248 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



In our more southern gardens these varieties will 

 be found blooming as late as Christmas, if Decem- 

 ber should be mild. 



The chrysanthemum is indeed the last and most 

 beautiful autumn flower of all Flora's train ; and 

 whatever we may say of the rose, we must acknowl- 

 edge the lovely Golden Flower another queen — the 

 Queen of Autumn. When the summer flowers are 

 gone and the birds have flown southward ; when the 

 chill winds come down from the icy regions of the 

 North, when there are no leaves, no blue sky^ — 



" No t'other side the way " — 



then comes our Autumn Queen, and fills our laps 



with a wealth of bloom the like of which we never 



saw in June. Oliver "Wendell Holmes sweetly sings 



about the Golden Flower as though she were an angel 



queen : 



" The fields are stripped, the groves are dumb ; 

 The frost-flowers greet the icy moon- 

 Then blooms the bright chrysanthemum. 



" The stiffening turf is white with snow, 



Yet still its radiant disks are seen 

 Where soon the hallowed morn will show 



The wreath and cross of Christmas green ; 

 As if in autumn's dying days 



It heard the heavenly song afar, 

 And opened all its glowing rays, 



The herald lamp of Bethlehem's star. 



