| Show K v I 1 v I 1 01 4 I 1 21 el J 0 7 M A M I 1 nl ya 4 4 4 M v mr I 1 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON k 6 8 WE read the sixth chapter of the gospel 4 ac erding to st mat hat thew we had find these two ibises verses W N and why take yo ye th thought ought for raiment consider the lilies of the held field how they grow they I 1 toll 1 I not nelt lier do they spin and yet I 1 say unto you that even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed III like one n of these and it Is these bese flowers firgo r which w more more than anything ng else have become the symbols symbol of easter which we celebrate this year on april 20 As such a sym hot bol the illy has a double significance it Is one of t the he earliest spring flowers it typifies the rebirth of nature after after the long winter sleep in lis its dry brown bulb life lies dormant dur ing the winter and thin then when chri spring comes comes this life be begins ins to stir fil first it pushes ailt out the tender green leaves leave 3 and t then en the buda buds appear final finally 1 th the 1 white blossom cornea comes forth sas as the pert peri feet emblem of resurrected life its other significance Is A a rel religious filous 0 one ne its snowwhite snow white purity being emble marlc of the flawless life of bf christ whose resurrection fr from om the tomb we commemorate on easter day in tact no other flower has a place in the lillous life IN and literature odthe of the christian world to compare to the illy the gree greeks and the romans prized it above all stowers and in their en earlier ite r civilizations it had already come to symbolize purity and virtue it was because of the place lilies bad won in the popular pio pular esteem that they found place in the early paintings of the virgin the angel gabriel was d depicted carrying them in annunciation pictures and it Is because of this that the most beautiful of these flowers lillburn condl cond dam idam most used at easter la 19 called the madonna illy although this trumpet alko jilie blossom la Is the best known of all the members of the illy family there are others which are arc very iery interesting even they chii Y do ho not have such buch highl significance fica rice for us as the madonna illy llly in the high himalayas in asia grows a great ill illy y ten feet tall agents of the united states government found a magnificent specimen of illy la in china a generation ago n illy of the madonna type bur hardier hardi erand brought it to america an ri erica most of the lilies that are native to tn america ure are radiant with color there to Is the turks cap for instance that flaunts the deep yellow of alts many blooms through the waste stretches of parts part of new england gr great eat stalwart stalks sometimes as nine feet tall it ling liaa the turks cap it may have half hal a dozen orange blooms at its ita top but those who have tamed this plant nuil anti given it care have induced it to provide as many blossoms A quite different american lower flower la is th the latte latt trout illy which likes to grow along the streams or in the deep woods with the it has haa saved up in its bul bulb U starts growing in the early spring and Is likely to have bloomed before the leaves of the trees have grown to 16 the stage t age of making shade to interfere with it A radiant tol ly yellow ellow he be lily illy stands stan do out vividly against its green background the blue flag alii running to purple Is another american lily illy that has found itself a home dinninny In ninny gardens the mottled tiger I 1 lily illy has been a favorite or many m i generations in california the leopard icly lights the heather dun and the late into shorn phorn meadow mei dovi Is often red T ed with their belr bloom I 1 tl X 7 I 1 4 ma k w I 1 the red ed lilies of new however outshine them alfand nil and have 6 in many it a poet of that region lucy larcom spoke of themas them ai red lilies blazing out of the thicket paul hamilton alayne thou thought glit that the red illy stands from all her sister flowers apar anait provably the most remarkable illy in the world Is the ancin or spanish bayonet of f the arid bild plains plat ns of the gouth southwest west there the llly illy beco becomes niesa a plant thail Is quite treelike e and lives for or years X the he illy leaves become harsh dagger tipped implements to serve the purpose of f repelling attack these way may sit close to the ground or stand seven feet hag high h from fiol tile the cluster oi of id lea armor there springs now and again a tall astnik that may rf reach ach like 1116 a flagpole le into the descry des crU sunshine at the top of this thiro there forms and finally borealis into bloom such an assemblage of pure iwhite bell like richly berf perfumed in ed aid la in every vai way perfect A lillis lilies as nature produces nowhere else foa in a single cluster it Is given desert daer tto to grow grovo the greatest of sli all the illy illi bearing plants despite the fact that hot the chief habitat of the breed seems to be the marsh lilies all al grow from bulbs this bulb malting making capacity of the illy lily family 11 aja Is of ita dominant dom thant traits it and thesia the six petals coall to all illy blooms are ma marks of the sylbi albe tulips daf hyacinths crocuses ull all are he dually because they spring from bulbs members odthe of the illy family but beautiful asare us are these members of if the lily illy fa family mily theio arc ra others which are cutill tart a er than purely orf ornamental and which altho although I 1 i like the lilies of ae the field which toll not do furnish ninni mankind tind with edib edible le crops surprising though it may be botanists will tell you that some of our common vegetables are in reality there Is asparagus for instance that Is bought in the market tied ap up in bundles of many stalks each exactly 4 like the other there Is about this asparagus 1 in this form that would indicate that it isa Is a illy asparagus tips are but young plan plants t 9 justi just coming cimin 9 diiro through the ground if they were allowed to grow they would throw out tall llly etke alke stalks arid and crown them with ax tapped flowers bowers that tiny any observer would be able to identify a as lilies illies the presence of this commonplace asparagus in aria an idling family Is rather a let down to 16 t pretensions this h however however ji a note the worst it if tile the truth must be told the on onion ion Is a lily illy the onion Is a illy that has been bred gli centuries tor bordie the die development i of its bulb and the iu suppression of atif jt top iop si S it lias ins come about tant tile the bulb be three thre inches across and the top so j insignificant ins that when it lips has dried u up P I 1 it t bardl Y appears atall at all yet w when lien this athla top Is a growing and it la Is like those delicate plants pt pi the window which sometimes fire caller callej fit berose ij but which actually ii are rb indelicate refined and fri fragrant grunt illy that 1 jan comes es out aut of the orient client I 1 since the resurrection of christ occurred in the spring it Is easy to see how the symbols of the he egg und and all revived life to in the springtime came to be associated witt with this event in the history of christianity thi the egg gk 6 as 0 a symbol was over by the lle ile b brews r aws as aae an emblem of their di livecy from bondage and next neit the earl araj christians lovei over syn I 1 awl of the resurrection |
