



166 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
to secure to him the dominion of the earth, ala, fini 
With corn and fire, he may dispense with all yl ln 0 
other gifts, or rather, he may acquire them all. dla meeing 
With corn alone he can feed all the domestic a Thee he 
animals, which furnish him with subsistence or ctnpponent 
share his labours. Corn is the first bond of rhsveakness, 
society, because its culture and preparation de- la modi 
mand hard labour and mutual services. ‘se 
An Arab, having lost his way in the desert, wll cane 
had been two days without food : death by hun- itty, Sung 
ger stared him in the face. At length, coming bi oar 
to a well where caravans were accustomed to ‘yy 
halt, he perceived asmall leathern bag lying on 
the sand. He picked it up. “ God be praised !” 
said he—“ ’tis a little flour, I presume.” He 
lost no time in untying it, and, at the sight of w SN 
its contents, he exclaimed—“ Unfortunate crea- Hy 
ture that Iam! it is only gold-dust!” 
A whole straw has been made the emblem of 
union, and a broken straw, of rupture. The thet 
custom of breaking a straw to express the rup- iy te 
ture of a contract may be traced back to an tla 
early period of French history, and may be 
almost said to have had a royal origin. The 
ancient chroniclers relate that, in 922, Charles 

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