T H E L A D I E S '   R E P O S I T O R Y .

A U G U S T,   1 8 4 7 .

      WHEN our Savior was a child, his Father gave some of his angels the form of children, and sent them down from heaven to play with the infant Jesus and other good children in Jerusalem. It happened one day that little John, who afterward became the beloved disciple, went with one of his heavenly playmates into a beautiful garden. Evening had already closed around them, and the stars came forth, brighter and brighter, in the dark blue heaven, and the angel said to John,

      "I must now go to sleep."

      "Where hast thou thy bed, lovely stranger?" said John.

      "Far away above the stars," answered the angel.

      "Ah," sighed the child, "I could sleep sweetly, if I were but permitted to go with thee."

      "There is a couch already prepared for thee above," said the angel, comforting him; "but first, poor child, thou must remain here awhile right wearily."

      The boy understood not the last words of the angel, and hastily he plucked a few roses and lilies, to give as a sweet memorial to his beloved friend until the next day should bring him back. "Take these flowers," said he to the angel, "and when thou comest again to-morrow, forget me not, but bring me a handful from the bright land above; for surely there you must have larger and more beautiful flowers than we."

      "We have, indeed," said the angel, "but we cannot bring them down to you. Seest thou the stars which shine in heaven? They are our flowers; but they are so large and bright, that thy small, weak eyes could scarcely look upon them were they as nigh thee as these roses and lilies. I cannot tell thee all; but those flowers are not planted in earth, but in the blue ether; they sport not their bright leaves in the sun's bright rays, but in the light of the eyes of God. Nevertheless, I will bring thee the seed of one of our flowers to-morrow; we will plant it in the earth, and who knows what may spring up!"

      The angel kissed the boy and vanished, and the next morning he returned as he had promised, bearing in his hand a beautiful seed. They planted it in the ground, and watered it every morning and evening with fresh water, which the angel always brought in his hands, and then little John told all the good children in Jerusalem, that he had a star-seed planted in his garden, and the children came every day to see if the star had sprung up.

      And behold, in the autumn, there came forth and bloomed a beautiful variegated flower, of a round form, and the small leaves around the edges were like the rays of a star, and it still retains the heavenly name which the children gave it; for aster, when translated, means a star.

      And whenever, in the evening, I stand by a bed of asters, and the stars are gleaming over me and them, it seems to me as if they were whispering with each other of their former relationship, and that the stars above, and the flowers below, desired again to meet and embrace in love.

[The Ladies' Repository 7 (August 1847): 227.]

      William Baxter's "The Origin of the Aster" was first published in The Ladies' Repository, and Gatherings of the West: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Literature and Religion, Vol. 7, No. 8, August 1847, p. 227. This volume, edited by B. F. Tefft, was published in Cincinnati by L. Swormstedt and J. T. Mitchell and in New York by G. Lane and C. B. Tippett for the Methodist Episcopal Church.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 10 April 2000.
Updated 28 June 2003.