The Portland daily press., 1874-08-06
From Harpar's Bazar.1
Flower E0ncieS.

NOW that mi isummer, the darling of the
poets, Is in all her glory, and the flowers are
piossomIng ia myriads in fields and forest and
Sarden, beside the lane, under the hedge. and
Along the bank, and we look at them with a
hal-unconscous pride in being the owners
OF such lavish beauty, the objects to whose
use and delight it is dedicated, aud remember
tIat man was made to inherit the earth.
But many there are of us who would be no
little surprised, indeed, if we were told that
SO far frcm being the proprietors of all this
multitudinous array-of blossoms, we were but
enjoying in courtesy that which belonged in
zee TO others, and that the present generation.
az least, smells flower-any of the sweet old
fashioned flowers, that is, that are celebrated
In song and annal-only as something held il,
mortmain by its predecessors, by whom the
whole bright host has been consecrated 10
some patron saint or made sacred TO some SUI
perstition.
Perhaps Professor Blot, who it so fond of
fiavoring his delicious concoctjons with bav
ieai, would not be SO prodigal of that ancient
article i he remembered that the bay was the
plant OF Jove ard of the muses., and was bal
iowes, to the thunder; though it is not i'm
possible, to be sure, that, under the popular
belief that thunder sours cream, it may be or
Iy cunning ordination of the wise mans for
the sake OF averting mischief. Ii he had ever
among his recipes made use of the root of Sol
omoE,s seal, we should be more convinced
ehat the great professor had a subtle- mean
ing in the use ofhis bay leaf than that merely
OF imparting pleasant flavor to his potage;
for the root OF SUomon's seal, as old Gerard
tells US, stamped while it is fresh and green,
and applied, taketh away in one night, or two
at the most, any bruise, black or blue spots,
gotten by falls Oc women's wi.lfulness in
stumbling upon their hasty husbands fistsp'
Surely, under such light, Solomon s-seal, it
seems to us, is an herb of virtue that should
have its cherished corner in many gardens, if
the records OF the police courts tell truth!
Odd as this little superstition seems, with
the candle it holds to dark domestic history
OF the times, old Gerard was not alone in his
simple credulity; for there was not an old
woman OF bis day, if there are any in ours,
who would have dared so far defy the evil
tates as, for instance, to scatter fenpel seeds
in the garden beds. ''Sowing fennel is SOW
ing sorrow,' runs one of the old saws that
are the unwrtten wisdom of the ages, very
likely founded on some ungeneralized obser-
vasion that fennel fiourishes best in fever
breeding SO il and atmosphere; and another
saw there is which declares that Heavens
heavy judgment will follow those who dare
uproot the human mandrake; and still an
other is to be heard from the mouth of any
farmers wife, who will tell you that the
Aaion's-rod, out o! whose leaves her children
delightedly blow tiny bladders, is sure TO
breed poverty-a superstition again referabe
10 the fact that it is the thriltessness that
suffers the weed to live which breeds the pow
crty, and notthe weed itself
Almost every flower that blew, before geo.
graphical research had added so Immensely
TO our botanical treasures, was set apart in
this wise, through some early proprietor's
t1n nr Dnh f11, AtNc 1R
worship; and they who set apart and gave il
its fete-day, never seemed to doubt but that
the flower would blow on that day tie year
roun1, in the Hebrides as in the MauriLius.
They laid then the st. Johns wort, which
had immemorially been supposed to have
power over evil spirits, upon the altar of the
beloved disciple, because in certain iatitudes
it blooms on that saints day; and they gave
the scarlet lychnis, sometimes called the great
candleslick, to st. John the Baptist, because
he also was a burning and shining light"
much that would now seem like irreverence
being done, in the simplicity of the faith of
these times, in spirit of the deepest devout-
ness. The winter helebore, too, having been
in bloom to witness his conversation, is sa-
cred TO st. Paul, and a yellow sandwort to st.
Peter, apparently for no other reason than
that st. John and st. Paul had theirs; the
crocus is devoted TO ST. Valentine, mean
Nuic, DIS dll ttilUicul Vi lut dlltCliOu WHICH
that kindly martyr cherished for all men; the
daisy, known in France as La Belle Marguer-
tie, and first called daisy in England by Chau-
Ger (day's eye), is commonly spoken of i'll the
latter country as herb Margaret, aud some-
times herb of grace. and iS obviously St. Mar
garel's flower; the blue field byacinth, TOO,
has long been given to st. George there, as a
token Of the way in which Britannia rules the
waves, and BIitons never will be slaves! The
crown-imperal is flower with double dis
tinction, being both of royal and SANITY char.
acter, dedicated as it is to the day of St. Ed.
ward, the King OF the West SaXons: and to
st. Patrick belongs the shamrock, whose triple
leaves on single stem he took to Illustrate
the Trinity when he went to preach to tine
pagan Irish. The pure white cardamine,
| called Our Lady's Flower, the marigold, whose
| yellow torets make a sort of golden nimbus
and the white lily, which opens at the season
of the Annunciaton, are all sacred to the Vir.
gin Mary; and the passion-fower, which
| blooms in the neighborhood of HolyrooJ, is
consecrated to the Crucifixion, for its five
anthers represent to the devout the five sa-
| cred wounds of Christ, the triple style repre-
sents the three nails, the central receptacle
the pillar of the cross, and the hlamentOus
| processes the crown of tnorns.
| If any plaut happens in this way TO have
| missed being made the special dover OF some
holy name, never heless there ale few that
have not been made typical OF some fact O
general religious belief. Thus there is th,
blessed thistle ot Spain. which brings henisol
with it, and the msietoe ef the Druids
which was sacred TO the sylvan de.tes, to viz
whose watehtul cafe about tue house it use,
TO be hung over the hear,hs; there is th,
ileur-de-lis, once the flower Of Frarce; an,
there s the viQipt whi.n ,rl:so5 IL, times ~.