MORAL OF FLOWERS. 73 



call of poesy, to issue from their hiding places, 

 and irradiate Bie world of nature and imagina- 

 tion with their divine effluence. Well has it 

 been asked by whom we know not How 

 can the poet better employ his genius, than in 

 giving flowers a life as sweet, more lasting than 

 their own !" and how, we would respond, can 

 the moralist more faithfully perform the duties 

 of his office, than by drawing lessons of wisdom 

 and virtue from the most lovely objects in 

 creation, and applying those lessons to the 

 hearts and consciences of his fellow-creatures, 

 endeavoring thus to 'make them happier and 

 wiser ? 



" With holy awe I cull the opening flower, 

 The hand of God hath made it, and where'er 

 The flow'ret blooms, there God is present also." 



These are the words of LADY FLORA HAS- 

 TINGS, and in them we recognize a spirit akin 

 to our own ; it is good to bear about with us 

 ever a deep sense of the presence of the Creator 

 in His works, from the mightiest to the meanest, 

 and to be moved to devotion and praise, not only 

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