For you I pine, for you I balsam

In a comment on yesterday's post "Synchronicity, symmetry, and Menelaus blue morpho (and blue Mormon) butterflies," Bill wrote, "That author's name for that 'Beauty is Truth' book jumped out at me" -- the author's name being Ian Stewart.

In an update I added today to "Shiva as Kala," I posted a screenshot of Bill's blog which included this image:

Balsam Fir, paired with the recent emphasis on the name Stewart, made me think of a scene from the children's novel Stuart Little by E. B. White (Elwyn Brooks -- have fun with that etymology, Bill!), a book I haven't read in over a decade.

Stuart, a talking mouse, is discussing what laws he will make as Chairman of the World. Someone proposes "Absolutely no being mean," but another child says such a law would never work, as "Some people are just naturally mean."

"I’m not saying it'll work," said Stuart. "It’s a good law and we'll give it a try. We'll give it a try right here and now. Somebody do something mean to somebody. Harry Jamieson, you be mean to Katharine Stableford. Wait a minute, now, what's that you’ve got in your hand, Katharine?"

"It's a little tiny pillow stuffed with sweet balsam."

"Does it say 'For you I pine, for you I balsam' on it?”

"Yes," said Katharine.

"Do you love it very much?" asked Stuart.

"Yes, I do," said Katharine.

"O.K., Harry, grab it, take it away!"

Balsam (which I guess is a pun for "bawl some"?) can refer to any number of very different plants -- "sweet balsam," according to my dictionary, is another name for rabbit tobacco, but apparently it's also the common name for a species of Impatiens -- but the juxtaposition of pine and balsam is a pretty direct link to Bill's balsam fir, the fir being a tolerably close relative of the pine.

E. B. White is somewhat linked to the "cold as ice" theme, too. His much anthologized essay "Once More to the Lake" ends with the words "chill of death."