

GLORY. 
LAUREL. 
Tue Greeks and Romans consecrated crowns 
of laurel to glory of every kind. With them 
they adorned the brows of warriors and of poets, 
of orators and philosophers, of the vestal virgin 
and the emperor. 
This beautiful shrub is found in abundance 
in the island of Delphos, where it grows 
naturally on the banks of the river Peneus, 
There its aromatic and evergreen foliage is borne 
up by its aspiring branches to the height of the 
loftiest trees; and it is alleged that by a secret 
and peculiar power they avert the thunderbolt 
from the shores they beautify. The beautiful 
Daphne was the daughter of the river Peneus. 
She was beloved by Apollo; but, preferring 
virtue to the love of the most eloquent of gods, 
she fied, fearing that the eloquence of his 
speech should lead her from the paths of virtue. 
Apollo pursued her; and as he caught her, the 
nymph invoked the aid of her father, and was 
changed into the laurel. 
In our free land, where letters are so exten- 
sively cultivated, they who succeed in exciting 
popular favour meet with more remuneration. 
than in ancient days; but how few have been 
honoured so highly as their merits demand, 



