182 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 zs our national flower? What other coud 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 Epigzea, 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 
ot 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 
