138 THE LOVELIEST ROSE IN THE WORLD.

in a sacred cause from the breast of the hero who dies for his
country; though no death is sweeter than this, and no rose
redder than the blood that flows then. Noor is it that wondrous
flower, to cherish which man devotes, in a quiet chamber, many
a sleepless night, and much of his fresh life—the magic flower
of science.”

“1 know where it blooms,” said a happy mother, who came
with her pretty child to the bed-side of the Queen. “I know
where the loveliest rose of the world is found! The rose that
is the expression of the highest and purest love springs from the
blooming cheeks of my sweet child when, strengthened by sleep,
it opens its eyes and smiles at me with all its affection.”

“Lovely is this rose; but there is still a lovelier,” said the .
wise man.

“Yes, a far lovelier one,” said one of the women. “TI have
seen it,and a loftier, purer rose does not bloom. I saw it on the
cheeks of the Queen. She had taken off her golden crown, and
in the long dreary night she was carrying her sick child in her
arms: she wept, kissed it, and prayed for her child as a mother
prays in the hour of her anguish.”

“Holy and wonderful in its might is the white rose of Grief;
but it is not the one we seek.”

“No, the loveliest rose of the world I saw at the altar of the
Lord,” said the good old Bishop. ‘I saw it shineas if an angel’s
face had appeared. The young maidens went to the Lord’s
Table, and renewed the promise made at their baptism, and
roses were blushing and pale roses shining on their fresh cheeks.
A young girl stood there; she looked with all the purity and love
of her young spirit up to heaven: that was the expression of the
highest and the purest love.” :

“May she be blessed!” said the wise man; “but not one of
you has yet named to me the loveliest rose of the world.”

Then there came into the room a child, the Queen’s little son.
Tears stood in his eyes and glistened on his cheeks: he carried
aoe open book, and the binding was of velvet, with great silver
clasps.

“ Mother !” cried the little boy, only hear what I have read.”

And the child sat by the bed-side, and read from the book of
Him who suffered death on the Cross to save men, and even
those who were not yet born.

“ Greater love there is not”

And a roseate hue spread over the cheeks of the Queen, and
her eyes gleamed, for she saw that from the leaves of the book
there bloomed the loveliest rose, that sprang from the blood of
CuRIsT shed on the Cross.

“T see it!” she said: “he who beholds this, the loveliest rose
on earth, shall never die.”