ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
15 7 
THE NATIONAL FLOWER. 
T HEY have asked me to vote for a national flower; — 
Now, which will it be, I wonder ! 
To settle the question is out of my power; 
But I’d rather not make a blunder. 
And I love the Mayflower the best,— in May,— 
Smiling up from its snow-drift-cover, 
With its breath that is sweet as a kiss, to say 
That the reign of winter is over. 
And I love the Golden-rod, too,— for its gold ; 
And because through autumn it lingers, 
And offers more wealth than his hands can hold 
To the grasp of the poor man’s fingers. 
I should like to vote for them both, if I might•„ 
But I do not feel positive whether 
The flowers themselves would be neighborly quite ; — 
Pink and yellow don’t go together. 
O yes, but they do ! — in the breezy wild ro^e, 
The darlingest daughter of summer, 
Whose heart with the sun’s yellow gold overflows,, 
And whose blushes so well become her. 
Instead of one flower, I will vote for three: 
The Mayflowers know that I mean them ; 
And the Golden-rod surely my choice will be,— 
With the sweet Brier-rose between them. 
You see I’m impartial. I’ve no way but this: 
My vote, with a rhyme and a reason, 
For the Mayflower, the Wild Rose, and Golden-rod, is ; — 
A blossom for every season ! 
St. Nicholas , September , 1889. 
Lucy Larcoivu 
APRIL. 
She laughed till she cried, 
And said “ Bless you, I’ve tried, 
But the things will get mixed up together.” 
St. Nicholas, May, 1889, 
Jessie McDermott.- 
