THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
(Return of Happiness.) 
“ Be thy advent the emblem of all I would crave.” 
Bernard Barton. 
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HE 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, doubtless in 
allusion to the season of the year when it puts forth its 
blossoms. 
Keats was very fond of it, and says : 
“No flower amid the garden fairer grows 
Than the sweet lily of the lowly vale, 
The queen of flowers. ” 
And further on 
“Valley-lilies, whiter still 
Than Leda’s love.” 
In that enchanted garden where the sensitive plant 
grew, Shelley lovingly placed 
“ The naiad-like lily of the vale, 
Whom youth makes so fair, and passion so pale, 
That the light of its tremulous bells is seen 
Through their pavilions of tender green.” 
