Rosette

“ Rosette was not difficult to please. She ate the coarse bread and milk with appetite and began to dress. The case of carved ivory had disappeared. She put on as usual her robe of coarse cloth, her pullet's wing, and all the rude ornaments she had brought from the farm and then looked at herself in the glass.
She was attired in a riding habit of straw-colored satin, embroidered in front and at the hem with sapphires and emeralds. Her hat was of white velvet, ornamented with plumes of a thousand colors, taken from the plumage of the rarest birds and attached by a sapphire larger than an egg. ”

“ She kissed Rosette who was completely stupefied. The fairy then disappeared and the nurse burst into tears.
"Alas! it was not worth my while to give myself all the trouble of preparing this poor robe. Oh, my poor Rosette! Do not go to this festival. Pretend you are ill, my child."
"No," said Rosette; "that would be to displease my god-mother. I am sure that she does what is best for me. She is much wiser than I am. I will go and I will wear all that my godmother has brought me." And the good and obedient Rosette thought no more of her dress. She went to bed and slept tranquilly. ”

“ Italian Renaissance Scroll, shewing Acanthus husks with bracts, sheath leaves and floral terminals.
No. 241. Types of Rosettes.
Such flowers as were employed in the earlier ornament displayed little regard to nature, being mostly of the rosette form with petals radiating from the centre; as a rule these were composed of simple leaf-shaped petals in one, two or more tiers arranged concentrically; in this form of rosette the petals are symmetrical in shape. The number of petals is a matter of scale and taste, but an unequal number will invariably be found more interesting. ”

“ Rosette was repulsed by her sisters but was soon surrounded by the ladies of the court and all the invited princes. As she conversed with ready grace and goodness and spoke several languages she charmed all those who approached her. Orangine and Roussette were frightfully jealous. The king and queen were furious for Rosette absorbed all attention; no one paid any attention to the sisters. ”

“ The King embraced her, and begged her not to weep, for he was come, he said, to take her from the tower, and to conduct her to a beautiful castle. The Prince had his pockets full of sweetmeats, which he gave Rosette. "Come," he said, "let us get away from this wretched place; the King will soon find you a husband; do not be unhappy any longer."
When Rosette saw the beautiful garden, full of flowers, and fruits, and fountains, she was so overcome with astonishment, that she stood speechless, for she had never seen anything of the kind before. ”

“ Around this rosette grows the ring of flowers made up of forty or fifty individual blossoms, all springing from the same root, their faces turned outward from the green rosette. In certain places these circles grow so close together that one can scarcely walk without stepping upon them. ”

“ A charming little desert plant, with spreading stems and small, narrow, toothless, gray bluish-green leaves, which are soft, but sprinkled with small, stiff, white bristles, the whole forming a rosette, five or six inches across, growing flat on the sand and ornamented with many pretty little flowers. They are each set off by a little rosette of leaves and are over half an inch across, with pinkish-lilac rays, shading to white towards the yellow center and tinted with bright purple on the back. 549
Desert Star—Erimiastrum bellidoides. ”

“ A pleasant, penetrating odor of linden-trees comes up from the garden. It is as beautiful a day as can be imagined; the sky is as blue as an Englishwoman's eye. We rise, and, after breakfasting with a good appetite, we take a long drive in the country. The clear air, the beauty of the landscape and the aspect of nature in her joyous mood instilled enough sentimentality and tenderness into my soul to make Rosette agree that, after all, I have something in the shape of a heart like other men. ”

“ The growth of the tree is checked and these abnormal branches are formed only to die back each year. Trees in the earliest stages of rosette have been observed to have light crops of nuts, but, when badly diseased, are barren and unsightly or worse. Rosette has been found in all ages, from nursery stock to trees forty feet high. ”

