Page images
PDF
EPUB

9.

10.

"In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh rhodōra in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook;"
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,

Made the black waters with their beauty gay;
Here might the redbird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.

Rhodōra'! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the marsh and sky',
Dear, tell them that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for being.

Why thou wert there, oh rival of the rose'!

I never thought to ask, I never knew;

But in my simple ignorance suppose

The self-same Power that brought me there', brought you."

11. In Scotland the poorer people cover their cabins with heath, and the hardy Highlanders often make their beds of it; hence frequent allusions to these facts occur in Scottish poetry. In Scott's Lady of the Lake, Ellen, the maid of the Highlands, thus addresses the errant3 Fitz James:

and when the

"Nor think you unexpected come

To yon lone isle, our desert home;
Before the heath had lost the dew,
This morn a couch was pull'd for you;"

stranger was hospitably introduced to her father's hall, it was through the porch to which

"Wither'd heath and rushes dry
Supplied a russet canopy;"

and further, the poet, still drawing a faithful picture of Highland life, tells us that, after every courteous rite had been paid,

"The stranger's bed

Was there of mountain heather spread,
Where oft a hundred guests had lain,
And dream'd their forest sports again."

1 Written both JAS'-MINE and JES'-SA-MINE; 2 WHOR'-TLE-BER-RY (hwur'-tl-běr-e).
chiefly the former in poetry.
13 ER-RANT, wandering; roving.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FLOWERS.

The psychology of flowers has found many students, than whom not one read them more deeply than that mild spirit (Shelley) who sang of the sensitive plant, and in wondrous music foreshadowed his own misdirected genius and his melancholy fate. That martyr to sensibility, Keats, who longed to feel the flowers growing above him, drew the strong inspiration of his volant2 muse from those delicate creations which exhibit the passage of inorganic matter into life; and other poets will have their sensibilities awakened by the æsthetics3 of flowers, and find a mirror of truth in the crystal dew-drop which clings so lovingly to the purple violet.-HUNT's Poetry of Science.

1 PSY-CHŎL'-O-GY, the doctrine of the mind 3 ES-THET'-ICS, the science which treats of or soul, as distinct from the body. the beautiful; the philosophy of the fine arts.

2 VO'-LANT," flying" active; airy.

LES. XII. LABIATE AND TRUMPET-FLOWER FAMILIES. [EXOGENOUS or DICOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Monopetalous.]1

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]

1. Eccremocarpus longiflo'rus, Long-flowered eccremocarpus, xiii. 2, or., 6 f., Jl.-Au., Peru. 2. Chelo'ne centranthifo'lia, California trumpet-flower, xiii. 2, sc., 7 f., Jl.-Au, Cal. 3. Bigno'nia grandiflo'ra, Large bignonia, xiii. 2, or., 30-100 f. (cultivated), Jl.-Au., 4. Bigno'nia echina'ta, xiii. 2, pk., 30 f., Guiana. 5. Catal'pa cordifo'lia, Common catalpa, ii. 1, w. and y., 20 f., Jn.-Au., N. Am. 6. Sal'via ful'gens, Scarlet salvia, ii. 1, sc, 5 f., Au.-O., Mexico. 7. Lavan'dula stoe'chas, French lavender, xiii. 1, li., 18 in. My.JI., S. Europe. 8. Maru'bium vulga're, Common horehound, xiii. 1, w., 2 f., Jn.-S., N. Am. 9. Thy'mus serpyllum, Wild thyme, xiii. 1, pu., 3 in., Jn.-Au., Europe. 10. Thy'mus vulgaris, Garden thyme, xiii. 1, pu., 12 in., My.-Au., cultivated,

1. THE plants of the Labiate family, which number nearly twenty-four hundred species, are easily distinguished by the

[blocks in formation]

labiate or lip-like form of their monopetalous1 corollas. Natives, chiefly, of temperate regions, they are found in abundance in hot, dry, exposed situations, in meadows, groves, and by the wayside, and but seldom in marshes. They are, for the most part, fragrant and aromatic;2 some, as the sage, hyssop, thyme,3 and savory, are valuable as kitchen herbs, for sauces, and flavoring cooked dishes; some, like the mints, lavenders, and rosema

[graphic]

ry, are employed by perfumers; others, like the exotic salvias, are admired and extensively cultivated for their beauty.

2. Many of the plants of this family were formerly deemed valuable as medicines, and frequent allusions to their medicinal virtues are made by the poets. Thus rosemary was formerly recommended for diseases of the nervous system, for the removal of headaches, and also for strengthening the memory. Hence the allusion of Shakspeare, "There's rosemary: that's for remembrance." With the Greeks, the plant thyme was the emblem of activity, doubtless because its honeyed fragrance made it a favorite with all the cheerful, busy little tenants of the air, who are continually on the wing around it, making the most of the brief time allotted to their ephemeral existence.

3. The Trumpet-flower family, which consists of trees, shrubs, or occasionally herbs, often twining or climbing, most abounds in tropical regions; but native species are found in our country as far northward as Pennsylvania; and others, like the catalpa-tree, and the bignonias, are cultivated still farther north. The various species are most celebrated for the great beauty of their trumpet-shaped flowers, which, from their large size, gay colors, and great abundance, are often among the most striking objects in a tropical forest.

