This section is from the book "Garden Flowers". Also available from Amazon: Garden Flowers (1857 ).
This beautiful little flower is the emblem of affection among the Germans. Its bud is of a fine pink colour, which, when expanded, changes to a lovely blue that reminds us of the tint of the turquoise, or the somewhat opaque blue of an autumnal sky. It grows profusely on the banks of almost all the brooks and streams of England ; and in many places, where the beds of it grow thickly, it seems as if portions of the azure sky had dropped upon and mingled with the green of earth. The legend from which this flower derives its name is as follows :— One beautiful summer's eve, a young couple, who were soon to be united, were slowly wandering along the delightful banks of the Danube, enjoying the sweet intercourse of loving hearts and the cool fragrance of zephyrs that swept across the noble river. Looking up, the affianced bride observed one of those blue-eyed flowers floating on the water; and, while she called her lover's attention to it, expressed her admiration of its beauty, and sighed when she thought of its fatal destiny. With the headstrong impulse of impassioned youth, the young man instantly plunged into the river, where he had no sooner seized the flower than he began to sink. ^With a convulsive effort, he struggled towards the shore, but failed to reach it. Just as he was on the point of disappearing for ever in the flood, he made a last effort, and threw the flower on shore, exclaiming ere he sank—" Fergias mich nicht!" Ever since, the floweret has been called Forget-me-not.
Truly, the injunction has been well remembered ; for where is the album or scrap-book whose pages have not been ornamented with bright representations or compressed specimens of the much-prized Forget-me-not? Where is the poet who has not, in the early stages of his venturous career, penned a glowing sonnet in praise of its perfections] Where is the youth who has not tremblingly presented the object of his adoration with a spray of the blue-eyed gem, or the girl who has not treasured the same in her bosom until it has become crushed to an unrecognisable powder ?
" Ah dearest love, this treasure I place upon my breast, Where, while I wander far away, It evermore shall rest
Until, years hence, returning;
I seek thy father's cot, And bring thee back thy withered gift,
This sweet Forget-me-not"
 
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