THE SCARLET THORN.

JOHN BURROUGHS, an American essayist and naturalist. Born at
Roxbury, New York, April 3, 1837. From a letter in the _St.
Nicholas Magazine_ of July, 1892. (See _post_, NASON.)

There are a great many species of the thorn distributed throughout the
United States. All the Northern species, so far as I know, have white
flowers. In the South they are more inclined to be pink or roseate. If
Columbus picked up at sea a spray of the thorn, it was doubtless some
Southern species. Let us believe it was the Washington thorn, which
grows on the banks of streams from Virginia to the Gulf, and loads
heavily with small red fruit.

The thorn belongs to the great family of trees that includes the apple,
peach, pear, raspberry, strawberry, etc., namely, the rose family, or
_Rosaceae_. Hence the apple, pear, and plum are often grafted on the
white thorn.

A curious thing about the thorns is that they are suppressed or
abortive branches. The ancestor of this tree must have been terribly
abused sometime to have its branches turn to thorns.

I have an idea that persistent cultivation and good treatment would
greatly mollify the sharp temper of the thorn, if not change it
completely.

The flower of the thorn would become us well as a National flower. It
belongs to such a hardy, spunky, unconquerable tree, and to such a
numerous and useful family. Certainly, it would be vastly better than
the merely delicate and pretty wild flowers that have been so generally
named.

CAPTAIN AND SEAMEN.

RICHARD E. BURTON, in the Denver (Colo.) _Times_, 1892.

I see a galleon of Spanish make,
That westward like a winged creature flies,
Above a sea dawn-bright, and arched with skies
Expectant of the sun and morning-break.
The sailors from the deck their land-thirst slake
With peering o'er the waves, until their eyes
Discern a coast that faint and dream-like lies,
The while they pray, weep, laugh, or madly take
Their shipmates in their arms and speak no word.
And then I see a figure, tall, removed
A little from the others, as behooved,
That since the dawn has neither spoke nor stirred;
A noble form, the looming mast beside,
Columbus, calm, his prescience verified.

THE BEAUTIES OF THE BAHAMA SEA.

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH, American author. Born in Rhode Island, 1839.
From an article, "The Sea of Discovery," in _The Youth's
Companion_, June 9, 1892.