(A ka 
Hhodara, 
_Rhodora Canadensis. Narurar Orver: Ericacee—Heath Family. 
'T is in Canada and the New England States that the Rhodora 
is to be most frequently met with, growing in moist places 
among the mountains, or in the bogs. It is very handsome 
when in bloom, as.each branch bears on its tip a cluster of 
stemless flowers while there is yet no foliage visible. After 
the blossoming season is over, the leaves make. their appear- 
ance. The shrub is from two to three feet high, is closely allied to 
the Rhododendron, and derives its name from its resemblance to the 
rose. 
Beauty in Retirement, 
HE bloom of opening flowers’ unsullied beauty, 
Softness and sweetest innocence she wears, 
And looks like nature in the world’s first spring. 
—Rowe. 
N May, when sea winds pierced our solitudes, Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why 
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, This charm is wasted on the marsh and sky, 
Spreading its leafless bloom in a damp nook, Dear, tell them, that if eyes were made for seeing, 
To please the desert and the sluggish brook: Then beauty is its own excuse for being. 
The purple petals, fallen in the pool, Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! 
Made the black waters with their beauty gay; I never thought to ask; I never knew, 
Here might the redbird come his plumes to cool, , But in my simple ignorance suppose [you. 
And court the flower that cheapens his array. The selfsame Power brought me there, bro’t 
—Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
MAIDEN! silent sitting, 
Braiding still thy golden hair; 
Round thy head the bees are flitting, 
Deeming thee a lily fair. —G. Hamlin. 
aS thou wonder among women, HINE eyes’ clear fervor dwell 
TI am fretted to the heart, Passionate on my own glad eyes so often, 
Thinking how my words are few Because I know thou art 
To depict thee as thou wert: My life’s diviner part, 
What I will, I cannot do! My other tenderer heart to soothe, to soften. 
—Howard Glyndon, —Edgar Fawcett, : 
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