










120 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
complete history of the Strawberry. This hum- 
ble plant delights in the shelter of our woods, 
and covers their borders with that delicious 
fruit, which belongs to any one who pleases to 
gather it. It is a charming reserve, which 
Nature has subtracted from the exclusive right 
of property, and which she rejoices in rendering 
common property to all her children. 
The flowers of the Strawberry form pretty 
bouquets; but where is the barbarous hand 
that, in gathering them, would rob the future 
of its fruits! It is delightful to find, among 
the glaciers of the Alps, the plants and flowers 
of the Strawberry in all seasons of the year. 
When the traveller—scorched by the sun, 
and sinking with fatigue on those rocks, old 
as the world, amidst forests of fir, half over- 
whelmed with avalanches—vainly seeks a cabin 
to shelter him, or a fountain to refresh him, 
he suddenly perceives troops of young girls ad- 
vancing from the defiles of the rocks, bearing 
baskets of Strawberries that perfume the air: 
they appear at once on the crags above him 
and in the yawning dells beneath. It would 
seem as if each rock and tree were guarded by 
sateen Rieter ai sea il tons +1 a fe 


