MORAL OP FLOWERS. 69 



ye are nourished and fed ; unlike those of us 

 mortals, too often degraded by animal impulses 

 and unworthy motives. 



" Sweet nurslings of the vernal skies, 



Bathed in soft airs and fed with dew, 

 What more than magic in you lies 



To fill the heart's fond view ! 

 Relics are ye of Eden's bowers, 



As soft, as fragrant, and as fair, 

 As those that crown'd the sunshine hours 



Of happy wanderers there I" KEEBLE. 



Beautiful are ye, exceedingly beautiful ! and 

 numberless are the strains of deep impassioned 

 eloquence, embodying " thoughts that breathe 

 and words that burn," to testify of the admira- 

 tion ye have excited in the breasts of those who 

 worship that power, 



-"Which tunes the lip to songs and sighs, 



And makes the heart a haunted shrine." L. B. A^ 



Well have the poets sung of your loveliness 

 of your fragrance, and of your benign influence. 

 Grave divines have made sermons on you, and 

 expounded your holy teachings for the edifica 

 tion of man, 



