246 
THE GUELDER-ROSE, OR WAY-FARING 
TREE. 
VIBURNUM LAXTAKA. 
• % Way-faring tree! what ancient claim 
Hast thou to that right pleasant name? 
Was it that some faint pilgrim came 
Unhopedly to thee, 
In the brown desert’s weary way 
'Mid toil and thirst’s consuming sway, 
And there as ’neath thy shade he lay, 
Bless’d the way-faring tree? 
Or is it that thou lov’st to show 
Thy coronals of fragrant snow, 
Like life’s spontaneous joys that flow 
In paths by thousands beat ? 
Wbate’er it be, I love it well; 
A name, methinks, that surely fell 
From poet, in some evening dell 
Wandering with fancies sweet.” 
The way-faring tree is a native of most countries of 
Europe, those only excepted which are situated far to 
the north. It is found chiefly on a limestone soil in 
woods and hedges, but is said to delight most of all in 
