Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1884 — The Lily Penitent. [ARTICLE]

The Lily Penitent.

The Lilium Byzantfum was brought to England from Constantinople more than three hundred years ago, and is well known in this country. The stftry is that the lily, now of a dark flesh color sheetecSfeith blushes, was originally white aH very erect upon its stem. It STOoePdn Gethsemane, and was a favorite with One who frequented that garden in the days of His earthly life. The legend says that when He walked there at sunset the flowers all knew Him, and bowed their Bweet heads in loving adoration, all but the lily! It kept its white crown proudly erect, and would not bend its crest at any presence! The Lord stood still ana looked full into the face of the beautiful bells. Each silvery cup began to bend beneath that touching look, and deep blushes came upon them all. Still the gaze was fixed, and glittering drops followed the glowing suffusion. The Master passed on, and when morning came all the other flowers in the garden tossed their gay heads in the sunny light. But the lily still bent its head, and each little bell wife full of penitent tears. Those “fair Orient pearls,” as the poet calls them, remain to this day. They are six in number in each of the bells, and wipe them away as often as we may, they are evermore replaced until the flower decays. The blush, too, has never faded from the lily cheeks, and hence, according to the legend, the Crown Imperial (so called because thqfflowers grow at the top of the stalk and surround it in the shape of a coronet) carries for all time the acknowledgment of its one moment of irreverent pride. —Floral World.