The only exception is in favour of the husband, whose privilege is seldom used; not only because it is thought more civilised to use flowers as the medium on such occasions, but more especially because marriages are now so well assorted that occasion for complaint scarcely arises on either side.
At the marriage meetings flowers having the slightest disagreeable words attached to them are strictly forbidden.
As an example of flowers having a qualified or disagreeable import take the following:—
Ragopargee.—The white lily.
"Cold but truthful, and as constant as the drops of Mount Isione."
In a small recess of Mount Isione two drops of water, clear as crystal, constantly fall, having percolated the rock above. As soon as two drops have fallen two others succeed, two being the invariable number. The interval between the fall of each pair of drops is equal and scarcely perceptible.
These drops never cease to fall night or day, and they have already by this accumulation formed a lake at the base of the mountain.
Voulervole—Convolvulus.
"False allurements!
Thy beauty is to please but for a day,
Like the magnet it attracts us,
And then thou wouldst make us weep
By fading before our eyes.
"Go, fickle flower,
For thou shalt not be mine
Until more lasting; thou canst learn to be."