108 VOICE OF FLOWERS. 



master a portion of what they best loved. The 

 statelier plants secreted a little moisture to 

 bestow upon the lowly. They had themselves 

 known want, and it seemed to have made them 

 more pitiful. 



He took in his hand the long leaves of a 

 lily, which, the day before, was ready to per 

 ish, and it poured him one fragrant drop from 

 its cup of snow. And the rose-bud gave him, 

 from its heart, a chrystal gem that it had trea 

 sured there, saying, &quot; Here ! here ! take this, 

 thou who didst, minister unto me in my need, 

 and when I was thirsty, give me drink.&quot; 



A forget-me-not, which he had removed a 

 few days before, from the dominion of a thorny 

 raspberry, had reserved a little rain, to bestow 

 upon the grass-cups at her side. As he bent 

 over her, she seemed to raise her blue eyes 

 and whisper, &quot; I was in prison, and ye came 

 unto me ; sick, and ye visited me.&quot; 



Then the master of the garden said, &quot; Oh ! 

 thankless human heart, that daily takest thy 

 water, and thy bread, yet yieldest scarcely one 

 smile unto God perchance art angry because 

 of some smitten gourd, or some rose-leaf 

 doubled upon thy pillow come forth, after the 

 shower of summer, and be abased. 



