The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-06-23
MAGIC CLOVER.

From time immemOTial it has been
considered good luck to find fourteen
leaved clover Some have said that the
discOverer of one was certain to become
wealthy and wise others, that the IA
Ties would grant him every wish and
others, that the little magic leaves could
show him where gold lay hidden in the
earth. And certainly there does seem
to be something very wonderful in the
fact that, Gin large field containing
millions of little plants furnished with
groups of three or four leaflets. there
should be only one or two of the four
leaved variety. / do not mean that
some varieties of clover bear leaves all
in groups of four OF five, for this is not
the fact. PERHAPS one four leaved Glow
er will grow upon a plant that has fifty
threes, although occasionally several
fours or fives will be found in a bunch
on the same plant.
As general thing, three leaves are
nearly of a size, while the fourth is
somewhat smaller-thOugh this does not
always follow. have seen several in
which the fourth leafet is borne out Or
a separate stalk
Five leaved clovers occur almost as
often as four. Frequently fours and
fives are found growing together. Some
say you must not pick FIVE leafed clo-
ver-it Will reutraliZe all the good luck
brought by q four. According to one
legend, only the holder of a five leaYed
clover can be admitted TO the fairy
court. Several pretty stories describe
the fortunate one as standing out on the
grass at midnight, holding up the mag
ic wand, and presently finding himself
waited away by invisible wings to Elf
I land.
Aside rom the widespread interest
attaching to the duplication of the leaf
/ let, clOyers seem special favorites of
poets and rOmancers. II is said that,
when 81, Patrick was preaching to the
unconv3rted Irish, some of them ridi-
( culed the idea of the Trinity. For an
swer, he caught up a t.efoil from the
/ sod, and told them that there was a leaf
exempifying three in one. Hence, the
three eayed clover, or shamrock, was
adopted as the national emblem of Ire
land. Some say that the common wood
+ sOrre- (OCdlis dcetOSeII0) shares with the
whits clover the credit of being the true
/ shamrock. One authority says that the
/ OXahs is native of Ireland, while the
( clover Is of recent introduction. In a
I song by the Irish poet. Thomas Moore,
I the shamrOck-whether oXalis or clover.
+ he does not SAYS mentioned as 'tOld
/ ET.h's ndtiUe shamrock"
/ As [ said at first, the discovery of a
! fOqr-leayed clover was regarded. even
/ csaturies ago, as an omen Of good luck,
/ And in poem by Robert Herrick, who
/ wrote a short time after Shakespeare, is
a mention OF lucky four leaved grass ;
/ and, il another very old volume, it is
soberly stated that, ''If man walking
! in the fields finds any four leaved grass,
he shall, in a very short while after,
find some very good thing Several
mentions of the same effect are made in
the writings of other poets.
hope you Will have many hunt for
magic clover in she sweet smelling sum-
mer fields for l fud in that charming
occupation ''luck" suficient-even tho
10 'lucky four leaved grasse'' rewards
my search.-iSt. Nicholas for June.