Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-09-04
\ LOTUS BOUQUET.

At the last meetIug Of the State Pathological
Society at Monroe, Mich, there was exhibited
genuine bouquet of the lotus flowers, fresh
trom their native beds about Lotus Island, near
the mouth of the River Ralsin, the secretary
OF the society relnarking, as he exhibited it,
that NJ ,nroe is the ouly place in the State, if
moi III the Unltcd States where the exhibition
Is possible. ln au essay just read before the
P"rt Huron Lotus Club by Judge Conger oc-
cur> this aliusou to the island and the IDdian
tradition respecting II:
The only place OF IT'S habitation known
to me upon the American continent is at
the western extremity of Lake Erie, 10 a
bay clI!ed by the ancient lndlans who dwelt
upon its borders "rhe Waters of Bliss, )
translated by the early French voyageurs,
and still inscribed upon our maps, Ii
Plasauce Bay through which the wa
tcrs OF the Rlviere aux Kaisiu, or River of
Grapes, flows into the lake. Between the wa
tcrs OF La PlaiSance Bay, in which fourishes
the lotus and the lake, lay in former times and
Iart OF which still remains, cresceDt-shaped
i>Iand called by the indians The Rainbow
Island of Manitou.'
Ancient Indian tradition represents this
Spirit Isle as the sacred place OF worship and
tcaslng of the powerful tribes of Eres, who
once Inhabited all the western borders of the
waters between Lake Huron and the River of
the CuyaEogas, and i, is said that at these
icaSts the worshipcrs partook of the fruit of a
plant growing 10 The adjacent waters, which
fled the soud with such joy and so delighted
the dcvotce, that even strangers from far off
tribes having once eaten the fruit, reDounced
the'r land aud their people, and ever after
o"e,t win the royal Eres--the chosen people
OF Man:ton But all We're not permitted to
land upon the Spirit Isle and eat the fruit of
the gods. Many of the Eastern tribes coming
from the rising sun in their canoes on the wa
lcIs OF the great river, as Lake Erie and our
lbland straits were then called, could come near
the :lubow l>le, could breath the fragrance
OF the sacred flowers could hear the music of
Invisible WorShIpcrS-b but were restrained by
some unseen power from lauding upon its
shores and tasting the immortal food"
CHTLDREN's FEARS The objects that ex-
cite the fears of children are ut,en as curious
and unaccouutable as their secret intensity, A
lady told me once that special object Of hor-
ror 10 her, when she was a child, were III /,
coors of the prism, thing 10 itself so beauti-
la that II is tithcuIt to conceive how any mag
,nAtlon could be painfully impressed by it but
"cr terror OF these maglca coiors was such that
"' ">ca to rush past the room, even wheo the
a'oi was closed, where she had seen them re-
''cu rom ,he chandelier by the suulight on
l"e wall. y bright, clever boy of une, by no
u'''us particularly nervous or timid, told me
ouee ,lat me whole story of Aladdin was
lTSn'fuI to hlm; but he never was able to ex.
i''lo why 1t made this impression uLoo him
s le's curious instance of strong nervous ap
prchcnSloD, not, wrvcr, IN anv vav c,noect-
ca wan superno /ural terror. occurred TO a
young rlrl about eight Years old, the daughter
o' lrcuI ci nlne lha mother, the peoIles
ana m">t reasonably iunuIgent of parents. sent
:" up 7talrs Tor her watch cautouipg her not
" It, II fiil. The child, by her owu account
''u az ''e top Il the stairs, with The watch
=" ne' haId. I'LL the conviction that she cor.
,"'''S Shouii let 1t fail took such dreadful and
'"'' Ssessl"n OF ter that she dashed il
""a'i's" cam" IN "A paruxysm Of the
- "'>'r' SSItc her, u rX,i,rm+n T., }. her
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