Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-08-08

1t has been t~ruthtully said that flowers are "the
alphabet Of angels" and the widespread fields OF
earth are written over with many sweet and touch
ing lessons of truth, purity, and holiness, all traced
in glowing colors. and to the observant eye Of the
thoughtful student Of Nature, seem as it were
spelled out in tho magnificent type of angels-the
aeeting, transitory flowers.
They are a fit emblem of the love Of the ALL
Father toward all his works. for they are as free as
the air that we breathe. They bloom alike for the
rich and the poor, and no man can monopolize their
beauty or their fragrance and say they are mine.
Gay exotics may grace the gardens of the wealthy
and proud, but the humble gardener who %cultivates
them, enjoys their loneliness with a keeher relish
than their naughty owner and every t~ell-tale
breeze that dallies with their silken leaflets, bears
their rich odor upon its INVISIBLE pinions and watts
it around the poor mans cottage to cheer his child
rem at their careless play. And the flowers, the
violets spriDg up everywhere to gladden. the earth
with their smiles, silently whispering to the
thoughtful wanderer some great truth, clothed in
the glowing darpery Of natare's poetry and traced
in the Illuminated alphabet of angels.
Flowers become dear to memory, and pleasant
associations are linked with their bright homes,
recalling scenes of other days. Many, many bios
some are thus enshrined in my heart, and each
has its tale of sunshine or sorrow to tell, but
among all the fowery gems that deck the emerald
robe of summer there are none dearer to me than
the purple morning glory. The lesson it teaches
is dreamily blended with unforgotten days Of early
childhoud. Well do l remember the first time my
eyes were gladened with the sight Of that exquisite
ly fair but foeting flower.
It was a glorious Sabbath morning in the month
of June. Nature was robed in her holiday dress,
embroidered with buds and blossoms of every
shade and hue, and adorned with diamond dew
drops without lumber. They sparkled and fash
ed in the sunlight with more than regal magnif-
oence and splendor, and my heart was light and
Joyous as l wandered out alone into the little gar
den that joined my home. Until that summer it
had never known the presence of n single flo wer-
bed, and until that ''eventful morn" my eyes had
never drank in beauty from the pearly tubes Of the
morning glory.
Some friend had kindly bestowed upon me a few
flower seeds the previous spring, and with the as
~sistance of q kind aunt, l had succeeded in making
q "posie bed, ''and had consigned the little seed to
the earth without regard to method or order for l
was utterly ignorant of the floral wonders, the
marvels of beauty wrapped up in those tiny recep-
tacles of vitality. l knew nothing of the habits of
the different varieties, and was equally uncon-
scious Of their form and colors. / waited patiently
for the result Of my labors and was delighted when
the constantly recurring miracle of Creative Pow
or caused the tender shoot to part the moist earth
and the bright green leaflets appeared above the
surface.
Summer passed and my flower bed was the joy
Of my heart the theme of my daily thoughts and
nightly dreams, yet it must be confessed there was
nothing to delight the eye of an artist in the ar
rangement of my pets and a modern amateur
florist would perhaps smile in derision and think i
folly to waste his admiration over anything SO com
mon. There were no costly exotics with their IN
pronounceable names, no aristocratic flowers which
the tickle goddess of Fashion has pronounced
worthy of cultivation, and called upon her vota
taries to admire as an evidence CT refined taste
but sim pie old fashioned lowers, such as our grand
mothers loved, and Of which they gathered hug
boquets and carried to church with their bible anC
hymn book on Sunday flowers that were dearel
to us all in infancy and childhood and whose mem
DRY is linked with all that we cherish as holy
Marigolds, bachelor, buttons, raggedladies, DAISIES
. %violets, peoples, china-asters, l~arkspurs &c. &c. ,wer,
mingled in splendid confusion, and the crimson
tassels of the love lies-bleeding were more thai
half hidden by rich festoons of the morning glor
whose numerous buds gave promise of a wealth
beauty. In spite Of this confusion which Nigh
have vexed a more experienced gardner than myse
each individual flower bloomed just as sweetly as
it grew in more c~ongenial neighborhood. Tt
marigold stretched higher and higher every da.
as if emulous of its stately ~neighbor the sunfowe
and the larkspur laughed in the sunshine, and cha
ted with its sisters the asters and the violets ; th
honey bee slept among the drowsy petals of tn
gay peoples, and the daisies looked up cheerful
from their shadowy home and whispered with thei
bright eyed kindred, while the love lies. bleedin
lifted itself and its climbing friend far up into tn
sunshine, yet still with becoming humility droope
gracefully toward the earth.
l had watched the lengthening buds of th
morning glory with strange interest and my fr'
thoughts as l arose we're Of my flowers. / mott
ed that each day they increased in length and far
cied that a few days would unveil the myster
sealed up in that silken coil. and reveal the fu
blown beauty to my view. / was up with the su
on that calm and beautiful Sabbath morning, bu
the bee, the butterfly, and the humming bird wer
before me in paying their devotions at the shrin
of Flora. The Industrious little worker was sip
ping their sweets and storing the precious necta
away for future use;wbile the gay, volatile, incon
slant lover, the butterfly. was idly fitting from buC
to blossom, resting lightly on the rich petals of one
then away to caress the glossy leaflets of another
its gay wings futtering among the green foliage
ofthe overhanging boughs seemed likesome strange
blossom, gifted with life and motion. ever seeking
never 6ndiog the fairest and best Of its kin wher,
itmight settle and be at rest! But the hummin,
bird-ths very poet Of the fsathery race, hat
with instructive genius found the sweetest hewer O
the garden and was buried head and breast in tn
pearly tube of my frst morning glory! l dan.
ed with delight as my eye rested upon the delicat
blosssm, and ia my childish joy / tore it from III
stem and hurried into the house to display its VOL