It often grows as high as three feet; its leaves are smooth, a sickly green in color, and very succulent. At this time we shall also find the marsh-mallow. It is a medicinal plant, containing a quantity of starchy mucilage, which is formed into a paste, and taken as a cure for coughs. Its flowers are a pretty rose-tint; its leaves soft, downy, and very thick. It grows about two feet high, and is altogether an attractive, handsome plant, the more more valued,
"Because a fair flower that illumines the scene
When the tempest of winter is near;
'Mid the frowns of adversity, cheerful of mien,
And gay, when all is dark and serene".
Such are a few of the sea-side blossoms to be gathered on our coasts. Let my reader, next summer, take a ramble along the beach, and hunt for themselves, when they may discover a host of fresh beauties rising on all sides, creeping over the loose sand, topping the rocky heights, or decking the grassy slopes—
"As though some gentle angel,
Commissioned love to bear,
Had wandered o'er the greensward,
And left her footprints there."
Let not the humblest, most neglected flower be discarded, for each bears its own little mine of beauty, front with instruction, and the promptings of pure and holy thoughts, that lead the mind from "nature up to nature's God."
"Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege
Through all the years of this our life to lead
From joy to joy; for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e're prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful face, that all that we behold
Is full of blessings."
ORIGINAL.
ON THE REQUEST OF THE DAUGHTER OF HERODIAS.
"I will that forthwith thou give me
in a dish the head of John the Baptist."
Fie, silly child! Thou askest more
Than Herod doth engage to grant—
As time hath truly shown.
That head, enshrouded in its gore,
Would be a price exorbitant
For all of Herod's throne.