---

In the English graveyard at Florence stands a broken column entwined by a lily carved in marble. It is erected to "Lily Nye, aged 21," and bears this inscription:

"There was a lily once, most purely white,

We watched it daily, 'twas so fair a sight,

For she was purer than a driven flake

Of snow; and in her grace most excellent,

The loveliest flower that death did ever take,

The tale — for tale there is — of this white stone,

Are these fair letters. While she lived she shone."

May it be ours, like the lily, while we live, to shine and brighten the world with heavenly beauty and heavenly blessing.

(A. J. Griffith.)

---

---

KJV: Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

WEB: Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don't toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.