Part 51

A voice of laughter--a voice of glee! Among the maidens, who happy as she? By love’s enchantment her thrilling breast Is wildly, witchingly, over-blest: And gushing joys, like the sun in May, Enliven the noon of her bridal-day.

MacKellar.

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Mysterious plant! whose golden tresses wave With a sad beauty in the dying year, Blooming amid November’s frost severe, Like a pale corpse-light o’er the recent grave. If shepherds tell us true, thy wand hath power, With gracious influence, to avert the harm Of ominous planets.

Token, 1831.

CORN.... Riches.

Ceres, the goddess of Corn and harvest, was represented with a garland of ears of Corn on her head. The commemoration of the loss of her daughter Proserpine, was celebrated about the beginning of harvest; that of her search after her, at the time of sowing Corn. A whole straw has been made the emblem of union; and a broken straw, of rupture. The custom of breaking a straw, to express the rupture of a contract, may be traced back to an early period of French history, and may be said to have had a royal origin. When Charles the Simple, of France, was abandoned by his principal lords, they broke a straw to express that they would no longer acknowledge him as their king. Corn may be regarded as an appropriate emblem of wealth; since, wherever it grows, it leads us to infer plenty and comfort.

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Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive, Get riches first, get wealth.

Milton.

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Then let us get money, like bees lay up honey; We’ll build us new hives and store each cell; The sight of our treasure shall yield us great pleasure, We’ll count it, and chink it, and jingle it well.

Dr. Franklin.

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Much learning shows how little mortals know; Much wealth, how little worldlings can enjoy: At best, it babies us with endless toys, And keeps us children till we drop to dust. As monkeys at a mirror stand amazed, They fail to find what they so plainly see; Thus men, in shining riches, see the face Of happiness, nor know it as a shade; But gaze, and touch, and peep, and peep again, And wish, and wonder it is absent still.

Young.

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Oh, blessed lot To be possessed of wealth and of a heart So heavenly made that it refuses not Of its abundance freely to impart!

MacKellar.

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You are heir To lordships, mansions, forests, parks, and gems. You have three mighty manors in Castile; Two broad estates in Leon; two amidst The mulberry trees of Murcia, and huge chests Crammed full of ingots, dug by naked slaves, Who famished on coarse bread. Besides all these, There bloom plantations in the East, whose fruits Are pearls, and spice, and princely diamonds; And in Brazil, Pactolus floods, ne’er dumb, Whose waves all talk in gold!

Barry Cornwall.

CRANBERRY.... Cure for the Heartache.

Far away among the hills, Far from tower and town, Where wide moors and heaths lie spread, Desolate and brown.

Where the grouse and plover live Far from gun and dog, A delicate and tiny flower Decks swamp and watery bog.

The Cranberry blossom dwelleth there Amid the mountains cold, Seeming like a fairy gift Left on the dreary wold.

Oh! and ’tis very beautiful, The flowers are pink and white, And the small oval polished leaves Are evergreen and bright.

’Tis such a wee, fair, dainty thing, You’d think a greenhouse warm Would be its proper dwelling-place, Kept close from wind and storm.