CHILDREN AND FLOWERS. 89 



" Tis now the poetry of life to thee ! 

 With fancies fresh and innocent as flowers, 

 And manners sportive as the free-wing'd air; 

 Thou seest a friend in every smile ; thy days 

 Like singing birds, in gladness speed along, 

 And not a tear that trembles on thy lids, 

 But shines awp,y, and sparkles into joy." 



ROBERT MONTGOMERY. 



Even the universal desire manifested by chil- 

 dren to pull flowers to pieces, we are inclined 

 to think, arises from an impression that by so 

 doing, they will be enabled to discover the source 

 of such delightful sensation, and take their fill 

 at once, as the boy in the fable is said to have 

 destroyed the bird which laid golden eggs, 

 in order to enrich himself with the precious 

 store he supposed it to contain ; and this im- 

 pression is further confirmed by watching the 

 earnestness with which they proceed in the 

 work of destruction, carefully examining every 

 petal until the whole are plucked off, and the 

 disappointment with which they turn from the 

 scattered fragments : What an emblem, are 

 those shattered flowers, of the objects of our 

 desires in riper years ; how eagerly do we 

 8* 



