their attar. In the famous vale of Cashmere is held an 
annual feast of Roses at the height of the flowering season, 
when young men and maidens dance on ground strewn 
with Rose leaves, and rest when weary upon great mounds 
of the blossoms. These eastern countries, together with 
France and Italy, supply the world with its attar — one of 
the most delicate and enduring perfumes known. 
In California, too, the Rose is queen, while the Rose 
garden is the glory of the English home. In New York the 
Moss Rose is the state flower, and no man is too proud to 
do it reverence. 
All history has sung the praise of the Rose. Ancient 
Rome ran its course of riotous luxury amid its perfume. 
Nero, it is said, spent one hundred thousand dollars for 
blossoms to adorn his palace for a single banquet ; rose- 
water was sprayed upon his guests, and, when the Emperor 
deigned to dine with a Roman noble, it was the custom 
to have the fountain in the courtyard play only water per- 
fumed with Roses. In those ancient days, the art of forcing 
and retarding the growth of the flowers was a familiar one, 
so that blossoms were enjoyed throughout almost the entire 
year. Hybridizing was unknown, it is supposed, however; 
and yet there were Roses in a great variety of colors, one 
of the most remarkable being blue outside and yellow 
within. 
Even the dark and bloody battlefield has been graced 
by the Rose, and the "War of the Roses" is familiar to 
every boyish student of English history. Mythological lore, 
too, has been enriched by this flower, for did not Vishnu, 
the Hindoo god, find his bride-in the heart of a white Rose ? 
No other flower fills so large a place in the hearts of all 
classes of people. There is no cottage too humble to be 
glorified by a Dorothy Perkins climbing over the doorway, 
while, on the estate of the millionaire, entire greenhouses 
are devoted to the growing of rare and beautiful specimens. 
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