I H Y M E. 
(ACTIVITY.) 
“The bees on the bells of thyme.” 
Shelley. 
P UN-PROVOKING Thyme” as Shenstone wittily calls 
this herb of classic fame, has been made the symbol of 
activity, because its fragrant flowers are ever busy with “the 
murmuring hum of innumerable bees.” In his poem of “The 
Bees,” Rucellai even goes so far as to say that “ Nature made 
it on purpose for them to make honey of.” 
In the days of chivalry, when activity was deemed almost 
as desirable a quality as courage, ladies were accustomed to 
embroider their knightly lovers’ scarves with the figure of a 
bee hovering about a sprig of thyme, a gentle hint that those 
who would enjoy the sweets of love should not neglect the 
constant attentions which it demands. 
The fragrance of thyme is proverbial, and a stroll in the 
morning over 
“Airy downs and gentle hills, 
O’er grass with thyme bespread,” 
causes the delicious odours to rise round one in clouds of per¬ 
fume, and makes one no longer wonder that the Fairy King’s 
musical hounds should forsake the richest garden blooms, in 
order to hunt for the golden dew in the flowery tufts of thyme. 
Well may Armstrong direct those in search of health to spots 
where 
“Thyme, the loved of bees, perfumes the air.” 
How invigorating to ramble across fields begemmed and 
odoriferous with the crisp elastic tufts of this bonnie plant! or, 
