ACTIVITY. 
THYME.- 
The wild bee ’mid a bed of thyme. 
H. COLERIDGE. 
Flies of all shapes, beetles of every colour, 
with the industrious bee and gay butterfly, 
continually surround the flowery tufts of 
thyme. It may be that this lowly plant ap¬ 
pears to these light-winged inhabitants of the 
air, whose ephemeral lives cease ere spring 
closes, as an immense tree covered with eter¬ 
nal verdure, and as old as the earth itself, 
upon which these sparkling flowers are fixed, 
like so many splendid vases filled With honey 
for their use and enjoyment alone. 
The ancient Greeks regarded thyme as the 
symbol of activity. No doubt they had ob¬ 
served that its aromatic perfume was very sa¬ 
lutary to the aged, whose exhausted powers 
it revises, imparting fresh energy and vigour. 
Activity is a warlike virtue, and is invari¬ 
ably associated with genuine courage. In 
the days of chivalry, ladies often embroidered 
on the scarfs of their knights, a bee hovering 
around a sprig of thyme. It is said, that he 
who adopted this two-fold symbol was en¬ 
dowed with the quality of gentleness in all his 
actions. 
d 2 
