ON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF GOD 



may thrive on plain rain-water and the full- 

 est beams of the sun. But the petals of the 

 pale sweetbrier, so ethereal in tint, texture, 

 and fragrance, give one the impression that 

 they have drunken only of the pure distilla- 

 tion of dewdrops, and taken their color from 

 the first damask glow of the dawn. This 

 extremely virginal effect in the aura of the 

 sweetbrier is heightened by her strong de- 

 fensive armor of thorns. Touch me not or 

 "Ich stecke dich," is as plainly the motto of 

 her house as though written in all the annals 

 of heraldry. Of all flowers, she seems the 

 most "unspotted from the world/' and we 

 would always keep her so. To that end may 

 all friendly pastures grant her on their hills 

 entailed rights while grass shall grow and 

 water run. 



Having done obeisance, as is fitting, to 

 the queen of the pasture, one may consider 

 other humble-minded plants that find the 

 pasture a Cradle of Liberty Chiefest of 

 these is the sweet-fern, which deserves all the 

 consolation it may draw from the definition 

 of a weed, as "a plant whose virtues have not 



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