6. Tea is served very hot; but it is a flagrant breach of etiquette in any one to notice this unpleasant fact. Should the weather be very warm, when the cups are emptied the master of the house says, "I invite you to take up your fans." But should any unlucky guest have forgotten his fan, the rest of the company do not permit themselves the liberty of using theirs, for fear of hurting his feelings. Finally, after innumer able tedious acts of politeness, in which each individual aims to produce the impression that, in his own opinion, his insignificant person is by no means worthy the exalted honor of drinking with the illustrious company among whom he is infinitely surprised to be received, the signal for leave-taking is given oy the highest in rank rising and saying to the host, "I have been troublesome to you a very long time"-which is probably the only true word spoken during the entertain ment. 7. We might speak of American tea-parties also, but they are too well-known and appreciated to need description here; for even the poetic muse has been evoked, on more occasions than one, to give them notoriety. "How they sit and chitter chatter', O'er a cup of scalding water', Of that one's death or marriage." 8. In the Mallow family, which contains a great variety of some of the finest flowers in nature, are found the various spe cies of the altheas or hollyhocks, and the hibiscus, together with that famous plant, "King Cotton," avowedly the most valuable of all the vegetable products which man converts into materials for clothing. The common cotton plant grows from three to five feet in height, with fivelobed, blue-veined, dark green leaves. The flower is of a pale yellow, changing to a 3 pink color, purple spotted at the bottom, with five petals. On the falling of the flower a kind of pod or boll is developed, Cotton Plant.-1. The ri- which, in process of ripening, bursts and the morning. 3. Flower at discloses the snow-white cotton, which is the hairy covering of the seeds. evening. 9. The citron family embraces a number of species of handsome evergreen shrubs or small trees, mostly natives of the East Indies, and cultivated only in warm regions. They have odoriferous flowers, and bear some of the most brilliant, fra grant, and delicious fruits, among which may be enumerated the orange, shaddock, citron, lemon, and lime. As with apples, many varieties of each have been produced by cultivation. The golden apples of the heathens, and the forbidden fruit of the Jews, are supposed to belong to this family. The orange blossom, distinguished no less for its beauty than its delicious fragrance, has very appropriately been made the emblem of purity and loveliness. The land where the citron and orange grow is proverbially the land of balmy fragrance, of gentle breezes, and azure skies. Know'st thou the land, where groves of citron flower'? Where gentle breezes fan the azure skies, The myrtle still, and high the laurel rise'? Know'st thou it well, that land, beloved friend'? Thither with the e, oh, thither would I wend.-GOETHE. 1. 2. 3. 4. LESSON VII.-CHORUS OF FLOWERS. WE are the sweet flowers', (Think, whene'er you see us, what our beauty saith); Of some unknown delight, We fill the air with pleasure' by our simple breath': We befit all places'; Unto sorrow we give smiles'—and, unto graces, races' Think of all our treasures', Matchless works and pleasures', Every one a marvel, more than thought can say'; And with what heaps of sweetness half stifle wanton May'; By the bee-birds haunted', And all those Amazonian plains, lone lying as enchanted. Trees themselves are ours'; Beech', and roughest nut', were blossoms' in the spring'; The lusty bee knows well The news, and comes pell-mell, And dances in the gloomy thicks with darksome antheming: Of planet-pressing ocean We wash our smiling cheeks in peace-a thought for meek devotion Who shall say that flowers Dress not heaven's own bowers'? Who its love, without us, can fancy- or sweet floor? Who shall even dare To say we sprang not there And came not down, that Love might bring one piece of heaven the Oh! pray believe that angels From those blue dominions [more'? Brought us in their white laps down, 'twixt their golden pinions. LEIGH HUNT. LESSON VIII.-THE CACTUS FAMILY. 1. Cac'tus hexago'nus, Four-angled cactus, xi. 1, w., 35 f., Jl.