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Show V7T i . . ii i ' 1 y ELMO SCOTT WATSON k .vrfjH 'V - '-5S , 8 WH reed the sixth K )X L fC-yC' " Jfc7T'?'J rCf. chapter of the Ootpal f" i 1UVV 4 A-f ' ' , f tpU according to St Mat- A' ' W V- ' W V ''J , fffifef "And wh, take y. fA.O V J JJJt ft I t, XJflS Ji thought for raiment? W V -1?V f (frv Consider the Ulles of ! ' HL'.1'M ' ; , Y the field, how they ' . vYi 4' A V -lt, rfM powj they toll uot, O . I f i ; F J nelth.r do they spin: k V v ' lll'f v "And yet I say unto V. ,' r li ? - , , you, that eren Solomon In all his glory j,"- t . -f( J vaa not arrayed like one of these." Xt v "4 5 - - V And It Is these flowers which, more A ' " V rV'UV; - A , , than anything tlae, hare become the i h " I XV symbols of Eaater which we celebrate iCt- V,U la. . ... -Tr this year on April 20, As such a sym- ftfTZLt VS. f bol the lily has a double signlflcance. 'VV Vv VSA X It Is one of the earliest spring flow- . -r J. era. It typifies the rebirth of nature " jv , f .V ,'c::;r aftar tha long winter Bleep. la ita a "" " "" . j"-"" dry, brown bulb life lies dormant dur- fJl7Z7TmH,?''t, A.tTTttT' f'1311 4 tog the winter and then when spring I ftViaA.f f ef jflVV3 Jlf sfalW esi 6t.l ii i comes, this life begins to stir. First 5&S3f? 1 y ELMO SCOTT WATSON . 8 WH read the alxth V"f chapter of the Gospel j Y1 BccordlDS t Bt- Mat- AjJLaVV thew, we find these two fl2m i Terses: ywJnftT "And why take ye X2Tv thought for raiment? vbvftr Conl(,r tn ullM of 2&kA' the field, how they VWU fow; they toll Dot, If 4aaV neither do they apin: "And yet I say unto .ton, that even Solomon In all his glory vaa not arrayed like one of these." And It Is these flowers which, more . .' than anything else, have become the J symbols of Eaater which we celebrate this year on April 20. As such a symbol sym-bol the lily has a double signlflcance. It la one of the earliest spring flowers. flow-ers. It typifies the rebirth of nature after the long winter Bleep. la Ita dry, brown bulb life lies dormant dur tog the winter and then when spring - comes, this life begins to stir. First It pushes out the tender green leaves, and then the buds appear. Finally the white blossom comes forth In all Its glory as the perfect emblem of resurrected resur-rected life. An EaattT Flower "Te aaaite ene petal, aayriada ef MaaM (earh hi Itaclf planetary arataai a elaetreae) mm climb aad wheal to their anrt rt'tedeiittai. " nl(-"UU Ua-wUepered hp what Fewer, Deeaar than aaoea er aua) Muat each ef Ike aayrlad atoaaa at tUa Bower Ta na ewa sola ef tha eelared pattern raa Each ataaa, frees earuVe fleaaa, A elaaa auav-ehiatar eVivea Ta aaaka, at Ha Bright geai, eaw grala ef hloaaa. Or Back with nee ana petal's edge hi HaavaaT What hUad reete Hfted a Tale eectaaaantal alga, Treaiauitlag tfcafc- dark (aod, la tUa wild aua Of glary, aa what Heavenly bread aad wiaar What Muate waa eeaeaaM, What Lagea ha thia kaua. That the Cabana! Beauty hare revealed ShevU thae he etragghag ta Ka feat heaaeT Wheaee was the radiant etaraa. The atil aa-niaalag eaag. That built ef feraaleee earth due heavaalp gian-tag with art, aha werhre head wreag. tMadnag everywhere Tha apartt'e Whetr priaaav Aad whleearlag freaa the grave, "Net herel Net herel Ha la art dead. The Light yea aeak la rlaaart Alfred Neree hi the Waahlagtaa Star. fined and fragrant Illy that comes out of the Orient Onions came from the Near East and In ancient days furnished a staple sta-ple food for the rural inhabitants of Greece and Italy. Not only was garlic gar-lic a food, but It waa reputed to have medicinal value and to be helpful to the atomacb in Ita functions. These two bulb vegetables, the Cln-derellas Cln-derellas of the plant food world, ride about the earth in tratnloada and shiploads. ship-loads. The material service they render ren-der Is greater than that of all the other oth-er lilies put together. One would have to look far in all the relationships of nature to find a contrast more striking strik-ing than that of the Easter lily and the garlic of the Mediterranean. Even though the lily la the one perfect per-fect symbol of Easter, there are two others which through the