The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-04-08
THE FLOWERS
OF. EASTER DAY
Nature Gives Them So Freely to
Spring That All May Wear
Them Now.
The bells of Easter ringing,
Call up the flower buds spring1ns;
Poets tune their rhyming,

The bells of Easter ringing.
Call up the flower buds springlns;
Poets tune their rhyming.
To sound OF Easter Ginning.
The Easter hat is no more an adjunct
of Easter than the Easter flower which,
at this time of year. seems not TO dos
som in the ground but in the lapel OF
matron and maid, and of man and BOY.
From the gorgeous Easter rose winch
cost, two dollars, TO the more moaeSt
lly at quarter, down to the pincn oA
yiolets at three cents, there are mowers
for all and one left over for the little
cash girl who spends penny Aor
bloom. ,;,.
Morning dresses up an Easter suit ike
bunch of violets in the button hole.
and this fact with others makes ylolets
Of all the Easter flowers the most
sought for as personal decoration.
FOR the house, the church and the
window, the Easter lilly holds preced-
ence. ~.
tho nlav of "Hamlet'' not only with the
mart of the melancholy Dane left out
hut with Ophelia also eliminated from
the cast.
In Japan each blossom has a festival
of its own, but the most progressive ma
ton on the globe has leisure Tor only
one carnival OF flowers year, ana
Easter is a fitting time for its celeora-
ton, the name of the day being merely
a corruption of that Of Gesture. In the.
rude AngIo-Saxon mythology the god
dess of spring.
A festival Of flowers it truly Is. even
In the city. where the shrine OF Fora Is
represented by a Shop in the business
district and the deity herself Is prop
tiated solely by offerings from Uncle
Sans mint Perhaps. indeed, like many
other traditional celebrations, this one
thr;yes best in the metropolis where
Strephon need not risk a cold by gather
ing flowers himself for Phyllis, and may
by the variety Of his offerings convey
hint as to not only his sentimental, out
financial stability.
At Easter the city is gay, indeed, with
flowers; It is the season when even the
most artistic of florists contrives new
combination of colors for his show win
dow; when the big department stores
become temporary greenhouses: ana
when alien windows. hitherto devoted
to the display of the fruit or the lttera-
ture of commerce, are invaded by an
army of violets. roses. and lilies.
Then, too. single doorways In the
business taorougllfares are converted
into fourisIling flower. stands and arid
curbstones put forth an affluence OF
blossoming pots and baskets. while
wagons erstwnie dedicated to the carry
ing Of oranges or fish watt delicious
doors on their way, and the drivers
thereof add melancholy crescendo of
'.Fre-esh flowers, to their repertoire.
Then likewise does Beauty adorn herself
with all the bIoomsf which her own purse
or those of her adorers can provide.
In this bright season. too. it is poor
window. whether draped in costly lace or
shaded by oft washed dinrity. which gives
! no hint of potted OF cut flowers: and the
woman Is unfortunate indeed whose at
tire displays no single blossom. Then
even last years jacket gains belated
jauntiness with a knot OF vlolets in its
lapel, while as for the newest crea ton.
1t dazzes the behoi1er with the additional
glory of its cluster of American Beau
ties.
The young mans fancy likewise lightly
turns to q more enormous boutonuiere
than any one save q glass of fashion dare
indulge in, While the older one adds a
carnation and a shame-faced smile TO his
belongings. Half forgotten invalids are
brought to mind just now and sfo"cred
with blossoms. and old friends who ire
.'duite too far away to visit, you know.
are remembered through the florist with
bunch of roses and q card
The churches, too, after their long pc
riod of Lenten gloom. are decorated with
palms and serried ranks of blossoms. SO
that the parting of their doors SENDS ihto
the street a perfume of heaven own
sweetness, and all things tell of joy and
the resurrection.
AT time like this who can help ont
smile? Why. even Phyllis soon forsets
to quicker up her brows because strephon
with a map's blindness mas sent ner
corsage in which the colors are at va
rance with those of her little Easter
Gown: Daphne, too. ere long dispeis her
grief that Narcssus has forgotten TO sena
her any at all ard smiiinsly accepts the
timely offering of old Monev5ags.
And how many stop to wonder ~hen
all the flowers so lavishly displayed hrss
see the light?
Each of the large growers has his own
specially in which he yields the pam 10
none. yet each one pays due attention
to all the popular flowers as vel as the
trinity Of the poets. the rose' the my
( and the violet.