INDEX OP THE 
MESSAGE— Iris. So called from the messenger of Juno, 
one of the Oceanides 5 also after the rainbow. There 
are about fifty varieties of the Iris. 
MODESTY —Blue Violet. See “Violet of the Valley,” 
page 37, and “ Flowers of Love,” page 39 . 
MUSIC— Reeds. Pan, the god of Shepherds, is said to 
have first formed the Arcadian pipes from Reeds, which 
he called Syrinx, in honor of a beautiful nymph who 
was changed into a Reed. 
NEGLECTED BEAUTY— Meadow-sweet. My prede¬ 
cessors have been pleased to make this beautiful and 
fragrant flower, which is called the Queen of the Mea¬ 
dow, and whose perfume is sweet as that of the Haw¬ 
thorn, the emblem of Uselessness. In contradistinc¬ 
tion to the meaning they have assigned to it, I have 
dared to christen it the “Neglected Beauty;” for a 
sweeter flower blows not in all the green meadows of 
pastoral England, and ’Neglected Beauty it shall ever 
represent to me, for it has been too long overlooked. 
Miss Twamley, in her u Wild Flowers,” says—and 
honor to her for saying it,—“ Its tall, red-tinted stems, 
handsome, jagged leaves, and foam-like flowers, so rich 
in scent, and so very beautiful, well deserve the title 
so often bestowed upon it of “ Queen of the Mea¬ 
dows.” The French and Italian names have both the 
same meaning—‘ Meadow-Queen.’ It fills the summer 
air with a scent like new-mown hay and hawthorn.” 
Fair readers ! shall this sweet flower, so admirably ad- 