1 MON-O-PET'-AL-OUS, having a corolla of a 2 AR-O-MĂT'-1¤, spicy; strong-scented.
single pětal.
3 THYME (pronounced time).

LESSON XIII.-FOREST TREES.

1. I AM fond of listening to the conversation of English gentlemen on rural concerns, and of noticing with what taste and discrimination, and with what strong, unaffected interest, they will discuss topics which, in other countries, are abandoned to mere woodmen or rustic cultivators. I have heard a noble earl descant1 on park and forest scenery with the science and feeling of a painter. He dwelt on the shape and beauty of particular trees on his estate with as much pride and technical precision as though he had been discussing the merits of statues in his collection. I found that he had gone considerable distances to examine trees which were celebrated among rural amateurs; for it seems that trees, like horses, have their established points of excellence, and that there are some in England which enjoy very extensive celebrity from being perfect in their kind.

2. There is something nobly simple and pure in such a taste.

It argues, I think, a sweet and generous nature to have this strong relish for the beauties of vegetation, and this friendship for the hardy and glorious sons of the forest. There is a grandeur of thought connected with this part of rural economy. It is, if I may be allowed the figure, the heroic line of husbandry. It is worthy of liberal, and free-born, and aspiring men. He who plants an oak looks forward to future ages, and plants for posterity. Nothing can be less selfish than this. He can not expect to sit in its shade nor enjoy its shelter; but he exults in the idea that the acorn which he has buried in the earth shall grow up into a lofty pile, and shall keep on flourishing, and increasing, and benefiting mankind long after he shall have ceased to tread his paternal fields.-W. IRVING.

1 DES-CĂNT', discourse upon; make a varie-2 AM-A-TEUR', an unprofessional cultivator ty of remarks. of a study or art.

LESSON XIV.-THE OAK FAMILY.
[EXOGENOUS or DICOTYLEDONOUS; Angiosperms; Apetalous.]1

[graphic][subsumed]

1. Quercus phel'los, Willow oak, xix. 12, (ap.), 60 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 2. Q. vi'rens, Live oak, xix. 12, (ap.), 40 f., My.,. 3 Q. imbrica'ta, Shingle oak, xix. 12, (ap.), 40 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 4. Q. bi'color, White swamp oak, xix. 12, (ap.), 60 f., My., N. Am. 5. Q. al'ba, White oak, xix. 12, (ap.), 80 f., My., N. Am. 6. Q. rubra, Red oak, xix. 12, (ap.), 70 f., My., N. Am. 7. Casta'nea ves'ca, Common chestnut, xix. 12, g., 60 f., My.Jn., N. Am. 8. Os'trya vulga'ris, Hop hornbeam, xix. 12., (ap.), 30 f., My.-Jn., Italy. (The American hornbeam has an acute bud, and more pointed leaves.) 9. Fa'gus ferrugin'ea, Red beech, xix. 12, (ap.), 50 f., My.-Jn., N. Am. 10. Pla'tanus occidentalis, button-wood, sycamore, or plane-tree, xix. 12, (ap.), 70 f., A.-My., N. Am.

1.

2

THE monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots slowly up, and spreads by slow degrees;
Three centuries he grows, and three he stays
Supreme in state, and in three more decays.-DRYDEN.
"The oak, for grandeur, strength, and noble size,
Excels all trees that in the forest grow:

From acorn small, that trunk, those branches rise,
To which such signal benefits we owe.
Behold what shelter in its ample shade,

From noontide sun, or from the drenching rain;
And of its timber stanch, vast ships are made,

To sweep rich cargoes o'er the watery main."

3. The illustrious Oak family includes not only the trees usually called oak, but also the chestnut, beech, hornbeam or iron-wood, and hazel or filbert. It embraces two hundred and sixty-five species, mostly forest trees of great size. According to ancient legends, the fruit of the oak served as nourishment for the early race of mankind. This tree was said to have shaded the cradle of Jupiter after his birth on Mount Lycæus, in Arcadia, and, after that, to have been consecrated to him.

4. Among the Romans, the highest reward was the civic crown, made of oak leaves, given to him who had saved the life of a citizen in battle.

Most worthy of the oaken wreath

The ancients him esteemed

Who in a battle had from death

Some man of worth redeemed.-DRAYTON.

The person who received it was entitled to wear it at all public spectacles, and to sit next to the senators; and when he entered crowned with oak leaves, the audience rose up as a mark of respect.

5. By the early inhabitants of Britain, also, the oak was held in great veneration, and it was within its consecrated groves that

"The Druid, erst his solemn rites performed,
And taught to distant realms his sacred lore."

Cowper, in his poem to the Yardley Oak, thus alludes to the
Druidical worship:

"It seems idolatry with some excuse',

When our forefather Druids in their oaks
Imagined sanctity'. The conscience, yet
Unpurified by an authentic act

Of amnesty', the meed of blood divine',
Loved not the light', but, gloomy, into gloom

Of thickest shades', like Adam after taste

Of fruit proscribed', as to a refuge fled."

6. The white oak, red oak, and live oak are the most im portant species, the timber of the latter being the best for ship-building. The live oak grows in the Southern States, within twenty miles of the sea-coast, and may be seen as far

« PreviousContinue »