POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
141 
LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
Convallaria, or majalis . . Class 6 ; Order 1. 
RETURN OF HAPPINESS.—DELICATE SIMPLICITY. 
Be thy advent the emblem of all I would crave. 
Bernard Barton. 
Fair flower, that, lapt in lowly glade, 
Dost hide beneath the greenwood shade, 
Than whom the vernal gale 
None fairer wakes on branch or spray, 
Our England’s lily of the May, 
Our lily of the vale. 
* * * * -x- * * 
What though nor care nor art be thine, 
The loom to ply, the thread to twine, 
Yet born to bloom and fade; 
Thee, too, a lovelier robe arrays, 
Than, even in Israel’s brightest days, 
Her wealthiest king arrayed. 
Bishop Mant. 
Tiie Lily of the Valley, sometimes called the 
May Lily, and in some country villages Ladder 
to Heaven, in the floral languages of Europe is 
emblematic of the return of happiness , doubt¬ 
less in allusion to the season of the year when 
it puts forth its timid little blossoms. 
Although this flower is generally spoken of 
