The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-06-03
Henry Ward Beecher.
ACrERIsTIc DIsQUIsITION ON DAN
DHLioNs AND BOTANICAL NONSENSE.
MIR. Beecler Uritas a.


DHAioNs AND BOTANICAL. NONSENSE
MT. beeeher writes to the Ledqer:
Out OF my back windows look down on
four or nve grassy yards, all well kept and
lying well open to the sun. Soon affer the
grass springs you shall see such 0oroeons
array of dandeliOns as might make a florist
fairly envious! They jut out from the edges
of the walks, they crowd the narrow strips
of grass at the lower end, they fairly jostle
each other like crowd pouring out of a pub
lie hall, in their strife to get into the light
and open their golden crowns to the sun.
So brilliant are they and so hardy, that we
are apt to miss the sentiment that lives in
them. They are not of the flowers that inn
pudently push themselves forward, demand
ing us to look at them whether we will or no.
With all their amazing brilliancy, they are
still coy love flowers, that wait for the sun,
as bride for the bridegroom. For dande-
lions do not wake up in the morning before
we do. They wait till the sun has long called
them, and then they fling open their golden
disks, and shine with real delight of exist
ence, with a cheer and abundance which
ought to strike joy into the heart of mis-
anthrope.
Soon after noon is at its highest, the dam
delion, thinking that the world is bright
enough, and that the sun can manage the
rest of the day, folds up itself, laces the gold
to meditation. Thus it plays eourtier in the
morning, and nun in the afternoon.
But what namel Dens leonis or Dent de
lion! "..tl
Or, if you fly to the systematic name, the
harsh Tdrdrdcuna! Shall such home-loving
radiant creature be called Lions Tooth, be-
cause some impertinent, prying botanist fan
cied that he had espied among its minor forms
the shape of lions tooth?
just as soon as we have got politics settled,
business reformed, human nature elevated,
MIR. Bonner, am determed to form a society
for the reformation of Botanical names. Bot
any has been the Noah's Ark of pedants.
Every absurd whim of every pragmatical Pro-
fessor has been TUNED into Greek or Latin,
and hung about the neck of unhappy flowers.
One might as well hang dictionary around
child's neck by the way of ornament, as to
impose on flowers such outrageous and out
landish names as now defend the science of
Botany from all approach, as fort is defend
ed by line of ofchevaux-de-frise. But bless
ings on those CHEEKY children of the sunl
They are born of brightness; their whole life
is like smile of love.
They are not flower for the hand; they
are not to be worn in the bosom. They do
not love the house, or the pressure of a close
bouquet. Their life is in the free open air.
They shine out on you along your daily walk.
They crowd your yard with golden coin,
which, good for nothing in the market, yet
may have the power to confer more enjoy
ment than could golden dollars or ducats.
This is my annual tribute. To-day l. look
out OF my window, and thank God for the
gifts which He sends me by the hand of Dan
delions! Do they know my thoughts as 1
gaze on them? Is there not some sympathy
between things in nature which wake up the
soul to delight, and aid the soul thus
aroused?
Behind signs and signals, back of all critic
ulate utterance, may there not be a subtler
relationship which will yet be discovered, as
connecting the inward and the outward with
living relationship?
If the Revelator John had lived in land
where Dandelons blossom, it might be sur
missed what he meant when he described
heaven as paved, or rather planted with
pold