262 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



THE CORN. 1 



THEY tell us that the homely corn that grows, 

 From russet stem and leaf, our daily bread, 

 Was once a lily ; which by various steps 

 Of menial work, became degraded thus. 

 It left its high-born sisters, in their robes 

 Of gorgeous idleness, to clothe itself 

 In this plain dress for common household use. 

 Its bright-hued petals, nectar-cup, and store 

 Of fragrance sweet, that insect lovers wooed, 

 It sacrificed ; and only wandering winds, 

 That have no sense of beauty or delight, 

 Now woo its sober blooms with heedless sighs. 

 But for this noble humbling of itself, 

 God has more highly honoured it, to be 

 The chief support of human beings, made 

 In His own image rulers of the world. 

 And now bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, 

 Its being mingles with our nature high ; 

 And through that union, it ascends our throne, 

 And gains in us the wondrous power, by which 

 The lilies wake to consciousness, and know 

 That they are beautiful, and find a speech, 



1 The corn along with all the grasses belongs to the second great 

 division of the world of plants the liliaceous order; and according 

 to evolutionists is either a lily in its lowest stage of development, 

 or a degraded form of the higher type ; the latter supposition being 

 more probably its true history. Whatever foundation in reality it 

 may have, the idea is a most beautiful and suggestive one. 





