Some flowers have qualified, some disagreeable meanings attached to them.

No man, however nearly allied to a lady, or however great his cause for displeasure may be, is allowed to say to her anything unpleasant except through the medium of flowers.

The only exception is in favour of the husband, whose privilege is seldom used; not only because it is thought more civilised to use flowers as the medium on such occasions, but more especially because marriages are now so well assorted that occasion for complaint scarcely arises on either side.

At the marriage meetings flowers having the slightest disagreeable words attached to them are strictly forbidden.

As an example of flowers having a qualified or disagreeable import take the following:—­

Ragopargee.—­The white lily.

“Cold but truthful, and as constant as the drops of Mount Isione.”

In a small recess of Mount Isione two drops of water, clear as crystal, constantly fall, having percolated the rock above.  As soon as two drops have fallen two others succeed, two being the invariable number.  The interval between the fall of each pair of drops is equal and scarcely perceptible.

These drops never cease to fall night or day, and they have already by this accumulation formed a lake at the base of the mountain.

Voulervole—­Convolvulus.

                        “False allurements! 

Thy beauty is to please but for a day,
Like the magnet it attracts us,
And then thou wouldst make us weep
By fading before our eyes.

“Go, fickle flower,
For thou shalt not be mine
Until more lasting; thou canst learn to be.”

Mooreska.—­Fuchsia.

“Thy beauty is dazzling;
But, alas! its bloom will fade
The nearer we approach. 
For thy external attractions find no echo within. 
I can never take thee to my bosom.”

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Romeafee.—­The pink lily.  This flower is associated with excessive love of dress, and the language attached to it ends with the words.

     “As glaring to the eye as Kiloom.”

The gorgeous appearance of sunset is personified in poetical legends by a master spirit, called “Kiloom.”

The colours of sunset are gaudy and vivid beyond measure, and cast intense hues on all objects.  Our sunsets, though grand, are far from being so agreeably soothing as those in your planet, but they leave an after-glow, which gives light during the night when darkness would otherwise prevail.

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Flowers are profusely used in our great festivals.  I collect a fete given to me on the occasion of an anniversary, when there appeared a cavalcade of one hundred camelopards, bearing each on its back a kiosk, in which was a beautiful woman.  All the camelopards were united together, as it seemed to the eye, by wreaths of flowers, though in fact these concealed strong thongs, with which the animals were really secured.  Each animal was attended by a swarthy native of the country whence it came.