THE TRAILING ARBUTUS, DELIGHT OF THE POETS, 



Well may this beautiful flower of the 

 early springtime be called a favorite of 

 the poets, for many are the lines written 

 in its praise. Longfellow's bit in ''The 

 Courtship of Miles Standish" is very fa- 

 miliar. The hero sauntered along : 



"Gathering still, as he went, the Mayflowers 



blooming around him, 

 Fragrant, filling the air with a strange and 



wonderful sweetness." 



Whittier has two poems mainly de- 

 voted to this flower, which was the first 

 blossom seen by the Pilgrims after pass- 

 ing the winter in their new home, and 

 which was named after their vessel. This 

 is mentioned in 'The Mayflowers." 



" 'God be praised !' the Pilgrim said, 



Who saw the blossoms peer 

 Above the brown leaves, dry and dead, 



'Behold our Mayflower here !' " 



In "The Trailing Arbutus,' 

 writes : 



"And, guided by its sweet 

 Perfume, I found, within a narrow dell, 

 The trailing spring flower tinted like a shell 



Amid dry leaves and mosses at my feet." 



And, in "The Friend's Burial," our 

 Quaker poet says : 



"The ungathered Mayflowers wear 

 The tints of ocean shells." 



Again, in "April," this lover of the 

 Mayflower gives it another name: 



"Round the boles of the pine-wood the ground- 

 laurel creeps." 



Bryant also uses this name in the 

 poem, "The Twenty-seventh of March" : 



"Within the woods 

 Tufts of ground-laurel, creeping underneath 

 The leaves of the last summer, send their 



sweets 

 Up to the chilly air." 



Emily Dickinson has a poem entitled 

 "May Flower," of which the first stanza 

 is: 



"Pink, small, and punctual, 



Aromatic, low, 



Covert in April, 



Candid in May." 



Sarah H. Whitman speaks of the blos- 

 som in these words : 



"The shy little Mayflower weaves her nest. 

 But the south wind sighs o'er the fragrant 



loam. 

 And betrays the path to the woodland home." 



Whittier Emily Greene Wetherbee writes of 



finding it in childhood: 



"When, in the shaded forest. 



Or in secluded dell, 

 We sought the fragrant Mayflower, 



The blossom loved so well. 



"When from the green leaves peeping. 

 We saw' its pink and white. 



What childish glee and triumph. 

 What shouts of pure delight !" 



And doubtless many more verses 

 might be added to this list, but perhaps 

 enough have been quoted to make the 

 Arbutus still more dear in the hearts of 

 its manifold admirers. 



Edna P. Todd. 



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