THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
{Return of Happiness.) 
“ Be thy advent the emblem of all I would crave.” 
Bernard Barton. 
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.” 
