WILD FLOWERS white and greenish 



being peddled on our city streets by venders who stand 

 stupidly in front of the theatres and larger depart- 

 ment stores, grasping a bunch of these handsome, 

 drooped buds and flowers by the neck as if they were 

 so many shoestrings, and with about as much aesthetic 

 conception! There is but one encouraging feature 

 about this altogether too familiar sight, and that is 

 the noticeable absence of patronage. If everyone 

 should refrain from purchasing wild flowers from 

 street hawkers it would discourage the peddling 

 practice quicker than any other method, and con- 

 sequently prolong their existence, which has already 

 been threatened in many instances with extinction. 

 The Water Lily is of high-born parentage, and enjoys 

 the proud distinction of kinship to the sacred Lotus of 

 the Orient. The Lotus is connected with the birth of 

 the Hindoo deity, and has always been symbolic of the 

 Buddha faith, to which something like five hundred 

 million souls bow allegiance. The Hindoos use the 

 Lotus in their funeral ceremonies, and also to decorate 

 their temples and monuments. It is the national 

 flower of Siam. Japanese artists use it extensively 

 for designing and decorating, and their craftsmen 

 reproduce it in ivory, gold and bronze. Lotus petals 

 were found in the tomb of Rameses II. in 1 88 1, where 

 they had reposed for over three thousand years. 

 During the Roman period, the Egyptians cultivated the 

 Lotus along the River Nile for food. The roots were 

 dried in the sun, and then pounded into flour. There 

 is a superstition among the Wallachians, in Roumania, 



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