174 



PAKSOXS OX THE ROSE. 



provided only with a bouquet of white roses and camel- 

 lias, and her bridesmaids wear similar ornaments of na- 

 ture's manufacture. 



The Rose is abundantly used by children in their beau- 

 tiful celebration of May-day. We well recollect our en- 

 joyment of one of these scenes some years since. We 

 were returning from a ride in the vicinity of Charleston, 

 S. C, on the first day of this, the sunniest of the months 

 of spring — a day dedicated not to the spirit of motion, 

 and celebrated not by processions of furniture carts, amid 

 the bustle and noise of a populous city, but dedicated 

 there, at the sunny South, to innocent and joyous festivity, 

 and celebrated amid all the fresh and frao-rant luxuriance 

 of southern vegetation, surrounded by the delicate sweet- 

 ness of the magnolia, the Rose, and other flowers, while 

 the mocking-bird, with its sweet and varied note, was the 

 minstrel for the occasion. Riding quietly along the road, 

 we were suddenly stopped by a procession which had just 

 dismounted from a number of carriao'es in a beautiful 

 grove hard by. It consisted mostly of noble-looking 

 boys and beautiful girls, of all ages under fourteen, the 

 latter dressed in white and crowned with wreaths of roses 

 and other flowers. The manly attention of the boys to 

 the fair creatures with whom they walked hand in hand 

 would not have disgraced the gallantry of Bayard, or the 

 politeness of Chesterfield. As the procession wound 

 slowly from our view, under the shade of the lofty live 

 oak and the rich magnolia, we could not help reflecting 

 how beautiful was this graceful enjoyment of the sunny 

 days of childhood, and how preferable to the mental ex- 

 citement and precocious training of many of the infant 

 philosophers of this most enlightened nineteenth century. 



It is much to be regretted that in circles where fashion 

 reigns supreme, nature is gradually giving way to art, 

 and instead of the fresh and natural beauty of a newly 

 gathered Rose, various forms of artificial flowers are found 



