ILLUSTRATIONS. 



ornament for the New Year that would be so universally admired as 

 the one we have selected. For who can see the flower, or a coloured 

 figure of the Daisy, without a thousand delightful associations of 

 infancy. To those who have passed their early days amongst Daisy- 

 spangled meadows, the very name will seem to renovate the imagination 

 and carry them back to their earliest pleasures. This pretty flower is 

 the favourite of all : it may be styled, " The Robin of Flowers." 

 Turn the blossom all ways, and on every fresh view new beauty 

 appears. 



No other flower has been so frequently celebrated by our best poets : 



Milton says — 



" By dimpled brook and fountain brim, 

 The wood nymphs deck'd with Daisies trim, 

 Their merry wakes and pastimes keep." 



The Daisy has been made the emblem of innocence, because it con- 

 tributes more than any other flower to infantile amusement and the joys 

 of childhood. Cowper says — 



in the spring and playtime of the year, 



That calls the unwonted villager abroad 

 With all her little ones, a spontaneous train, 

 To gather kingcups in the yellow mead, 

 And prink their hair with Daisies." 



Shakespeare celebrates this flower in his favourite song to spring - 

 " When Daisies pied, and violets blue, 



And lady flowers all silver-white, 

 And cuckoo buds of yellow hue, 



Do paint the meadows with delight." 



Monlgomery says — 



" There is a flower, a little flower, 



With silver crest and golden eye, 

 That welcomes every changing hour, 

 And weathers every sky. 



And this small flower, to nature dear, 

 While moon and stars their courses run, 



Wreaths the whole circle of the year, 

 Companion of the sun. 



* * * * 



'Tis Flora's page, in every place, 



In every season, fresh and fair, 

 It opens with perennial grace, 



And blossoms everywhere. 



On waste and Avoodland, rock and plain, 



Its humble buds unheeded rise. 

 The Rose has but a summer reign, 



The Daisy never dies." 



