28 i 
LOVE AND 'ERE FLOWERS 
her heart, and then extended her rounded arm and let 
them fall from the airy balcony; and the lowly lover, 
who waited below, gathered up the banded flowers, and, 
placing them upon his heart, bore them away. 
He wept, mused, sighed, and smiled over them in his 
solitude, until he found their hidden meaning, and spelled 
out, letter by letter, the mysterious language of love. 
Fearlessly did he approach with them in his hand — he 
looked not, he spoke not. The watchful guardian smiled 
grimly upon his drawn scimitar, believing that its sharp 
edge had cut asunder e;: ry cord of love; for he saw not 
the bright eyes that peeped out from every bud, he be- 
held not the sweet lips that bent forward from every 
blossom. He heard not the language which the flowers 
uttered, and he saw not how Love looked on and smiled 
as he noted every word which went back and sank unper- 
ceived into the heart. 
Ages passed away before Love entered the flowery fields 
and velvet valleys of merry England. His heart had long 
been light, and his wings unfettered, and he cared not 
now into what quarter of the world he wandered, for he 
found that wherever he went upon his flowery errand, man 
grew more refined, and woman each day bore a closer 
resemblance to the angels. The dinted helmet, the bat- 
tered shield, and keen-pointed spear, were laid aside, and 
instead of rushing upon his mailed adversary, the warrior 
now sat a captive at the feet of Beauty. He visited 
ancient castles and humble hamlets, and thronged thorpes 
and thatched granges, and taught everywhere this new 
language of love. 
If he saw a rustic maiden with her head hanging aside 
and her hands clasped, he plucked the fragrant blossom 
of the Hawthorn, and, throwing it at her feet, whispered 
into her ear and bade her hope. As his foot dashed away 
the dew from the up-coned Lilac, he gathered the topmost 
sprig and threw it at her unsuspecting lover, who from 
that moment dated his first Emotions of Love. He 
pointed out the spot where many a blue-belled flower 
grew, and there they met and vowed to be Constant unto 
Death; and while they sat hand-in-hand gazing upon the 
white Water-Lilies that rested upon their thrones of green 
velvet, and were rocked by every ripple which curled the 
