Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-06-24
Roses.
Efs " N 7 4 HIVHbE
Publisher and Proprietor.

The Persians, compared with their
neignbors, the Turks and Egyptians, are
lively people, but we would call them
quiet and even sad, because their gaiety
is so different from ours, and their man
ners are more grave aud digniiied. But
they are fond Of amusements, and one
of their yearly festivals is the Feast of
Roses, which takes place during the
rose season, which is June, July, and,
indeed, the greater part Of the summer.
| will try to tell you something about it.
The climate being very warm, the peo-
pie live much out OF doors; and during
this feast tents are pitched; every one
wears his or her prettiest dresses, and,
as all Eastern people are fond of bright
colors, the scene is very gay one.
During this festival everything beto
kens mirth and enjoyment. The Gym
balls and lutte are heard from morning
till night, the story tellers recount their
most beautiful tales, and the dancing
girls dance for hours at a time. Then,
when the night comes and the moonlight
covers everything like a silver cloud, the
people stretch themselves on their soft
carpets and listen to the songs Of the
nightingales and soft serensdes on the
women's lutes
In some parts of Kentucky whole
fields of roses are cultivated, from which
the Turks make the famous altar of
roses, which is so fragrant that vessel
or anything touched with drop of it
seems never to lose the smell; and the
Hindoos scatter rose leaves in the water
they drink to give it q pleasant appear
ance.
There are more than two hundred
kinds of roses, and they are of all sizes,
from the tiny "Picayune rose" so-calIed
because it is no larger than 6ve.cent
piece-which, in the South, is called
picayune-to the immense cabbage rose;
of all shades Of color, bright yellow,
pink, red and almost black. The Rose
Of Damascus, or damask rose, is the one
first brought to this country, and is
very deep red, with strong perfume.
Then there are the Egyptian Sea roses,
tea roses, rock roses, which grow in dry,
rocky places, where no other flower can
live, and the Alpine rose, growing by the
eternal snow drifts Of the Alps.
Roses are hardy plants, and will live a
long time if properly cared for. There
is rose tree in Germany which is
known to be eight hundred years old,
and it is still blossoming.
We all know and love the pretty moss
rose, with its mossy, green veil, that
gives it such a shy, modest air; and the
tea rose, which in the South and West
grows on large trees. The writer had,
in her garden in Arkansas, one which
grew to be seven feet high, and would
bear as many as five hundred blossoms
at once.
But there is one rose more curious
than all others-lhe Rose of Jericho. 1t
has another name which botanists call
it, that is, Anastatica, a Greek word,
meaning resurrection; and the Arabs
call it the symbol of Immortality, be.
cause 1t come to life again long after it
has seemed to be dead. 1t lives in the
hot sands of the desert of Sahara, and
when the dry season comes it withers,
folds its leaves and draws up its roots,
like little feet into light ball, and the
winds of the desert carry it until it
reaches a moist soil, and then, we are
told, it drops, takes root, and its leaves
become green, and its blossoms open, a
delicate pink.
There is flower in Mexico known as
the Resurrection Flower, which is very
much the same 1t may be carried
about in your pocket for year and
more, and yet, when put into a saucer of
water, in few hours will blossom out as
bright and fresh as if it had just come
out of the garden.
When the Romans conquered Britain,
more than eighteen hundred years ago,
they introduced many curious customs
into shat country--among others, that of
carving the figure of rose on the cell
iDgs of their banqueting-halls, or sus-
pending a natural rose over the dining
table, with the Latin motto, sub rosa"
written above it, to indicate that what.
ever was said there among friends, or
under the rose-for that was the mean
ing of the words-should not be re-
peated the white rose being the symbol
of silence.
The rose is the national emblem Of
England, as the thistle is of Scotland.