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Wort, " famous for maidens wishing to draw augury 

 of marriage or death in the coming year." I omitted, 

 however, through lack of space, some of the most 

 touching lines ever penned on this German custom of 

 gathering this herb on the eve of St. John : to atone 

 for this more than venial sin, let this sweet effusion 

 now go forth : — 



LEGEND OF THE ST. JOHNS' WORT. 



" The young maid stole through the cottage door, 



And blushed as she sought the plant of power ; 



Thou silver glow-worm, lend me thy light, 



I must gather the mystic St. John's wort to-night — 



The wonderful herb whose leaf must decide 



If the coming year shall make me a bride. 



And the glow-worm came 



With its silvery flame, 



And sparkled and shone 



Through the night of St. John 5 

 While it shone on the plant as it bloomed in its pride, 

 And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied. 



With noiseless tread 



To her chamber she sped, 

 Where the spectral moon her white beams shed. 

 Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power, 

 To deck the young bride in her bridal hour ; 

 But it dropped its head, that plant of power, 

 And died the mute death of the voiceless flower, 

 And a withered wreath on the ground it lay, 

 All pale on her bier the young maid lay ; 

 And when a year had passed away, 



And the glow-worm came 



With its silvery flame, 



And sparkled and shone 



Through the night of St. John ; 

 And they closed the cold grave o'er the maid's cold clay 

 On the day that was meant for her bridal day." 



How would it do to cull St. John's Wort, on the eve 

 of that day dear to Quebec, the maple and the beaver : 

 La St. Jean Baptiste, or else to select that still more 

 widely auspicious day (1st July) sacred to our nascent 

 empire, passing dear to all Canada, Dominion Day. 



