Idiom: shake the dew off the lily (antedating 1951 probably)

[Garson O'Toole]

[Topic: "shake the dew off the lily" in Green's Dictionary of Slang]

.Ben Zimmer wrote
> GDoS cites Vincent J. Monteleone's _Criminal Slang_ (1949, revised
> edition). I'm not finding it in the Google Books version of the 2003
> reprint, however.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=nN81uyN8WmIC

Thanks Ben for checking GDoS. I also cannot find the phrase in GB's
copy of "Criminal Slang" under the entries containing lily, lilly,
lilies, or dew.

Here is an early literary use of the phrase that does not involve passing water:

Cite: 1865, Life of Pauline Cushman by Ferdinand L. Sarmiento, Page
31, John E. Potter and Company, Philadelphia.

Who else - mortal or fairy - could tread without shaking the dew from
the lilies?

http://books.google.com/books?id=IgYTAAAAYAAJ&q=lilies#v=snippet&

Garson

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