WINTER. 13 



welcome, so that they might not feel altogether lost 

 and exiled. Thp truth lies probably in the ancient 

 symbolic use of trees and shrubs in connection with 

 religious faith, on which ground they were used in 

 pious ceremonies, and placed beside the altars, as vis- 

 ible representatives of those peculiar blessings which 

 the deity to whom .they were consecrated, was be- 

 lieved willing to bestow where reverently asked. Our 

 Lord's coming to the earth in the depth of winter, was 

 representative of the time when man most needs Him ; 

 these rich, red berries and lustrous leaves of the holly, 

 triumphing over the asperities of frost and snow, pic- 

 ture beautifully His dominion over the powers of dark- 

 ness, and are life, as it were, made visible. 



Nor are evergreens all that greet the eye in mid- 

 winter. There are flowers, too, few it may be, but 

 choice and pure, sufficient to assure us that Flora never 

 forgets her prime duty ; and though she may repose 

 awhile, provides sweetness for every day. Nothing 

 is fairer than the Christmas-rose, though not a rose in 

 nature. The large white petals form elegant concavi- 

 ties, with a tuft of yellow stamens in the centre, after 

 the fashion of a little wheat-sheaf, and round about the 

 latter is set a ring of green honeycups, in which, even 

 now, scanty nectar may be discovered. The appear- 

 ance of these Christmas flowers, following as they do 

 many of late autumn, illustrates beautifully that al- 

 though our seasons in the North are so marked, yet, 



