The Knickerbocker/Volume 1/Number 1/The Moss Rose
THE MOSS ROSE.
Of the thousand allegories upon this favorite flower, the best may be traced to one of the celebrated "Parables of Krummacher." But though so frequently paraphrased in prose and verse, no ornament that the ingenuity of the translator has superadded, can compare with the exquisite simplicity of the original, which is here given immediately from the German:—
"The angel who takes care of the flowers, and sprinkles upon them the dew in the still night, slumbered on a spring day in the shade of a rose-bush. And when he awoke, he said, with a smiling countenance—Most beautiful of my children, I thank thee for thy refreshing odor and cooling shade. Could you now ask any favor, how willingly would I grant it!
Adorn me then with a new charm, said the spirit of the rose-bush, in a beseeching tone. And the angel adorned the loveliest of flowers with simple moss.
Sweetly it stood then in modest attire, the MOSS ROSE, the most beautiful of its kind.
Lovely Lina—lay aside the splendid ornament and the glittering jewel, and listen to the instructions of maternal nature."