at St. Joseph's 

 landing, flowers on the day of the Nativity. At 

 Christmas-time, when most other flowers and trees 

 are fast asleep, this thorn tree blossoms as though 

 there were no cold winds and bitter frosts, and during 

 each month of the year it will be found that the 

 tree is never bereft of flowers. 



Archdeacon Holmes, in that most charming little 

 book " In Praise of Legend," says: '' Legend appeals 

 to something within us — something which we want 

 and have a right to; something which comes under 

 the law of supply and demand; something that 

 appeals to the sense of the lovely which exists in 

 nearly everybody. For there is something in most 

 of us which can never be really satisfied with L.S.D,, 

 which needs something more than iron safes and 

 well-bound ledgers, which is unsatisfied with cold 

 grey of abstract doctrine or dogma, however essential 

 such doctrine and storm-proof dogma may be. 



" What is this something ? It is the love of the 

 lovely. And legend, and all that is lovely in legend, 

 contributes its quota to satisfying the demand. 



