246 ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



INSCRIPTION FOR THE ENTRANCE TO A WOOD. 



OTRANGER, if thou hast learned a truth which needs 



O No school of long experience, that the world 



Is full of guilt and misery, and hast seen 



Enough of all its sorrows, crimes, and cares, 



To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood 



And view the haunts of nature. The calm shade 



Shall bring a kindred calm, and the sweet breeze 



That makes the green leaves dance, shall waft a balm 



To thy sick heart. Thou wilt find nothing here 



Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men, 



And made thee loath thy life. The primal curse 



Fell, it is true, upon the unsinning earth, 



But not in vengeance. God hath yoked to guilt, 



Her pale tormentor, misery. Hence, these shades 



Are still the abodes of gladness ; the thick roof 



Of green and stirring branches is alive 



And musical with birds, that sing and sport 



In wantonness of spirit; while below 



The squirrel, with raised paws and form erect, 



Chirps merrily. Throngs of insects in the shade 



Try their thin wings and dance in the warm beam 



That waked them into life. Even the green trees 



Partake the deep contentment ; as they bend 



To the soft winds, the sun from the blue sky 



Looks in and sheds a blessing on the scene. 



***** BRYANT. 



I sit where the leaves of the maple, 



And the gnarl'd and knotted gum, 

 Are circling and drifting around me, 



And think of the time to come. 



For the human heart is the mirror 



Of the things that, are near and far ; 

 Like the wave that reflects in its bosom 



The flower and the distant star. 



ALICE GARY, The Time to Be. 



Earth's tall sons, the cedar, oak and pine, 

 Their parent's undecaying strength declare. 



Sir R. BLACKMORE. 



