Flowers and Gardens 



ful in its early drooping, so gladsome 

 when full-blown and dancing in the sun- 

 shine.^ 



But what is its relation to the snow ? A 

 relation such as no other flower of that 

 season bears ; for, like one of those emble- 

 matic pageants in which our ancestors 

 delighted, it presents in silent masque the 

 change that is passing, the green inhabi- 

 tant issuing from its slumber in the earth 

 and holding forth a semblance of snow 

 just melting into dew. The Snowdrop is 

 a very star of hope in a season of wreck 

 and dismay, the one bright link between 

 the perishing good of the past and the 

 better which has not yet begun to follow. 

 All around is troubled ; the beauty of the 

 snow has vanished, whilst that of the 

 spring has not yet arrived ; and here is a 

 promise that the lower form of purity shall 

 be replaced by a higher and more perfect, 

 the purity of a nobler form of life — better, 

 as the flower is better than the snow- 

 crystal, the man than the child, the sinner 

 redeemed than the angels, if such there 



^ I do not suppose that a Snowdrop like that which I 

 have described will have actually pushed up through the 

 snow. It will generally be found in some sheltered spot, 

 and most probably is but some bud which has been im- 

 perfectly covered. 



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