174 WILD FLOWERS. 



To renovate the sinking powers, 



To soothe the troubled mind, 

 When gloomily the welkin lowers, 



And fortune is unkind ,* 

 " They comfort man in his distress, 



They smile when he is gay ; 

 Their fragrance and their loveliness, 



They yield him day by day ; 

 For patience and for humbleness. 



No servitors like they." H. G-. A. 



They are pulled and scattered to the four 

 winds, by the hand of careless childhood, yet 

 ever do they spring up again for his delight and 

 gladness ^ they are gathered alike by the soft 

 white hand of beauty, and the toil-hardened one 

 of industry, unrepining they breathe out their 

 fragrant lives on the bosom of the former, and 

 borne by the latter into the crowded city, they 

 strive to beautify and perfume his hot and 

 murky dwelling-place. Here is a picture of 

 them thus striving : 



'A broken flower-pot, with a string secured, 

 Contained a living treasure a green clump 

 (Just bursting into bloom) of the field orchis. 



'You care for flowers/ 1 said, ' and that fair thing, 

 The beautiful orchis, seems to flourish well 

 With little light and air/ 



