The Use of Flowers.
“JUST one moment longer, cousin Mary; I want to put this flower in your hair. Now doesn’t it look sweet, sister Aggy?”
“Oh yes! very sweet. And here is the dearest little bud I ever saw. I took it from the sweet-brier bush in the lane. Put that, too, in cousin Mary’s hair.”
Little Florence, seeing what was going on, was soon also at work upon Mary’s hair, which, in a little while, was covered with buds and blossoms.
“Now she is our May Queen,” said the children, as they hung fondly around their cousin, who had come into the country to enjoy a few weeks of rural quiet, in the season of fruits and flowers.
“And our May Queen must sing us a song,” said Agnes, who was sitting at the feet of her cousin. “Sing us something about flowers.”
“Oh yes!” spoke up Grace; “sing us that beautiful piece by Mrs. Howitt, about the use of flowers. You sang it for us, you remember, the last time you were here.”
Cousin Mary sang as desired. After she had concluded, she said,—
“Flowers, according to these beautiful verses, are only useful as objects to delight our senses. They are only beautiful forms in nature—their highest use, their beauty and fragrance.”