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LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
to secure to liim the dominion of the earth. 
With corn and fire, he may dispense with all 
other gifts, or rather, he may acquire them all. 
With corn alone he can feed all the domestic 
animals, which furnish him with subsistence or 
share his labours. Corn is the first bond of 
society, because its culture and preparation de¬ 
mand hard labour and mutual services. 
An Arab, having lost his way in the desert, 
had been two days without food : death by hun¬ 
ger stared him in the face. At length, coming 
to a well where caravans were accustomed to 
halt, he perceived a small leathern bag lying on 
the sand. He picked it up. “ God be praised!” 
said lie—“ ’tis a little flour, I presume.” He 
lost no time in untying it, and, at the sight of 
its contents, he exclaimed—“ Unfortunate crea¬ 
ture that I am ! it is only gold-dust!” 
A whole straw has been made the emblem of 
union, and a broken straw, of rupture. The 
custom of breaking a straw to express the rup¬ 
ture of a contract may be traced back to an 
early period of French history, and may be 
almost said to have had a royal origin. The 
ancient chroniclers relate that, in 922, Charles 
