192 THE POETRY OF FLOWERS 
RECONCILIATION. 
HAZEL. 
Why sit we not beneath the grateful shade, 
Which hazels, intermixed with elms, have made? 
Dbyden. 
There was a time when men were not united by any com¬ 
mon tie. When the mother would deprive her son of the wild 
fruit with which he wished to appease his hunger, and if mis¬ 
fortune united them for a moment, the sudden sight of an oak 
laden with acorns, or a beech covered with beech-mast, render¬ 
ed them enemies. At that period the earth was filled with 
horror ; there was no law, no religion, no language ; man was 
utterly ignorant of his nature — his reason slept, and he was 
often seen more cruel than the ferocious beasts whose frightful 
howling he imitated. 
According to ancient mythology, the gods had pity on the hu¬ 
man race. Apollo and Mercury exchanged presents, and came 
down upon the earth. The god of harmony received from the 
son of Maia a tortoise-shell, of which he had made a lyre, and 
gave in return a branch of hazel, which had the power of ma¬ 
king virtue beloved, and of reuniting hearts divided by hatred 
and envy. Thus armed, the two sons of Jupiter presented 
themselves to men. Apollo first sang that eternal Wisdom 
which had created the universe; he told how the elements were 
produced, and how every part of nature was united by the 
sweet bonds of love; and, finally, he taught men that they 
should appease the anger of the gods by adoration and praise. 
At his voice, pale and trembling mothers were seen advancing 
with their little children in their arms; hunger was suspended, 
and the thirst for vengeance fled from every heart. Then 
Mercury touched mankind with the wand Apollo had given to 
him. He loosened their tongues, and taught them to express 
their thoughts bywords: he afterward told them that union 
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