Meetin' Seed and Sabbath Day Posies 347 



placed a single beautiful Lily in the pew of each of 

 his old friends. All knew who was the flower bearer, 

 and gentle smiles and nods of thanks would radiate 

 across the old church to him. These lilies were 

 gathered for him freshly each Sabbath morning by 

 the young men of his family, who, as Thoreau tells, 

 all took their 

 morning bath in 

 the pond through- 

 out the summer. 

 There were 

 conventions in 

 these Sunday 

 posies. I never 

 heard of carrying 

 sprays of Lemon 

 Verbena or Rose 

 Geranium, or any 

 of the strong- 

 scented herbs of 

 the Mint family ; 

 but throughout 

 eastern Massa- 

 chusetts, espe- 

 cially in Concord 

 and Wayland, a 

 favorite posy was 

 a spray of the refreshing, soft-textured leaves from 

 what country folk called the Tongue plant — which 

 was none other than Costmary, also called Beaver 

 tongue, and Patagonian mint. As there has been 

 recently much interest and discussion anent this 



Sun-dial on Boulder, Swiftwater, 

 Pennsylvania. 



