tured when he saw the illusory nature of all things, broke the last bond that tied him to existence, and stood delivered forever more from the necessity of being born again, being considered the culmination of his character, and the highest object of imitation to all his followers." The cedar of Lebanon, the emblem of strength, prosperity and stability, is probably one of the most beautiful trees of the world, as it has been much celebrated from the most ancient times. It is often spoken of in scripture, and is the poetry of the old testament. The timbers used in the building of Soloman's temple, and his chariots, were of this durable wood. Of the celebrated cedars of Lebanon, but few remain, not more than 400 trees. The grove is of partly old and partly young trees, and about threequarters of a mile in circumference; most of the trees are from 200 to 800 years of age. There are twelve venerable trees whose age is incalculable, seven standing in one group, three more a little further on, and two on the northern edge of the grove; the largest tree is 63 feet in circumference. Learned travelers admit that the age of the oldest must be about 2,000 years. The Arabs have a traditional veneration for these grand old trees, and believe that an evil fate would surely overtake any one who would dare to lay sacrilegious hands upon the Saints, as they fondly call them. Every year at the feast of the transfiguration, the Maronites, Greeks and Armenians mount to the cedars and celebrate mass on a homely altar of stone at their feet. What inspiration, beauty and poetry must descend upon this group of worshipers, as they bow in the grand old shrine of their fathers, for Lotus "The groves were God's first temples. Father, thy hand Hath reared these venerable columns, thou Did'st weave this verdant roof. Thou did'st look down Upon the naked earth, and forthwith rose All these fair ranks of trees. Ah, why Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore Only among the crowd, and under roofs That our frail hands have raised? Let me, at least, Here, in the shadow of this aged wood, Offer one hymn - thrice happy, if it find Acceptance in His ear." A species of water lily of great beauty, resembling in form our white water lily, but about three times larger. The color is generally pale blue, pink or red, the latter is fabled to be derived from the blood of Liva when Cupid wounded him with his love arrow. The lotus is regarded as sacred by the Hindoos and Egyptians, and was mystically connected with their mythology, and was everywhere worshipped. It was the rose of ancient Egypt, and the favorite flower of the country. Its representations entered largely into the works of art of the ancients. In the mythology of the Hindoos and Chinese, the deities are often represented as seated upon a throne of its shape, or in the expanded flower. Among the Chinese it is especially connected with Buddha, and symbolizes female beauty. The Egyptians consecrated this flower to the sun, their God of eloquence. The lotus eaters were first mentioned by Homer. The lotus seed or nut is about the size of an acorn, the seed vessel containing the nut is funnel shaped, about three inches across, and when the seed is ripe, it becomes a dry hard bed containing about a dozen hollows, with the large seeds half buried in them. The nut is delicious, with something of an almond flavor about it, but so delicious that all who eat of it become immediately intoxicated with pleasure, so much so that they forget their native lands, and have no desire to return to home and friends again, desiring rather to live where they can enjoy the nectar of the gods. A variety of lotus, the Nelumbium luteum, is a native of the United States, and is found as far north as McGregor, Iowa. Date Palm. The Mohomedans endow with mystical virtues this beautiful tree. They believe that Mary the mother of Jesus went out of the city by night to a certain mountain, and retired aside near a palm tree, and just before Jesus was born into the world, in great anguish and sorrow of heart she exclaimed, "Would to God I had died before this, and become as a thing forgotten and lost in oblivion." A voice beneath the ground, supposed to have been Gabriel's, said to her, "Be not grieved, now hath God provided a rivulet under thee, and do thou shake the body of the palm tree, and it shall let fall ripe dates upon thee, ready gathered for thy refreshment, eat, drink, and calm thy mind." Accordingly, she had no sooner shaken it, than the dry trunk revived and shot forth green leaves and a head laden with ripe dates, although it was in winter. The Man Eating Tree. A very wonderful tree has been discovered in the island of Madagascar, and a description of it, published in a German magazine (Graefe and Waithers) of Carlsruhe, by its discover, Carl Leche, with notes upon it by Dr. Fredlowski. He says the Mkodos are a very primitive race, and dwell entirely. in caves, and have no religion beyond that of awful reverence which they pay to the sacred tree, which he named the Crinoda. His companion and himself went in search of this wonderful tree to the bottom of the valley. A path diverging from the southern side, struck boldly for the heart of the forbidding and seemingly impenetrable forest. Suddenly all the natives began to cry "Tepe! Tepe!" (Look! Look!) The stream here wound slowly by, and in a bare spot in its bend was the most singular of trees. It was of dark brown color and appeared to be as hard as iron. The trunk of the tree was in shape like a pineapple denuded of its leaves, eight feet high and thick in proportion, resting upon its base. From the apex of the truncated cone (at least two feet in diameter) eight leaves hung sheer to the ground, like doors swinging back on hinges. These leaves, which were joined at the top of the tree, were eleven or twelve feet long, and shaped like those of the century plant, and were two feet through and three feet wide, tapering to a point like a cow's horn. The concave face was thickly set with very strong thorny hooks. These dark green leaves were hanging very limp and lifeless. The apex of the cone was a round, white, concave figure, like a smaller plate set within a larger, and there exuded into it a clear treacle, honey-sweet liquid, that possessed violent intoxicating and sporific properties. From underneath the rim, so to speak, of the undermost plate, a series of long, hairy, green tendrils seven or eight feet long, and tapering from four inches to a half inch in diameter, stretched in every direction towards the horizon as stiffly as iron rods. Above these (from between the upper and lower cups) six white, almost transparent palpi, or feelers, reared themselves toward the sky, twirling and twisting with incessant motion, but constantly reaching upward, with a subtle, silent throbbing against