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LANGUAGE AND 
combined with roses it is symbolic of “ the bit 
ter sweets and pleasant pains of love:” whilst 
amongst Eastern nations a bouquet of mary- 
golds and poppies signifies “ I will allay your 
pain.” Associated with cypress, the emblom of 
death, marygolds betoken despair. 
Linnaeus has remarked that the marygold is 
usually open from nine in the morning till three 
in the afternoon ; this foreshows a continu¬ 
ance of dry weather: should the blossom re¬ 
main closed, rain may be expected. This cir¬ 
cumstance, and the fact of its always turning 
its golden face towards the giver of day, has 
caused this plant to be sometimes termed “ the 
sun follower,” and the “spouse of the sun.” 
Ever-watchful Shakspeare remarks in “ Cym- 
beline,” that when “Phoebus ’gins arise,” the 
“ winking marybuds begin to ope their golden 
eyes.” 
Another noteworthy property of this flower 
is that it lasts out all its floral compeers, and 
continues blooming until stopped by the frost. 
In her “Farewell to the Flowers in Autumn,” 
Mrs. Sigourney acknowledges this virtue of the 
neglected plant: 
“ Coarse marygold, in days of yore I scorned thy 
tawny face, 
But since my plants are frail and few, I’ve given 
thee welcome place.” 
