Nor ever shall the muse's eye, The earth to thee her incense yields, When, glittering in the freshened fields, How glorious is thy girdle cast As fresh in yon horizon dark, For, faithful to its sacred page, Nor lets the type grow pale with age, CAMPBELL. 3. THE COLORS OF FLOWERS. hue, a secondary color, a tint. să'ble, dark, black. verd'ūre, greenness. 1. WHY are flowers so beautiful to us? Something, no doubt, there is in their lovely forms; but the chief source of their winsomeness is that their colors are pure. We see in them very pure red, very pure yellow, very pure blue. - 2. What flowers delight us most? Is the flower white? the greater the purity of that whiteness, the more are we attracted by it. White is the perfect union of the three prime colors, red, yellow, blue. Is the flower red? the greater the purity of that red, the more we admire the flower. Is the flower blue? the greater the purity of that blue, the more we are fascinated by its lovely hue. Is the flower yellow? the greater the purity of that yellow, the more are we drawn to it. 3. Who likes flowers of dull colors? Is the flower of a dingy white? who cares for it? Is it dull yellow, red, or blue? who wants it? No! flowers must in color be bright and pure. Purple and orange-colored flowers are certainly beautiful. Purple, the union of red and blue, is indeed a hue of purity; but it lacks simplicity and singleness of color. So in orange, the union of red and yellow, singleness of color is wanting. Who cares for green 4. And what shall be said of green? flowers? We pass them by; and, in fact, greenish flowers are mostly very small and unattractive. There are some cactus flowers that do, indeed, hold the most exquisite green; but then the green, if it be attractive, is always associated with the purest and loveliest red, and the two stand side by side, and have double interest by their contrast. 5. Why is the rose so beautiful? Something it owes to form; but it is its bewitching purity of red that fascinates every eye. Red is ever a lively color; and when the clustering roses adorn the bushes on which they grow, there is a happy grouping of purest red in the midst of opposing green. Pluck a rose; despoil it of every leaf; it still is beautiful; but some of the charm, lent by the leaves' offsetting green, is gone. Are not the noble red flowers the finest of all flowers the flowers we admire most? Is not the dazzling effect due to the fact that red, itself the liveliest of colors, reaches a heightened effect by contrast with the leaves? 6. Blue, suggestive of gentleness, ranks next to red in floral color. It appeals to us more tenderly than the sprightly red; and certainly a beautiful blue flower is one of the loveliest objects the eye can look upon. Yellow, full of light and splendor, is not so happy a color for flowers as red or blue. The modesty of flowers is ever pleasing. There can be modesty in the lively red and in the tender blue; but yellow is somewhat glaring, and does not appeal to us so sweetly as red or blue; and it must be confessed that violet or purple, although a mixed color, is in flowers often more pleasing than yellow. Nor is yellow, unless it be very pure, in the happiest harmony with surrounding verdure. In the midst of green grass or foliage, purple flowers are truly pleasing. Still, the yellow buttercups are charming flowers. 7. Nature makes scarcely a single flower green, green like a leaf. Greenish flowers are mostly yellowish green or whitish green, or it may be bluish Flowers seem green. ever to strive for the possession of white, red, blue, or yellow; that is, either for one or other of the primary colors, or for white, the combination of all the colors. Is there in all the world a single black flower? How could there be? smile upon us as they do? How could flowers be sable and GUSTAVUS FRANKENSTEIN. aisle [], passage with vista. chrys-an'the-mum, one of the com- col'um-bine (from Lat. columba, dove). gen'tian [jen'shan]. lo-be'li-a, a genus of plants having many species. tur'tle, the turtle-dove. 1. WHEN the winter is past, and "the voice of the turtle is heard in our land," the sweet odors from budding plants remind us of the flowers that soon shall open to our gaze their manifold beauties of form and color. Our gardens will soon be full of purest white, of red, of yellow, and of blue. Orange and purple, too, of matchless tint, will be seen in many a flower. Even green will not be wanting, for every leaf will lend its share to the all-abounding verdure. 2. The flowers of our gardens are for the most part large and showy. The plants which bear them were brought here from foreign countries; and, of course, we would naturally expect that people coming from abroad, if they brought plants or seeds at all for garden culture, would bring the most striking and attractive. The peony, the chrysanthemum, the china-aster, the hollyhock, are but a few of the many kinds of showy flowers that belong to the garden, and not to our own wild woods and fields. 3. Beautiful, indeed, are all these chosen flowers that fill our greenhouses, adorn our borders, and grace our conservatories. Still, if we go into the woods in the pleasant summer weather, and look for wild flowers, we shall find many of most lovely hues and shapes growing amid the freedom and freshness of nature. 4. There is the cardinal flower. Is there any flower that has a more charming red color? It is one of the most beautiful of all flowers. Then, again, there is a most |