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Transcriber’s note:

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A SHEAF OF ROSES

by

ELIZABETH GORDON

Illustrations by Frederick W. Martin







Rand, McNally & Company
Chicago  ·  New York

Copyright, 1915,
By Rand McNally & Company

The Rand-McNally Press
Chicago




This book is dedicated to all kindred spirits who love the beautiful in
Nature; and is especially inscribed to my loyal friends of the Pacific
coast.

  Elizabeth Gordon




A Sheaf of Roses


    The rose was born of lovers’ sighs,
        Of lovers’ tears and sobs,
    And deep within its glowing heart
        The heart of true love throbs;
    Each rose that blooms an emblem is
        Of love divine and true,
    And I have made a sheaf of them
        To send, with love, to you.




A Bunch of Roses


    Better than gifts of gleaming gold,
        Or houses made by hands;
    More precious than the glowing gems
        Men seek in distant lands;
    Breathing of love and purity,
        Of constant hearts and true;
    A bunch of roses, God’s own gift,
        All wet with heaven’s dew.

[Illustration: A Bunch of Roses]




White Cherokee


    An angel on her way to heaven,
        One perfumed, starlit night,
    Remembered one she’d left behind,
        And pausing in her flight,
    Looked back to earth, and shed a tear
        For love left all forlorn.
    Behold! Where fell that pearly drop
        A pure white rose was born.

[Illustration: White Cherokee]




Cecil Bruner


    Two men there were in olden days
        Who loved each other well.
    To each man was the same fair maid
        Dearer than words could tell.
    One kissed her hand and rode away,
        His heart with sorrow fraught;
    Around that cottage threshold grew
        The rose called “Friendly Thought.”

[Illustration: Cecil Bruner]




Frau Karl Druski


    A mother heard the war god call
        Her well-loved first-born’s name.
    With lips that smiled, but heart that bled,
        She heard his dream of fame.
    She pinned the colors on his breast
        And watched him march away;
    The rose they call “The Mother’s Prayer”
        Blossomed that fateful day.

[Illustration: Frau Karl Druski]




White Banksia


    One journeyed to a foreign land
        To teach the love of God.
    The thorns of ignorance and strife
        Beset the path he trod.
    His prayer for faith and strength went up
        To Him who hears all woes;
    An answering sign to him was sent--
        The sweet White Banksia Rose.

[Illustration: White Banksia]




Rose of Old Castile


    A proud Castilian beauty left
        Her home in sunny Spain,
    And went with him who held her heart
        A fairer home to gain.
    To strange new lands the good ship sailed,
        And where she touched her keel
    There grew, in token of young love,
        The Rose of Old Castile.

[Illustration: Rose of Old Castile]




Safrano


    A Spanish maid of high degree
        Lived in her patio.
    Suitors she had, but none could touch
        The maid’s pure heart of snow.
    There came a gallant from the wars
        Who’d vanquished all his foes;
    He won her heart, and from her blush
        Grew the Safrano Rose.

[Illustration: Safrano]




Pink Cherokee


    A tender, yearning mother-soul
        Whose life had never known
    The blessing of a baby’s heart
        Beating against her own,
    Found, rosy, smiling, at her door
        A babe of mystery;
    There bloomed the rose of mother love,
        The rare Pink Cherokee.

[Illustration: Pink Cherokee]




Jacqueminot


    A boy and girl, from infancy
        Playmates, good comrades too,
    Walked hand in hand one summer day
        A rare old garden through;
    A meadow lark full-throated sang
        His love song to the morn;
    The crimson Jacqueminot grew there,
        For there new love was born.

[Illustration: Jacqueminot]




Gold of Ophir


    A dark-eyed Indian princess
        Was wooed, so legends say,
    By a brave and gallant soldier
        Who loved and rode away;
    Under the shadow of the hills
        Capped by eternal snows,
    She sleeps, enwrapped and sheltered by
        The Gold of Ophir Rose.

[Illustration: Gold of Ophir]




Ragged Robin


    A dusky baby came to share
        A gypsy’s caravan,
    The dark-eyed mother loved the child
        As only mothers can.
    She laid him ’mongst the grasses, where
        The south wind softly blows;
    Love’s angel sent to mark the spot
        The Ragged Robin Rose.

[Illustration: Ragged Robin]




Killarney


    A bonnie Irish lassie
        Followed her sweetheart true
    To distant shores, where homesick tears
        Bedimmed her eyes of blue;
    The Little People heard her plaint,
        And pitying her woes,
    They planted as a sweet surprise
        The pink Killarney Rose.

[Illustration: Killarney]




Marie Van Houte


    Upon a cactus-covered hill
        Facing the ocean blue,
    A shining cross was raised aloft
        By one whose heart was true;
    The seeds of faith he scattered where
        The western sunset glows,
    Took root and grew, and blossomed in
        The Crucifixion Rose.

[Illustration: Marie Van Houte]




American Beauty


    Where great ambitions swirl around
        A teeming, toiling mart,
    A gray-haired gardener worked and hoped,
        Love’s fair dream in his heart;
    The vision bright he cherished, till
        With velvet leaves uncurled,
    A perfect rose rewarded him--
        Love’s gift to all the world.

[Illustration: American Beauty]




The Rainbow Rose


    The rainbow, on a summer day,
        Glowing against the sky,
    Was filled with pity as it heard
        A hapless lover’s sigh;
    A shower of sympathy it sent
        To compass him around.
    Where fell those drops of kindly balm
        The Rainbow Rose was found.

[Illustration: The Rainbow Rose]




Sweet Brier Rose


    Some love the spot where lilies fling
        Their subtly sweet perfume;
    Some love the languorous lotus, with
        Its oriental bloom;
    But drifting downward through, the years,
        My loyal memory goes
    To where my childhood’s treasure lives--
        The wild Sweet Brier Rose.

[Illustration: Sweet Brier Rose]




      *      *      *      *      *      *




Transcriber’s note:

On page 26, two instances of ‘Jacgueminot’ have been replaced with
‘Jacqueminot’.