The Dandelion is the most common of flowers. It is found in the four quarters of the globe, near the pole as beneath the equator, on the margin of rivers and streams as well as on sterile rocks. It serves the shepherd instead of a clock, while its feathery tufts are his barometer, predicting calm or storm. The globes formed by the seeds of the Dandelion are used for other purposes. If you are separated from the object of your love, pluck one of those feathery spheres, charge each of the little feathers with a tender thought; turn toward the spot where the loved one dwells; blow, and the aërial travellers will faithfully convey your secret message to his or her feet. If you wish to know if that dear one is thinking of you, blow again; and if a single aigrette is left upon the stalk, it is a proof that you are not forgotten. As thinks The mariner of home, When doomed through many a dreary waste Of waters yet to roam,-- Thus doth my spirit turn to thee, My guiding star o’er life’s wild sea. _Mrs. Embury._ * * * * * Dandelion, with globe of down, The schoolboy’s clock in every town, Which the truant puffs amain, To conjure lost hours back again. _Howitt._ PIMPERNEL.... _The Weather-glass_. THE COUNTRY MAID AND THE PIMPERNEL FLOWER. “I’ll go and peep at the Pimpernel, And see if she think the clouds look well; For if the sun shine, And ’tis like to be fine, I shall go to the fair, For my sweetheart is there: So, Pimpernel, what bode the clouds and the sky? If fair weather, no maiden so merry as I.” Now the Pimpernel flower had folded up Her little gold star in her coral cup, And unto the maid Thus her warning said: “Though the sun smile down, There’s a gathering frown O’er the checkered blue of the clouded sky; So tarry at home, for a storm is nigh.” The maid first looked sad and then looked cross, Gave her foot a fling, and her head a toss; “Say you so, indeed, You mean little weed? You’re shut up for spite, For the blue sky is bright, To more credulous people your warnings tell, I’ll away to the fair;--good day, Pimpernel.” “Stay at home! quoth the flower?--In sooth, not I; I’ll don my straw hat with a silken tie; O’er my neck so fair I’ll a kerchief wear, White, chequered with pink, And then--let me think, I’ll consider my gown, for I’d fain look well:” So saying, she stepped o’er the Pimpernel. Now the wise little flower, wrapped safe from harm, Sat fearlessly waiting the coming storm; Just peeping between Her snug cloak of green, Lay folded up tight, Her robe so bright; Though ’broidered with purple, and starred with gold, No eye might its bravery then behold.