
EMOTES) 
ASPHODEL—HONEYSUCKLE. 
ASPHODEL. 
(I will be faithful unto Death.) 
NCIENTLY dedicated to the memory of de- 
- parted souls, the asphodel is still very common 
in Greece ; it was planted around the tombs of the 
deceased ; and it was believed that beyond the fatal 
river Acheron, the shades wandered in a vast field of 
asphodels, and drank forgetfulness from Lethe’s waters 
of oblivion. The flowers of the asphodel produce grains 
with which it was thought that the dead were nour- 
ished. Orpheus, in Pope’s ‘‘Ode for St. Cecilia’s 
Day,” conjures the infernal deities : 
‘¢ By the streams that ever flow, 
By the fragrant winds that blow 
O’er the Elysian flowers ; 
By those happy souls who dwell 
In yellow meads of asphodel 
Or amaranthine bowers.” 
We have as old an authority as Homer for stating 
that, after having crossed the Styx, the shades passed 
over a long plain of asphodels. Hence the meaning at- 
tached to the flower. 

+-o-+4 
HONE YSUCKLE, 
(Generous, devoted Affection.) 
Gl ae exquisite flower has something so homelike 
and English about it that we marvel it has not 
met with more poetical appreciation. All the glories 
saa en ee TT 