“ Rosette thanked the kind fairy and slept the sleep of innocence, after having felt the maternal lips of her good protectress upon her cheeks.
THIRD AND LAST DAY OF THE FESTIVAL
While Rosette was thus sleeping peacefully, the [129] king, the queen, and Orangine and Roussette, purple with rage, were quarrelling and disputing amongst themselves. Each was accusing the other of having brought about the triumph of Rosette and their own humiliating defeat. One last hope remained for them. In the morning there was to be a chariot race. Each chariot was to be drawn by two horses and driven by a lady. ”

“ Rosette murmured thoughtfully. "I'm afraid he likes a woman to look a little bit theatrical. Floppy hats, don't you know, and lots of rustle—"
"Vandersplash," said I, "is at heart an Eastern, a great mogul. If you want to please him. Rosette, dress yourself in a white saree, with gold stars and silver moons on it; wear silver anklets on your little brown feet, to clash and chime with joy at his coming; fetter your delicate wrists together with jasmine chains; and veil yourself to the rest of the world."
Rosette grew scarlet, and, indeed, it was unpardonable of me.
"How dare you, Jerry! ”

“ Orangine, in place of being touched by this generous sentiment and hoping to play her sister a malicious trick, now insisted upon her singing. Rosette for some time modestly refused. Her sisters, who supposed that she did not know how to sing, were insistent. The queen herself, desiring to humiliate poor Rosette, joined her entreaties to those of Orangine and Roussette and in fact commanded the young princess to sing. ”

“ A third form has small rosettes, pale green foliage, indistinct silvery dots, and, worse than all, the habit of throwing out a progeny of young growths all round the collar, furnishing itself as with a ruff, when the parent rosette turns to a yellowish-green. Of all the forms this is the most constant bloomer. The favourite variety, to which an engraving can do but scant justice, is superior to the above kinds in all its parts. Its blooming period is in early summer, but specimens often grow in size and beauty for three or five years without producing flowers. ”

“ Through the openings in the foliage the sky showed millions of blue eyes; the water rippled gently and I gave myself up to the enjoyment of the moment, plunged in blissful tranquillity, saying nothing, with my hand still in Rosette's tiny hands.
It is of no use to talk: happiness is white and pink; it can hardly be represented otherwise. Delicate colors belong to it as of right. It has on its palette only sea-green, sky-blue and light yellow: its pictures are all light like those of the Chinese painters. ”

“ Rosette, who, very luckily, doesn't know all this, believes me to be the most amorous man on earth; she takes that impotent frenzy for a frenzy of passion, and she does her utmost to humor all the experimental caprices that pass through my brain. ”

“ We have the rosette on Phœnician sepulchral stelæ in the British Museum in conjunction with the half-moon to indicate the heavenly luminaries, and here at Zimbabwe we have this object surmounted by a rosette, rosettes carved on the decorated pillars, and the eyes of the birds, as before mentioned, are made in the form of rosettes. The fact of finding these objects all in close juxtaposition around the altar and in the vicinity of the birds on pillars is sufficient proof of the nature of the objects and their religious symbolism. ”

“ She explained it to him frankly.
"When, oh! when, my dear Rosette, will you permit me to ask your hand of your father? In my kingdom every one will love you and I more than all the rest."
"To-morrow, dear prince, I will send you the reply of my godmother whom I shall question on the subject this evening."
They were now summoned to dinner. Charmant placed himself at Rosette's side and they conversed in a most agreeable manner.
After dinner the king gave orders for the ball to commence. Orangine and Roussette, who had taken lessons for ten years, danced well but without any peculiar grace. ”

“ The other chariot now dashed against that of Rosette and was crushed like the first and the veiled woman was also dashed upon the stones, which seemed placed there to receive her.
Rosette recognised Roussette and was about to descend from her chariot when Charmant interfered, and said: "Listen, Rosette!"
A voice whispered, "Go, flee quickly! The king is pursuing you with a great company to kill you both. The sun will set in a few hours. I have barely time to rescue you from this danger so give my horses the reins; Charmant, abandon yours." ”

