lOi WILD FLOWERS OF SUMMEU. 



the balmy air, and the spring buds laugh through their 

 split sides into joyous flowers, we know that summer 

 is at hand. The seasons glide into each other noise- 

 lessly, and no one can tell where one commences and 

 the other fades away; but we all acknowledge that 

 summer has come when the woodlands are clothed with 

 verdure, and the sun has penetrated the shady dingles 

 and awakened the flowers in the bleak moorland. 

 Spring has built up the tender foliage, and summer 

 crowns it with flowers. The fragrant May stretches 

 far away over hill and dale, its snowy petals sometimes 

 blushing with beauty. The grass of the meadows 

 waves to and fro in gentle billows, waiting for the 

 scythe of the husbandman. The corn is bursting into 

 ear, 



" The green herbs 



Stir in the summer's breath ; a thousand flowcra 

 By the road-side and the borders of the brook 

 Nod gaily to each other ; glossy leaves 

 Are twinkling in the sun, as if the dew 

 Were on them yet." 



The fisherman has noted the embroidery which has 

 made gay the banks of his favourite stream. Out of 

 the depths of the river the broad flat leaves of the 

 Water-Lily have arisen, and spread their glossy sur- 



