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CEtctoflii. 



Silcne \I^nUCVia. Natural Order: Caryophyllacece — Pink Family. 



ARIETIES of this plant to the number of about one hundred, 

 'i^ of which perhaps a dozen are indigenous to the United States, 

 have been noted b}- botanists. It is culti^•ated as a garden 

 annual, many varieties having been introduced from Europe — 

 the rose-colored from Sicily, and the red from Portugal, while 

 Russia has furnished a perennial species. They all bloom plenti- 

 fully, and are appropriate for planting in the borders, or for rock- 

 work. The stem is about a foot and a half high, and the flowers 

 mostly a purplish pink, white, and red. Beneath each joint there is a 

 glutinous substance that retains any light insect that touches it. It 

 derives its name from. Silenus, the reputed foster-father and drunken 

 companion of Bacchus, who, when caught asleep and encircled with 

 a cordon of flowers by mortals, could be compelled to prophesy; so 

 the ancient Greeks imagined. 



J nm h\}\\ Prtsaiirr. 



TTIGH w.alls and strong the bodv mav confine, 

 And iron gates obstruct the prisoner's gaze, 

 And massive bolts may baffle his design, 



And vigilant keepers watch his devious v.-ays; 

 Yet scorns the immortal mind this base control ! 



No chains can bind it and no cells enclose; 

 Swifter than light it flies from pole to pole, 



And in a flash from earth to heaven it goes. 



r\ LIBERTY! the prisoner's pleasing dream, 

 ^ The poet's muse, his passion and his theme; 

 Genius is thine, and thou art Fancy's nurse; 

 Lost without thee the ennobling powers of verse; 

 Heroic song from thy free touch acquires 

 Its clearest tone, the rapture it inspires. —Covjfer. 



H' 



i gives the signal of command, 



He waves — he drops — the lifted hand! 



It was a sound of clashing steel — 



Why starts he thus.' what doth he feel.= 



The clanking of his iron cliain 



Hath made him prisoner again ! —Mrs. Norton. 



