292 THE LANGUAGE 



whose branches may be trained into fanciful shapes, and 

 till retain their vigor. A poet says 



"My mild and winsome jasmine-tree, 

 That climbest up the dark grey wall, 

 Thy tiny flowrets seem in glee, 

 Like silver spray-drops down to fall." 



JUNIPER / offer you protection. Timorous animals, as the 

 hare, often find shelter, when pursued, under the thick, 

 drooping branches of this shrub. 



LADIES' SLIPPER. You are too wild for sober company. It is a 

 beautiful, prudish looking red flower, which stands nod- 

 ding in the thick forest, but cannot be tamed so as to thrive 

 in the garden. 



LAUREL. Truth is often concealed under out side show. The 

 lesser Laurel, (Kalmia,) of our woods, is an inviting little 

 shrub with gaudy red flowers, but acts as a poison when 

 taken. 



LEMON. Your disposition requires a little sugar. The juice 

 of the lemon is seldom taken without sweetening. 



LILY OF THE VALLEY. My happiness has returned. This 

 modest little favorite, embosomed in its profusion of green 

 leaves, sends forth its fragrant bells in May, that happiest 

 season of the year, 



" And sweetest to the view, 

 That Lily of the vale, whose virgin flower 

 Trembles at every breeze, beneath its leafy bower." 



LOBELIA. Away with your quackery. One species, the inflata, 

 is much used by quack doctors, and being an acrid, poison- 

 ous plant, it often kills but seldom cures. 



MAGNOLIA. Thou art one of nature's nobility. No genus 

 of plants rivals this, either in simplicity, magnificence, or 

 beauty. 



MADDER. Deceit is often the means of its own detection. 

 When animals break into the madder fields, and eat the 

 plants, it colors their teeth red, thus uttering the truth with 

 their own mouths. 



MANDRAKE. A little man you are indeed. Quacks formerly 

 made use of it, and as every part was supposed to help a 

 part, it was pretended that it grew in the form of a little 

 man, and that it cried bitterly when pulled from the ground. 



