150 WATER LILY. 



flower. Raised from out her watery bed, 

 expanded and kept open by the stimulus of 

 light, no sooner does that exciting cause 

 begin to lessen, than the lily closes ; and 

 when the last faint rays of the setting sun 

 have faded from off the lake, the flower has 

 folded up her petals. Then, having lost her 

 buoyancy, she sinks by her own weight into 

 the stream, which closes around her like a 

 curtain, and the lily is no longer seen. He 

 who delights in the solitude of nature, to 

 walk beside a mountain lake when the moon 

 is up, and every glen and mountain is veiled 

 with slight wreathing mists, would seek in 

 vain for his favourite flower. He might 

 have thought to see her looking full towards 

 the glorious moon, pale, yet lovely, and 

 reflecting her cold beams, as the moon her- 

 self reflects the beams of the sun, his witness 

 in the heavens, that though unseen by man, 

 he is shining still. The bright sun will call 