“ D. pulverulénta (Echeveria) is beautiful but weird-looking. It has red flowers, and the rosette, resembling a small Century-plant, is covered all over with a white powder which, among ordinary herbage, gives an exceedingly striking and ghostlike effect. This plant is sometimes a foot and a half across, with as many as eight, tall stalks, and is found from San Diego to Santa Barbara. 195 ”

“ Nothing offends my sight so much as an unfinished masterpiece, or beauty in which something is lacking; a grease-spot is less offensive upon coarse sackcloth than upon rich silk.
Rosette is not ill-favored; she might be considered beautiful, but she is far from realizing the ideal of my dreams; she is a statue, several portions of which have been completed. ”

“ Rosette thanked the good man warmly. She accepted the offer of his cloak, and having wrapped herself in it walked barefoot to his hut. There he lit a little fire of dry straw, and took from a chest his dead wife's best dress, with a pair of stockings and shoes, which the princess put on. Clad thus in peasant's attire, with Frillikin gambolling round her to amuse her, she looked as beautiful as ever.
The old man saw plainly that Rosette was a great lady, for the coverlets of her bed were of gold and silver, and her mattress of satin. ”

“ One of the few hardy perennials that will thrive indoors the year round. Round, hairy silver-veined leaves grow in a rosette from the crown, which also sends out slender red stems, strawberry style, with new little plants that root and grow wherever they touch soil. In late spring the fall stems are topped by cloudlike soft clusters of small white flowers. ”

“ The leaves are thick, fleshy and succulent, and are arranged in the form of a rosette lying close to the soil. The plant propagates itself by offsets on all sides, so that it forms after a time a dense cushion or aggregation of rosettes. The flowering stem, which is of rather rare occurrence, is about 1 ft. high, reddish, cylindrical and succulent, and ends in a level-topped cyme, reflexed at the circumference, of reddish flowers, which bloom from June to September. ”

“ They must be looked for in peat bogs, and in hollows on sandy heaths, where they grow in crowds. The leaves of D. rotundifolia arise from a slender rootstock, and lie on the ground in the form of a rosette, from the centre of which the tall slender flower-stalks appear in July and August. Each leaf bears near the upper margins several rows of long crimson glands, terminating in rounded heads, and reminding one of a sea-anemone’s tentacles; indeed, they serve a similar purpose. These glands secrete a clear sticky fluid, which serves to detain small insects that crawl over the leaf. ”

“ Pothos acaulis.—A noble plant of the Arum family,{177} with huge simple dark-green leaves, forming a magnificent rosette. It requires stove treatment in winter and spring, and having made its growth and been hardened off under cover, it may be placed out in the open air in sheltered warm places in the southern counties, from the middle of June to the end of September. It, however, sometimes suffers from cold, and is on the whole only likely to be of very partial use. ”

“ All the circles must also be joined one to each other, as can be seen from illustration. Then work the scallops round the border of the rosette, * fasten the cotton on to the purl which joins the two next circles of the preceding round, and work one scallop consisting of 11 times alternately 2 double, 1 purl, then 2 double. Repeat 9 times more from *. When the rosette is completed, work eight rosettes in the same manner and join them into a circle from illustration by means of small three-branched patterns, and then join them on to the middle rosette. ”

“ The plants have a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves generally ending in a sharp point and with a spiny margin; the stout stem is usually short, the leaves apparently springing from the root. They grow slowly and flower but once after a number of years, when a tall stem or “mast” grows from the centre of the leaf-rosette and bears a large number of shortly tubular flowers. After development of fruit the plant dies down, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem which become new plants. ”

“ As the leaves unfold from the centre of the rosette the impression of the marginal spines is very conspicuous on the still erect younger leaves. The plants are usually grown in tubs and put out in the summer months, but in the winter require to be protected from frost. ”

“ It seldom attains more than from one inch to two inches in height, forming a dense rosette of short, hairy, oval leaves, in the center of which the bright purple involucres, in the form of a ball, are extremely interesting. ”