CHILDREN AND FLOWERS. 95 



" Oh, lovely flowers ! the earth's rich diadem, 

 Bright resurrection from her sable tomb, 



Ye are the eyes of Nature ! her best gem 

 With you she tints her face with living bloom, 

 And breathes delight in gales of rich perfume : 



Emblems are ye of heaven, and heavenly joy, 

 And starry brilliance in a world of gloom, 



Peace, innocence, and guileless infancy, 



Claim sisterhood with you, and holy is the tie." Q. 



Aye ! in sooth, " holy is the tie !" Is there 

 one of our readers who will not subscribe to 

 the truth of this sentiment ? Is there aught so 

 pure, so perfectly blameless in its nature, as the 

 love we cherish in early years for all things fair 

 and gentle, but more especially for flowers; 

 may they find a place in our bosoms, when we 

 become traffickers in the busy mart, and actors 

 in the great drama of existence ? Whence arises 

 the pleasure that we ever experience at the 

 sight of a flower, but from an association of 

 ideas ? Does not the jaded mind immediately 

 return to drink from the untainted waters of 

 that fount of feeling, the stream of which, since 

 it left the emerald meads of childhood, has 

 become turgid to the eye, and bitter to the taste I 



