100 
THE POETRY OF FLOWERS 
be found. It has been likened to a generous friend, who is ever 
loading us with favours. 
The truly generous still deny themselves, with cheerful pride, 
That, when a suffering brother pleads, he need not be denied ! 
f. s. o. 
GLORY. 
LAUREL. 
The Greeks and Romans consecrated crowns of laurel to 
glory of every kind. With them they adorned the brows of 
warriors and of poets, of orators and philosophers, of the vestal 
virgin and the emperor. 
This beautiful shrub is found in abundance in the island of 
Delphos, where it grew naturally on the banks of the river Pe- 
neus. There its aromatic and evergreen foliage is borne up by 
its aspiring branches to the height of the loftiest trees; and it 
is alleged that by a secret and peculiar power they avert the 
thunderbolt from the shores they beautify. The beautiful 
Daphne was the daughter of the river Peneus. She was belov¬ 
ed by Apollo; but, preferring virtue to the love of the most el¬ 
oquent of gods, she fled, fearing that the eloquence of his 
speech should lead her from the paths of virtue. Apollo pur¬ 
sued her; and as he caught her, the nymph invoked the aid of 
her father, and was changed into the laurel. 
In our free land, where letters are so extensively cultivated, 
they who succeed in exciting popular favour meet with more 
remuneration than in ancient days; but how few have been 
honoured so highly as their merits demand, until the last debt 
of nature has been paid, and then the marble bust, wreathed 
