THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
11 
doors, let it be where the wind will not handle it too 
roughly, and thus destroy the beauty of the leaves. 
It should be kept in an upright position, and have mois¬ 
ture enough to keep the roots plump. The soil for Callas 
should be a rich one, and repotting should be done in 
spring-time ; if done in autumn it will retard its blooming 
season. This hint is free to all who fail to make their 
Callas bloom in winter. 
When disturbed in spring, they have the summer in 
which to form new roots, and if given a warm sunny win¬ 
dow in cold weather, they will not fail to bloom. The 
Calla Lily, when in a healthy growing state, is one of the 
most noble plants in cultivation ; but when neglected and 
abused, it is one of the most forlorn, and makes us feel 
indignant for Egypt and the River Nile. 
Mrs. G. W. Flanders. 
THE GOLDEN FLOWER. 
(Chrysanthemum.) 
E 'ER Advent dawns with lessening days, 
While earth awaits the angels’ hymn, 
When, bare as branching coral, sways 
In whistling winds each leafless limb ; 
When spring is but a spendthrift’s dream 
And summer’s wealth a wasted dower, 
Nor dews nor sunshine may redeem, 
Then Autumn coins his Golden Flower. 
Soft was the Violet’s vernal hue, 
Fresh was the Rose’s morning red, 
Full-orbed the stately Dahlia grew— 
All gone ! their short-lived beauty shed ; 
The shadows lengthening stretch at noon, 
The fields are stripped, the groves are dumb, 
The frost-flowers greet the icy morn, 
Still blooms the bright Chrysanthemum. 
The stiffening turf is white with snow, 
Undimmed its radiant disks are seen, 
Where soon the hallowed morn will show 
The wreath and cross of Christmas green ; 
As if in Autumn’s dying days 
It heard the heavenly song afar, 
And opened all its living rays— 
The herald lamp of Bethlehem’s star. 
Orphan of summer, kindly sent 
To cheer the waning year’s decline, 
Of all that pitying heaven has lent, 
No fairer pledge of hope than thine. 
Yes ! June lies hid beneath the snow, 
And winter’s unborn heir shall claim 
In every seed that sleeps below, 
A spark that kindles into flame. 
Thy smile the scowling storm-cloud braves 
Last of the bright-robed, flowery train, 
Soft sighing o’er their garden graves 
“ Farewell! Farewell! We meet again !” 
So may life’s chill November bring 
Hope’s golden flower—the last of all 
Before we hear the angels sing 
Where blossoms never fade or fall.— Selected. 
TEA AND COFFEE LORE. 
H OW many people have ever given any consideration 
to the age of these favorite beverages among our 
European ancestry ? Their common use in England dates 
from the beginning of the eighteenth century, although 
both were known before the time of the Commonwealth. 
Previous to the civil war, beer was the principal beverage 
of all classes. Some of the light wines of the Levant were 
indulged in by kings and the nobility on rare occasions, 
but home-brewed ale was the usual drink. The ordinary 
quantity for my lord and lady at breakfast was a quart 
apiece. Queen Elizabeth usually drank a larger quantity 
even than this, but then she was an enormous feeder for a 
woman. It is reported by statistical calculation that in the 
year after the close of the Revolution a quart a day was 
brewed for every man, woman and child in England, 
whereas the same calculation makes the amount at the 
present day sixty quarts per annum, or just one-sixth. 
It would be unjust, however, for one to conclude that 
the English are a more sober people than formerly because 
less beer is drank; for a great deal that was brewed was 
very small beer. English people, like the Americans, have 
three meals a day—breakfast, dinner and tea—and it is 
only at one of these that the larger number ever touch 
beer. The choice then lay between wine or spirits, cider, 
beer, milk or water. It is to two beverages that have since 
passed into common use, tea and coffee, that the diminu¬ 
tion in the amount of beer is due. 
Coffee comes to us laden with the fragrance of Oriental 
bazaars and the romance of the “Arabian Nights.” Its early 
history as an economic product is involved in considerable 
obscurity, the absence of historical fact being compensated 
for by an unusual profusion of conjectural statements, and 
by purely mythical stories. .Throwing legend aside, the use 
of coffee seems to have been introduced from Ethiopia into 
Persia about the year 875 A. D., and into Arabia from the 
latter country at the beginning of the fifteenth century. 
Notwithstanding that its use as a beverage was prohibited 
by the Koran, it spread rapidly through the Mohammedan 
nations, and it was publicly sold in Constantinople in 1554. 
It easily found its way from the Levant to Venice, where 
coffee-houses were established as early as 1615. 
A Jew named Jacob opened the first coffee-house in 
England, selling it as a common beverage at Baliol Col¬ 
lege, Oxford, in the year when the Long Parliament first 