centuries have become so closely asaoclated with thia red-letter day In our calendars calen-dars that we think of them almost ss quickly, In thinking of Easter, aa we do of the Illy. They are the rabbit and the egg. The association of the rabbit or hare with Easter baa Ita foundations In the ancient belief in European and Asiatic countriea that the hare la the symbol for the moon. In fact the Chinese represent the moon aa a rabbit pounding pound-ing rice In a mortar, while Hindu and Japanese artists paint the hare across the fare of the moon. Aa the time of the Easter festival Is governed by the phases of the moon this may be an explanation ex-planation of their connection. Ita other significance Is a religious one, Ita snow-white purity being emblematic emble-matic of tbe flawless life of Christ whose resurrection from the tomb we commemorate on Easter day. In fact, no other flower has a place tn the religious re-ligious life and literature of the Christian Chris-tian world to compare to the lily. Yet Its glory la not so new as Christianity, ancient though the beginnings of that religion may seem to us. The Greeks and the Romans prised It above all flowers and In their earlier ear-lier civilisations it had already come to symbolise purity and virtue. It was became of the place lilies bad won In the popular esteem thst they found place bt the early paintings of tha Virgin. The angel Gabriel was depleted de-pleted carrying them In annunciation pictures and It is because of this that the most beautiful of these flowara, Lillum condldam, moat nsed at Eaater, la called tha madonna lily. Although this trumpet-like blossom Is the best known of all the members f the Illy family, there are others which are very Interesting even though they do net bave such signlflcance for w as the madonna Illy. In the high BImalayaa In Asia grows a great lily ten feet tall. Agents of the United States government found a magnificent specimen of illy la China a generation ago a lily of the madonna type, but hardier and brought It to America and they hare been offering It to dtl-ens dtl-ens to plant from coast to coast Most of tha lilies that are native to America are radiant with color. There Is the turk'a cap, for Instance, that flaunts the deep "yellow of Its many blooms through the waate stretches of parte of New England. Great atal- breaks Into bloom such an assemblage assem-blage of pure white, bell-like, richly-perfumed, richly-perfumed, and In every way perfect lilies as nature produces nowhere else In a single cluster. It Is given to the desert to grow the greatest of all the Illy-bearing plants despite the fact that the chief habitat of tha breed The mythical naturaf history of the Hindus tells us that hares live on the shores of the iske of the moon. In Swabla the children are not allowed al-lowed to make ahadow pictures of rabbits rab-bits on the wall, because It la considered consid-ered a sin against the moon. The colored folk of the southern states have a atrong belief In the power pow-er of the "left hind foot of a graveyard grave-yard rabbit" killed In the dark of the moon. wart stalls, sometimes nine feet tall, has the turk'a cap. It may bave half a dosen orange blooms at Ita top, but tbose who have tamed this plant and ' given It care bave Induced It to pro vide as many as 40 blossoms. A quite different American flower la the little trout lily which likes to grow along the streams or tn the deep woods. With the nourishment It has saved np In Its bulb It starts growing In tha early spring and Is likely to have bloomed before the leaves of the trees have grown to the atage of making mak-ing ahade to Interfere with It A radiant ra-diant yellow, the trout lily stands out vividly against its background of green. Tbe blue flag running to purple la another American lily that baa found Itself a home In many gardens. The mottled tiger Uly has been a favorite for many generations. In California the "leopard Uly lights the heather v.. dun," and the late shorn meadow is .often red with their bloom. The red lilies of New England, bow-ever, bow-ever, outshine them all and bave Inspired In-spired many a poet of that region. Lucy Larcom