The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-12-01
The Black Flower
Of Justice.

X IL
5Is251515751525257
Once upon time in the centre bed
of the Palace Garden there grew a
wonderful plant bearing black flow
ers- Nobody quite knew who christ
ened it, but it was always called the
Flower of Justice; the prevailing be-
lief being that if you plucked one of
its blossoms with your left hand you
were instantly treated exactly as you
deserved.
Old Ormond, the most ancient cour-
tier at the Palace, used to tell the
little royal children a terrible tale
OF man who was dared to pluck
SOME of these black flowers, and di-
roctly he did SO he fell dead in the
garden. 1t ultimately TRANSFERRED that
he had secretly slain one of his own
dth and kin for gain; therefore it
was considered just that he himself
should die.
Nobody knew the origin of the
flower or even who planted it, but Il
was carefully tended by the royal
gardeners, and all who passed by
use& to make weird sign with their
first and fourth fingers, for it was
recognized by all to be an evil growth
and charged with black magic.
The only person who professed to
disbelieve in the wonderful proper
ties Of this flower was the Queen
lmogen. She prided herself on be-
ing very strongminded and above all
such Stiffness. 1t was, nevertheless,
observed that whenever she passed
the bed where the plant grew, she
invariably slipped her hand among
the iolds of her dress, and all the
ladies in waiting used to declare it
was to make the sign with her fing-
ers quietly, under cover of her peck
ct; Tor to acknowledge the necessity
of the sign would be to. admit belief
in what she pretended to scott at.
Now, one day the King and Queen
arranged to entertain the Duke and
Duchess of Superiordom at large
luncheon party. Her majesty was
most anxious that everything should
be success, and that the splendor
of their table should entirely eclipse
anything before known When they
had dined few weeks previously
with the Superiordoms, everything had
been most magnificent and costly,
and the Queen realized it would re-
quire very great effort to Guido
their gorgeous entertainment; there
oh hot II.
lay in having the repast as uncom-
mon as possible and to be original
over the table decorations.
AS she was a well brought up
Queen, she always liked to superin-
tend these matters herself; so you
can imagine her vexation when the
head gardener sent to tell her that
terrible blight had fallen ON the gar
dens and had even entered the hot
houses, so her majesty would have
90 do entirely without flowers for this
great occasion. Now, the Queen was
a very quick-tempered, passionate
woman, and not at all liked by those
about her. Her manners were most
imperious, and, when she was put out
of temper or annoyed, the scenes at
Court used to defy description; so
no wonder that Michael, the gardner
shivered and shook at being the bear
er of such bad tidings The Queen
stormed and stamped about like
mad thing. while Michael stood patti
emily waiting and bowling to the
ground whenever the Infatuated lady
glanced in his direction
The King in his study also heard
the noise; but he was a willy king,
and guessed the cause of the excite
ment; so instead OF fastening out to
try to quell 1t, he merely pinned
piece of paper on to his door, stat
ing he was not to be disturbed at his
work, and. locking himself into the
room, he proceeded to have a nap. He
knew from long experience 1t was no
good interfering. and that it would all
blow over in time. The lords and
ladies in waiting, however, liked to
see the Queen lose her temper when
they were not the cause of her an
ger, so they came hurrying into the
room eager for the fray and burning
to know what was making Queen
Imogen shout so much.
It is always nice to have listener
when something goes wrong. and
Queen Imogen was only too ready to
pour out her list of woes to the