Eve's roses were without thorns--
"And without thorn the rose,"[129]
It is pleasant to see flowers plucked by the fairest fingers for some
elegant or worthy purpose, but it is not pleasant to see them _wasted_.
Some people pluck them wantonly, and then fling them away and litter the
garden walks with them. Some idle coxcombs, vain
Of the nice conduct of a clouded cane,
amuse themselves with switching off their lovely heads. "That's
villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it."
Lander says
And 'tis my wish, and over was my way,
To let all flowers live freely, and so die.
Here is a poetical petitioner against a needless destruction of the
little tenants of the parterre.
Oh, spare my flower, my gentle flower,
The slender creature of a day,
Let it bloom out its little hour,
And pass away.
So soon its fleeting charms must lie
Decayed, unnoticed and o'erthrown,
Oh, hasten not its destiny,
Too like thine own.
_Lyte_.
Those who pluck flowers needlessly and thoughtlessly should be told that
other people like to see them flourish, and that it is as well for every
one to bear in mind the beautiful remark of Lord Bacon that "the breath
of flowers is far sweeter in the air than in the hand; for in the air it
comes and goes like the warbling of music.
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