196 FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 



SENSITIVE PLANT. Classie. Order 10. Nativeoftha 

 Tlfimr, i ctmviiinn East and West Indies, and South 



Mimosa sensiliva. America Tj]ere are severa , spcde9< 



Flowers pale purple, contracting at 

 night, and also when touched. 



SENSITIVENESS. 



Weak with nice sense the chaste Mimosa stands, 

 And from each touch withdraws her timid hands; 

 Oft as light clouds o'erpass the summer glade, 

 Alarmed she trembles at the moving shade. 



Darwin. 



SENTIMENT. 



Like the Mimosa shrinking from 



The blight of some familiar finger 

 Like flowers which but in secret bloom, 



Where aye the sheltered shadows linger, 

 And which beneath the hot noon-ray 

 Would fold their leaves and fade away 

 The flowers of Love in secret cherished, 

 In loneliness and silence nourished, 



Shrink backward from the searching eye, 

 Until the stem whereon they flourished, 

 Their shrine, the human heart, has perished, 



Although themselves may never die. 



ft ***** * * 



Life's sunniest hours are not without 

 The shadow of some lingering doubt 

 Amid its brightest joys will steal 

 Spectres of evil yet to feel 



Its warmest love is blent with fears, 

 Its confidence a trembling one 



Its smile the harbinger of tears 

 Its hope the change of April's sun! 

 A weary lot in mercy given, 

 To fit the chastened soul for heaven. 



J. G. Whittier. 