spoke of them as "red lilies blazing out of the thicket" Paul Hamilton Hayne thought that the red lily "stands from all her sister flowers flow-ers apart" . Probably the most remarkable Illy In the world la the yucca, or Spanish bayonet of the arid plains of the Southwest There the Uly becomes a plant that is quite treelike and Uvea for years. The Uly ieavea become harsh, dagger-tipped Implements to serve tbe purpose of repelling attack. These may alt close to the ground or, . again, they may stand as high aa a man on horseback. From the cluster of leaf armor there springs now and again a tall stalk that may reach like a flagpole Into the desert sunshine. At tbe top ef thia suff there forma and finally seems to be the marsh. Lilies all grow from bulbs. This bulb-making capacity of the lily family fam-ily la one of Its dominant traits. It and the six petals to all Uly blooms are marks of tbe tribe. .Tulips, daffodils, daf-fodils, hyacinths, crocuses, all are actually, ac-tually, because they spring from bulbs, members of the Uly family. But beautiful aa are these members of the lUy family, there are others which are utilitarian rather than purely pure-ly ornamental and which, although Uke the "lUles of tbe field which toll not" do furnish mankind with edible crops. Surprising though it may be, botanists will tell you that some ef our common vegetables are In reality "UUea." There la asparagus, for Instance, . that Is bought In the market tied up la bundles of many stalks, each exactly like the other. There la nothing about tbla asparagus In this form that would indicate that it la a Uly. Asparagus tips are but young plants just coming through the ground. If they were allowed to grow they would throw out tall, lily like stalks and crown them with six-tipped flowers flow-ers thst any observer would be able to Identify aa Ulles. Tbe presence of this commonplace asparagus In an Idling family is rather a let down to ita pretensions. This, however, la not the worst If the truth must be told, the onion Is a Illy. The onion la a Uly that has been bred through centuries for the development devel-opment of Its bulb and the suppression suppres-sion of Its top. Bo tt has come about that the bulb may be three Inches across and the top so Insignificant that wben It haa dried up, it hardly appears at all. Yet when this top is growing and flowering it la like those delicate plants of the window slUs which sometimes are called tube roses, but which actually are a delicate, re- in County Warwick, England, If the young men of tbe town can catch a hare and bring It to the parson of the parish before ten o'clock on Easter Eas-ter morning he must give them a calf s head, one hundred eggs for their breakfast and a groat In money. Nowadays the Easter bunny has become be-come so confused with the Euster egg custom that the hares are supposed to lay the many colored eggs the children flnd on Eaater morning. The association of the egg wltb Easter goea back to certain beliefs of the ancients also. Egga had been associated as-sociated With the worship of Ash-toreth, Ash-toreth, of tbe Astarte of the Phoenicians, Phoe-nicians, lata of the Egyptians, Diana of the Greeks and Romans and Eostre, whom the Teutons worshiped in the spring. Incidentally, the name Easter Is said by some to be derived from the name of this Teutonic goddess, although al-though others assert thst It was named for an old pagan spring festival festi-val in honor of the sun's new birth In the east The Egyptians regarded the egg as an emblem of the recreation of things and of man'a regeneration. Then, too, the egg with Ita Ufe germ destined to produce a Uvlng creature when warmed by the mother hen ts easily associated witb the Idea of the earth blossoming under the warm sun. Since the Resurrection of Christ occurred oc-curred in the spring, it is easy to see how the symbols of the egg and all revived life tn the springtime came to be associated with this event tn the history of Christianity. The egg as a symbol was taken over by tbe Hebrews He-brews as an emblem of their delivery from bondage and next the early Christians took tt over as their symbol sym-bol of the resurrection, |