LEGEND OF THE FLOWER-SPIRITS. 125 
will not dispute with thee the tall sovereignty over the 
flowers of the forest, but wherever a gray ruin rears, 
though it reaches even to the foot of the low, dark 
thunder-clouds, there shall the fragrant Wallflower 
wave, — humble, but high over all, — the everlasting 
emblem of Fidelity throughout all change.” 
“Nor shall its influence end there,” said the super¬ 
intending spirit, rising like a tall angel as she spoke, 
from amid her sister spirits of the flowers ; “ I will give 
it a greater power: it shall stand up like a landmark 
between the past and the present—it shall recall 
images of beauty which have faded away — and, 
throughout unnumbered ages, stand like a sage mor- 
alist, proclaiming to the children of men how fleeting 
is all earthly splendor ; it shall lift the mind to the 
contemplation of an imperishable immortality, and 
raise the thoughts to another world, where beauty de- 
cayetli not, and where the blushing cheek of Happiness 
is never touched by the pale finger of Sorrow. Wher¬ 
ever the Woodbine is seen, it shall denote Affection,— 
the devotedness of a fond heart, that clings unto what 
it loveth until it dies ; but it shall not outlive the 
object to which it is wedded, for when once untwined 
from its affectionate embrace, it shall wither, and pine, 