the air that made one shudder, as it suggested serpents dancing on their tails. The natives began shrieking around the tree in their shrill voices, chanting hymns to the vegetable monster, praying that their sins might be forgiven and blessings bestowed. With wild shrieks and chants, at the point of their javelins, they obliged one of the women to ascend the tree, which she did with slow and despairing step. She soon stood on the summit of the cone, the palpi twirling all around her. "Tish! Tish!" (drink! drink!) cried the men, and, stooping, she drank of the fluid in the cup, and soon after made an effort to jump down; but no! the demon tree came to sudden, and dreadful life! the delicate palpi quivered for a moment over her head, then fastened upon her in sudden coils, round and round her head and arms. The tendrils, one after another like great green serpents, rose, retracted, and wrapped her about in fold after fold, with the cruel swiftness and tenacity of an anaconda; the great leaves rose slowly and erected themselves in the air, and closed about the victim with the silent force of a hydraulic press; from the interstices there trickled down the stalk streams of fluid, mingling horribly with the blood of the victim. At sight of this the natives came yelling madly to the tree, and with cups, leaves, hands and tongues, got each one enough liquor to send him mad and frantic, which at last ended in delirium and insensibility. Afterwards he saw an active little lemur caught in the fatal coils. Leche at last obtained permission, through the intervention of his friend, to cut down one of the trees, but the natives would not witness the sacrilegious act. We will leave the learned botanist to explain the strange phenomenon, and to analyze the poisonous juices, and we will look for a little through the old Norse mists of past ages. It is said that we as a people are becoming too practical and prosaic, and that we are nourishing the tender minds of our children too early and extensively on mathematics and dry reasoning, instead of stimulating and beautifying their souls with some of "the mythological lore of our forefathers. Let us turn to the beautiful story of the tree Yggdrasil, that tree that is said to bind heaven and hell together, the grandest and most sacred of all trees, and probably one of the finest conceptions of the human mind. The name Yggdrasil signifies bearer of God. It is an ash, whose branches spread over all the world, and reach above heaven, bearing green leaves that never wither, even defying the last fire that destroys the earth. From its leaves drops a honey dew, the sweetest of all blessings. "Thence come the dew drops In the shade of the upper branches dwells in Asgard the Asa gods. Adusan, or Spring, sits in these boughs with her apples of rejuvenescence. Another branch or root reaches Midgard, the abode of men. The third, shooting into Hela, the kingdom of death. Under each branch or root springs a wonderful fountain, endowed with marvelous virtues. Three young women (Norne), by name. Urd, Verdandi and Skuld (Past, Present and Future), sit by the warm Urdar fountain, and determine the fate of both gods and men. In this fountain swim the sun and moon, in the shape of two swans. By one of the roots murmers the fountain of Mimer, in Mistland the mother of the ocean and rivers of the earth. Many parasites attempt the destruction of this wonderful, tree, but each day the Nornes draw water and with it and the clay that lies around the spring sprinkle the tree, that its branches may not rot away; thus all mankind partakes of this universal tree. Prof. Anderson says of it. "The peculiar feature of this myth is its comprehensiveness. There is one who has planted the tree, and there are many who watch and care for it, higher beings protect; Gods and men, all that possesses life and consciousness has its home in this tree. The picture is so grand that nothing but an infinite soul can comprehend it.' Some believe that the Christmas tree of modern Germany may be some kind of off-shoot of the old idea of Yggdrasil. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS AMONG MY HOUSE PLANTS. MRS. C. D. ROBINSON, GREEN BAY. That there is no royal road to learning is as true of the lilies of the field as of the stars in their courses. And yet there is a sight and an insight, a gift which renders this knowledge more or less easy to be acquired. But as gifts are for the very few, the majority of us must learn in that most expensive of all schools, experience. For our own consolation it is well to realize that patience and perseverance are more powerful to conquer "in the long run" than even gifts and insights. If a few facts learned, or a few episodes in my own experience can be of any possible help to any one, then they will not have occurred in vain or been learned for my own benefit alone. is my For eleven successive years I kept house plants in the winter, and nine of those years, sooner or later during the season, they were frozen, root and branch, and every spring I would begin over again. I do not remember that I was one bit disheartened by my repeated defeats in my contests with King Frost. Every winter he would assail me in some new and unexpected manner, and my cherished plants would go down before him. So intense love for flowers, so great the necessity to my happiness to have them about me, I never dreamed of giving up, 'till King Frost and sickness assailed me at the same time, and I succumbed. I had no more tears to shed for dead plants and no more strength to wage war with the intense cold of northern Wisconsin. My conservatory was taken away and converted into a hennery, and for years after I would not go into a green-house in the winter, and always turned my eyes away when passing a conservatory filled with plants. I knew if I yielded one inch, my inborn passion would take possession of me, and I dreaded the unequal contest. But one winter a florist sent me some potted plants in bloom. I hesitated to accept them, but the bright, clear eyes of the Chinese Primrose looked up to mine, and from that moment till now I have again been their willing servant, and expect to be till I am too old to serve. First of all, let us begin in May or June to prepare our plants for winter blooming. Start your slips in the same jars you wish them to remain in during the winter, being careful not to have them too large, for most plants do not throw out flower buds until the jar is well filled with roots and their growth in that direction checked somewhat. When well started, give plenty of air and sunshine and water; put them out of doors to grow strong and healthy; pinch off all flower-buds until late in August, then let the buds grow for house blooming. It is not worth while, as a rule, to bring into the house the plants that flowered all sum |