"Lord, what is life? 'Tis like a flower
That blossoms, and is gone!
We see it flourish for an hour,
With all its beauty on;
But death comes, like a wintry day,
And cuts the pretty flower away."
THE FLOWERING SEASONS.
"Say, what impels, amid surrounding snow
Congealed, the Crocus' flowery bud to glow?
Say, what retards, amid the summer blaze,
The autumnal bud, till pale declining days?
"The God of seasons, whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower;
He bids each flower His quickening word obey,
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay."
H. Kirke White.
As it will be impossible in a small volume to give instructions in all Flowers, I shall endeavour to select such as will produce a pleasing contrast of form and colour; at the same time, including flowers of every season, commencing with Spring—and who does not hail the early Flowers with delight? After a long and severe winter, the appearance of the golden crocus and the modest snowdrop, peeping from the earth, convey to the mind a glow of unspeakable pleasure.
"Then wherefore had they birth?
To minister delight to man—
To beautify the earth."
INSTRUCTION HOW TO FORM THE CROCUS.
(Crocus Luteus.) Youthfulness.
Prepare the petals (from pattern) in double wax, choosing a bright orange, but not too dark. Place the two shining sides of the wax together. The inner petals are not striped, but the three outer ones have eight or ten pencil strokes of a middle shade of green, broad towards the lower end, and carried off to fine points; these strokes do not extend beyond two thirds of the flower, and laid on with the sable brush. Cup the petals very much with a large head pin (this is why they require to be cut from double wax) so firmly that each petal produces an egg-shaped form when united. Double a hem in a piece of wax the same as that from which you have previously cut the petals. Prepare the stamina from this piece of wax by snipping the proper number. The hem at the edge of the wax is to represent the anthers; affix the stamina when so prepared to the end of a piece of strong wire, and cover them with farina (my second yellow powder). Place the petals round the stamina—first, the three not painted—and the remaining three in the intervening spaces.
The calyx is prepared in lemon wax, tinged with a little brown, and is passed round the end of the flower. The stem covered with pale lemon wax. The leaves narrow strips of double wax (dark green), strongly indented with the point of the pin, and a white stripe laid smoothly on with the small sable brush.