THE SUNFLOWER. 



THE SUNFLOWER.— False riches. 



This flower is from Peru, in which country it was formerly 

 honoured as the image of the great orb of day. 



It is related that a rich Lydian, named Pythias, owning 

 gold mines, neglected to till his fields, that his slaves might 

 work in the mines. His wife, who was wise and good, caused 

 a dinner to be served with dishes of meats in gold, saying, " I 

 give you the only thing in which you abound : you can reap 

 only what you sow; think whether gold is so great a good !" 

 He then saw that the annual productions of the earth were 

 the true riches, distributed among men in return for their 

 labour. 



Longfellow has a poetical lesson of somewhat the same 

 import. He says, 



" As in at the gate we rode, behold, 

 A tower that was called the Tower of Gold ! 

 For there the Kalif had hidden his wealth, 

 Heaped and hoarded and piled on high, 

 Like sacks of wheat in a granary ; 

 And thither the miser crept by stealth 

 To feel of the gold that gave him health. 

 And to gaze and to gloat with his hungry eye 

 On the jewels that gleamed like a glow-worm's spark. 

 Or the eyes of a panther in the dark. 



I said to the Kalif ; ' Thou art old. 



Thou hast no need of so much gold. 



Thou should'st not have heaped and hidden it here, 



Till the breath of battle was hot and near. 



But have sown through the land these useless hoards. 



To spring into shining blades of swords, 



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