IKFLUENCE OF FLOWERS UPON NATIONAL LIFE. 123 



acknowledgment of some finely- rendered song, appreciates their 

 language ; and the clergyman finds that the floral decorations 

 around his pulpit often preach a more thrilling discourse than he 

 could ever expect to give. Rich or poor, we love the flowers. 

 Thej' have been so universally admired that we have been accus- 

 tomed to use the term " flower," as a symbol of the best or noblest 

 of any class of individuals. We speak of the flower of the 

 famil}', the flower of the army, and the flower of the nobility. 



If we look now at the histories of nations, the value set upon 

 flowers in ancient times, whether in their religions rites, their 

 mythology, or in the realm of art, is clearly exhibited. 



Man}- superstitions are connected with flowers in India. In the 

 Hindoo fable, Puranus, the god of war, was born under the 

 flower-laden branches of the tamarind tree. The fig tree is wor- 

 shipped in India. The people carry flowers and place them under 

 the fig trees in some towns, as an act of religious worship ; and, 

 today, the children of that country are taught that it is a religious 

 rite to carry flowers to their teachers. The people of Malabar 

 consider the jasmine flower as sacred to their god Vishnu. 

 The religious influence of the rose may be inferred from the 

 history of the " golden rose." It was formed of wrought gold 

 and blessed by the Holy Father, in person, on the fourth Sunday 

 of Lent. It was anointed with balsam and fumigated with incense 

 and sometimes carried by the Pope himself in the solemn proces- 

 sions. It w'as usuall}' given to some royal personage who was 

 especially devoted to the Church. Alexander the Third sent one 

 to Louis le Jeune, King of France, and in later times it has been 

 awarded to widows of kings and dower-queens. A golden rose 

 was sent to the emi)ress of France in 1861. That the rose seems 

 to have been an emblem of especial reverence is not strange 

 when we recall the legend which declares that a rose blossomed 

 ■wherever the Virgin Mary's foot pressed the soil. Pictures illus- 

 trating this legend were often painted. 



An idea of the legendary lore of the Middle Ages is given to us in 

 the miraculous story of " Elizabeth's Roses," and tl.eir transforma- 

 tion into the " costly viands fit for the banquet of a king." 

 Mexico's festival of "Our Lady of Guadalupe," which celebrates 

 the apparition of the Virgin to Diego, the Indian, recalls the 

 legend that Diego cariied roses to the Archbishoi) which were 

 suddenly changed into the lorm of the Virgin ; and thus we find 



