^USSOpilS officinalis. Natural Order: Labiatce—Mint Family. 
'URING the Jewish dispensation the Israelites used this plant 
in their purifications (Exodus xii, 22). It is found in abun- 
dance on the hills of Palestine near Jerusalem. It is about 
'two feet high, with a bushy stalk, an aromatic smell, and a 
>ungent taste. The common species is a native of Europe. It 
fis a handsome plant, having bright blue flowers and delicate leaves. 
It is usually cultivated for its medicinal properties. The name of this 
plant is derived from the Hebrew ezob , through the Greek ussoftos. 
Jpurifititlim 
T)LEST are the pure! Would’st thou be blest? 
He’ll cleanse thy spotted soul. Would’st thou find rest? 
Around thy toils and cares He’ll breathe a calm, 
And to thy wounded spirit lay a balm: 
From fear draw love, and teach thee where to seek 
Lost strength and grandeur with the bowed and meek. 
/"'AST my heart’s gold into the furnace flame, 
^ And if it comes not thence refined and pure, 
I’ll be a bankrupt to thy hope, and heaven 
— Mrs. Sigourney. 
Shall shut its gates on me. 
— Dana. 
QHE grew a sweet and sinless child, 
v -' In sun and shadow, calm and strife — 
A rainbow on the dark of life, 
From love’s own radiant heaven down smiled. 
— Massey. 
PROM purity of thought all pleasure springs, 
A And from an humble spirit all our peace. 
T IKE bright metal on a sullen ground, 
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault, 
Shall show more goodly, and attract more eyes, 
Than that which hath no foil to set it off. 
— Shakespeare. 
—Young. 
T ASH me with thy tears! draAv nigh me, 
That their salt may purify me! 
Thou remit my sins, who knowest 
All the sinning, to the lowest. 
■— From the Greek (trans. by E. B. Browing). 
\ JET time serves, wherein you may redeem 
Your banished honors, and restore yourselves 
Into the good thoughts of the world again. —Shakespeare. 
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