6 
THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
English superstitions on Hallowe’en and St. Agnes* 
Eve, by which maidens in Germany seek to dive into 
futurity. It is by the St. John’s Wort. The story is prettily 
told in these lines, which we transcribe from the “ Flora 
Symbolica— 
‘ ‘ The young maid stole through the cottage door, 
And blushed as she sought the plant of power ; 
‘ Thou silver glowworm, O lend me thy light, 
I must gather the mystic St. John’s-wort to-night ; 
The wonderful herb, whose leaf will decide 
If the coming year shall make me a bride !’ 
And the glowworm came 
With its silvery flame, 
And sparkled and shone 
Thro’ the night of St. John ; 
And soon as the young maid her love-knot tied, 
“ With noiseless tread 
To her chamber she sped, 
Where the spectral moon her white beams shed. 
‘ Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power, 
To deck the young bride in her bridal hour ?’ 
But it drooped its head, that plant of power, 
And died the mute death of the voiceless flower; 
And a withered wreath on the ground it lay, 
More meet ior a burial than bridal day. 
And when a year was past away, 
All pale on her bier the young maid lay ! 
And the glowworm came 
With its silvery flame, 
And sparkled and shone 
Thro’ the night of St. John ; 
And they closed the cold grave o’er the maid’s cold clay.” 
Games also are made of flowers. In fact, time would 
fail to tell of all the joy and beauty which these sweet 
creations bestow upon humanity. Through life to death 
they cheer us ; and it is not one of the least of our 
anticipated joys hereafter that we shall dwell amid those 
flowers of Paradise, of which these earthly blossoms are 
but faint shadows. 
