ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



269 



CLEMATIS. 



WHERE the woodland streamlets flow, 

 Gushing down a rocky bed, 

 Where the tasselled alders grow, 



Lightly meeting overhead, 

 When the fullest August days 



Give the richness that they know, 

 Then the wild clematis comes, 

 With her wealth of tangled blooms, 

 Reaching up and drooping lo\v. 



But when Autumn days are here, 



And the woods of Autumn burn, 

 Then her leaves are black and sere 



Quick with early frosts to turn ! 

 As the golden Summer dies, 

 So her silky green has fled, 



And the smoky clusters rise 

 As from fires of sacrifice, 

 Sacred incense to the dead. 



DORA READ GOODALE. 



WHAT ROBIN TOLD. 



HOW do the robins build their nests ? 

 Robin Redbreast told me. 

 First a wisp of amber hay 

 In a pretty round they lay, 

 Then some shreds of downy floss, 

 Feathers, too, and bits of moss, 

 Woven with a sweet, sweet song, 

 This way, that way, and across, 

 That's what robin told me. 



Where do the robins hide their nests? 



Robin Redbreast told me. 

 Up among the leaves so deep, 

 Where the sunbeams rarely creep ; 

 Long before the winds are cold, 

 Long before the leaves are gold, 

 Bright-eyed stars will peep, and see 

 Baby robins, one, two, three : 



That's what robin told me. 



GEO. COOPER. 



ROSE. 



WHITE with the whiteness of the snow, 

 Pink with the faintest rosy glow, 

 They blossom on their sprays ; 

 They glad the borders with their bloom, 

 And sweeten with their rich perfume 

 The mossy garden-ways. 



The dew that from their brimming leaves 

 Drips down, the mignonette receives, 



And sweeter grows thereby ; 

 The tall June lilies stand anear, 

 In raiment white and gold, and here 



The purple pansies lie. 



THE SWEET RED ROSE. 



GOOD MORROW, little rose-bush, 

 Now prithee, tell me true, 

 To be as sweet as a red rose 

 What must a body do ? " 



"To be as sweet as a red rose, 



A little girl like you 

 Just grows, and grows, and grows, 

 And that's what she must do." 

 JOEL STACY. 



