The Southern herald., 1889-03-09
National Flower Wanted.

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gestions on lhe subject Of the
national floWer, and Is very glad 70
receive them, because they indicate
that people are thiniing about the
matter; and perhaps enough Of this
kind of thinking will in time evolve
a real national flower. One cor
respondent is a partisan Of the
apple blossom-the great objection
to which, by the way, is that it is
not, in its familiar form, indigenous
to the country; while another asks,
"Why not make the clover our
national Hower2" The clover has
already been nominated by Colonel
Pat Donan. a western journalist of
notoriety. The clover may, per-
haps, be regarded as an eligible
candidate on account Of the exist
ing devotion Of a large part of the
population to the shamrock, which
is practically the same thing, but
no doubt that very fact ought to be
fatal to its selection, because we
do not want to steal the national
flower Of another country. 1t is
quite enough TO have stolen our
national airs. II may be urged by
men Of science that the true sham
rock is not the white clover, but
the oxalis, or wood sorrel; but the
fact remains that the white clover
is now commonly adopted by the
Irish people as their shamrock. I"
And here, by the way, is at least
one instance Of a national flower
which is not indigenous there
are still others. Undoubtedly the
wood sorrel was the original Irish
shamrock, because that plant is in
digenous to Ireland; but in the
course Of time the greater common
ness and familiarity Of the clover,
taken with the resemblance of the
form Of its leaf to the oxalis, caused
it to displace the true shamrock in
the popular Imagination. The
legend ofthe shamrock, by the way,
goes back to st. Patrick, as does
everything else inIreland. Apagan
chief whom Patrick had labored to
convert was greatly puzzled to
understand the doctrine Of the
Trinity which seems very sur
prising now, Of course, because
there is nobody who does not COM
prehend it perfectly now. st. Pat
rick, pondering upon way to make
the untutored savage understand
the doctrine of three in one, east
his eyes upon the ground. There
lay shamrock just at his feet. He
stopped, picked it up, showed it to
the chief and said, "Behold three
in onel" The chief was so much
enlightened and impressed that he
was baptized, with all his family
and his tribe, that very day. And
from that time the shamrock
whether it is the oxalis or whether
it is the white clover, has been the
Irish emblem.
The great disadvantage under
which we labor in getting up a
national flower or anything else
romantic is the absence OF legends
and patron saints, and that sort o.
thing, as a part of the life and be.
lief Of our own people. We have
Indian legends, but they do mo-
appeal to us save as the attractive
stories Of a people foreign to us
Our heroes have not been deat
long enough to be Transmitted into
saints, and perhaps the age is toe
commonplace andskeptical to leave
any hope that they ever will be,
and yet there is hope. Edward A
Freeman said a very significant
thing when he remarked during
his visit to this country that We
are now living our antiquity-that
we are passing through formative
period that in every many respects
had curious analogy to the primi
tive epochs Of all the great nation:
of history. Perhaps out Of this
commonplace antiquity" which
we are now living-and which, fol
that matter, doesn't somehow seen
to have much in common with th,
Trojan war-some legend will b.
developed which will carry with j
its own mythology and its owl
emblems, and give US a genuine
national flower and all sorts o
emblematic imagery.
In the meantime, if we must in