LATER YEARS OF A PLANT. 219 



supporting their ponderous domes. Beautiful roses, with 

 their short-lived flowers and hidden but permanent thorns, 

 remind us of earthly pleasures a forest, with its silent 

 temple of foliage, raised through centuries on gigantic 

 trunks, high above man and full of peace and majesty, 

 fills us with religious awe, and makes us bow low and 

 reverently before these visible tokens of the Creator's 

 sublime power. Even the humblest of flowers bring with 

 their sweet perfume rich blessings to the heart of him 

 whose hand tends them with care. Where a flower opens 

 its quiet, child-like eyes upon us, our passions fly like 

 evil spirits, and he who delights in the still, humble growth 

 of delicate plants, is not apt to harbor coarse thoughts 

 or fierce feelings. In the house around which we see a 

 tidy, well-kept garden, order and peace are apt to prevail, 

 and where there is a flower-stand outside, there is almost 

 always a book-shelf within. 



In his joy and in his sorrow, therefore, man loves to 

 surround himself with plants and flowers. He crowns the 

 bride with sweet myrtle or the pure orange blossom ; the 

 laurel speaks to him of glory and renown, the palm-branch 

 of glorious hopes for the future. And when the loved 

 one departs, he turns again to the flowers of the earth 

 and the trees of the forest, that they may grieve with 

 him and give expression to his sorrow. From the South 

 Sea to the icy north, from east to west, grief finds the 

 same simple but touching expression. The mourning 

 peasant of Normandy burns the lowly straw bed, on which 

 his friend expired, before his hut, and the round black 

 spot, as it contrasts with the green turf by its 



