No. 9. 



Hymn to the Flowers— Ancient Law, t^-c. 



285 



ticed, unless by a very minute and careful 

 examination; but wlien proper nutriment is 

 furnished, it springs up, flowers, and matures 

 its seed so as to attract attention, and it ex- 

 cites surprise in the minds of those who were 

 i<rnorant of the previous existence of the roots 

 in the soil. Sinclair. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir,— I beg you to traiispl.int the following exqni 

 BitPly' beautiful "pot pourri" into your interestin, 

 pages, and oblige A Constant Reader. 



Hyiiiu to tlic Flowers. 



BY HORACE SMITH. 



Day stars ! thnt ope your eyes with man, to twinkle 



From rainbow galaxies of earth's creation. 

 And dew-drops on her lonely altars sprinkle 

 As a libation! 



Ve nation worshippers ! who, bending lowly, 



Before the uprisen sun, God's lidless eye. 

 Throw from your chalices a sweet and holy 

 Incense on high! 



ye bright Mosaics! that with storied beauty. 



The floor of Nature's temple tessellate. 

 What numerous emblems of instructive duty. 

 Your forms create 1 



•Neath cloister'd boughs, each floral bell that swingeth, 



And tolls its perfume on the passing air, 

 Makes Sabbatli ii\ the fields, and ever ringeth, 

 A call to prayer ! 



Not to the domes, where crumbling arch and column. 



Attest the feebleness of mortal hand. 

 But to that Fane, most Catholic and solemn, 

 Which Heaven hath plann'd— 



To that Cathedral, boundless as our wonder. 



Whose quenchless lamps, the sun and moon supply, 

 Its choir, the winds and waves; its organ, thunder: 

 Its dome, the sky ! 



There, as in solitude and shade, I wander 



Through the green aisles, or stretch'd upon the sod, 

 Aw'd by the silence, reverently ponder. 

 The ways of God— 



Your voiceless lips, O flowers! are living preachers! 



Each cup a pulpit, every leaf a book. 

 Supplying to my fancy numerous teachers, 

 From loneliest nook. 



Floral apostles ! that in dewy splendor, 



"Weep without woe. and blush without a crime," 

 Oh! may I deeply learn, and ne'er surrender. 

 Your lore sublime ! 



"Thou wert not, Solomon ! in all thy glory. 



Array'd," the lilies cry, " in robes like ours ; 



How vain your grandeur! ah, how transitory 



Are human flowers :" 



In the sweet-scented pictures, Heavenly Artist ! 

 With which thou paintest nature's wide-spread hall, 



What a delightful lesson thou impartest, 

 Of love to all! 



Not useless are ye, flowers, though made for pleasure. 



Humming o'er field and wave by day and night; 

 From every source, your sanction bids me treasure. 

 Harmless delight. 



F.phemeral sages! what instructers hoary. 



For such a world of thought could furnish scope ! 

 Each fading calyx, a memento mori. 

 Yet fount of hope ! 



Posthumous glories! angel-like collection, 



Uprais'd from seed or bulb, interr'd in earth. 

 Ye are to me a type of resurrection 

 And second birth. 



Were I, O God' in churchless lands remaining, 



Far from all voice of teachers and divines. 

 My soul would Jiiid, in flowers of thy ordaining, 

 Priests, Sermons, Shrines! 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Ancient liaw for Promoting Industry. 



" Learn some useful art, so that you may be independ- 

 ent of the caprice of fortune." 



William Penn, the benevolent, the pious, 

 and the wi.se Governor of Pennsylvania, pre- 

 vious to his leaving England and embarking 

 for America, prepared, and had in readiness, 

 for his new colony, a code of laws; which, 

 on his arrival at Chester, (or Upland as it was 

 then called,) was presented to the Assembly, 

 and passed and promulgated as the statutes 

 by which the then infant colony was to be 

 regulated and governed. One of these laws 

 is so peculiar, and is so characteristic of its 

 author, who was a man of unparalleled indus- 

 try, and embraced every means in his power 

 of promoting it in others, that I transcribe- it 

 for the instruction and benefit of the readers 

 of the Cabinet. It runs thus: Be it enacted, 

 " That all children of twelve years of age 

 and upwards, he taught some useful trade 

 or skill ; to the end that none may be idle in 

 the province ; but that if they be poor, they 

 may become rich ; and if they be rich and 

 become poor, they need not want." 



This law, with fifty-eight others of groat 

 importance, were passed by the Assembly 

 during a session of only three day.s, when 

 they "broke up" and retired to their respect- 

 ive homes. 



This shows pretty plainly that the legisla- 

 ture of that day (which was the first that 

 ever. sat in Pennsylvania) was not only care- 

 ful to pass laws to encourage industry in 

 others, but that they deemed it incumbent 

 upon themselves to furnisii examples of dili- 

 gence in business in their own persons. Well 

 would it be if their successors, after the long 

 lapse of more than a century and a halt; 

 i would imitate their illustrious predecessors, 

 and tread in their footstepa. 



