l$2 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 



and shining light which has since won the christening of "Amer- 

 ica!" "What shall be our national flower?" is it asked. Say, 

 rather, What is our national flower ? What other could it be than 

 the golden -rod? 



Let us look at a few of its most popular fair competitors. 

 The mountain-laurel and the wild rhododendron are the choice 

 of many, but these flowers are without any inherent claims to 

 consideration as a national emblem. Like the golden-rod, they 

 are distinctly American botanical types, it is true, and natives of 

 the primeval woods, but there the resemblance ceases ; for, unlike 

 the golden-rod, they shrink from the haunts of man, and are fast 

 becoming exterminated in his path. 



And here is fair Epigaea, with hesitating step. No, " my pretty 

 recluse!" We want no trailing arbutus on our shield or banner; 

 no shrinking blossom that must be sought out in its exclusive 

 nook, and which permits itself to be trodden underfoot without a 

 token. In the far millennium this lovely flower may serve its turn, 

 but the time is not yet. The shy, blushing bloom hiding its face 

 beneath its leaves is no symbol for a country that looms upon the 

 horizon of the world and beckons to all mankind. The golden- 

 rod alone does this. How irresistibly are its claims asserted ! 

 How unconsciously and prophetically are its attributes cham- 

 pioned ! Even in the conventional torch of our beneficent god- 

 dess we see a replica of its spire of bloom. 



" The fringed gentian ?" say you. A faithful American type, 

 truly, but it is not wide-awake enough to meet the requirements 

 of an ensign. We want no fair-weather blossom, that loses heart 

 at every cloud or drop of rain. Give us an ensign that is always 

 flying its colors, a flower with the same bright face night or day, 

 rain or shine ; one that is known not merely to the poet and the 

 swain and the botanist of a restricted vicinity, but to the common- 

 wealth. Such is the golden -rod. 



The "cardinal-flower" has had many warm votaries; but the 

 cardinal -flower is a stranger to all but a few of our population, and 

 is known at all only in a comparatively restricted section of our 

 land. Besides, its name is against it. Let us avoid the slightest 



