CHILDREN'S GARDENS 
IV 
114 
Of all the garden flowers, 
The fairest is the rose. 
Morn. 
The lily has an air. 
And the snowdrop a grace, 
And the sweet-pea a way, 
And the heartsease a face ; 
Yet there’s nothing like the rose 
When she blows. 
Christina Rossetti. 
But there is so much to be said about the 
rose—even more than about the lilies—that it 
deserves some pages all to itself. The rose is 
said to be the Queen of dowers, as the lion is 
King of beasts. For beauty of colour, form, 
and scent, she stands alone, and she is armed 
too with sharp prickles to protect her. A poet 
over two hundred and fifty years ago called her 
The blushing rose, the Queen of Flowers, 
And best of Flora’s beauty. 
The rose plays its part in English literature 
as a type of hope, beauty, or bravery, just as the 
lilies typify purity or the violet modesty. 
The rose is fairest when ’tis budding new, 
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears ; 
The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew r , 
And love is loveliest when embalmed in tears. 
Oh ! wilding rose, whom fancy thus endears, 
Emblem of hope and love through future years. 
Scott. 
