thorns ? Not by way of a maid, but 

 through the petulant humour of Dan 

 Cupid. One day in Paradise this little 

 idle boy was flying over a garden of 

 roses, seeking, no doubt, what mis- 

 chief he might find to do. Blossom- 

 ing in the garden was a newly opened 

 rose, blushing pink with its own love- 

 liness. Cupid bent to kiss it, when 

 lo ! a bee curled up in the heart of the 

 flower stung him on the lip. Crying 

 with pain, straight to his mother Venus 

 flew the boy, vowing vengeance on the 

 bee. Venus, to satisfy him, gave him 

 a bow strung with captive bees, and 

 set the stem of the rose with stings 

 torn from the poor bees. It is these 

 stings that we call thorns. 



No country in the world is more 

 richly dowered with this Queen of 

 Flowers than our own. 



In 1670 Daniel Denton published 

 " A Briefe Description of New York." 

 ii8 



