96 FABLES OF FLOEA. 
THE MIGNONETTE. 
Mignonette, or Little Darling, is more distin¬ 
guished for perfume than beauty, and composes 
the Reseda Odorata, so common in the perfumers’ 
shops. It is the emblem of meekness and affection. 
Sweet must have been that ‘ Sunday nosegay,’ 
which Mary Howitt’s * Poor Man ’ gathered 
weekly from his little garden — 
‘ Moss-Rose bud, 
White pink, and Mignonette.’ 
FABLE XXVIII 
The Mignonette. 
She stood beside the weaving loom, 
With head bowed low to hide her tears j 
For in her dreams her cottage home 
Like Eden-lost appears. 
Above the shuttle’s noisy play, 
The buzzing wheel’s perpetual whirl, 
Soft snatches of a woodland lay 
Enchant the dreaming girl. 
She hears the blue-bird pour his song, 
Like rippling waters through the glen, 
And, on the spring gale borne along, 
The low note of the wren. 