-Au., S. Am. 2. C. speciosis'simus, Beautiful cactus, xi. 1, cr., 3 f., Jl., S. Am. 3. C. flagellifor'mis, Creeping or Snake cactus, xi. 1, pk., 6 f., M.-Jn., Peru. 4. C. opuntia, Prickly-pear cactus, xi. 1, y., 2 f., Jl.-Au., Mexico. 5. C. curassa'vicus, Pin-pillow cactus, xi. 1, y., 6 f., Jn.-J., S. Am. 6. C. peres'kia, Gooseberry cactus, xi. 1, w., 5 f., O.-N., W. Indies. 7. C. phyllanthoi'des, Winged cactus, xi. 1, pk., 2 f., Jn., W. Indies. 8. Echinocac'tus mammillarioi' des, Melon cactus, xi. 1, y. and r., 6 in., Jl.-Au., Chili. Mammilla'ria caespito's, 1. WHO hung thy beauty on such rugged stalk', Who poured the richest hues, Lone, o'er thy leafless stem, Thou bidd'st the queenly rose, with all her buds, 2. Thus beautifully writes an American poetess of a beautiful flower of the rough a Cactus flower of the Up cactus family. And this family is exclusively American, not one of its eight hund per Missouri. red species having ever been found, as native, in any other part of the world. The name by which the kinds of cactus common in the Northern and Middle States are known, is prickly pear. The absence of leaves in most of the species, and the presence of very showy flowers, render this family remarkable. The plants consist chiefly of a fleshy stem, sometimes globular or egg-shaped, sometimes cylindrical, triangular, and even flat, but always armed with prickles. 3. The cactus is found abundantly in Mexico, and is painted on the flag of the Mexicans, and stamped on their money; Of its many species, the night-blooming cereus is perhaps the most remarkable, not so much on account of its large white flower, although that is sometimes nearly a foot in diameter, as for the season of its unfolding its beauties, the short time which it takes to expand, and the rapidity with which it decays. It begins to open late in the evening, flourishes for an hour or two, then begins to droop, and before morning is completely dead. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. "Now departs day's garish3 light Beauteous flower', lift thy head! Haste, thy transient lustre shed! See to life her beauties start'; Hail! thou glorious, matchless flower'! In this solemn, fleeting hour. Ere we have our homage paid', Thou wilt bow thy head and die'; Sorrow's rugged stem, like thine', Bears a flower thus purely bright`; 9. Other species of the cactus, more delicate in structure than the famous cereus2 already described, a few of them leafy, some of them creeping plants, and most of them remarkable for their beauty and fragrance, also bloom in the night season; and it is one of these which has been made the medium, by a gifted writer, of conveying the following beautiful moral: 10. UNPRETENDING WORTH. Come, look at this plant, with its narrow, pale leaves, Thinly studded with flowers-yes, with flowers-there they are; 11. 12. 13. So you ask why I keep it-the little mean thing'? 'Tis a fancy of mine. A strange fancy, you say. Some six hours hence, when the lady moon And heavy the night dews fall Then meet me again in this casement niche, Nor question me wherefore; perhaps with me * Well, we're met here again, and the moonlight sleeps And the flowers there below-how the night wind brings But there's one, say you, sweeter than all. What is it'? the myrtle or jessamine' ?* Or the heliotrope, or the virgin's bower'? Far sweeter'? And where think you groweth the plant Look about, up and down, but take care, or you'll break Ah ha! is it that'? Have you found out now All is not gold that glitters, you know, And it is not all worth makes the greatest show, There are human flowers, full many, I trow,4 In the heyday of pleasure and pride. But move one of these to some quiet spot Where domestic peace broods with dove-like wing, May not yield sweet fragrance there. Or wait till the days of trial come, The dark days of trouble and woe, When they shrink and shut up, late so bright in the sun; Then turn to the little despised one, And see if 'twill serve you so. And judge not again, at a single glance, Nor pass sentence hastily. There are many good things in this world of ours, Many sweet things and rare, weeds that prove precious flowers, €ŎR'-O-NET, a little crown. 2 CE'-REUS (se'-rūse), in two syllables. * Equivalent to, "Do you ask,What is it'? the myrtle or jessamine'?" etc., similar to the questions in the eleventh verse; and therefore they take the rising inflection. |