MY BEST DAYS ARE PAST. 
203 
lous virtues of this plant has misled the wisest 
men; and it required all the experience of 
Haller to dissipate the vain superstitions of 
the ignorant. 
The flower has neither leaves nor stalks. 
A long tube, white as ivory, is its only sup¬ 
port ; the flowers die off in October, and leave 
no external appearance of seeds. “ These lie 
buried all the winter within the bulb; in 
spring they grow up on a fruit stalk, and are 
ripe about the time of hay-harvest.” “ As 
this plant blossoms late in the year, and pro¬ 
bably would not have time to ripen its seeds 
before winter, Providence has so framed its 
structure, that it may be performed at a depth 
within the earth, out of the reach of the usual 
effects of frost; and as seeds buried at such a 
depth are known not to vegetate, a no less 
admirable provision is made to raise them 
above the surface when they are perfected, 
and to sow them at a proper season.” It thus 
mingles its fruits with the flowers of spring, 
and its flowers with the fruits of autumn ; at 
all times the lambs shun it, and the young 
shepherdess becomes melancholy at the sight 
of it; so the melancholy-hearted oft weaves 
a wreath of its pale blue flowers, consecrating 
it to the memory of happy days which have 
fled to return no more. 
