The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1868-10-23
FIVE CENTS.
Flower Legends.

3 a tree, the attitude of flower, the ETY.
5 mology of its name, inspired the lively
: Imagination Of the men of old with O
fable, or embellishments of simple
l history, which received from them {,
: kind of pleasant acceptance, willing
. credence. All the poets who sing well
of flowers have secured good hearing;
, the very names of plants ''smell sweet
> and blossom In the dust" of old liter .
turc, and in almost forgotten songs. The
Persians press their sentiments into the
mouths of flowers, and arrange their
boquets dramatically. In all civiliz-
ed nations they are the types and sym
} bols OF loveliness, innocence and fresh
ness, of unquestioned end unquestion-
} ing beauty. ....
When Venus first appeared risiRs
from the froth Of the sea, roses are said
to have sprung simultaneously from
the earth, and the graces Fastening to
attend her, crowned themselves with
the novel flower In honor of the new
divinity. The roses which then appear.
ed were white; and none displayed any
other tint till the death Of Adonis,
when Venus fastening barefooted to
the assistance of her bel )ved, trod upon
a rose which wounded her with Its
thorns, and being stained with her
blood, ever after retained the crimson
hue.
Associated with the Narcissus, We
have the following:
Narcissus was a youth of Boeotia, Of
whom Tiresias, the soothsayer, foretold
that he sh ould live happily until he
saw his own face, but that would be IA
tai to him. On account of his surpass-
ing beauty, the nymph Echo became
desperately enamored of him, but he
slighted her love, and she pined away
with grief, till nothing remainedof her
but h er voice, and even that lost the
power of utterance beyond repeating
the last syllable of a sentence. Narcis-
sus, heated by the chase, went to drink
from a clear calm rivulet, and there for
the first time, beheld his own image re-
flected in the water. He became so
fond OF himself that he would never
leave the spot where his beauty had
been revealed to him, but gazing till he
had wasted away, was changed by the
gods into the flower that bears his
name.
Hyacinthus, being beautiful and ae-
complished, was so highly esteemed by
Apollo, that Zephyrus, incensed at the
youths coldness and indifference, de-
termined on his destruction. One day,
when Apollo andHyacinthus were play.
ing quoits, Zephyrus, hidden among the
| feecy clouds, directed with his breath
the QUOT flung by Apollo full upon the
head of the unfortunate prince, who in
stantly fell dead. Great was the grief
Of the sun-god, who, to commemorate
his victim by their grace and beauty,
caused hyacinths TO spring from his
blood.
In connection with flowers comes in
the lovely leg nd of the Rape of Pros
erpine, who, on the Nysian plain, ac-
companied by the ocean nymphs, wac
plucking flowers. She culled the rose,
the violet, the crocus, the hyaelnth; and
heholding narcissus of rare size and
beauty, she street ched out her hand to
gather it, when the earth opened, and
Pluto, arising in his golden chariot,
seized her and bore her away. Ceres,
her mother, hears her cries, but knows
not who has stolen her nor whittier she
has fled. Heiios, however, , (the sum be
trays the secret, and tells her tina t Jove
permitted it. "Then Ceres, dlsgusted.
deserted heaven, and dwelt among
! mortals" But she would not allow the
/ corn to sprout, and threatened with the
destruction of his subjects on earth,
| JOve beseeches her TO return to heaven
| TO which she consents on one condition
! the restoration OF her daughter, who
at length returns, but not till she has
eaten pomegranate given her by Plu.
to, through which she was compelled
to return and pass third of the year
with her Internal husband, "for Pluto
dwelt in Hades." And what is Pros
erpine but seed corn, which being cast
into the gr ound, remains hidden there
till IL appears upon the surface, and
though not delaying to sprout for
i'ii' VI q y y W ~ 10 oboNN ''''0
from the sowing of the grain to it, RI
pencd fullness of the ear.
Turning To the Christian era, we find
that the priests of the every church en-
listed flowers into their service. They
compiled catalogue of flowers for each
day, dedicuting each to somc particular
saint on account of its towering about
~. ., - l,o ~,
Onc knows the aspen, ever moving,
ever trembling in the ealmest summer
day, the legend of which runs as fol-
lows: As the angel of death neared
the cross on which He hung, who ''con-
sidereth the lilies how they grow" no
dashed tho cup of bitterness full at its
foot and tho aspen that grew near, for
out of one OF them the cross was made,
shuddering at the daring OF the deed,
Inherited forever the trembling throea
of the dying Deity. t. .. ts.7
The Shamrock, the national emblem
OF one of Britain's falrest isles, has its
Christian legend thus: st. Patricius,
unable to make his hearers compre-
hend tho meaning OF the word Trinity,
despairingly cast his eyes on .ths
ground in prayer for some means W here
; by he might "lighten the Gentiles, \!
when spying the little trofoil shamorch
at his feet, he plucked IT.. and holiday
1t up on high, pointed to three leaves
on one stem as the emblem of his doc.
trine, to the easy comprehension Of hiI
D lsleners. .h
!, TO that beautiful little flower, the for
i, get-me.not, with its blue, like the TIM
0 Of a summer sky, and Its golden eye
bright as hone, Is attached a leaeus