MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 335 



For to us the Rose symbolizes those things which are tender 

 and exquisite in Hfe, and the sweet wild dweller in the forest 

 is the fairest flower of them all. 



" If June were mine, I 'd weave for you — 

 Of roses red and skies of blue, 



Of golden sun and orchard sheen, 



Of blossom-fretted damascene — 

 A veil of every petal-hue. 



" And from the morning mists of dew 

 Distil a fairy stream, that through 

 The woods should wend a way serene, 

 If June were mine. 



" And, ere the purple dusk anew 

 The curtains of the sunset drew, 

 Adown the river's dream demesne, 

 I 'd paint a path incarnadine, 

 And drift into the dawn with you. 

 If June were mine." 



R. MacoiLnii, or Macoun's Rose, is another species which 

 grows among the mountains. Note that it has small leaves, 

 and that on its stems grow a few large, widely separated, 

 hooked thorns. Otherwise it resembles R. acicidaris^ and the 

 flowers of the two bushes are almost identically alike. When 



" The last rose of summer. 

 Left blooming alone," 



hangs on the bush surrounded by the fallen petals of her 

 companions, then 



" Scarlet berries tell where bloomed the sweet wild rose," 



and Nature spreads a feast of ripe red fruit for the birds of 

 the air. 



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