226 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



beautiful plant until my emotion became so strong 

 that I restrained it with difficulty. Then a thought 

 filled my soul. It was that this flower of the moon 

 was the most perfect symbol of beauty and of the 

 purity of woman. 



I have since had frequent opportunities of study- 

 ing the yucca, and of ascertaining by frequent obser- 

 vations, the truth of what was revealed to me so poet- 

 ically, viz.: that this flower blooms only at the time 

 of the full moon, and that it veils its charms from the 

 bright eye of day and reveals them only to the di- 

 vine eye of the night." 



