'The wintry garden lies unchanged*" 



EMERSON. 



JANUARY 



When the time was Summer weather, 



Oh, the golden, glorious days, 

 Not a cloud to mar the splendour, 



Glistening miles of golden haze. 

 Emerald corn that grew to golden, 



Poppy and with cornflower set, 

 Flowers that shone as fairest jewels 



In sweet Summer's coronet. 



Oh, the waking silver dawntide, 



Voice of birds in dew- wet trees, 

 And the scent of opening roses, 



Everywhere upon the breeze. 

 Opening then my morning casement, 



What a flood of happiness 

 Came with scents and sounds of Summer, 



Each new day to praise and bless. 



Hollyhocks beside the pathway ; 



Lilies rayed in purest light ; 

 Pansies frecked with deepest colours ; 



Candytuft of fragrant white. 

 Everywhere the flower of flowers, 



Trailing over gate and pale, 

 Blooms of love, the happy roses, 



Whisp'ring to me Summer's tale ! 



AS soon as the first ray of light glimmers in the grey 

 eastern sky, the ploughman wends his way to the 

 stubbly fields. One may hear the pleasant jingle of the 

 harness as his team of horses pass down the quiet road in 

 the early dawn-light. How pleasant is the smell of the 

 newly-turned earth of the land which has lain fallow through- 



