YUNEBAL FLOWERS. 14] 



song which awakes the lark at morn may lull 

 the dying at evening to repose ;" and ajso 

 that 



"The sweetest flower in pleasure's path 

 Will bloom on sorrow's grave." JOHN CLARE. 



This life is uncertain, and full of vicissitudes ; 

 its pleasures are short-lived and fleeting. Change 

 is the element in which we move, breathe, and 

 have our being, and no one can tell how soon 

 the vital spark may be quenched within him 

 how soon sorrow may fall upon him, though he 

 be now full of health, and life, and happiness. 

 Therefore it is well to contemplate the tomb, 

 and to be ever prepared for the life that is to 

 come. The poet asks : 



" Beauteous flowers, why do ye spread 

 Upon the monuments of the dead?" COWLEY. 



And we may answer, that we place them tliere 

 as emblems^ of the frailty of human existence, 

 and of the evanescent nature of its brightest 

 enjoyments ; they also serve to remind us of 

 that better land, whither we hope the souls of 

 the departed are gone. 



