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Article THE WORK OF NATURE IN THE MONTHS. ← Page 4 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Work Of Nature In The Months.
' Over the Border , ' tbe Daisy is equally precious , for our ' Brother' Burns , turning one down Avith his plough , thus touchingl y moralises : — " Wee , modest , crimson-tipped flow ' r , Thou ' s met me in an evil hour ; For I maun crash amaug the stoure Thy slender stem . To spare thee now is past my pow ' r ,
Thou bonie gem . * «• a- i- * ¦ :. # There in thy scanty mantle clad , Thy snawie bosom sun-ward spread , Thou lifts thy unassuming head In humble guise ; But now the share uptears thy bed , And low thou lies !
-J . - * -:. -: (¦ -: f ¦ : . •* Such fate to suffering worth is giv ' n , Who long with wants and woes has striv ' n , By human pride or cunning driv ' n To misery's brink , Till wrench'd of ev ' ry stay but Heaven , He , ruin'd , sink ! Ev ' n thou who mourn'st the Daisy ' s fate
, That fate is thine—no distant date ; Stern Ruin ' s ploughshare drives , elate , Full on thy bloom , Till erush'd beneath tbe furrow ' s weight , Shall be thy doom ' . " But it is not always thus sorrowfully that the Daisy speaks , for does it not often seem to recall
"Some brief delight , Some memory that had taken flight , Some chime of fancy , wrong or right , Or stray invention 1 "
From the fact of its affording our little ones such deli ght , our tiny favourite is called in the North ' Bairn wort , ' and often in distant lands , naturalised in Madeira , or tended in a fioAver-pot in India , it brings back to the wanderer many a thought of his far-off home and his childhood ' s days . Backhouse says of Australia : "Many little flowers begin to enamel the ground , one of Avhich is too much like an English daisy not to excite pleasing recollections associated Avith that little floAver . " Leyden wrote of his " longings " whilst in India , " to look on the Daisy-flower . " Pringle , dreaming of his home , whilst in the burning desert of Africa , saw the moadows " gemmed with the Primrose and GoAvan . " Gardner , the botanist , thus wrote in the interior of Brazil : —
" I ask where the Violet and Daisy groAV , But a breeze-born voice , in whisperings low , Swept from the North o ' er Southern seas , Tells me I ' m far from tbe land of these . " Cattle do not like the Daisy amongst their pastures , nor will even Geese touch it , if we except certain human specimens that have been said to boil and eat its acrid leaves , ho former times it Avas considered a valuable poultice for freshly made Avounds .
At present Ave have only Avhite , yellow , ancl pink in our posy , but here is a red floAver just to hand , the Eed Dead JSTettle . This ubiquitous plant is one of a very numerous family , including our useful herbs the Sages and the Mints ; these relatives are as pleasantly aromatic as they are useful , but the Dead JSTettle , Avhich can be put to but little , if any , use , possesses an odour the reverse of agreeable ; like a good many other p lants , it has been used both as a food , and as a medicine : Ave should imagine that it answers either purpose equally well . All the plants of this family have square stems with opposite leaves , and two-lipped blossoms which are usually red , purple , or lilac .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Work Of Nature In The Months.
' Over the Border , ' tbe Daisy is equally precious , for our ' Brother' Burns , turning one down Avith his plough , thus touchingl y moralises : — " Wee , modest , crimson-tipped flow ' r , Thou ' s met me in an evil hour ; For I maun crash amaug the stoure Thy slender stem . To spare thee now is past my pow ' r ,
Thou bonie gem . * «• a- i- * ¦ :. # There in thy scanty mantle clad , Thy snawie bosom sun-ward spread , Thou lifts thy unassuming head In humble guise ; But now the share uptears thy bed , And low thou lies !
-J . - * -:. -: (¦ -: f ¦ : . •* Such fate to suffering worth is giv ' n , Who long with wants and woes has striv ' n , By human pride or cunning driv ' n To misery's brink , Till wrench'd of ev ' ry stay but Heaven , He , ruin'd , sink ! Ev ' n thou who mourn'st the Daisy ' s fate
, That fate is thine—no distant date ; Stern Ruin ' s ploughshare drives , elate , Full on thy bloom , Till erush'd beneath tbe furrow ' s weight , Shall be thy doom ' . " But it is not always thus sorrowfully that the Daisy speaks , for does it not often seem to recall
"Some brief delight , Some memory that had taken flight , Some chime of fancy , wrong or right , Or stray invention 1 "
From the fact of its affording our little ones such deli ght , our tiny favourite is called in the North ' Bairn wort , ' and often in distant lands , naturalised in Madeira , or tended in a fioAver-pot in India , it brings back to the wanderer many a thought of his far-off home and his childhood ' s days . Backhouse says of Australia : "Many little flowers begin to enamel the ground , one of Avhich is too much like an English daisy not to excite pleasing recollections associated Avith that little floAver . " Leyden wrote of his " longings " whilst in India , " to look on the Daisy-flower . " Pringle , dreaming of his home , whilst in the burning desert of Africa , saw the moadows " gemmed with the Primrose and GoAvan . " Gardner , the botanist , thus wrote in the interior of Brazil : —
" I ask where the Violet and Daisy groAV , But a breeze-born voice , in whisperings low , Swept from the North o ' er Southern seas , Tells me I ' m far from tbe land of these . " Cattle do not like the Daisy amongst their pastures , nor will even Geese touch it , if we except certain human specimens that have been said to boil and eat its acrid leaves , ho former times it Avas considered a valuable poultice for freshly made Avounds .
At present Ave have only Avhite , yellow , ancl pink in our posy , but here is a red floAver just to hand , the Eed Dead JSTettle . This ubiquitous plant is one of a very numerous family , including our useful herbs the Sages and the Mints ; these relatives are as pleasantly aromatic as they are useful , but the Dead JSTettle , Avhich can be put to but little , if any , use , possesses an odour the reverse of agreeable ; like a good many other p lants , it has been used both as a food , and as a medicine : Ave should imagine that it answers either purpose equally well . All the plants of this family have square stems with opposite leaves , and two-lipped blossoms which are usually red , purple , or lilac .